Debates of Feb. 13th, 2017

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I request that the recorded division on the third reading of Bill C-30, the Canada-European Union comprehensive economic trade agreement implementation act, be deferred until the expiry of the time provided for oral questions tomorrow, Tuesday, February 14.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Accordingly, the recorded division is deferred until tomorrow, February 14, at the expiry of the time provided for oral questions.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I am sure if you were to canvass the House, you would see the will at this point to see the clock at 6:30 p.m.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Is it the pleasure of the House to see the clock at 6:30 p.m.?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Canadian Heritage

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising in the House today to follow up on a critical question related to our cultural industries.

The minister's consultations were held in the fall. One point was repeatedly brought to the attention of the minister and her staff, and, I hope, to that of other departments and ministers. On October 26, I asked a question in this regard. I basically said that ADISQ is in crisis over streaming, print media is asking for help transitioning to digital media, and creators are once again considering purchasing advertising spots in children's programming, which is unbelievable.

In the meantime, the Minister of Canadian Heritage keeps giving a free pass to Facebook, Google, and Netflix, who are not paying their fair share and are literally working under the table.

I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage whether she was finally going to stand up for the ecosystem for which she is ultimately responsible. She is a proud defender of that system, which she herself rightly refers to as an ecosystem. I asked her to ask her colleague, the finance minister, to ensure that these people pay their fair share.

She replied that the upheaval in the media and entertainment industry is precisely what prompted her and her team to take leadership on this issue and go beyond what was asked in her mandate letter, which is true. I commend her for that.

She was vague about the issue of sales tax, which is the most basic tax, the harmonized tax, or the GST, which usually covers most of our economic activities related to consumption.

It is unfair and there is no reason why some businesses do not have to collect these taxes and report their sales figures in Canada. I would call that freeloading. It is unbelievable and very difficult for consumers to understand why their invoice from services such as Apple Store or iTunes shows no tax, no GST, no QST on a transaction for a song, but that they pay tax on certain apps that they download from the same service.

When we dig a little deeper and ask tax and excise officials questions, they tell us that this situation, this irregularity, may be due simply to the fact that iTunes and the Apple store are aggregators and that if the product the aggregator is selling is made in Canada, it is taxable. That seems utterly absurd to me. It is contrary to the spirit of the law to put our own businesses at a disadvantage.

Consider services such as Shomi or the defunct Crave, which attempted to compete with the likes of Netflix, which is global in its reach. Here is the scenario. Suppose Netflix has 10 million subscribers in Canada. That is a made-up number. Multiply 10 million subscribers by about $100 per year, and that is $1 billion. If those transactions were taxed, that would be a lot of money. That is some significant corporate revenue that should be taxed and should be contributing to our system.

I would like to know if the Minister of Canadian Heritage or her department has had any word from the Minister of Finance about this.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert for raising this issue.

Our government recognizes the value of arts and culture to Canada's society and economy. We know we are living in exciting transformational times. Rapid technological advances and changing consumer behaviour are creating both challenges and opportunities.

The government consulted Canadians in order to ensure that its cultural toolkit is adapted to today's digital reality and that we can successfully meet all challenges related to the creation, discovery and export of Canadian content in a digital world.

The government's focus is to ensure that Canadian creators have the tools necessary to thrive in the digital world.

The consultation will help us adapt our cultural policies to today’s digital realities.

As the initial consultation paper indicated, the way forward is not in attempting to regulate content on the internet. Our focus should be on how to best support Canada's creators and cultural entrepreneurs in creating great content and in competing globally for both Canadian and international audiences.

Grabbing a bigger piece of the global pie is critical to building a strong and viable creative sector.

As part of the consultation process, we organized discussions in Vancouver, Halifax, Toronto, Iqaluit, Edmonton and Montreal. These discussions took place with representatives from a variety of creative sectors. ADISQ was one of the groups represented that took part in the event in Montreal on October 28, 2016.

As well, individual Canadians and groups were encouraged to submit their ideas to the consultation web portal. ADISQ took advantage of this opportunity to submit a paper, which is publicly available on our web portal. The information and data received from both the online consultations and in-person events is being analyzed and will be presented in a public report. This information will help inform the government's approach to continue to support the sector.

By directly consulting Canadians, the Government of Canada will be able to determine how best to support Canada's creators and cultural entrepreneurs in the new digital environment.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how disappointing. I was trying to give credit where credit is due when I said that the Minister of Canadian Heritage was sincerely interested in this industry. I cannot believe that her department would give her parliamentary secretary such a briefing. How disappointing. This smacks of a postcard written three months ago. There is no need for consultation. It does not take a rocket scientist. No taxes are being paid, but some taxes are being charged to Canadian entrepreneurs. It is unfair, period. I am not asking the Minister of Canadian Heritage to fix it. My question was: did she get a response from the Minister of Finance on this?

Honestly, I am extremely disappointed in this answer. He got a very bad briefing or there is someone who did not do their homework. It is not complicated. Just read the 300 testimonials that were sent to see that most people mention the sales tax that is not being collected on these types of transactions. It is not right. It is unfair to Canadian and Quebec entrepreneurs. I do not get it.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, how unfortunate. What do we mean by enhancing the creation, discovery, and export of Canadian content in a digital world? It means that we want to give creators and businesses in Canada's cultural sector the means to develop and fully contribute to Canada's economy.

