Francesco Sorbara

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, when our government was elected, the pillar for one of our platform policies was tax fairness. We have been looking at the entire tax system to eliminate those measures that are inefficient, regressive, and do not benefit the majority of Canadians. Whether it is getting rid of income splitting that the previous government brought into place or whether it is limiting the $500,000 business tax deduction that only benefited wealthy Canadians and was being used inappropriately by many businesses, we have done that.

We are growing our economy. Results show that to date 700,000 new jobs have been created since we formed government.

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, tax fairness is an essential pillar of all government. It was an essential pillar in the first budget in 2016 and also in budget 2017.

Tax fairness is a continuing pillar for our government to build a strong country and to build a strong middle class. We know that when the middle class works, our economy works.

With reference to my hon. colleague's comment about where the tax cut took place, nine million Canadians benefited from that tax cut. Under our tax system, the majority of those earning between zero and $30,000 do not have any tax payable, because our tax system works through a number of tax credits and also through the exemption amount of up to $13,000 or $14,000. If the member studied that portion, he would know they do not have any tax payable, so a tax cut would not assist them.

We targeted a tax cut that benefited nine million Canadians, $25 billion in tax relief. That has shown up in our economic results and that is benefiting our economy today and into tomorrow.

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member from British Columbia for his question. This is why our government is taking strict measures to fight tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.

They are funded through an investment of over $1 billion in the 2016 and 2017 budgets. We are turning the Canada Revenue Agency into an organization that gets results for Canadians, especially when it comes time to provide a fair and equitable system of taxation.

That is what Canadians expect and that is what we will continue to do.

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak today about tax fairness. I am proud to be a part of this government, which is doing a lot for tax fairness.

I am very happy to rise this afternoon to speak to the opposition day motion regarding tax fairness because our government's record after two years speaks for itself, and I am glad to comment on it.

First, in preparation for today's opposition motion, I went back and looked at our budgets for the last two years that we presented. I looked at budget 2016 and our platform to create a stronger middle class, which we are doing through the lowest unemployment rate over 40 years, and the fastest economic growth rate that we have seen in probably 10 or 15 years. A lot of great things are happening.

I looked at what was in budget 2016 and budget 2017 on tax fairness, on fighting tax avoidance, and on fighting tax evasion. If we look at budget 2016 and we take out some of the comments from there, it stated:

Canada and other members of the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have worked together to develop recommendations aimed at addressing BEPS.

We joined our international profit partners to fight tax avoidance and tax evasion. As part of its commitment to protect the integrity of the Canadian tax base, the Government of Canada is acting on certain recommendations of the BEPS project.

Budget 2016 proposed new legislation to strengthen transfer pricing documentation by introducing country-by-country reporting for large multinational enterprises.

I wish to add that I will be splitting my time today with my hon. colleague and friend, the member for Davenport.

Second, the CRA is applying revised international guidance on transfer pricing by multinational enterprises, which provides an improved interpretation of the arm's length principle.

Third, Canada is participating in international work to develop multilateral instruments to streamline the implementation of treaty-related BEPS recommendations, including addressing treaty abuse.

We also enhanced domestic tax integrity. We looked at how high net worth individuals are using private corporations, or CCPCs, inappropriately to reduce or defer tax. To help address this, we put into place numerous measures in our first budget in 2016, including limiting the use of the multiplication of a small business tax credit, or the $500,000 small business tax deduction.

That was done to ensure that all individuals are paying their fair share of taxes in this country, and to ensure that we have the revenues needed to pay for those programs that Canadians use day in and day out, and that Canadians value.

We also put into place measures to ensure that investment income derived from an associated corporation's active business is ineligible for the small business deduction in certain circumstances. We also closed tax loopholes that allowed private corporations to use a life insurance policy to distribute amounts tax free that would otherwise be taxable.

More measures were put in place in budget 2017, including an additional $444 million for the CRA, so that it would have the tools and the resources to combat tax avoidance and tax evasion and, yes, to bring about tax fairness for all Canadians coast to coast to coast. This was on top of the first $500 million we put in place.

