Debates of May 30th, 2016

Finance — Main Estimates 2016-17

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Chair, thank you for the clarification. I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the committee members today on behalf of the Government of Canada. A strong economy is based on a strong middle class. Canadians understand that, as do we. That is why our highest priority is to build an economy that works for middle-class Canadians and their families.

By strengthening the middle class, we will help hard-working Canadians look forward to a good standard of living and a bright future for their children. When the middle class succeeds, we all succeed.

We must immediately make investments to strengthen the middle class and enable it to grow, to help young Canadians succeed, and to support people who need help getting a job.

Budget 2016 invests in Canadians and sets the stage for ongoing growth in Canada in the years to come. In December, the government took the important first step in strengthening the middle class by lowering taxes for nearly nine million Canadians.

To help pay for this middle-class tax cut, we raised taxes for the top 1%, those who earn over $200,000 per year. We took an important step with budget 2016 by introducing the Canada child benefit, which will give nine out of 10 families more money than the current child benefit system.

The Canada child benefit will be simpler. Families will receive just one payment every month. It will be tax-free. Families will not have to pay back a portion of the payments they receive when they pay their taxes. The Canada child benefit will be better targeted. Lower- and middle-income families will receive more money, while those who have higher incomes will receive less money than under the current system. The Canada child benefit will be far more generous. Families who receive it will see an average increase in benefits of over $2,300 in 2016-17.

Even more importantly, thanks to this new benefit, some 300,000 fewer children will live in poverty in 2016-17 compared to 2014-15.

Fairness is extremely important to Canadians. They know that paying legitimate taxes owed to a responsible and transparent government is the basis of our shared prosperity. They do not like it when people bend the rules, and they expect their government to take stringent measures to stop people who try.

The Government of Canada is determined to tackle aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion that leverage international taxation strategies. We have launched an action plan to strengthen existing efforts in Canada and abroad and to introduce new measures. This work will protect the tax base and boost Canadians' confidence in the fairness of a system that ensures everyone pays their fair share of the tax burden.

Here is what we are doing in Canada. On April 11, the Minister of National Revenue announced a series of measures that the Canada Revenue Agency will take to fight aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion. Budget 2016 includes $444 million to pay for those measures.

This funding will allow the CRA to hire additional auditors, develop a robust data collection infrastructure, increase audit activities, and improve the quality of investigations. With this additional staff, the CRA will be able to increase the number of audits of high-risk taxpayers by 400%. Furthermore, the government will streamline its efforts by including lawyers on its investigative teams so that cases can be quickly brought before the courts.

New mechanisms will also be put in place. First, there will be a special program to put a stop to the activities of organizations that create and promote tax schemes for the rich.

Second, an independent advisory committee on offshore tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance will be set up. This committee will provide strategic advice to the CRA on ways to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance. The CRA estimates that the new envelope of $440 million will help the government recover no less than $2.6 billion in revenue over five years.

We are also looking beyond our borders. This is what we are doing abroad. Canada is a very active participant in international efforts to fight tax evasion. We are an active member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which was set up to ensure that high standards for transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes are in place throughout the world.

Canada has also established a vast network of bilateral tax agreements and bilateral exchange of tax information agreements, which provide for the exchange of information. On April 15, Canada launched consultations on legislative proposals to implement the standard for automatic exchange of financial account information, which was developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is backed by the leaders of the G20.

The common standard introduces a framework whereby a country's taxing authority can automatically and securely share information on financial accounts held by non-residents in those countries with tax authorities in the country of residence of the account holders. Budget 2016 confirmed the Government of Canada's intention to implement the common reporting standard starting on July 1, 2017, adding Canada to a list of over 90 countries that have committed to implementing it.

Canada has been actively engaged in another multilateral initiative aimed at addressing base erosion and profit shifting, commonly known as BEPS. BEPS refers to tax planning arrangements undertaken by multinational enterprises, which, though often legal, exploit the interaction between domestic and international tax rules to minimize taxes. The following measures, announced in budget 2016, are an important part of implementing our commitments regarding BEPS.

