David Anderson

[Infrastructure, May 29th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the premise of the hon. member's question is incorrect. No money from the federal government is going to the Jets hockey team, as has been said by the Prime Minister and

every other member of the government time after time. The basic premise of his question is incorrect.

With respect to the issue of whether any organization is entitled to charitable status, I have to tell the hon. member what I told my hon. friend from the Bloc a moment or two ago. That is, past decisions of the courts have said that organizations that are strictly for sporting purposes are not charities within the definition that has been put forward by the courts over the years. That is the situation in law. That is the law I must follow.

[Winnipeg Jets, May 29th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, once again it is difficult to comment directly about a specific case. It is not our practice to do that.

However, in general terms I can assure the hon. member any attempt to avoid the existing law as it has been laid down by the courts will be objected to by Revenue Canada. The law should be applied directly and fairly to all, as it has been in the past. It is always possible for people to attempt to alter the nature of an organization's objectives or to alter the nature of gifts to a charitable organization or to bring it within a charitable status. That is within their right. We will examine it thereafter when we receive that information and determine whether it meets the law.

We insist any organization that attempts to get charitable status meet the full requirements of the law.

[Winnipeg Jets, May 29th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the rules governing charities are set out by the courts, not by Parliament or the government. They are set out by a series of court decisions.

It has been determined over a fairly lengthy series of court cases that an organization entirely for the promotion of a sport is not a charitable organization. I cannot comment on the particulars of any one organization and where it stands within the process. I can as a general rule assure the hon. member that any

organization strictly for sporting purposes would not qualify for charitable status.

[Tourism, May 18th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly can.

We have approximately 700,000 cruise ship visitors coming through Vancouver. These people put millions upon millions of dollars into the economy of Vancouver. Yet I found to my surprise when I became minister that they were waiting for up to three hours at the Vancouver airport before moving down to the ship terminals.

We have a new facility in place. It is temporary until the new building is put in next year. Instead of wasting their time at the airport, the cruise ship passengers will now have the opportunity to spend their time in downtown Vancouver and spend their dollars along with it.

[Underground Economy, May 5th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that in the week when people have to file their taxes a question like this should come up.

I assure the hon. member and this House that the measures undertaken three weeks after this government took office are bearing fruit. We are succeeding in reducing the scope of the underground economy through a number of measures, in particular of course with greater enforcement.

We have done this in co-operation with the provinces. We now have agreements with every province in the country. We exchange information, carry out joint orders, work with them. We have agreements with the professional and trade associations in areas of particularly high non-compliance so that we can use the industries themselves.

I can assure the hon. member that the result of this has been a very substantial increase in the revenues coming to the government. I would like to point out that in the last month for which we have figures, revenues are up over 8.5 per cent of what they were a year ago. Some of this at least is due to the underground economy initiative, although I must admit that-

[Babbar Khalsa Society, May 4th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has made allegations for which she has given no substantial support in this House by way of evidence.

It is important for her to recognize that there may well be organizations that have activities overseas that are difficult for Revenue Canada to supervise and check. We have an ongoing program within Revenue Canada to examine the charitable status of all organizations that are involved in the charity or non-profit area. We do this on a continuous basis with the resources that we have.

There may be some activities overseas of some organizations on which I would be happy to receive information so we can check further. Under those circumstances, I would be grateful if the hon. member would provide that information so that investigations can be carried out rather than simply making allegations of the type she has made today.

[Babbar Khalsa Society, May 4th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, some 72,000 organizations have charitable status and the ability to hand out receipts for tax purposes.

The member should recognize that the vast majority of these act very much in the public interest, carry out necessary functions in this society whether it be with respect to health, education, relief of poverty or other such matters.

Many in this group deal with immigrant groups in Canada. Many of them carry out excellent work. The member is wrong to single out a particular organization of which there may be one or two individual members about whom I know nothing and attempt to blacken the entire charitable status of all organizations dealing with immigrants. These organizations assist them to integrate into Canadian society.

[Taxation, May 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the issue is not as clear nor as simple as the hon. member is suggesting. Again, I stress the fact that every file will be closely reviewed by the department before a decision is made. In some cases, we even have to look at research conducted abroad, or with several companies that have formed a partnership for this purpose.

It is very difficult to solve this issue quickly, but we are doing our best.

[Taxation, May 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, senior officials from the department are conducting a close review of all the files of taxpayers who invested in these research companies. The various representations made, as well as all the relevant information, will receive full consideration.

[Goods And Services Tax, April 28th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question and for the continued interest she shows in tax fairness.

There are specific provisions in the GST legislation which do provide for a notional input tax credit. This credit in turn allows registered car dealers to compete at the same level as private sellers who are not GST registrants.

The department monitors and investigates any indication or reports of any abuse of the notional input tax credit and I can assure the hon. member that we have, as a result of her

representations, stepped up our own activities to ensure the notional input tax credit provisions do not result in any tax advantage for any particular individual or group of car dealers.