Diane Lebouthillier

[Business of Supply, May 11th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time, if there is any left, with the member for Winnipeg North.

As the member for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, immigration is so important to me and to the survival of my region that it was out of the question for me to participate in today's debate without discussing the realities of rural regions, and in particular the realities of the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands.

The newcomers and temporary foreign workers in my riding have helped my region get through various crises. Without the temporary foreign worker program, the fish processing plants in my region would have closed their doors many years ago, as there would be no one to work there. For many years, immigrants and temporary foreign workers have enabled our communities to survive and thrive. Our newcomers learn French. When they arrive in our region, every spring, people are happy to see them.

With respect to renewable energy, in my riding, in the Gaspé, there is the largest wind turbine manufacturing plant in North America. Securing the development of this plant required welcoming a Filipino community. Expansion announcements were made and the plant practically doubled its production. More than 200 new Filipino workers were brought in, because the region does not have enough people for this kind of development. This goes to show how much businesses need immigrants. We need people who have received training, but we also need workers.

During my election campaigns, I went door-knocking. My colleagues from the Bloc may not realize what people in the regions are going through. They need to talk to entrepreneurs in the tourism or hospitality sector, among others. Every entrepreneur we met wanted to grow their business in the region, and they were prepared to invest in expanding their operations.

Some entrepreneurs cried as they were talking to me, because they were unable to develop their business, even though they had the ambition to do it. What was the hold-up? It was the labour shortage. During the election campaigns, they kept telling me that they could not go on for much longer, that they needed people to grow their business and take their place.

I know this scares the Bloc Québécois, but you cannot build on fear. In reality, we are all immigrants. Jacques Cartier arrived in the Gaspé and it was there that he met the indigenous communities.

When I was young, there were six elementary schools in my small village that served 700 children. Only one school remains, and it does not even have 70 students now. Will we ask 70 children to provide for an ageing population? The regions need immigrants.

When I was young, there were seven schools and now there is one. I do not see any reason why we could not build schools if we brought in immigrants.

The people who will come will work and ensure that our communities are vibrant. We will be able to populate and use our land. We talk about old-stock Quebeckers and I am one of them. Newcomers have never prevented us from continuing to speak French. I have never been afraid of that. I have not lost my culture. That is what the Bloc Québécois is trying to make us believe.

When we are proud of our culture, we promote it, we talk about it and we welcome newcomers and immigrants. We share our culture with them because we are strong enough to preserve that culture.

I will cede the remainder of my time to my colleague from Winnipeg North.

[Labour, May 8th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle for her question.

After many weeks of hard work, the Canada Revenue Agency reached an agreement in principle with the taxation employees' union. We appreciate Canadians' patience and understanding during this time.

The best deals are reached at the bargaining table. These deals are fair, competitive and reasonable, and we are deeply grateful for the public servants who work hard to serve Canadians.

[Labour, April 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, I would like to reassure my colleague: My nose is just fine.

Restoring and maintaining a respectful relationship with the public service of Canada is an ongoing commitment for our government. We recognize the important role that employees play in the delivery of services to taxpayers.

We will respect the collective bargaining process and we will not be commenting on negotiations which are in progress.

[Labour, April 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, let me reassure my colleague that I have no problem with my nose. My nose is just fine.

That said, restoring and maintaining a respectful relationship with the public service is an ongoing commitment for our government. We recognize the important role that employees play in delivering—

[Labour, April 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I can say that I have nothing to learn from the Conservatives when it comes to tax season.

This is the best tax season we have had since 2015. Fully 95% of tax returns are being filed electronically, and people receive their refunds just a few days later.

We are doing excellent work. I want to thank all CRA employees for all the work they did during the pandemic and since the beginning of tax season.

[Labour, April 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, our government understands that any potential work disruption can be stressful for Canadians who depend on important government services.

The Canada Revenue Agency will not extend the deadline for filing tax returns. A potential work disruption will not prevent Canadians from filing their tax returns electronically or by mail before the May 1 deadline.

We encourage all Canadians to file their taxes electronically. To reassure my colleagues, I can tell them that this is the best tax season we have had since 2015.

[Labour, April 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are two-faced.

They say they care about Canadians but they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against the dental care programs. They voted against the housing programs.

I want to reassure my colleagues by stating that this is the best tax season we have had since 2015, because 95% of Canadians are submitting their tax returns electronically and there are no delays in payments.