First of all, we will introduce new legislation to impose country-by-country reporting on large multinational corporations.

Second, we will apply the revised international guidelines on transfer pricing.

Third, we will be participating in international work to develop a multilateral instrument to streamline the implementation of treaty-related BEPS recommendations, including addressing treaty abuse.

Finally, we are going to undertake the spontaneous exchange of some tax rulings with other tax administrations.

The government will continue to collaborate with the international community to ensure a consistent and standardized response to the BEPS project. Canada supports the important objective of improving the transparency of corporations around the world. In order to do that, the government agreed to strict rules as part of the activities of the Financial Action Task Force and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

Recent changes to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations increase the requirements that Canada imposes on financial institutions with regard to the collection of information on beneficial corporation owners.

At a G20 finance ministers' meeting on April 15, Canada and the other members agreed that it was important to make information on beneficial owners more accessible to the appropriate authorities and increase the sharing of such information between those authorities in order to put an end to tax evasion, the funding of terrorist activities, and money laundering.

In closing, we know that Canadians expect their government to ensure that services paid for by their tax dollars are delivered effectively. They also expect their government to reduce government waste and inefficiencies to the extent possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Questions and comments?

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance still has the floor.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to ask the Minister of Finance to tell us more about the fairness of Canada's tax regime.

The Minister of Finance and I crossed the country, from coast to coast to coast. I went from Moncton to Yellowknife. The minister travelled from Nova Scotia to Vancouver to listen to Canadians.

Our tour across Canada was unprecedented. We listened to Canadians from coast to coast tell us what measures the budget should include. At these meetings all across the country, people told us that tax fairness was a key point that the government should address. Since our government made tax fairness for the middle class and Canadian families a priority in the federal budget, I would like the Minister of Finance to take a few moments to tell the House what measures he intends to take to ensure that Canada's tax regime is fair.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, as indicated in the observations made earlier, the Government of Canada is determined to ensure that we have a fairer tax system for all Canadians. We have adopted concrete measures to achieve that.

The first step was to lower taxes for the middle class. The Government of Canada knows that a strong economy relies on a strong middle class. When middle-class Canadians and those working hard to join the middle class have money to save, invest, and help grow the economy, then everyone benefits. The Government of Canada has taken measures to lower the tax rate on individual incomes from 22% to 20.5%. Single individuals who will benefit from this measure will see an average tax reduction of $330 every year, while couples will see an average tax reduction of $540 every year.

To help pay for this middle-class tax cut, the government increased taxes for the wealthiest Canadians by creating a new higher income tax rate of 33% for individual taxable incomes in excess of $200,000 annually. It is a question of basic fairness.

We are very proud of the changes we made to the tax system and I am sure that this will improve our economic situation and the situation for Canada's middle class.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Chair, many of the students in my riding have concerns about the future and how they are going to pay for their education, how they are going to get ahead. I was asked that question many times when I met with their parents and their families. I am wondering if the parliamentary secretary might be able to explain how this budget will help young Canadians to get ahead in their education, so that they can get the skills and necessary steps they need to go forward and get employment.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like thank my colleague for this very great question. Budget 2016 is a budget that works for all Canadians. It works for our seniors. It works for our students. It works for middle-class Canadians and for Canadian families. However, let me be more specific about students.

There are three measures in our budget that are going to be very beneficial for students in Canada. The first one is student grants, which have been doubled under the budget. This is an historic measure that will help students across the nation.

The other one is about the summer jobs program. I am very proud to be part of a government that believes in giving youth the first chance to get a job. The summer jobs program has been doubled. In my own community, this is already making a huge difference. We have received a number of applications. The feedback from the community justifies the investment we are making in youth and giving them their first job. Members in the House will understand that unless students get that first job, it is very difficult to get ahead in life.