In budget 2017, we estimated the CRA would be able to recover $2.6 billion in additional federal revenues. The good work to recover those funds continues. Initial steps have been taken to prevent wealthy individuals from using private corporations to inappropriately reduce their tax payable. We closed tax loopholes on other measures. We have entered into agreements, and we introduced legislation that was passed in 2016 on BEPS. We have eliminated ineffective and inefficient tax measures, and we have also provided greater consistency in the tax treatment of similar types of income with other government priorities and current economic conditions.

We have given the CRA the tools to fight tax avoidance and tax evasion, which the previous government across the aisle, cut. The former Conservative government actually cut funds from the CRA. It did not give them the tools and the resources the agency needed to do its job.

Thus, in two years, we have given the resources and invested the funds necessary for the CRA to do its job. It has increased verification activities. CRA has hired additional auditors and specialists with a focus on the underground economy, and developed robust business intelligence infrastructure, and risk assessment systems to target high risk international tax avoidance cases. Also, it has improved the quality of investigative work that targets criminal tax evaders.

Those are only small parts of the measures that were done in budget 2016 and budget 2017, both budgets aimed at strengthening the middle class and helping those working hard at joining the middle class. Our work is not done. We have done a lot more.

On tax fairness, we have cut the small business tax rate from 11% to 9%. When these measures are fully enacted, every business in Canada, from coast to coast to coast, will have a reduction in its taxes payable by $7,500. That is $7,500 businesses can use to invest in HR training, capital, equipment or to give raises to their workers.

We have cut middle-class taxes for nine million Canadians. Over five years, that is about $25 billion in tax relief that will go to nine million Canadians, who work hard every day, so they will have more money to save, to invest, to spend on their kids, and so forth.

We have eliminated income splitting, which the prior government brought in. It was the most regressive form of taxation policy that only benefited the wealthiest in Canada. In fact, I do not know why the prior government introduced that measure because it was so regressive. It was so unfair to the majority of working Canadians across the country, to the majority of middle-class Canadians. We have eliminated that.

With that, we brought in the Canada child benefit, which benefits nine out of 10 Canadian families on average $2,300 more per year. The CCB is tax free, it is simple, it is monthly, and it is helping to lift Canadians out of poverty. Most important, it is helping to lift Canadian children out of poverty. We should all be proud of that.

On the CCPC, we consulted with Canadians on how to make our tax system more efficient and more fair. After the summer consultations, we came back and tackled income sprinkling. This measure was used by certain high net worth individuals across the country, and it was unfair. It was allowing them to reduce their taxes payable to levels that were unfair to other Canadians and it was allowing two individuals with the same income to avoid and create a big differential.

Another thing we reversed was the TFSA. The prior government would have doubled the TFSA amount to $10,000 when we knew the forgone revenue from that doubling would have impacted programs in the future, my children's program. We knew that the only individuals in Canada who could have afforded that $10,000 a year would have been wealthy individuals. Fewer than 10% of Canadians max out their TFSA at the $5,500 level currently. Shame on the other side for bringing in that measure.

We strengthened the Canada pension plan. We enhanced it for future generations. In my riding alone, the guaranteed income supplement increase benefited over 2,000 of my most vulnerable seniors, up to $800 each this year.

That is the good work our government is doing. That is the good work that Canadians elected us to do. We continue looking at ways to boost and to bring in tax fairness.

I am proud to say I that am the committee member on the finance committee. We invited our Minister of National Revenue to come to committee. I was the member on the finance committee who brought forward the motion to look at tax avoidance and tax evasion. I am proud of the work we did as committee members in producing a report that we brought forth to the national revenue minister and of the number of the recommendations within that report. In looking at the reply of the national revenue minister, a number of those recommendations have been fulfilled.

I am proud of what our government has done with regard to tax fairness. That is what our government is about. Those are the resources we have implemented in CRA.

Our record for offshore related files alone since the end of the year shows that the Canada Revenue Agency is conducting audits on more than 1,090 taxpayers and is criminally investigating more than 20 cases of tax evasion. The CRA, with the resources we have implemented, has the resources to risk assess 100% of large multinational corporations annually and is better able to identify those taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes.

