Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this late sitting to continue the debate I had in question period with the Minister of Small Business and Tourism. While I am not going to read her answer, I basically asked a question about Canadian-controlled private corporations, which are the preferred tax structure and business structure of dentists, doctors, engineers, and architects to conduct their business. I am specifically interested in their impact in my community on clinics, especially medical clinics.
Dr. Melanie, who emailed me a while ago, says that I met her father, as well as the many other members of the local community. These include doctors who are providing front-line clinical services to their patients. She basically says that like many of her colleagues, she provides medical care for patients as an incorporated, self-employed professional. She is involved in a primary care network through which she connects with many other family physicians. Through her work with the primary care network, it is clear to her how important CCPCs are in the operation of many medical practices.
What the Liberal government is proposing to do is very unclear and so the crux of my question to the minister was, what are you going to do to CCPCs?
In the case of my riding, it will lead to less clinical hours and to clinics closing. That is a big deal in a riding as large as mine. For a very long time in Alberta we have had a difficult time attracting new doctors and bringing new graduates into the GP field, the general practice field, to practise in their community and provide a front-line type of service.
The simple question I had for the minister was, would the government stop these tax hikes, because that is the only possible solution for this?
I understand that the Liberals are desperately trying to find new tax monies everywhere to try to balance their budget maybe some day in a decade or two. However, the crux of my question was, what are they trying to do with CCPCs? That is what many professionals in my riding have been asking, whether they be accountants, or architects, or dentists.
The specific example I have affects doctors in my riding. Their experience is troublesome, because, for many of them, according to MNP and a Globe and Mail article that I am going to cite, as of November 27, 2015, the estimates are that their taxes could go up by as much as $5,700 for every $50,000 of taxable income, or $40,000 on taxable dividends. Seventeen thousand dollars on $40,000 is a substantial amount of money. These are not rich professionals, but are providing front-line services to people in my community, especially medical care. It is not as though we can just switch and go to the hospital, which would have far higher costs for emergency room physicals than a GP would.
My question for the government is, as always, what is it planning to do with CCPCs? Why was it not clear in the budget document? Has it even consulted with anybody on this?