Gail Shea

[Search and Rescue, October 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, search and rescue is the highest priority of the Canadian Coast Guard and the consolidation of the marine rescue sub-centre in Quebec will in no way increase any risk to the public. The provision of bilingual services is essential and the Coast Guard will continue to enhance bilingual service as part of the consolidation.

[Taxation, October 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure my colleague across the way that we are targeting offshore tax cheats. We take this issue very seriously and we aggressively pursue all the information that we receive.

I can assure the House that since 2006, we have audited thousands of cases and identified more than $4 billion in unpaid taxes through our efforts on international and aggressive tax planning.

This is compared to only $174 million in the last year that the Liberals were in office. The number of voluntary disclosures alone has increased by an astounding 238% since 2005.

[Taxation, October 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the House that the Canada Revenue Agency is not laying off any tax evasion experts. These people are key to battling tax cheats and ensuring fairness for taxpayers. Some of these positions may move, or they may change to allow for better coordination between the Canada Revenue Agency, the RCMP and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

Recently announced reductions at CRA reflect the fact that more people are filing their taxes electronically rather than phoning in or mailing paper.

[Canada Revenue Agency, September 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said in the House previously, the way that Canadians file their taxes is changing. The way that Canadians access information from CRA is changing. There are more and more services being offered online. Therefore, in-person interactions with the agency only accounted for about 2.5% of all interactions with the agency last year. A dwindling number of people are using the service.

Canadians can visit their local Service Canada location for assistance and the CRA will provide in-person meetings for issues—

[Canada Revenue Agency, September 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly do regret when these kinds of unfortunate errors occur and the impact that they have on Canadian families.

I can assure the hon. member that we are doing something. I have asked the Taxpayers' Ombudsman to conduct an investigation into this issue to ensure that this type of situation never happens again.

[Canada Revenue Agency, September 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I was very disturbed to learn that so many Canadian families had not received their full children's benefits. I have expressed very strong concern to the commissioner at the CRA and my clear expectation that this situation be resolved as soon as possible.

I want to sincerely apologize to the Canadian families who have been affected. I can also assure members that the CRA will be apologizing to the Canadian families affected by this error as well.

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 17th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada received information from the Government of France pertaining to accounts in Switzerland through an international treaty.

The information received regarding Canadians with offshore accounts in Liechtenstein was not received through such an exchange with the Federal Republic of Germany but through an avenue outside Canada’s tax treaties and agreements.

Information is often provided to the Canada Revenue Agency, CRA, from various sources on the basis that it cannot be further disclosed by the CRA. Where the CRA is at liberty to provide information, it will endeavour to do so. In other instances, it will be limited in this ability. The CRA has an obligation to follow confidentiality and privacy legislation closely.

In order to both respect confidentiality requirements and maintain harmonious international relations, the CRA must adhere to the requirements that international tax treaties and agreements impose on the disclosure of information received from Canada’s treaty partners; to do otherwise could result in negative consequences to the effective exchange of information.

[Government Services, September 17th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in-person discussions between the agency and Canadians only account for about 2.5% of all the interactions that happen with Canadians.

More and more people are going on-line or accessing services on-line and are using the phone services. The way that Canadians file their taxes is changing, and we are changing to meet those needs.

Canadians can visit their local Service Canada location for assistance if they need to, and CRA will provide in-person meetings when issues cannot be resolved on the phone.

[Canada Revenue Agency, June 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that is why the RCMP is involved and why we have doubled the number of internal investigators we have: it is because any misconduct is unacceptable. We will not stand for any abuse of our tax system.

[Canada Revenue Agency, June 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we take this issue very seriously. We cannot tolerate this kind of misconduct within our tax system. The integrity of our tax system is important to all Canadians, and we will take any steps necessary to protect it.

An RCMP investigation into these matters is ongoing. These matters are before the courts, so we cannot comment any further.