Debates of June 11th, 2013

International Trade

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, let me point out the gigantic fallacy in what the parliamentary secretary just offered us. Implicit in everything she said was the idea—and it is not just the one member, but all of those who speak in favour of the treaty—that we could not trade with China or expand our investments in China or expand Chinese investments in Canada without this treaty. That is simply false.

The country in the world with the largest volume of trade with the People's Republic of China is Australia. Australia has specifically decided never to enter in to an investor state agreement again, not with China, not with other countries. Australia did what Canada has not done. Australia studied the costs and benefits of the kind of treaty that would allow a foreign company, and in the case of the People's Republic of China, a foreign government, to bring arbitration suits for billions of dollars if they did not like domestic laws passed democratically.

If Australia can attract $60 billion worth of trade with China without an investor state agreement, why on earth are we offering ourselves up as a sacrifice to the People's Republic of China and potential arbitration suits that will cost us our sovereignty?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, that member is absolutely wrong. It would not cost us our sovereignty at all.

What the member said about opportunities that exist in Canada for Chinese investors is, in fact, true. However, the problem is that we do not have the same opportunities and the same equality of opportunity for our investors in China. That is why the FIPA is so important. It is to level the playing field and provide equal opportunity in both countries.

When I hear members talk about not proceeding with trade and using examples of countries that have refused to proceed with trade, I am appalled, because we are an exporting country. We must have trade to succeed. We must have trade to have economic growth.

Therefore, I would really urge the member opposite to reconsider her position against all trade, because it is not very much in the interest of Canada or Canadians.

Taxation

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am noting that it is 12:25 a.m. It is late, but it is never too late to shine the spotlight on issues that are affecting small business in a negative way.

I am referring to a question I asked in the House regarding the increases in import tariffs that would leave Canadians paying hundreds of millions of dollars more for over 1,200 items. It would be a hidden tax on goods that will drive the customers of Canadian businesses to shop in the United States. It will be bad for consumers and bad for Canadian businesses.

The Conservatives talk a lot about their federal budget. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars advertising their economic plan. I would love to see them advertise some of these taxes that are hidden in the budget implementation bill, hidden taxes that would affect small businesses and the people who work in them.

Small business is the lifeblood of our communities, whether it is the small businesses I met with at the Kitsilano Chamber of Commerce, for example, at their AGM recently, who were networking to help each other be successful; the Young Professionals of Nanaimo, who work in the public interest to raise funds for local projects and support each other in their emerging businesses; or the clean tech businesses I met at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada's recent conference, who are investing in innovation so that Canada can have a clean technology export industry that thrives.

These businesses create half of all new jobs in Canada. They account for 40% of our GDP, employ about two-thirds of the workforce and account for 43% of the value of exports. They are very important community members. Their success is critical to Canada. However, they are being hit with increased taxes that are hidden in the budget.

Beyond these tariff increases, there is also a $2.3-billion increase in dividend taxes, to be paid over the next five years by small businesses. That is $2.3 billion they could be retaining to help with the investments they need to make. That comes on top of yet another year of hikes to the EI payroll taxes that collectively cost businesses $9 billion.

These budget items risk undermining our entrepreneurs. As well, it makes it more expensive to own and run these businesses. As a former small business owner myself, I know just how challenging it is to succeed and thrive, be innovative and grow a small business. I am not sure why the government wants to tie their hands behind their backs by increasing taxes.

It might be that this very kind of approach helps to explain the government's failure on the economy and the way they are failing Canadian families economically. It just does not seem to understand the realities of everyday Canadians and small businesses.

I have many statistics from organizations such as TD Economics, Trading Economics and so forth to confirm the assertion that unemployment is high under the current government. There are still 310,000 more people out of work today than there were in 2006. That is just one of many metrics on which the government has failed.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let me correct the record right off the bat.

It is this country and it is this government that has put forward an environment that has led us to have the absolute best job creation in the G7 since the end of the recession in July 2009. There is no better. When a member of the Liberal Party talks about the economy and taxes, it is bewildering to me because this is the government that has led Canada to being a leader in job creation. It has led Canada to be recognized by other countries as one of the best places to invest and do business. Frankly, when we talk about taxes, it is this government that has lowered taxes in over 150 ways.

I need to also correct the record about the EI account. It is the Liberal Party when it was in power that took almost $60 billion of employers' and employees' EI funds to fund their own slush fund. The Liberals withdrew that money, put it into general revenues, and distributed it out in the form of contributions and whatnot. It was absolutely the wrong thing to do and employers and employees have been complaining about it ever since. For any Liberal to stand in this place and criticize this government for the wonderful economic record that we have, and to criticize us for EI changes to replace the $60 billion that they took from the account, is hypocritical.

Now let us address some of the taxes that I mentioned earlier, the 150 taxes that have been lowered, because in this budget there is no raising of taxes and there are no hidden changes to affect businesses. Businesses are very much in line with our low-tax plan, including the reduction of the GST that we saw go down from 7% to 6% to 5%, which the Liberals have indicated they will raise should they come to power. Small businesses agreed with our reduction of corporate taxes, which the Liberals have stated very clearly they will raise if they come to power. Businesses also agree with our plan to grow the economy without raising taxes on Canadians, without reducing transfers to provinces, and to do so in an environmentally friendly way.

We are the party that has led our environment portfolio to successes like a 35% reduction in GHG. Under the Liberal watch, it went up more than 30%. Not only that, our economy is growing while we are lowering GHG emissions. That party is saying as soon as it has the opportunity it will impose a carbon tax, which would further complicate measures for our small businesses.

This is a matter of tremendous importance not only to small businesses but to families alike. Through the decreases in taxes, through the elimination of many of those taxes that were really harming our families, now an average family of four keeps $3,200 in their pockets.

We have more to do, absolutely, but we will take no lessons from the Liberal Party that saw a decade of darkness for our military and increases in taxes to all Canadians because of its cuts to transfers to provinces. We will continue on our low-tax plan and do it with tremendous pride.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it would be great if this member would take a lesson from the Liberals because, in fact, the Liberals helped small businesses create almost 40,000 jobs in 2005, but by 2011, the statistics showed half of that. The GDP growth on average for 50 years has been 3.3%. Under this member's government, there has been an average of 1.2% economic growth. A flat economy, high youth and student unemployment rates, and on debt, it is hard to know where to begin.

Household debt is at record levels. Federal debt, which had gone down $22 billion in four years under the Liberals, has gone up $60 billion under the Conservatives by 2011. Our general government debt in Canada now ranks at 129 out of 144 countries.

This is a very mediocre performance by the Conservatives and it is partially because they do not get the importance of small business. The government's policies ignore and undermine the small business community time after time. Will the Conservatives please take a look at the Liberal record and correct their path?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I hate to actually have to do this, but that member talked about 40,000 jobs in that period of time under the Liberal watch. We are talking about over a million jobs created under this government. There is no comparison.

This low-tax plan, this plan for job creation we have embarked upon, economic action plan after economic action plan, has proved fruitful. When we talk about youth, just last week, in the last report, we heard that 54,000 jobs had been created for youth. It is the highest recorded number of jobs created for youth in three decades. The member has no clue about what she speaks of.

We are regarded in the world as having, as I said before, one of the best economies and as the best place to do business. There are businesses coming to Canada because of the policies we have taken. We will continue with this plan. We will provide for Canadians, and we will do it with tremendous pride.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

It being 12:37 a.m., pursuant to an order made on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, the motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until later this day, at 2 p.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 12:37 a.m.)