Madam Speaker, I wish to thank the member for Flamborough—Glanbrook, the member for Elgin—Middlesex—London, and the member for Calgary Shepard as well for the excellent speeches that they have delivered in support of my motion.
Motion No. 43 sets out to protect Canadian individuals, families, and companies from rare but potentially devastating incidents of gross negligence on the part of the Canada Revenue Agency. It seeks to instruct the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to investigate and report on the best way to implement an enforceable duty of care owed by CRA to taxpaying Canadians. The motion recognizes the vast power the CRA has over individuals, families, and businesses, and so seeks to give the latter some recourse in a case of egregious abuse by the former. This is a common sense approach to a rare but nevertheless real problem.
Given the nature of the motion, which is only concerned with protecting Canadians from potential harm, it is disappointing that the other major parties in this Parliament appear to believe that acts of gross negligence by a powerful government agency are not a problem. They appear to consider it beneath the attention of elected representatives to ensure that honest Canadians do not lose their livelihoods, their homes, their health, and all that they have worked hard to achieve due to an egregious error by the tax collector.
Unfortunately the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue has taken the position that the CRA complaint resolution systems are just fine as they are and that abuses are adequately addressed by existing internal mechanisms and perhaps any lingering service complaints could be just cleared up by additional money. This is both shamefully naive and completely misses the point of the motion. Motion No. 43 does not aim to replace the internal complaint and objection process. It addresses cases of gross negligence, abuse, malice, and frivolity, which the internal systems as they exist cannot handle.
Neither I nor my motion cast aspersions on CRA's internal objection and redress mechanisms, nor do I or my motion deny the good work done by the dedicated and professional employees of the CRA. The troubleshooting team members who help with our constituents typically provide first-rate service, but even if they can help correct issues for the most part between CRA and constituents, they cannot order redress for ruined lives when cases of gross negligence occur. This happens rarely, but nevertheless it does occur.
Along with clearer communication, the Liberals promised to make CRA more client-friendly and transparent, yet they appear opposed to a measure to keep the tax collector accountable to the taxpayer. What could be more client-friendly than enshrining in law a duty of care requiring CRA to consider Canadians' interests?
The Liberals talk about improving the taxpaying experience but when we give them a gift-wrapped opportunity to keep their own election promise to do so, the parliamentary secretary calls it a solution in search of a problem. As much as I may approve of Liberal imposed measures to make the CRA easier to interact with, a case of gross negligence cannot be solved by making the forms easier to understand.
Equally disappointing are the statements made by members of the NDP, who claim to be defenders of ordinary Canadians and yet can always be counted upon to put the interests of public employees ahead of the interests of members of the Canadian public.
My colleagues on the left of these benches first tried to derail this motion on weak procedural grounds that were actually a repudiation of their parliamentary prerogatives as fellow private members. Then the member who spoke earlier, as well as the member for Jonquière who spoke in April, and shamefully also now the member for Winnipeg North, attacked the motion by mischaracterizing it as an attack on government workers when the motion is simply an accountability measure to protect Canadians.
We were elected to the House to legislate. Are the workers in the executive branch not there to execute the laws passed by Parliament? Is it not an MP's role to set standards of behaviour for government agencies? If we do not do it, who will? That is our job. I do not know why members of the NDP and some members apparently of the Liberal Party as well want the government and its agencies to be unaccountable. Do they not understand why they are here?
Let me conclude by mentioning that members of the House have an opportunity before them to support a motion that would ensure a powerful government agency is accountable to the individual Canadians it serves and not just to the crown. They can fulfill the aspirations contained in the taxpayers bill of rights and ensure that Canadian taxpayers can be made whole if they become victims of gross negligence.