Guy Caron

[Taxation, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this government brags about combatting tax evasion, but the reality is just the opposite. The figures from the Canada Revenue Agency speak for themselves.

In 2010-11, the criminal investigations program opened 167 tax evasion cases. In 2016-17, just 75 cases were opened. This is half as many cases leading to criminal charges, even with the release of the Panama papers and the paradise papers.

While the big fish continue to make it out relatively unscathed, the small fish are the ones being targeted.

When will the Prime Minister fix his net and go after the real fraudsters?

[March 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, I would like to quickly remind you that I was here during the previous Parliament when a similar marathon of votes took place. There was some doubt at one point when the minister of finance at the time, Mr. Flaherty, was absent. However, the votes continued, because the government was allowed to designate another cabinet minister to move the motion.

[Canada Revenue Agency, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, if they spent only $15 million in two and a half years out of the five-year period, then they have $985 million left to spend.

The Canada Revenue Agency operates in secrecy and shows no accountability, like the minister. For example, the general anti-avoidance rule committee decides what constitutes aggressive tax avoidance. It dictates what is right and what is wrong. We do not know who works on that committee, what it works on, or if it is accountable to anyone, yet we know this committee will shape Canadian tax policy for years to come.

How can the Canada Revenue Agency expect to be trusted when everything it does is done behind closed doors?

[Canada Revenue Agency, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I asked the revenue minister to explain why the programs to fight tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance received only $15 million of the $1 billion she had promised. Her only response was to regurgitate the same old talking points. Today, we learn that not only has the promised funding not materialized, but the number of tax evasion cases being investigated by the Canada Revenue Agency has dropped from 167 to just 75 over the past six years.

How can she keep saying that fighting tax evasion is a priority when she refuses to invest the funding that she promised and the number of cases under investigation is dropping?

[Canada Revenue Agency, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I do not understand. This money is not going towards fighting tax evasion or aggressive tax avoidance. For over two years now, we have been denouncing the Liberals' inaction on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. For over two years now, we have been asking them to explain why they persecute ordinary taxpayers and let the big fish go. For over two years now, we have been listening to them falsely claim that they have invested $1 billion to fight tax evasion.

Last week, the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to pay $1.6 million in damages for its malicious prosecution of small business owners.

Is this where that $1 billion is going? To maliciously prosecute the little people?

[Canada Revenue Agency, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, for the past two years, the Liberals have scoffed at Canadians' concerns about tax evasion. They keep saying that they have invested $1 billion to address this problem.

However, yesterday, we learned that the programs to address tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance have received only an additional $15 million. That is only $15 million of the promised $1 billion.

Where is the rest of the money?

[Privacy, March 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, on top of that, this is an international problem. Hundreds of millions of people around the globe are communicating, sharing information, and exchanging data. However, Web giants like Facebook do not seem serious about protecting the information of all of these users. Canadians expect their private data to remain private.

Will the Prime Minister pledge here and now, in the House, to raise the issue of data protection with his G7 counterparts at the summit in June?

[Privacy, March 20th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, when Canadians surf the web, they expect their data to be protected. A scandal has just broken in Great Britain over the firm Cambridge Analytica, which found a way to access the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users on a daily basis. This is extremely troubling, and the reaction by Facebook officials, who continue to downplay the risks, is equally troubling.

What does the Canadian government plan to do to protect the personal data of these users?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 19th, 2018]

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) committee responsible for assessing problem cases in order to recommend whether or not to apply the general anti-avoidance rule as set out in the Income Tax Act: (a) how many problem cases has this committee received from CRA auditors since 2010, broken down by (i) year, (ii) reason for the committee’s involvement, (iii) number of employees having worked on the case; (b) how many investigations have been launched following the committee’s involvement since 2010, broken down by (i) year, (ii) reason why the investigation was warranted, (iii) number of employees having worked on the investigation; (c) how many employees are working or have worked on this committee, broken down by (i) number of contract employees per year, (ii) number of contract administrators per year, (iii) number of contract technicians per year; and (d) what is the number of investigations resolved since 2010, broken down by (i) year, (ii) number of employees who worked on the investigation, (iii) type of offence warranting investigation?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 19th, 2018]

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and each CRA program that handles suspected cases of tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance, fraud and other tax offences: (a) what is, since 2010, the number of employees dedicated to each program or unit, broken down by (i) number of contract employees per year, (ii) employee position; (b) what is the total budget allocated to each program; (c) what is the number of investigations launched since 2010, broken down by (i) year, (ii) number of employees who worked on the investigation, (iii) type of offence investigated; (d) since 2010, what share of the CRA’s total annual budget has been allocated to the committee responsible for assessing problem cases in order to recommend whether or not to apply the general anti-avoidance rule as set out in the Income Tax Act, broken down by year; and (e) since 2010, what budget amount has been available to the committee in (d), broken down by year?