Debates of Sept. 19th, 2017

Taxation

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, 98% of businesses in Canada are small and local businesses. We are not talking about the corporate elites at Morneau Shepell. We are talking about the farmer who employs five people or the family-run sporting goods store employing 20 people. I know the Liberals might like to look down on these kinds of jobs, but these are the job creators who provide opportunities in our neighbourhoods. Can the Prime Minister explain how even one new job would be created by going after these job creators and local businesses?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, what we are saying to Canadians is that a system that encourages the wealthy to incorporate so they have advantages and a lower tax rate than the middle class is just not fair. What we want to have is a system that actually does encourage investment, and that is what we are going to have for those small businesses, the businesses that employ Canadians and that want to employ more Canadians. They will have a fairer tax system, encouraging them to invest, which is what we need for a successful economy.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are leading a direct attack against our family-owned businesses, our small business, our farmers, people who work hard every day. Raising taxes is not going to create more jobs here in Canada. Quite the opposite is more likely to occur. This ad hoc reform is going to kill jobs and make local business owners poorer.

What will it take for the Prime Minister and his team to realize that they are jeopardizing jobs all across Quebec and Canada?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we do not want a system that gives wealthy Canadians access to tax advantages that are unavailable to the middle class. We want a tax system that encourages people to actively invest in their businesses. We are listening to farmers and SMEs.

Yesterday I received the phone number of a man named Terry, and I called him today to hear his perspective. I will keep listening to Canadians to make sure we come up with a fair system that really works for the middle class.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is this.

For a week now, thousands of business owners have been talking to us about the Liberals' tax reform and they are all saying the same thing. They are going to have to trim their budgets by cutting from the thousands of dollars that they donate to community organizations or health foundations. They are even considering eliminating jobs because of the Liberal Prime Minister's tax increases. The Liberals are directly attacking our job creators.

When will they realize that constantly hiking taxes is no way to create more jobs?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, a tax system that encourages wealthier Canadians to incorporate and pay lower tax rates than middle-class Canadians does not work. That is the challenge we face.

It is very important to listen to be sure that we understand how our proposals will help small businesses continue to invest. That is important. That is why we are listening.

Official Languages

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a bilingualism bonus intended to encourage civil servants to learn both English and French has existed for 40 years. A Liberal report is now recommending that the federal government scrap this bonus.

Does the Liberal government really plan to eliminate a bonus that helps to promote bilingualism in Canada's civil service?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's two official languages are obviously at the heart of our identity as a country and certainly at the heart of the way this government functions. We always believe that a bilingual public service better serves all Canadians. We respect the hard-working men and women in our public service, many of whom have learned their second language and continue to do so.

We will always do everything necessary to support Canada's two linguistic communities and ensure that these communities are reflected in Canada's public service at every level.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to understand the answer given by the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and what it has to do with the question, which is not very reassuring. He refused to say whether or not they are going to do so.

The chair of Impératif français believes that the recommendation represents an anglophone vision of bilingualism. The public service employees' union is just as skeptical. We know that the Liberal government does not usually consult. We do not even have a Commissioner of Official Languages at this time.

Could he at least promise to consult parliamentarians, linguistic minorities, and the unions about the bilingualism bonus before scrapping it?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, we are always interested in consulting the public service union, public servants, and parliamentarians, of course. Extensive consultations have been and will be conducted on policy changes under consideration.

It is important to note that respect for official language communities and the capacity of Canada's public service to serve both linguistic communities will be the basis for our government's actions at all times.

Marijuana

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, once again, this is not very reassuring for our bilingualism bonus.

Obviously Canada is moving toward legalizing marijuana, and the NDP supports that, but the Liberals have left enormous gaps, and the bulk of the work is being left to the provinces. We know that Canadians are often turned back at the U.S. border when they admit to having smoked marijuana—everyone except the Prime Minister it would seem—even if they have never been convicted.

What is the government doing to reach an agreement with the Americans to ensure that Canadians will not be denied entry into the United States for things that will soon be legal in Canada?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians should have every expectation that when they approach the United States border, they will be treated in a consistent, fair, and respectful fashion. We have raised that expectation with our American counterparts and they have every right to expect the same treatment in return.

However, it is exceedingly important to recognize that each sovereign country establishes the rules for themselves. We would not tolerate the Americans writing the rules for us, just as we would not purport to write the rules for them.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has just said today that he is never going to get turned back at the U.S. border, even though he admitted smoking marijuana while he was a member of Parliament. We just want to make sure the same rule applies to all Canadians.