The third thing is that the Minister of Finance has been very thoughtful around providing that students will not have to repay their loans until they reach a certain level of income. When students finish their studies, we want to make sure they have sufficient income before they have to repay their student loans. This was a very great measure in our last budget.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Chair, in listening tonight to the explanations given by the parliamentary secretary that this budget works for all Canadians, the one category that he missed, that it does not work for, is small business owners.

I appreciated the finance minister coming to committee this afternoon and explaining why the promise to small business for the tax reduction to the 9% level that they campaigned on was broken.

As the finance minister knows, businesses need certainty. They need certainty to invest. He talked earlier tonight about the prospects of small business being an economic driver in innovation, in hiring. However, through this budget and the process of going forward with the measures, small businesses are left hanging, expecting their tax rate to go down and looking for that opportunity for investment. As well, the tax holiday on hiring first-year employees was also taken away.

I would like to point that out from the outset. The parliamentary secretary also talked about trips across the country, listening to people, and taking in information. There is one organization that represents small businesses in large numbers right across this country, and that is the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

I would like to ask the finance minister if he met with and consulted with the president of the CFIB, Mr. Dan Kelly, through his consultation process.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to start by pointing out that small business owners, in fact business owners across this country, are citizens first. They are Canadians.

What we did in our budget was to help Canadians. We know that helping Canadians through reduced tax rates, by putting them in a better situation through changing benefits for their children, can make a real and measurable difference in their lives.

I want to come back to a question that was asked of me a little earlier, which was on what happens to a family with an income of $60,000. A family with an income of $60,000 with two kids, one under six, would have an increase in our plan for the Canada child benefit of $3,300, plus a tax reduction of $225, for a $3,525 improvement. That is real change.

That is the sort of change that will allow those families to be excellent customers for small businesses, buying products and services, and raising the revenues of those businesses, which is, after all, first and foremost what businesses want. They want improved situations and an improved economy, so they can make their business better in the long run.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Chair, similar to answers given previously today, I did not get an answer to the question, which was pretty specific. A yes or no would do. I will pose it in a little different way.

In the outreach to connect with small businesses, the one organization in this country that represents the majority of small businesses is the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Did the minister, or did he not, meet with its president to discuss how it felt about the budget process going forward?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I am happy to take the question, but I think the best way to answer is that we had the most open, consultative pre-budget consultations in the history of this country.

We had 250,000 Canadians who interacted with us in one way, shape, or another, in order to give us their impressions on what we should be doing in our budget.

That was a very important process to us, one that we took very seriously. We spoke with Canadians from all walks of life. We spoke to people who were running organizations that were small businesses, large businesses, and every business in between. We spoke to innovators. We spoke to people who work for non-profit organizations. We spoke to associations of businesses, and associations that think about public policy.

We have engaged more broadly than any government in the history of Canada, and we know that has helped us to come up with a budget that is going to make a real difference over the long term in this country.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Chair, I think the answer is obvious. He did not meet with Mr. Dan Kelly, and he can refute that in further answers to questions if that is the case. It is the single largest business organization in the country, representing businesses of all different sizes in that small business category. By the way, these are the companies that create over 80% of the jobs in the country. He did not care to consult with those people.

I will ask this question. Does the minister agree with the Prime Minister's statement that a large share of small businesses are actually just a way for wealthy Canadians to avoid paying taxes?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, a member of my team did meet with someone from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The reason that is important is because we met with many different organizations as we put forth our budget. We wanted to ensure that we consulted with the broadest range of Canadians to ensure we heard their views. We believe there are many important business organizations in the country. We met with chambers of commerce across the country, chambers that represent a vast number of Canadian businesses. We met with many other associations that represent businesses and Canadians from all walks of life. That is important to us. That will continue to be important to us as we work to be open and transparent in our work for Canadians.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Chair, there is another area where the finance minister has failed to be transparent, and it is when it comes to the state of the country's finances that he inherited from the past government.

