Jasbir Sandhu

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, before we recessed for the summer, the Auditor General pointed out that there was $3.1 billion unaccounted for by the Treasury Board. I listened to the speech by the President of the Treasury Board very carefully, but my constituents have been asking me over the summer whether the $3.1 billion had been found or whether the President of the Treasury Board had had an opportunity to locate it. I hope he will inform this House in the next day or two, or weeks, whether or not that $3.1 billion has been located.

I rise today on behalf of my constituents from Surrey North to talk about Bill C-4, the budget implementation act. Bill C-4 is yet another omnibus bill proposed by the Conservatives. It comprises 300-odd pages and addresses over 70 different laws.

This is déjà vu all over again. It is like Groundhog Day. One would think that the Conservatives, after proroguing after the summer break, could come up with a new mandate, new ideas, to address the needs of Canadians and the families and individuals in my community, yet I do not see anything in the bill that addresses the real needs of Canadians: jobs, job security and well-paying jobs. That is not in the bill.

It looks as if the Conservatives never got out of the Ottawa bubble. If they had, they would see the long and growing lineups at the food banks. They would be looking at creating jobs for our young people. As members can see, the unemployment rate for young people is the highest among any age group. There is nothing in the bill that addresses the needs of our young people.

There is another crisis brewing in the Lower Mainland. Port Metro Vancouver is a major port that helps to facilitate trade. It helps move goods from the Prairies right across to the port. In the last week, I have seen the trucking industry having major issues at the port. It takes them a long time to either pick up or drop off the goods they need to transport. A crisis is looming. I urge the Conservative government to address this issue before our economy in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver area is damaged.

As members know, truckers provide a vital role in the movement of goods throughout this country. However, they are having difficulty in picking up and dropping off their goods from the port, and the wait times are very long. The government needs to address that in a way that will help with the movement of our goods.

As I said, there are many issues in Bill C-4, which addresses over 70 different bills. I want to pick up on two issues that are important to my constituents of Surrey North.

One issue is that this is a missed opportunity for the Conservative government. As I read through Bill C-4, the irony certainly strikes me that we are approaching Remembrance Day as we discuss the bill. The next couple of weeks should be dedicated to thanking Canadians in service and our veterans for their dedication to our country, including those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. At this time of the year we repeat the mantra, “Lest we forget”. However, the truth of the matter is that Bill C-4 demonstrates that the Conservatives have forgotten Canadian veterans. Here the Conservative government had an opportunity to make real changes, but Bill C-4 does not do that.

The 300-odd pages of the bill address a wide range of things, but they do not address what is needed for veterans. In Bill C-4, there is one change to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, an institution that New Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated as biased, subjective and inefficient. The Conservatives can only think of one change to make, which is to reduce the number of permanent members on the board from 28 to 25.

It is no secret that veterans do not find support or reassurance in the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. In March I spoke in the House about one of my constituents, retired sergeant Fergus, who was having difficulty navigating the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. Since March, the Conservatives have had many opportunities to make changes to the VRAB, but they continue to forget about veterans.

Mr. Fergus is not alone in his plight. Many constituents have approached my office to seek help to navigate the board for disability claims. Members of the board are appointed primarily because of their political connections. They have little military or medical knowledge. These members have the responsibility of deciding the future of our veterans, but without contextual knowledge of their challenges, they often make decisions that are not based on evidence. Like the immigration system, the decision-making process of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board is lengthy. Long waits can leave veterans out in the cold.

I mean “out in the cold” literally. A veteran approached my office this summer who was at risk of being homeless after serving Canada bravely for years. It is clear that the Canadian government did not intend to serve my constituent, retired sergeant Lorenz. Although my office helped him navigate the application process, Mr. Lorenz is now at a standstill while he waits to see a psychologist to assess his mental health. He has to wait six months. He already knows that he has post-traumatic stress disorder, but he must wait six months before his application can continue. After he sacrificed so much for peace and freedom, it is shameful that Mr. Lorenz must wait this long to be awarded the benefits and support to which he is entitled.