Legalized marijuana will soon be a reality. It is a very important change, but we have to get it right. The NDP supports this legalization, but the Liberals' bill will not legalize edible forms of cannabis, which is a far healthier option than smoking it. The black market, of course, will continue to thrive under the new rules.

If one of the key purposes is to eliminate the black market, why will the Liberals not fix this problem in their legislation?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, we have worked extensively with all the provinces and territories, as well as with municipalities and law enforcement across the country, to develop a comprehensive approach that will move Canada in a far more positive direction. That work is ongoing, including the full regulatory framework that will deal with cannabis in all of its forms. That work is ongoing.

The objective is to keep cannabis out of the hands of children and to keep illegal profits out of the hands of organized crime. We will make sure we have a regulatory regime that accomplishes that goal.

Taxation

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' voracious appetite for Canadian entrepreneurs is nothing new, and it is based mostly on Liberal contempt and arrogance. Let us remember what the Prime Minister said two years ago when he was running for election. He said, “that a large percentage of small businesses are actually just ways for wealthier Canadians to save on their taxes”.

Perhaps the Prime Minister looked at himself in the mirror in the morning before he said that, but the reality is that for real Canadian entrepreneurs, for small business owners who support hundreds of thousands of Canadians, it is arrogance, it is contempt.

Why does the current government have so much contempt for our Canadian entrepreneurs, who are creating real jobs?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we have said and continue to say, that under our current system, there is a way to encourage the wealthiest to have a private company to get a lower tax rate than the middle class. That is a major challenge.

We are now listening. We are listening to Canadians to make sure that our measures are appropriate, because it is very important. Our goal is clear: to have a system that is fair.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in real life, for real entrepreneurs, real local business owners, there are good years and bad years. That is why real entrepreneurs who know how to run a business put money aside in case things go wrong, as they sometimes do. They also put money into their pension fund. Now, however, we have a government that does not understand that entrepreneurs are cautious, realistic, and responsible, unlike the current government.

Why does the government want to tax small business owners who are being responsible and putting money aside for a rainy day?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we all know that our current system creates an incentive for the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can pay less tax than middle-class Canadians. That is very important. We also know that it is important for SMEs to be able to keep investing in their business. This is going to continue. That is a fact. That is the truth. That is what we want for the future of our country.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am hearing from hundreds of people in my constituency who are very concerned with these tax hikes the Liberals are imposing on Canadians. One woman who came to me owns a local clothing store and said that she was saving up in order to hire a business manager and go on maternity leave. She is hoping to start a family. However, these changes actually defeat her ability to do that, so she is feeling quite discouraged.

The Prime Minister calls himself a feminist, so why does he insist on attacking hard-working female entrepreneurs?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, we inherited a tax system from the Conservatives that encourages wealthier Canadians to incorporate and pay lower tax rates than middle-class Canadians. We do not think that is fair and we are going to fix it.

Parental leave benefits apply to all self-employed Canadians. Doctors and other business owners are just as eligible as any other worker to participate in maternity and paternity provisions. Just because rules are legal does not mean they are fair. It is not fair when a budding entrepreneur, who is a single mother with two young children, has to pay a higher tax rate.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. Members need to not only listen to the questions but also the answers.

The hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Paula, a small business owner in Kamloops, has asked me to give an unequivocal message to the government, which is that these tax measures are ill-conceived, heavy-handed, and will have unintended consequences. She goes on to say she has no guaranteed income, no pension, no employment insurance, no health plans, unlike perhaps some of the advantages that the Minister of Finance might enjoy.

Will the minister stand and justify why he is attacking Paula's future?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, our existing tax rules let the wealthiest Canadians pay less taxes than millions of middle-class Canadian women and men. We inherited a tax system from the Conservatives that encourages wealthier Canadians to incorporate and pay a lower tax rate than middle-class Canadians. Just because these rules are legal does not make them fair.

Everything this government does takes gender into account. Canada's economy depends on equity and fairness. We are focused on ensuring that Canadian women have the same opportunities as everyone else. Our economy depends on it.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Finance announced that his deficit would be 80% larger than the $10 billion the Liberals promised in the last election. They are running out of money and coming after small business to pay for it.

The Liberals have exempted big, publicly traded companies that are on the stock market from any of the tax increases. Millionaire owners of large multinationals will pay just 55%, while a cornerstore will pay 73% on investment income. How is that fair?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the context of the question. What the member has actually identified is that we announced this morning, in our annual financial report, that we are $11 billion better off than we said we would do in budget 2016.

We have a situation where our economy is doing very well. We are growing better than we have grown in the last decade. We have created almost 400,000 new jobs over the last year. More Canadians are employed. We are looking toward a better future because of the investments we have made in our economy.