We have heard the finance minister repeat many times in the House and across Canada that he inherited an unanticipated deficit for fiscal 2015-16, left by the previous government. It is difficult to evaluate the minister's spending plans and decisions when he has been so misleading about his fiscal numbers. However, the evidence shows that the Liberals were left with a surplus and it was their taxing and spending decisions that set it off track. I will ask some specific questions.

Make no mistake, the Liberals took a fiscal framework that was on the road to surplus and veered off of it to a deficit ditch.

First, let us not forget that there was a surplus of $1.9 billion in 2014-15. In April last year, our budget forecast a surplus of $1.4 billion for 2015-16, which the minister said is not true. However, let us look at the facts.

According to his own independent department officials who publish the monthly “Fiscal Monitor” on the state of Canada's budgetary balance, at the end of October when we left office, the books were $600 million in surplus for the year. By the end of February, they were $7.5 billion in surplus for the year. Keep in mind that the Liberals had been in power for four months at that point.

Last Friday, the Liberals announced that the books deteriorated by $9.4 billion in March, turning what was a surplus of $2 billion into a deficit all in one month.

Such a turnaround in federal finances in such a short period of time has not happened since 2005. I am told they call it March madness, but the minister likes to tell us we should not pay attention to the “Fiscal Monitor”, it is just a month-to-month update. So let us look at the big picture, the full year.

If the minister is right that the economy, and not his spending, is responsible for plunging us into deficit, we should see a decline in tax revenues compared to what we projected in budget 2015. However, that is just not true. The minister's budget shows he expects annual revenues to be higher than they were projected last April. So did the PBO's latest independent projections.

Economist Stephen Gordon put it well when he said on Twitter last Friday, “If you're looking for an explanation of why Joe Oliver's projected surplus didn't happen, the answer looks to be in spending, not revenues.

Let us make an important point here. It is the Liberals' spending, spending that was outlined in their election platform: middle-class tax cuts, Syrian refugees, reinstating sick leave, new transfers to provinces, new spending in foreign aid, and I can go on. This points to a more serious concern than just whether the budget balances. He is trying to slip as much Liberal platform spending as possible into the 2015-16 fiscal year so he can hide from Canadians the true extent of his massive spending spree. For purely political motives, he has spent away the 2015-16 surplus left by the previous government. That is fine; he is the elected government. However, he needs to own up to it. He needs to take responsibility, not to blame others. I hope he will be able to answer some questions here about how he instructed his department officials to mislead Canadians about the federal government's finances.

The finance minister told the Toronto Region Board of Trade in December 2015 the following, “I know you won’t be surprised when I tell you that when an economy is not performing as expected, the government will face a shortfall in revenues...”. Fortunately, the hard facts tell the opposite story. Does he stand by his misleading claims that lower revenues were the primary driver of this Liberal deficit?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to start by talking about the “Fiscal Monitor”. It is prepared each month using the same accounting principles used to prepare the government's annual audited financial statements and the public accounts. The Office of the Auditor General has provided unqualified opinions on the government's financial statements in each of the past 17 years. The mere fact that we are talking about the “Fiscal Monitor” in a question from the other side means that party acknowledges the veracity of the reports that come through the “Fiscal Monitor”.

When we look at it, we realize that the “Fiscal Monitor” is telling us what we expected it would tell us. We knew in the fall when we came into office that we were facing an era that was going to be challenging. We had come off a decade of low growth. I will remind members that every decade previous to the last decade had higher growth for eight decades. We found ourselves in a low-growth era. However, it turned out that the efforts of the previous government were even less effective than we thought they were because we found ourselves at the time we came into office with a much more challenging economic horizon. We saw that growth rates were much more challenged. We could look forward and see that those would present real changes in the economy over time. We saw that obviously the price of oil was causing real challenges for our economy.

