Candice Bergen

[Taxation, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, do they remember the last time that the Liberals said these small business tax increases were no big deal and the small business owners should not worry? That did not go so well for the Liberals. Have the Liberals learned absolutely nothing? They are punishing small businesses again, not just with this hypocritical tax increase, but by the minister's ignoring small business owners' very substantial questions for some information.

The Minister of Finance always seems to be hiding something, does he not? What is he hiding now from small business owners?

[Taxation, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, with only three weeks left until the tax changes come into effect, the Minister of Finance refuses to tell small businesses what effect the changes will have on them. He says that it is no big deal. We know it is not a big deal for the minister, because he has his millions sheltered from taxes in offshore accounts and numbered companies, but it is a big deal to local small business owners who are trying to deal with hypocritical and unfair Liberal tax changes. Why is the Minister of Finance so disrespectful to our small business owners?

[Business of the House, December 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the government, which will hopefully be answered a little better than the questions were answered in question period, but we will see how that goes.

I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons what the government has planned for the rest of this week and next week before we go back to our ridings for the Christmas break.

[Questions on the Order Paper, December 6th, 2017]

With regard to Bill C-27, An Act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985: did the Minister of Finance sign the memorandum to Cabinet proposing the Bill?

[Taxation, December 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable hearing the Liberals talk about tax fairness when it was their Minister of Finance who has spent the last two years protecting his income from taxes. It is unbelievable. Dan Kelly, president of the CFIB, said that to expect business owners to make changes for January 1 with no details is appalling. It is appalling. Simple question: Will small business owners be given any advance notice before these tax changes go into effect, or is advance notice of tax changes only something that Liberal insiders get to have?

[Taxation, December 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, have the Liberals not learned a thing from being smug and brushing off serious concerns of small business owners? Yesterday, the government said that the changes would not be released until the budget, and then a moment later it said they would be released very soon. The bottom line is small business owners need to know and they are asking the government to respect them and to let them know when the changes are going to happen. When will the Liberals stop playing games with local small businesses, just be up front, tell them when the changes are going to happen, and exactly what those changes are?

[Ethics, December 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the integrity of Canada's CFO must be beyond reproach. However, the minister's ethical lapse has compromised his ability to keep the confidence of Canadians.

He has been found guilty of breaching a law and he is under investigation by the Ethics Commissioner for introducing legislation from which he could benefit. Now the commissioner is looking into his November 2015 sale of Morneau Shepell shares. On top of all of this, we do not know what else is lurking in the shadow of the finance minister.

Why will the finance minister not do the right thing and just step aside?

[Ethics, December 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, no matter how hard the Liberal spin doctors spin, the finance minister's ethical problems are not going away. There is just too much Canadians know, but still so much they do not know.

They know the minister did not put his assets in a blind trust and he was found guilty for hiding assets in France. What Canadians do not know is what else he was hiding in his other numbered companies where he was managing other assets, all for his own benefit. Canadians do not trust him.

How can the finance minister continue in this role?

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, not surprisingly, that member's characterization is completely false. We did not cut money. I should not be surprised, because this is the same party that said it would only run a $10-billion deficit. It has a lot of problems with math and the facts.

Here is the fact, and we took a lot of heat for this. The Conservative government is the one that made sure terrorists would not be able to organize in Canada. It enacted laws against terrorism being promoted on the Internet, which are being rescinded, by the way, if we look at what is happening with Bill C-59. We were criticized for the work we did because we were working so hard to invest money to keep Canadians safe.

The Liberals' approach to this is what is causing the problem. They are not taking this issue seriously.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is correct about our increasing the resources of our protective services and changing the legislation so that those services could communicate with each other.

However, I want to talk about something else. This last weekend I had the privilege and honour of meeting with some young women from the University of Toronto. I met with a group of young Muslim women who were smart, intelligent, forward-thinking, amazing young women. The Islamic faith is such a faith of peace. It is a faith that is being taken advantage of by these ISIS fighters. I think we all agree that we need to look at the dangers of ISIS and bring some safety and security to Canadians, but not make this into a religious battle.