House of Commons Hansard #216 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, will the minister confirm that this drafting error, if left uncorrected, would cost affected households up to $750 on their 2014 tax returns? Would he confirm that?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, the budget changes the calculation of the family tax cut to ensure that couples claiming the family tax cut and transferring educated-related credits between themselves receive the appropriate value of the family tax cut. We have dealt with the issue.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, can the minister confirm that affected households are those that qualify for both income splitting as well as the tuition, education, or textbook tax credits? Will he confirm that?
Finance—Main Estimates 2015-16Business of SupplyGovernment Orders
Liberal
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, can the minister confirm that the drafting error can be found in ways and means Motions Nos. 16 and 17, as well as in Bill C-57?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, the measures are in the budget implementation act.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, does the minister know if this drafting error is in any other government motions or bills on the order paper?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, I will get back to the member opposite on that question.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, when was the minister first aware or made aware of the drafting error?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, I do not have the exact date, but my officials made me aware of it at an appropriate time when they were dealing with it.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, who made the error? Was it by officials in the department, or was it originally made by somebody outside of Finance Canada, imposing this on the department?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, in respect to the last question, I believe it was during the month of April, and it was a drafting error in the department.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, taxpayers must follow an 85-step process to qualify for income splitting. Even the tax experts who wrote the legislation actually got it wrong at least three times. Is the minister concerned about the process being too complex if his own department seems to be incapable of drafting the legislation around it?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, the member opposite seems focused on process. Let me remind him of what he said back in 2003. He said that we should change the tax system to treat single income or dual income identically under the tax system in order to stop penalizing Canadian single-income families.
Has the member changed his mind?
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, I do not have to answer the questions here, but I do not mind saying yes, I did change my mind. The facts have changed, and when I read the C.D. Howe report, I changed my mind on income splitting, as did the Hon. Jim Flaherty. When given the choice between being consistent and right, I think it is better to be right, and income splitting is wrong for the 85% of Canadians who do not benefit from it.
Is the minister concerned that income splitting does nothing to help single parents or low-income families?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, as opposed to being right or wrong, I guess we can rely on the hon. member for having made a decision that he may currently regret but has to stick to.
What we are talking about here is a total package of benefits to all four million Canadian families, all of whom benefit, and disproportionately so for low- and middle-income Canadians.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, could the minister explain how income-splitting benefits a single-parent family?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, as I said, the combined package is of benefit to all four million families with children, disproportionately so to those in the lower- and middle-income classes, and 25% to families earning less than $25,000 a year.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, is the minister aware that when the PBO examined income splitting, his office found that the largest average benefit from income splitting would go to families with an income of more than $180,000 per year? Given the constrained fiscal environment, does the minister think that is really fair?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, as I said, single parents and lower-income families with children will benefit from the enhancement of the UCCB and may benefit from the increase in the child care expense deduction dollar limits if they were at the previous maximum limits and have additional eligible expenses.
All Canadians, including single Canadians and lower-income Canadians, also benefit from the GST rate reductions and broad-based income tax relief, such as a reduction in the lowest personal income taxes introduced by our government and the—
The Assistant Deputy Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Order, please. The hon. member for Kings—Hants.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, does the minister agree with his predecessor, the late Jim Flaherty, who said, “I think income-splitting needs a long, hard analytical look…to see who it affects and to what degree, because I’m not sure that overall, it benefits our society.”?
Joe Oliver Conservative Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Mr. Chair, my esteemed predecessor was commenting on something that did not include the current overall family benefit program. In addition, it is worth noting that we put in a $2,000 cap, which I think went a long way in dealing with the issue. When it is combined with everything else, he would have been pleased with the progressive nature of this program in benefiting low- and middle-income Canadians.
The Assistant Deputy Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
This will be the last question.
The hon. member for Kings—Hants.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, lower oil prices have led to a precipitous drop in Alberta's housing sales. There is often around a six-month lag between when sales fall and prices really start to fall. What does the minister expect will happen in Alberta's housing market this year?