Debates of May 25th, 2015

Finance—Main Estimates 2015-16

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, will the minister confirm that his department is spending $7.5 million in advertising the recent budget?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, it is the responsibility of the government to communicate with Canadians on important programs and services that are available to them. We want to ensure that all Canadians are aware of the measures that are putting more money back in their pockets, including the enhanced universal child care benefit, the family tax plan, the recently expanded TFSA, which is used by over—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Order. The hon. member for Kings—Hants.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, does the minister believe it is reasonable to advertise measures that have not been approved by Parliament?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

As I said, Mr. Chair, it is important that Canadians understand what the benefits are. There are over 200,000 Canadian families who are not aware that they are entitled to receive UCCB payments. If they do not register for them, they will not get them, so we want to communicate that, as one example.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, how much will Finance Canada spend on advertising in this fiscal year?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, the answer is $7.5 million.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, how much has already been allocated to Finance Canada from the central advertising fund for this fiscal year?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, I will have to get back to the hon. member with the answer to that specific question about the Department of Finance.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, how much did the department spend on advertising in 2014 to 2015, the fiscal year that ended almost two months ago?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, the amount that I gave, $7.5 million, was for this year. The previous year was $11 million. The amount that I gave the member is the amount so far this year.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, how much will the ads running during the NHL playoffs cost?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I do not have that detail at this time, Mr. Chair.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, will the minister confirm that these ads cost approximately $100,000 per ad during NHL playoffs?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, it is, of course, important for us to run ads when people watch them. That is how we determine it. We leave it to experts to decide where those ads should run to get the maximum viewership.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, with thousands of young Canadians struggling to find work and summer work, does the minister think that it makes sense to spend $100,000 for an ad when that could create 30 summer jobs for Canadian students?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, we have taken many actions and initiated many programs to help summer students, including job matching, incentives for apprenticeships, and student loans. Student loan programs have been significantly enhanced in our budget, and we will continue to work on behalf of students and youth to maximize their employment opportunities.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, does the minister believe that economic action plan ads have provided good value to taxpayers?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, this is a pretty open-ended question, but, yes, of course they have, in a great many of ways, right across the country for Canadians from all walks of life.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, does the minister support the idea of a non-partisan, independent body to review and approve ads to determine that they are not wasteful and not partisan by nature?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I have said, our action plan has introduced a number of very important new measures that we want Canadians to be aware of, such as the family tax credit; the expanded UCCB; the doubling of the fitness tax credit; changes to RRIFs, which are a tremendous benefit for seniors; a new home accessibility tax credit; and increased amounts for TFSAs.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, the minister may not have heard my question, but would he support an independent body to review and approve ads, vetting them to ensure that they actually do provide good value for taxpayers and that they are not partisan by nature? Would he support that?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, we are very comfortable that we are providing important information to Canadians that they need in order to understand and access our programs. We are doing that with the assistance of our officials. We believe we are providing a public service in so doing.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Chair, can the minister describe the legislative drafting error that was made with respect to income splitting and confirmed in the briefing by departmental officials last week?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Chair, our Conservative government believes in keeping more money in the pockets of Canadian families. Because of the measures our government has introduced, the tax burden on Canadians is at the lowest rate it has been in more than 50 years. The family tax cut, in conjunction with the UCCB and other measures such as the children's fitness tax credit and child care expense deduction, are providing benefits to low- and middle-income Canadians.