I thank Mr. Fergus and Mr. Lorenz, and all the men and women who have bravely stood up for our country, for their service. I commit, along with my NDP colleagues, to continue to stand up for their rights around Remembrance Day and throughout the whole year.

The other area I want to talk about that is contained in the bill is the changes to the immigration act.

My constituency is very diverse. Many immigrants live in my community. It is clear to my constituents that Canada's immigration system is broken, especially with regard to family reunification. Family reunification is not a priority for the Conservative government. Recently, Canadians were appalled to hear a Conservative minister referring to family reunification as a burden to Canada. I am a product of that family reunification. The Conservatives have repeatedly undermined the importance and value of family, by making such claims. It is not only disrespectful but outright inhumane for a minister to assert this. Canada has always welcomed immigrants, fostered family bonds and provided opportunities for families to reconstruct their lives.

Every day my office receives many visits from victims who have fallen through the immigration system. I cannot provide specific cases here because it would take a long time and there are too many to list all of them. They are families who cannot be reunited at joyous occasions like weddings and birthdays, or daughters and sons who are not able to say goodbye to their dying parents in time because their temporary resident visas were refused for some obscure reason. Husbands and wives are separated for years before they can begin their lives together. Babies are born to first-time mothers who need the support of their far-away partner, and new fathers must wait months to meet their newborns.

This legislation basically would not address the needs of Canadians.

I am tired of seeing these omnibus bills come through the House. I am tired of seeing the Conservatives attempt to hide these changes that are made within the 300 pages.

This truly demonstrates that the Conservative government is out of touch with the needs of Canadians.

[Navigable Waters Protection Act, June 17th, 2013]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-538, An Act to amend the Navigable Waters Protection Act (Bear Creek).

Mr. Speaker, the importance of protecting our natural resources is something I value. I feel the need for it every time I take a moment to stop and appreciate all the beauty my community of Surrey has to offer. That is why I applaud the initiative of the member for Halifax to ensure the protection of lakes and rivers across our great country. It is in this spirit of protection that I am proud to introduce this private member's bill to ensure the protection of Bear Creek, a special and very important creek located in Surrey.

Bear Creek is both meaningful and valuable to the people of Surrey, and it is vital that we protect it. The creek is unique, because it provides spawning and rearing habitat for five species of salmon and trout as well as a variety of wildlife.

If people visit the stream in mid-November, they may be fortunate enough to see spawning salmon returning from their long journey from the Pacific Ocean. In one season over 900 spawning chum salmon have been observed at Bear Creek.

I believe that protecting the environment is important to the people of Canada, as demonstrated in my riding of Surrey North. It is my pleasure to introduce this bill and to work hard to keep Bear Creek a protected creek.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Infrastructure, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Pattullo Bridge in my riding is long overdue for upgrades, in fact 26 years overdue. However, this upgrade is more than what municipalities and TransLink can afford. Proposals call for a toll that would target Surrey residents. Surrey already has a toll bridge, the only one in the Lower Mainland.

Could the minister support the Pattullo Bridge upgrades without tolls?

[Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that when we bring a bill to this House we consult with the parties who would be stakeholders and who would be affected by it. I have seen it over and over that the Conservatives will consult the stakeholders, but it is another thing to actually listen to them and take in some of the advice they might have to improve the bill. I have see this not only in this House but in the committees. There are numerous reports and studies that have been generated over the last number of years in regard to dealing with this particular matter.

If they are not going to listen to the people they have consulted, what is the use of consulting them? Here we have first nations groups wanting to make changes to this bill, and also a number of women's groups have objected to this particular bill, so why consult when they are not going to listen to them?

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

I know that the member across the aisle is interrupting, but these are the facts.

I will read another one for him. Maybe he will comment on this one. Here was another suggestion:

That the Auditor General evaluate, on a regular basis, the success of the Canada Revenue Agency in prosecuting and settling cases of tax evasion.