That is what we were left with, realizing that situation. We knew then what we know now. We knew that the forecasts the previous government had made in terms of what would happen in the year 2015-16 were just inaccurate. It overestimated revenue and it underestimated what was going to happen in the economy and, as a result of what happened, expenses went up. Yes, expenses go up when the economy is difficult. Expenses go up because the government spends more money on services for Canadians during difficult times.

However, it was a combination of revenues going down more than expected and expenses going up more than expected that led us to a position in March where we did have a very significant deterioration in our finances. This is not unusual, because if we go back to the years before 2015-16, we see a similar pattern. In March 2009-10, we see a negative $6.4 billion. In 2010-11, we see a negative $6.2 billion. These are all numbers in March. In 2011-12, we see a negative $8.9 billion. In 2012-13, we see a negative $8 billion. My point is quite clear. This is a continuing pattern. Had the previous government done just a bit of due diligence, it would have seen that this was a pattern that would happen this year. Had it had the foresight to understand the significant economic challenges that we were facing, it might have understood what we were saying. That way the Conservatives might have actually been able to tell Canadians the truth; that they were on track to leave us with a deficit.

We now know from the March “Fiscal Monitor” that is exactly what happened. The previous government left us with a deficit. I am happy to spend time with the hon. member outside of the House to walk through the numbers with him line by line to show him exactly how that occurred. Because I know he has a business background, I know he will understand.

That is the situation we find ourselves in. We will now make a difference for Canadians by investing in the future. We will do what the government before us did not have the willingness to do, and that is make a difference for future generations by making the right decisions today.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Chair, I want to talk about strengthening Canada's place in the world, but before I get there, I want to raise one question with the minister. Spinning off the last series of questions, I would like to ask the minister to think about this for the next 15 minutes. Could he tell us how much the previous government added to the national debt of the country as a result of the eight or nine deficits they had while they were in government? I would like that answer a little later.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the committee of the whole and to highlight one of the central initiatives in the 2016 budget, “Strengthening Canada's Place in the World”.

The time has come to rebuild our international influence and make a serious impact in global affairs. We intend, as a government, to adopt a proactive approach and a positive tone that reflects the core values of Canadians, namely that ours is a country that is generous in spirit, compassionate toward others and proud of the place we can call home.

In our 2016 budget, we accomplished this objective by identifying three principles areas for action: international assistance, immigration, and defence.

Let me begin with international assistance.

Canada has a long history of providing international assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable. From our proud tradition of peacekeeping to our financial support through the International Assistance Envelope, or IAE, our actions reflect the fact that Canadians feel connected to the broader world and that they believe in peace and stability for all people.

To ensure we continue to provide assistance where it is most needed, we intend to conduct a review of our international assistance policy framework. Over the coming months, we will work with stakeholders to evaluate what we do now and how we can improve.

We are also increasing Canada's international assistance envelope to over $5 billion on a cash basis by 2018-19. This includes new funding to the IAE to address emerging international priorities, funding provided for Canada's approach in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, and climate finance.

For those people affected by conflicts and living in fragile states, budget 2016 also provides $586.5 million over three years to renew key peace and security programs. This includes up to $450 million for the global peace and security fund; $106.5 million for the international police peacekeeping and peace operations programs; and $30 million for the counterterrorism capacity building program Sahel envelope.

By investing in measures that will improve the lives of global citizens and contribute to international peace and security, Canada will once again become a true leader in the world, one that makes a real and valuable contribution to world peace and prosperity.

It is interesting that when one does travel, and I happened to be in Germany in December and Taiwan in January, it is really nice to hear people say that it is nice to have Canada back, and Canada is back with this government. That is good to see.

Our second area of focus is immigration. We are proud that we achieved this objective at the end of February of this year. For these refugees, our work has now shifted to helping them integrate successfully into Canadian society.

On a personal note, in my home community of Prince Edward Island, many of these newcomers are at least getting a glimpse of spring and the terrific beauty on our particular island as the crops go in the ground. Although we are not big in numbers on Prince Edward Island, on a per capita basis, we have done as well or better than every other province in bringing refugees into the province. There is something very symbolic about that.

