House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2015, with 29% of the vote.
Canada Revenue Agency June 7th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Office of the Information Commissioner noted that CRA has the largest volume, 1.1 million pages, requiring review in 2010-11. The CRA had a 46% increase in the number of ATIP requests compared to 2008-09.
It also noted the CRA's ATIP operations continue to be severely impacted by bulk requesters. For instance, two bulk requesters accounted for one-third of CRA's ATIP inventory in 2010-11 and 78% of the complaints. That is for just two people.
Canada Revenue Agency June 7th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I know the member for Prince Edward—Hastings has great passion for accountability in government.
Mr. Saint-Amans is a leading expert from the OECD, and he acknowledged our important contributions and efforts on this issue. He noted Canada's excellent progress since 2009 with respect to negotiating tax information exchange agreements with other countries. We now have 89 tax treaties in force, a significant improvement over the last government.
CRA will continue to focus on aggressive audit efforts to find money that is hiding in offshore accounts. We look forward to the finance committee hearings on this issue.
Questions on the Order Paper June 7th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, with regard to parts (a) to (f), as part of its contribution toward the reduction of the federal deficit, the Canada Revenue Agency, CRA, has examined all of its processes, activities, facilities and operations.
The CRA will not be able to respond in the manner requested concerning the future of any of its processes, activities, facilities and operations until such time as formal announcements have been made in accordance with its contractual obligations as required under the applicable collective agreements--that is, information must first be provided to affected employees and their unions.
The Economy May 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Okanagan—Coquihalla for his work on the bill, and also our colleague from Kelowna—Lake Country for his tireless effort on this issue.
Bill C-311 is a positive step toward reducing unnecessary interprovincial trade barriers and toward promoting jobs and growth in the wine industry.
We are truly disappointed in the NDP members for playing silly political games and needlessly delaying passage of a bill that they claim to support. They tell the wine industry one thing, and then their actions in the House display something else. They are clearly not equipped to govern.
Canada Revenue Agency May 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I cannot comment on rumour and speculation.
However, what I can say is that more details from CRA's budget will be coming soon. At the same time, we are committed to ensuring a high level of service to Canadians and the integrity of our tax system.
Canada Revenue Agency May 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Canada Revenue Agency must ensure that our programs are efficient, effective and achieving the best results for Canadians. Our top priority is the economy and ensuring that we spend tax dollars wisely.
We will be revealing more details on CRA's budget very soon. However, we are committed to supporting the CRA in providing a high level of service and ensuring the integrity of the tax system.
Questions on the Order Paper May 14th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the response of the Canada Revenue Agency, CRA, with regard to (a) is that since the government received the names and starting compliance actions on the 106 Canadians whose names appear on the list of having accounts in Liechtenstein, none of them have applied under the voluntary disclosures program, VDP, with respect to accounts in Liechtenstein.
With regard to (b), the response to (a) applies.
With regard to (c), no, there are no policies to allow ineligible disclosure to be accepted under the VDP.
With regard to (d), there have been no such instances.
With regard to (e), there are no policies or procedures to allow ineligible disclosures to be accepted under the VDP. To be considered valid, and therefore accepted, the VDP policy requires that a disclosure meet all four of the following conditions: it must be voluntary, it must be subject to a penalty, it must be at least one year past due and it must be complete.
With regard to (f), no, the CRA does not make exceptions to the VDP policy.
With regard to (g), taxpayers who make a valid disclosure under the VDP may not be subjected to penalties or pursued for prosecution as long as they are covered by the legislative parameters of the program.
Questions on the Order Paper May 11th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Canada Revenue Agency, CRA, has an obligation to follow confidentiality and privacy legislation closely. Information is often provided to the 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.
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.
The preamble in the above-noted question asserts that the information was provided to Canada from “the Government of France”. Since this information was received by the Government of Canada via an international tax treaty, it is protected under both the Exchange of Information article of the relevant tax treaty, in this case article 26 of the Canada-France Income Tax Convention, and paragraph 19(1)(a) of the Privacy Act.
Therefore, for these reasons, the CRA cannot provide the information requested in the question above.
Financial Institutions May 11th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we heard the concerns that small businesses raised and we introduced our code of conduct. The code has been welcomed by consumers and business groups, especially small business.
The opposition voted against the code and against supporting small business and consumers. We continually monitor compliance. Any possible violation will be investigated, and we have the power and ability to make the code involuntary if necessary.
I will offer this quote from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which said that “...the code has served merchants extremely well” and “...has done an excellent job in ensuring some fair ground rules and maintaining Canada's”--
The Budget May 11th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it has been common practice to include various measures in the budget and the subsequent budget implementation bill. This is nothing groundbreaking. It simply reflects the central and important role of the budget to the government's agenda. There will be seven full days of debate on the budget bill at second reading alone, before being referred to a committee. This is longer than the average time of debate for a budget bill in at least the last 20 years.