We have done a lot. We are co-operating with our partners internationally to tackle issues such as transfer pricing. We are co-operating on BEPS, which is coming into force. We are ensuring that CRA has the resources to tackle complex, multi-level cases of tax evasion. That is what a government does.

A government stands up for middle-class Canadians and working-class Canadians. We work very hard every day to ensure they have the resources to make a great living, to have a brighter future for their children, but also ensure all Canadians and all companies from coast to coast to coast are paying their fair share of taxes.

[Innovation, Science and Economic Development, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, with a fast-growing and more knowledge-based digital economy, we need to make sure that our young people have the skills and knowledge they need to compete, to succeed, and also to innovate.

Taking this initiative to instill that passion for learning is vital to our collective success. Could the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development please explain what steps the government is taking to ensure our young people are ready for the digital global economy of today, tomorrow, and beyond.

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our civil service, in two words, is world class. Our civil service can be looked to by any country in the world on the delivery of the programs we have for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. There is the guaranteed income supplement and the Canada pension plan that is sent monthly to pensioners across this country, those who really built this country we call home and are so proud to be part of. There is old age security, as I mentioned in my speech. We have our trade negotiators and people working abroad for us in consulates across the world. We have folks all over this country who go to work every day and do the good work Canadians expect them to do and expect us to do here in this House.

It is great to see that our government has returned some balance and some pride to the civil service. Civil servants are not being condescended to, looked down on, or having unilateral measures imposed such as those by the government that was in power for 10 years. They are able to collectively bargain with the employer regarding the terms of their benefits, such as their security, pensions, sick leave, and things they really care about. When they go to work, they do not have to worry about it. They can focus on the great job they do day in and day out delivering those programs Canadians care about and depend on.

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, one of our platform commitments was to re-establish a relationship with both public sector unions and private sector unions, from coast to coast to coast, based on trust, faith, and collective bargaining rights for all workers and those that had recently been certified. We have done that.

We have repealed Bill C-377 and Bill C-525. We have put provisions in place. We re-established a balance between bargaining agents for both the employer and the employee. That is something I am proud of. That is something my constituents back home in Vaughan--Woodbridge are proud of. We brought balance back to the collective bargaining process.

We need to ensure that when collective bargaining takes place, it takes place not on a unilateral basis, as my Conservative colleagues liked to do and what they imposed when they were in government, but in a fair and balanced manner, where people come together and negotiate an agreement that is a win for both sides.

I am proud that our government has fulfilled those commitments. I am proud that our government continues to work with both public sector unions and private sector unions to ensure that we have a strong middle class, because when bargaining agents are able to come together, negotiate freely, and negotiate a great deal, the middle class benefits and the Canadian economy benefits.

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome this occasion to rise in support of Bill C-62.

I wish to note I will be splitting my time with my friend and colleague, the hon. member for Winnipeg North.

The bill would repeal collective bargaining changes for the public service passed in 2013.

It would also repeal legislation that would have allowed a government to override the collective bargaining process and unilaterally impose a short-term disability plan. Bill C-62 does this by combining Bills C-5 and C-34.

It is important to note that combining these two bills would make no substantive changes compared to the earlier bills. It would simply incorporate the adjustments necessary to combine proposals regarding sick leave, collective bargaining, and essential services for the federal public service into one piece of legislation moving forward.

I will begin with the contentious changes made in 2013.

Previously, bargaining agents had a say in determining which services were declared essential. However, the 2013 legislation took this away and put the right to determine essential services exclusively in the hands of the employer.

In addition, bargaining agents were no longer given the chance to determine which dispute resolution process they wished to use should the parties reach an impasse in bargaining. Instead, conciliation or strike was established as a default dispute resolution mechanism.

Moreover, arbitration boards and other labour bodies were required to give more weight to some factors over others when setting or recommending appropriate levels of compensation for public servants. These and other changes were made without consultation with our public sector partners.

The government does not support such an approach. We believe that the right of collective bargaining is vital to protecting the rights of Canadian workers, and we believe that effective collective bargaining involves discussion, negotiation, and compromise.