Bringing in the refugees has been a real testament to the resolve and inclination of the many Canadian organizations and communities that are part of this undertaking, people who opened their hearts and homes to both government and privately sponsored refugees. They have continued to welcome these newcomers as they start a new chapter alongside us in Canada. However, it is not simply circumstance or a sense of obligation that compels us to act. Immigration actually contributes substantially to Canada's long-term growth and prosperity, and it has to be a part of our economy moving forward if we are going to get that growth we need in our economy. By welcoming people to Canada to create better lives for themselves and their families, all Canadians benefit.

We recently announced our intention to admit 300,000 new permanent residents this year. This is the most in over a hundred years, when people were fleeing the hardships and conflicts that led to the First World War.

We are also taking steps to ensure more families can be together to build a new life for themselves in Canada and contribute to our country's prosperity. To that end, budget 2016 provides $25 million this year to reduce application processing times and make family reunification a priority of Canada's immigration system.

Our final area of focus is defence. While Canada is being strengthened by people from around the world seeking a new life here, outside threats do remain a reality. We have a responsibility to promote security and stability both at home and abroad. The international security environment is more complex and challenging, exposing our personnel abroad to increased threat and risk. We will support those who defend Canada and contribute to international peace and security by renewing the major equipment of the Canadian Armed Forces and improving facilities where they live, work, and train. That includes new investments of about $200 million over the next two years to undertake infrastructure projects at Canadian Forces bases and other defence properties across Canada.

This funding would support projects that promote operational readiness and improve the quality of life for Canadian soldiers. The funding includes $77 million for projects to support readiness for Canadian Armed Forces military operations, including investments to repair and construct live-fire ranges, air fields, hangars, and naval jetties across Canada. There is $67 million for projects to support the reserve forces; $50 million for projects to support military personnel and their families; and $6 million for projects to support northern operations.

The government is committed to building a modern, more agile, better equipped military to conduct missions at home and abroad. The Minister of National Defence has in fact launched public consultations as part of an open and transparent dialogue with Canadians and key stakeholders to inform the development of a new defence policy for Canada. During 2016, the government will seek the input of Canadians, experts, allies, partners, and Parliament on the strategic environment for the Canadian Armed Forces, its role, as well as its size, structure, and capabilities.

Let me conclude. The blueprint laid down in budget 2016 is transformative, and I know that Canadians are ready for it. Our first six months in office have clearly demonstrated our ability to take the action Canadians expect of us to restore Canada as a leader in the world.

I have three questions for the minister. Of course, I asked him one earlier. I wanted to know how much that other crew left our country in added debt as a result.

My question in terms of the international aspect is this.

All of Canada knows that there has been about 25,000 refugees who have arrived in this country. What additional work is the government doing to help the Syrian refugees who have arrived, and how does this support our plan for long-term growth and prosperity in this country? In other words, how is that influx, that great effort to bring 25,000 refugees into this country, going to help maintain our growth and prosperity and in fact add to it over the longer term?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I am delighted to talk about this. It is such an important initiative for our government.

Now that phase one of this plan to bring in Syrian refugees is complete, and now that 25,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada, we are turning our attention to the next phase of the plan. This involves helping the refugees to integrate into Canadian society.

Syrian refugees have gone to communities where there are settlement supports in place, with consideration given to whether they have family members in Canada, as well as the availability of schools and housing so that their families can properly integrate into Canadian society. Privately sponsored refugees have gone to the community where their sponsor lives. We think this is an important part of our next phase in ensuring that this community becomes integrated into Canada and a part of what we know is the Canadian dream.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Chair, my second question, in addition to the $160 billion that the other crew added to the debt over the last nine years, is about the government's commitment to resettling Syrian refugees to Canada, which will continue in 2016 with both government-supported and privately sponsored Syrian refugees. They will continue to arrive on commercial flights in the months ahead. I am wondering, as this develops over the additional months, what the government is doing budget-wise to assist these new refugees coming in.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, that is a very important question, and I am pleased to answer it.