[Labour, April 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, this really feels like a bad movie. When we listen to the Conservatives, we hear them asking us to help Canadians, but then they vote against everything that we put forward to help Canadians. They criticize us for being here for Canadians and then they want to cut what we are delivering.

The Conservatives are experts at two things because they talk out of both sides of their mouths. They continue to give ridiculous advice about cryptocurrency. I want to tell my colleague that this is the best tax season we have had since 2015.

[Labour, April 24th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we will take absolutely no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to negotiating with unions or providing services to Canadians. Canadians well remember the decade of darkness under Harper. The Conservatives cut services, muzzled scientists and tried to crush the labour movement across the country. After all that, they want to come and give us lessons. They should save themselves the embarrassment.

Canadians have not forgotten, nor will they ever forget, that the public service under the Conservatives was all about cuts. It was “chop, chop, chop”.

[Questions on the Order Paper, April 17th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the above-noted question, what follows is the response from the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, as of February 14, 2023, the date of the question.

With regard to part (a), given the nature of the mandate of the CRA in administering Canada’s tax system, the Minister of National Revenue does not intervene in the operations of the CRA or in specific taxpayer files or audit processes. The CRA’s approach to audits is based on its assessment of compliance or non-compliance with existing legislation and regulations. Furthermore, as stated in the January 26 follow-up document tabled with PACP on page 12, the CRA has conducted audits of some of the CEWS recipients identified as being at risk by the Auditor General and to date has found that 97% of the amounts claimed of the examined files complied with program rules.

With regard to parts (b)(i) and (ii), the CRA employs a risk-based approach, in alignment with international best practices and with existing audit programs, that incorporates many elements, including cost-benefit considerations. The reason for this is that a risk-based approach ensures that the highest risk cases are addressed with appropriate compliance actions and optimizes recoveries while adhering to principles of sound stewardship of public funds. This approach ensures the CRA’s efforts are focused on claims that are of highest risk of being ineligible or overstated and allows the CRA to focus on risk without creating undue hardship for Canadian business owners as they continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CRA’s risk-based approach uses business intelligence tools and algorithms to assist in identifying claims that are considered high-risk and warrant a further review. These algorithms take into consideration a variety of data elements, including GST/HST, payroll and income tax filing information, claim-by-claim comparisons, compliance history and accounting methodologies, among others.

With regard to parts (c), (d), and (e), the CRA is interpreting these questions as relating to the $15.5 billion in CEWS payments identified in the Auditor General’s “Report 10—Specific COVID-19 Benefits”.

The CRA considered the “Report 10 —Specific COVID-19 Benefits” observations and can confirm that all CEWS claimants, including the 51,049 employers, representing $9.87 billion in CEWS payments identified by the Office of the Auditor General, were risk-assessed by the CRA using business intelligence tools. In addition, the CRA can confirm that a segment of the 51,049 claimants, 92% of which are small and medium businesses, has also been identified by the CRA for audit. Of the audits that have been completed so far, 97% of the amounts claimed have been approved without changes.

“Report 10—Specific COVID-19 Benefits” did not identify any businesses associated with the additional $5.6 billion in estimated payments. The CEWS audits completed to date demonstrate high levels of compliance and suggest that the number of ineligible claims may be significantly lower than estimated in “Report 10—Specific COVID-19 Benefits”.

As of January 3, 2023, the CRA has reviewed $33 billion through prepayment work and is auditing $14.7 billion, which is currently in progress or completed. The CRA is planning to continue this work until 2025 using a risk-based approach to target the claims with the most risk to ensure the integrity of the tax and benefits system.

The CRA is also carrying out additional postpayment validation reviews of approximately 70,000 businesses across all business subsidies. A specific breakdown for each subsidy is not available, as this information is not captured in this manner. Where intentional non-compliance has been identified, the CRA is pursuing these cases to the fullest extent.

The CRA conducts its compliance activities and allocates its resources commensurate with the risk, complexity and population segment of the business. As it relates to CEWS postpayment audit programs, resources were allocated following a risk-based model, in alignment with international best practices and other existing audit programs, that incorporates many elements, including cost-benefit considerations. Overall, results of CEWS compliance audits are demonstrating a high level of compliance. As noted above, cost-benefit considerations are incorporated into the risk-based approach model as factors for consideration.