It means creating pathways to market so creators can share compelling and engaging stories that positively shape an inclusive and open Canada. Above all, it means valuing the social and economic contributions of our creators and cultural entrepreneurs.

We have to acknowledge that creativity is at the heart of innovation. That is the basis for a strong middle class and it is key to the success of Canada in the 21st century.

Taxation

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to revisit the question I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage on October 31 of last year. That is over three months ago.

I asked the minister about a tax credit that was quietly brought forward by the Liberal government that would benefit talk shows. This tax credit was also to be backdated to February of 2016. In October, I asked the minister to tell the House how much this tax credit would cost hard-working Canadian families. In response, we did not learn how much the tax credit would cost taxpayers, nor was the tax credit even acknowledged in the minister's response. This is what brings us here tonight.

I cannot believe that yet another measure is being introduced by the Liberal government that will likely cost the taxpayer substantially while benefiting very few. Meanwhile, tax credits that benefit Canadians coast to coast are being revoked. We watched as the children's fitness tax credit and arts tax credit were revoked, and the Liberal government even cancelled income splitting for families. These tax credits and measures that would benefit the average Canadian are being repurposed to finance boutique issues and the Liberal elite.

As the media pointed out, the subsidy is sure to benefit a number of production companies in, of all places, the Prime Minister's home town of Montreal. As Canadians, we should be questioning the priorities of a government that is subsidizing talk shows while running a projected $25 billion deficit, and indeed running deficits almost every year until 2055, according to the Department of Finance.

We should be questioning why the government chose to squander a federal surplus left by the previous government and is raising taxes on Canadians families to finance niche markets like talk shows. Given that the government cannot even follow its own ethical standards, Canadians deserve to know how much of their hard-earned tax dollars are going to fill the pockets of media elites who are friendly with the Liberal government. We should be looking into whose hands this money actually falls. Is this another way to finance cash for access fundraisers concocted by the Prime Minister and his Liberal cronies?

As all of this unfolds in front of us, I worry for my children and grandchildren, who will be saddled with this enormous debt. In the meantime, Canadians will continue to be taxed, unable to decide how to spend the money that they worked hard to earn. We know that the Minister of Canadian Heritage is looking into a Netflix tax and that the government is considering a tax on health and dental benefits. These are taxes that would hurt the middle class, Canadians that the government claim to advocate for.

It is clear that the Liberals will propose tax credits when they help their friends hosting talk shows, but will cancel them when they help ordinary, hard-working Canadian families. Can the parliamentary secretary tell us today, definitively, how much this tax credit will cost taxpayers?

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that the member for Provencher mentioned in the course of his remarks was his belief that the government is considering a Netflix tax. I can disabuse him of that again tonight. That is absolutely not the case.

On November 1, the Minister of Finance tabled his fall economic statement. Setting a new bar for transparency, this statement included economic projections for policy actions taken since budget 2016. This includes the regulatory change that now makes talk shows eligible for the Canadian film or video production tax credit, which dates back to 1995. The immediate value of this change is estimated in that document at $8 million in 2016-17. Over time, this amount will increase as new productions emerge and become eligible to an estimated $33 million.

Our government is proud to support Canada's film and television sector.

Indeed, federal support for this sector in 2015-16 was almost $670 million, excluding CBC/Radio-Canada. In budget 2016, we made important new investments in Telefilm Canada, the National Film Board, and CBC/Radio-Canada. These investments will support a key economic driver in our country's cultural sector. Film and television activity in Canada generated an estimated $8.5 billion in GDP in 2015-16.

This industry is also an important vector for job creation in Canada. It employs more than 140,600 Canadians and benefits small and medium-sized businesses across the country.

It is also a sector that is showing strong growth. In 2015-16, $6.8 billion was spent on production budgets in Canada. This includes both the Canadian content productions supported by this tax credit and also foreign productions that shoot in Canada. As a labour-based tax credit, the Canadian film or video production tax credit increases as more films and television shows are produced in Canada and more Canadian creators are employed.

More film and television production is not only good for our economy today, but also helps us attract the international talent and investment that can position Canada as a future leader in a global economy where innovation and creativity will play an important role. There are enormous opportunities for our creative industries in an increasingly digital and global marketplace. Our government is working hard to support their current and future successes.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the parliamentary secretary for answering the question that I presented to the minister. Just to reiterate, the tax will cost Canadian taxpayers $8 million then grow to $30 million over time for talk shows.

I was also pleased to hear the parliamentary secretary confirm that there will not be a tax on Netflix.

I am just wondering whether the parliamentary secretary would be so kind as to confirm that Canadians do not have to worry about their health and dental benefits being taxed as well. I am sure Canadian taxpayers would love to be reassured that they will not be burdened with another tax.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, it is a little outside my portfolio to talk about the taxation of health and dental plans but I was here in the House, as I believe was the hon. member for Provencher, when the Prime Minister was absolutely unequivocal in his statement to that effect. That is the end of that discussion for me and I would certainly hope and expect for my colleague too.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:27 p.m.)