The government's commitment to resettling Syrian refugees to Canada will continue in 2016 as both government-supported and privately sponsored Syrian refugees will continue to arrive on commercial flights in the months ahead. Our budget 2016 provides $245 million over five years, starting this year in 2016-17, for the identification, overseeing of processing, transportation, and resettlement of the additional 10,000 government-sponsored refugees.

There are clearly myriad considerations and many tasks to undertake in partnership with organizations and communities, which have proven to be exemplary partners in using their own resources to help Syrian refugees to integrate. We continue to be very grateful to provincial and municipal governments, private sponsors, service-provider organizations, corporate Canada, and for the broad support and generosity of Canadians in support of this very important work.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Chair, one of the areas that we hear the most complaints about is family reunification. It is an important role, and it is important to integrate families into Canadian society and the economy. However, at least up until now, it has taken too long for family sponsorship decisions to be taken, leaving families separated for way too long a time.

I wonder if the minister and his counterparts in cabinet have looked at that issue and if they have found any approach in budget 2016 that might be able to address family reunification, which is a serious matter going forward.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, that is an important question. We recognize that it is critical for us to deal with it. The challenge around family reunification is why in budget 2016 we committed to supporting faster and more predictable processing times for family sponsorship, making it easier for newcomers to adjust to their new lives in Canada and to start to contribute to the country's long-term prosperity.

Higher permanent resident admissions will ensure that immigrants from across the globe can bring their skills and talents to Canada to contribute to our growth. We will continue to focus on this issue in the years to come.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Mr. Chair, it is my pleasure to participate in committee of the whole this evening and further examine the budget that was delivered a short time ago.

I am a little disappointed that we have not really had answers to many of the questions that have been posed here tonight, so we will just carry on and see if we can do a little better.

The finance minister is the person in cabinet with the ultimate responsibility for our national economy. The strength of our economy can be measured in many ways but one is how many jobs are created. Unfortunately, job creation has not been a priority for either the government or the finance minister. That tone was set with a throne speech that was all about expanding government programs but made no mention of private sector jobs.

The finance minister followed the Prime Minister's lead by crafting a budget that leaves entrepreneurs, workers, and private sector businesses on the sidelines. Instead of focusing on businesses that create jobs, wealth, and opportunity in our society, he delivered a budget that expands spending on government programs by a massive 7.6% overall this year.

I would like to quote Hendrik Brakel, who is the senior director of economic, financial, and tax policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He did some research on this budget compared to the last one that the Conservative government presented to the House. In the last Conservative budget, the word “business” appeared 622 times. That is compared to just 87 times in this first Liberal budget. Similarly, in the 2015 budget the word “hiring” appeared 15 times and in the finance minister's budget “hiring” is only mentioned three times and it is mentioned only in the context of hiring more government employees to work at the Canada Revenue Agency. Even as he massively expands government spending by tens of billions of dollars, his budget sets aside just $173 million for business growth and innovation. That amounts to about 1.5% of this new budget spending.

The parliamentary budget officer has shown that the job numbers that were presented in this budget were inflated by some 40%. In addition to that, the finance minister refuses to release any information so that we can understand how he came up with his numbers.

I have some questions for the Minister of Finance about growth and job creation. The first one is the obvious one. Could he explain a little more about how he came up with the numbers for jobs in this particular budget?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for his question and acknowledge that jobs are a critically important part of what we are trying to achieve for Canadians.

We start with the realization that what Canadians care about most is helping their families. Middle-class Canadians need jobs to be successful. Therefore, when we set out to put together a budget, we recognized that growth is what we need as an imperative to create jobs.

We set about putting growth measures in the budget, growth measures that we can see. In this fiscal year, there are going to be 43,000 more jobs, an increase in economic activity that is going to create real improvements for Canadian families through more and better jobs. Importantly, next year, we estimate that there will be about 100,000 new jobs.