We must not roll back the fundamental labour rights that unions have worked so hard to secure. Instead, we need to ensure that workers are free to organize, bargain collectively in good faith, and work in safe environments. To that end, in January 2016, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour introduced legislation to repeal Bills C-377 and C-525.

The legislation would remove provisions that make it harder for unions to be certified and easier for them to be decertified. It would also amend the Income Tax Act to remove the onerous and redundant requirement that labour organizations and labour trusts provide specific information annually to the minister of national revenue. This includes information on non-labour activities that are then made available to the public.

As hon. members are well aware, legislation is already in place to ensure that unions make financial information available and are accountable to their members.

Section 110 of the Canada Labour Code requires unions to provide financial statements to their members upon request and free of charge, rendering these additional reporting requirements unnecessary.

The bill before us today is the latest in a series of actions the government has taken to demonstrate its commitment to bargaining in good faith with public service bargaining agents. It fulfills a commitment we made to repeal legislation that had provided the government with the authority to establish and modify terms and conditions of employment related to the sick leave of employees, to establish a short-term disability plan outside collective bargaining, and to modify long-term disability programs in the core public administration. It would also restore the labour relations regime that existed prior to 2013.

It also supports collaborative management-union relations. Unions play a vital role in protecting workers' rights and growing the middle class, and we respect unions and the members they represent.

In the case of the federal public service, I am talking about the people who protect the health of Canadians by inspecting our food to make sure it is safe for us to eat. I am talking about the people who ensure that Canadians have access to safe and effective health products by monitoring everything from medical devices to prescription medications. It is public service employees across this country who administer income support programs, such as old age security benefits, that provide Canadian seniors with an important source of income.

Our public service employees come from all walks of life. They have an incredible range of expertise and experience that the government relies on to provide services to Canadians across the country and around the world.

If we truly respect our public service employees, we cannot support an approach that disregards or fails to respect the right to bargain collectively.

We want public service employees to be proud of the work they do. We want the public service to be a place that attracts our best and brightest minds.

We need to think about college and university students. We want them to see the public service not only as the perfect place to launch their careers, but also as the perfect place to build a country. All they have to do is look at the amazing things public servants are doing.

Recently, public servants supported the government's goal of helping Canadians achieve a safe, secure, and dignified retirement by working co-operatively with their provincial and territorial counterparts so that Canada's finance ministers could strengthen the Canada pension plan, yes, the enhanced Canada pension plan.

In 2016, they answered the call to help their fellow citizens displaced by the Fort McMurray wildfires.

They worked tirelessly to integrate tens of thousands of Syrian refugees into Canadian society.

When we encourage federal employees to give fearless advice, when we trust them to make responsible decisions, and when we respect them for their skill and expertise, these are the kinds of results that are possible.

Bill C-62 is strong proof of our commitment to restore a culture of respect for and within the public service.

I urge all members who believe in the principles of fairness and respect to join us in supporting Bill C-62.

[H2 Hockey Straps, December 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, as Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.”

I rise today to speak about two young entrepreneurs in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge.

David and Adam Nascimben, ages 12 and eight, had the determination to take the shot of a lifetime. Through their passion for hockey, the two brothers developed the H2 hockey straps.

To Canadians, hockey is not just a sport, it is a way of life.

For those of us who have played the game, we know the nightmare of using hockey tape.

David and Adam brought their original idea of replacing it with velcro to CBC's Dragons' Den, impressing the dragons and making our entire community proud.

I want to congratulate David and Adam on their success.

Their goal was to score a deal, and the boys scored big.

Mr. Speaker, and colleagues and fellow hockey lovers across this land, please join me in recognizing these innovative young entrepreneurs from my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Speaker.

[Salaries Act, December 7th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, Bill C-24 would allow us to continue to do our great work. It would allow the RDAs to do their great work. It brings them under one roof to support small and medium-sized enterprises across Canada.

With regard to the Asian infrastructure bank, Canada is a multilateral and bilateral partner with a number of organizations around the world. If we look at the specific entity we are partnering with, a number of countries, a number of our allies, be it in Europe or in the Asia Pacific region, with which we trade, invest, and create good middle-class jobs are also involved in that. We should be at the table as well.