Bill Morneau

[Natural Resources, May 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to reinforce our commitment to end subsidies to oil organizations of any sort by 2025. We are on track to do that.

What I can tell members is that we are working hard. We are in discussions with Kinder Morgan, the proponent from the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline. We know this project is in the best interests of Canada, in the best interests of Canadians from a standpoint of jobs and our overall economy. We will work to do this in a way that is commercially appropriate and in a way that does not create any subsidies.

[Natural Resources, May 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we have committed to phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies between now and 2025. We are on track to do that. In fact, we took measures to do that in budget 2016. At the same time, we want to make sure that we can move forward with the pipeline expansion, which is in the best interests of our country.

The environment and the economy can go hand in hand. That is exactly what we are doing by taking a commercial approach to finding a way to have that pipeline project go forward without having any subsidy in place in any way.

[Natural Resources, May 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by the year 2025, and we are on track to meet that target. At the same time, we know that the Trans Mountain expansion is very important for our country, for our economy, and for jobs across Canada That is why we are working with the company to find a solution to the pipeline expansion. That is very important.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Madam Chair, I would like to tell the member for Louis-Hébert that he asked a really good question. It is always a pleasure to field a question from him because he always makes some very important observations about our economy, Canadians, and how we can improve their lives.

On the subject of what we have done for Canadians, the tax changes are definitely very important. It is obvious that it is much easier for a family to be in a good position thanks to the tax cuts for the middle class. With the addition of the Canada child benefit, families with children are much better off from a tax perspective. Our approach of growing our economy, considering the concerns of the middle class, and determining how we can work together to improve economic growth sets the example for other countries. That is our approach and we are talking with our counterparts around the world to see how we can improve Canada's situation and also how we can improve the situation of families in every country and facilitate international exchanges with the assurance that economic growth will benefit families and individuals in all countries.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for his excellent question. I want to tell him that this is obviously a very important question.

This question has to do with the important sector in which the government is taking action to protect Canadians. In its efforts to deal with base erosion and profit shifting, the OECD identified a number of specific situations in which the terms of existing tax treaties could potentially be abused.

The OECD then developed effective measures to counter base erosion and profit shifting, measures that the countries can choose to include in their tax treaties to effectively close these loopholes. However, given the large number of existing tax treaties and the long period of time that would be required to bilaterally renegotiate such an agreement, a new approach was created so that these changes can be implemented more quickly and effectively. This new approach is the multilateral tool that was mentioned.

The MLI would allow signatory nations such as Canada to quickly modify their bilateral tax treaties to work more effectively together in the fight against aggressive international tax avoidance. At the same time, the MLI would improve the functioning of the international tax system and provide greater certainty for Canadian taxpayers by improving dispute resolution under Canada's tax treaties. It was developed and negotiated by more than 100 countries and jurisdictions, including Canada. Budget 2018 confirmed that, this year, Canada would take the steps necessary to enact the MLI into Canadian law and to ratify the MLI as needed to bring it into force.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Chair, I can appreciate that the member opposite and her party probably feel anxious, knowing that they were unsuccessful for a decade in getting a pipeline built to take our resources to international markets. They recognize that their lack of success creates a level of anxiety, because they can see that the commitment of this government to getting this done is clear, not only in our words but also in our actions. We will ensure that we actually deliver on a promise to Canadians that a project in the national interest will get done. We are sorry that we are creating anxiety for them because of their previous failure, but our success will highlight that there is a way to do this, and it is our way.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Chair, I can confirm the importance of this project. I can confirm that we believe that creating jobs for 15,000 people is the right thing to do. I can confirm that ensuring that our natural resources have access to international markets to allow us to get more appropriate prices for those resources is important. I can confirm that we are in discussions with the project proponent and that we are looking to find a way to ensure there is a private sector, commercially appropriate way to move forward with this project.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Chair, we believe this project needs to go forward. We have given federal approval. We have ensured that we have protected our oceans with a best in class $1.5 billion oceans protection approach that we know will ensure that we are environmentally appropriate as we embark on this important expansion project.

We are in discussions to ensure that the delays and uncertainties caused by Premier Horgan will not preclude the proponent or the private sector approach from moving forward. We believe that this is an appropriate way to move forward responsibly with a commercially viable approach.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Chair, this project is in the national interest. It is economically viable, it adds value to the shippers of product, and it will create 15,000 jobs. We see the project as one that has commercial value. That is why I am in discussions to ensure this project moves forward and is not in any way impeded by the delays and uncertainty caused by Premier Horgan. That would not be in our national interest.

[Business of Supply, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Chair, I can reiterate that we see this project as commercially viable. We see it as being in Canada's national interest. We see it creating 15,000 jobs. We will provide more information on that subject as more information is available.