Daniel Blaikie

[Canada Revenue Agency, June 19th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, in the pandemic there were folks who were in quite desperate financial situations.

One group was foster kids graduating out of care in the spring of 2020. There were no jobs available. They were told by the provincial government that they could not access social assistance unless they applied for CERB. The provincial government knew very well that it was a no-fail application. That is how those kids, at the time, got money to support themselves, as they were striking out on their own at the age of 18.

Now, the government is calling in all of those debts, and many of those Canadians are still in a desperate financial situation. The government said it was going to take a compassionate approach, but recent media coverage has said it just cancelled the $5- and $10-a-month payments, so people cannot access that anymore. The government is clawing back benefits.

If the government is really committed to a compassionate approach, at the very least it should know how many CERB debtors fall below the low income cut-off. Has it done the analysis, and if so, what is the number?

[Canada Business Corporations Act, June 19th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, on this same point, I would say that this interoperability is really important. The provinces that already have a public registry have set the threshold at 25%. The member mentioned 10% before, but, for the bill to be compatible with the laws of the provinces that already have a public registry, it seems to me it would be important to start with a 25% threshold and to then have some conversations with the provinces, instead of legislating something in the House that is incompatible with the provincial registries.

How can we address this and make sure we create laws that allow the federal government to have an important tool it can use to go after the Russians who are hiding their assets in Canada?

[Canada Business Corporations Act, June 19th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, there are a couple of themes I have heard in Conservative speeches about this bill. One is that the ownership threshold is too high at 25%. I think one of the awkward tensions with another line of Conservative argument is that the 25% standard is actually present in most of the provincial registries that currently obtain. I think part of the goal of starting with a 25% ownership threshold was to have more congruence with existing provincial systems.

My concern is that, as we try to resolve these tensions between, as the member rightly pointed out, the importance of collaborating with the provinces and some of the things we might like to see as more stringent requirements in the legislation but that are not congruent with the existing provincial situation, the clock is ticking. There are folks, like Putin's buddies, who are hiding money here in Canada and whom a public beneficial ownership registry would help pursue.

It is not perfect legislation, but can we get the legislation passed before summer in order to ensure that we can begin doing the work to bring those folks to justice?

[Canada Business Corporations Act, June 19th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I would encourage the member to go back a little further in terms of Canada's involvement in money laundering. Donald Fleming, a former Conservative finance minister, was instrumental in setting up the Cayman Islands as an international tax haven, and he set up many others, in the Bahamas and elsewhere. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that Canada is known for money laundering, because Canada helped set up some of the financial centres of the world where money laundering takes place, and, through various taxation treaties to avoid so-called double taxes, made it possible for money to move very easily between Canada and these other jurisdictions. That is why we lose tens of billions of dollars in tax revenue from legitimate sources of income, in addition to the damage that is done in Canada through money laundering.

I wonder if the member perhaps has some reflections on the way that a certain kind of anti-tax rhetoric has been used over decades now to position Canada as a world leader in money laundering.

[Petitions, June 16th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I also rise today on behalf of Canadians who support Bill S-243, an act to enact the climate-aligned finance act.

The petitioners do not just want to see government policy align with climate objectives in this era of climate change coming home to roost; they also want to see private capital and private investment align with our climate objectives through clear benchmarks, good reporting and meaningful consequences for those who do not ensure that their economic activity is coherent with Canada's goals and the world's goals for reducing emissions and mitigating the worst effects of climate change.

[Petitions, June 16th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising today on behalf of many Canadians who support Bill C-262. They want to see Canadian companies represent our country well abroad, with a meaningful concern for human rights, and not just on a voluntary basis but on a basis where they are required to do so by government and where there are meaningful consequences for them if they do not ensure that they are adopting best practices in respect of human rights and reporting out on that regularly.

[Grocery Industry, June 16th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, in the debate between the Conservative leader and the Liberal finance minister, we hear a lot about public spending and inflation, but what neither of them will say is the role that outsized price increases and record corporate profits have been playing in driving inflation for Canadian households. Canadians know it, as they are the ones paying the bill, and the number one stressor for them now keeping them up at night is their financial position.

The agriculture committee has finally recognized that the New Democrats were right to call for a windfall profit tax on those very same corporations. Now that we have a multipartisan recommendation to implement a windfall tax on giant grocery companies, will the Liberals finally do it?

[Transcona Memorial United Church, June 16th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the career of two United Church ministers, Carol Fletcher and Jeff Cook.

At the end of June, Carol and Jeff will retire after 35 years of ministry at Transcona Memorial United Church, serving the congregation and the wider community. In the course of their exemplary community ministry, Carol and Jeff have answered Jeremiah's call to seek the welfare of the city we are in.

Since coming to TMUC in 1988, their stewardship has supported the Transcona Food Bank, Families Connecting groups, the nursery school, the Transcona Council for Seniors, the Transcona scouting movement, and put Transcona on the map with the world messy church movement, among other things.

In recognition that Jesus loves us as we are, Jeff and Carol guided our congregation to formally becoming an affirming ministry. They created opportunities to learn what it means to live as treaty people, and they fostered connections with newcomers, nurturing English conversation groups and most recently providing support to people from Ukraine.

On behalf of the congregation and the wider community, I thank Jeff and Carol for their good work and wish them all the best in their next chapter.

[Canada Business Corporations Act, June 16th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, this is certainly an area for federal and provincial co-operation.

As I said before, what is important is that we create the legislative mandate for the federal government to move forward as expeditiously as possible, and that the government take a lot of the constructive feedback that has already been offered in the course of this debate into very serious consideration. It should take that into their conversations with the provinces and territories so that we could build the best possible public beneficial ownership registry.

What we have in the legislation now is good, but it could be better. However, we do not need it to be better to get started on all the work that needs to happen in order to start applying pressure to folks like Putin's buddies who are stashing cash here in Canada.

[Canada Business Corporations Act, June 16th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. A Canadian author, Alain Deneault I believe, wrote a book that describes the role played by Canadian banks in the creation of the entire international infrastructure of tax havens.

We need a major change in culture in Canada, not just in government, but in the banking sector, which is truly an integral part of this entire international enterprise. We have work to do.

We must change how we think about this to ensure that Canada is no longer a place where it is impossible to obtain justice for accountants who want big corporations to pay their taxes, and not just the Canadian workers who are footing the bill.