I know the member opposite is keen on exact methodologies and exact multipliers, but I can tell him, most importantly, that our analysis by the Ministry of Finance, the analysis by the Bank of Canada, and the analysis by the parliamentary budget office all come to the same conclusion. They come to the conclusion that the kinds of investments we are making, the kinds of investments that help Canadians today in infrastructure and innovation, are going to create jobs. They are going to create a lot of jobs and that is going to help Canadian families to be better off. That is where we started.

I want to say a little something about the private sector. We recognize that the government really is the enabler in allowing the private sector to work. We understand that what we need to do now in our infrastructure planning is to invite the private sector in to be part of those plans. We intend to partner with municipalities, provinces, and institutional investors to see how we can amplify our investments. We will bring the private sector in so we can have a bigger and more measurable long-term impact on the economy and, by the way, more jobs. That is critically important.

I will say that in doing things like this, deeds matter more than words, because if words were all that mattered, the best budget ever would be the over 800-page budget that was delivered by the previous government. Instead, we put forth a budget that had implementation measures that really are about what we are trying to achieve for Canadians: growth, more jobs, and a better future for Canada.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Madam Chair, words do matter because at least the budget that was delivered in 2015 was balanced. We have gone over those numbers to the point where the only person who does not believe that there was a balanced budget in 2015-16 is the Minister of Finance.

I do not think I got a very concrete answer. It still sounded to me like the Minister of Finance is pulling a lot of job numbers out of the air.

When we speak about the private sector, I would like to re-emphasize what my colleague said about it. There was a promise to reduce the small business tax and the Liberals broke that promise. That is how jobs are created in the private sector.

Let me move on to borrowing. It is clear that over the past dozen or so years, Canada outpaced its G7 counterparts in growth. Since the early 2000s, the Minister of Finance continues to insist that there was slow growth. However, I want to quote from his briefing binder, which was prepared by his own department when he took office. It states that Canada's real income per capita growth was the strongest of all G7 countries in the 2000s compared to the weakest growth in the 1990s, which, as we all remember, was a previous Liberal government.

I want to ask the finance minister whether he agrees with this assessment by his own department.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, I would like to start by addressing something in the question from the hon. member regarding the position that this government was left in by the previous government.

I note that in the House, on a month-by-month basis, members opposite bring up the “Fiscal Monitor”, and they do that for good reason. The “Fiscal Monitor” is the best way to understand the situation that we find ourselves in economically. We know the position we are in economically is a reflection of the measures and lack of measures put in by the previous government. Through its measures and lack of measures, we ended up with an economy that was not doing well, which led us to be in a deficit position for the fiscal year 2015-16.

I know that it is difficult for members opposite to acknowledge that the “Fiscal Monitor” is the correct barometer, but given their past behaviour, I should think that they would understand that the thing they have been talking about each month has now proved that we are, indeed, in a deficit in 2015-16, a deficit left to us by the previous government. There really is no other way to talk about it.

In terms of growth, our main focus is actually on Canadians of today and Canadians of tomorrow. We recognize that what we need to do is figure out how to grow the economy more rapidly. The last decade was the lowest-growth decade in Canada in the last eight decades. That is our starting point. We are going to do better for Canadians from here on in.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Madam Chair, the minister did not answer the question whether he agreed with his department, which obviously does not agree with the new government.

My friend who is the chair of the finance committee made comments about Canada is back. The evidence that the minister received in his briefing from his department clearly points that Canada had not gone anywhere. Canada always has been back. For the minister to stand here and say that somehow we have had slow growth over the past number of years is incorrect based on his own briefing documents. We will leave that.

I would like to go back to the job creation side of the question. This also gets back to small business. There has been a lot of talk about an increase in CPP premiums. I would like to have the minister tell this committee what his thoughts are relative to those premium increases and what calculations have been done and what impact that might have on small business as we move forward.