Here is a practical way to find out how well our system is working, yet the Conservatives do not want to do that. If we do not know how much we could collect and how much we are losing in revenue through tax evasion and tax havens, how are we going to know how much is out there?

I know, going back to the same premise I talked about before, that if the Conservatives do not like the facts, they will change them or make them up. We have seen that over and over again. That seems to be a regular occurrence with the government.

There are many other suggestions we made, which make practical sense, to bring in more revenue and catch those cheaters and evaders so that we can reduce our deficit and offer the programs Canadians need. All we have seen are cuts from the current government.

It does not make sense to me. If they were going to go after tax cheats, one would think there would be a need for more inspectors and workers to go after those people. The Conservatives have actually cut CRA people in the last number of years.

Again, we will support this bill, but the elephant in the room is still not being addressed by the current government, and that is tax evasion.

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

That is still missing. We do not even know about the $3.1 billion. We have asked, and we will keep asking. Hopefully in a few weeks, we will hear. The Conservatives have the whole summer to figure out where that $3.1 billion is. We are going to give them the summer to figure out if they can find that $3.1 billion.

The facts are that we could use this tax money to reduce our deficit, which is the largest under the Conservative government. However, the Conservatives have put no proposals forward. They are laggards in the G7 in coming up with progressive policies to go after these cheats so that we can recoup the money that has been lost by Canadians.

At the end of the day, it is Canadians who will end up paying for the mismanagement by the government.

I know that the Conservatives do not answer, but I asked them who was going to pay for the debt they have accumulated over the last six or seven years. In fact, they have not had a surplus budget. They call themselves fiscal conservatives. They have not had even one surplus budget. Who is going to pay for this? It will be my children, their children, their grandchildren and my grandchildren. It is unfair to leave the largest debt to our children.

We have ways we can collect this. Again, Conservatives have a chance to recoup some of the money being siphoned off to offshore accounts.

We talked about fiscal conservatives and their ability to manage budgets. They have not had a surplus.

Let me talk about their trade deficit. When the Conservatives came in, they had a $26-billion trade surplus. That means that we sold $26 billion more than we bought from other countries. That is good for Canada. It creates jobs. If we sell more of our products overseas, we create local jobs here. That is good. However, under the Conservative government, we have had a trade deficit of over $50 billion. That means that we are buying $50 billion more in goods coming into Canada than we are selling to other countries.

Not only that, under the Conservative government, our merchandise trade deficit is the largest ever. I mention that because that is how we create secondary well-paying jobs. However, under this government, we have had failure.

That is the Conservatives' record, whether it is on deficits or on trade. These are the two things they often talk about, but they do not tell us about the other side. They tell us that they have signed this or that trade deal, but the trade deficit just keeps growing. We asked on the trade committee to look at why we have a large trade deficit. They did not want to study that.

Not only that, getting back to Bill S-17, my hon. colleagues, the NDP finance committee members, offered a number of suggestions as to how we could go after these tax evaders. One of the suggestions we offered was the following:

That the federal government study and measure, to the greatest accuracy possible, Canadian tax losses to international tax havens and tax evasion, in order to the determine the Canadian federal “tax gap”.

They do not even want to go there. They do not even want to look at the deficit.

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I will try to sum up my thoughts for my constituency in the 16 minutes I have. It is an honour to speak to Bill S-17 on behalf of my constituents of Surrey North.

Basically the bill would bring into being bilateral income tax treaties with a number of countries in accordance with the OECD tax treaty standards. Basically we support harmonization and greater clarity of taxation laws, as well as bringing tax treaties into line with OECD standards, and therefore we will support the bill at this stage.

The Conservatives would have us believe that somehow the bill would address the elephant hiding here. The elephant is tax evasion, and the bill does not address tax evasion at all.

Before I get to the big elephant in the House, the one the Conservatives do not want to talk about, let me tell a story. My daughter was here about a month ago during her recess, and she had a chance to spend about three days with me.

She asked me what time allocation was. A 16-year-old was asking me what time allocation was, and I tried to explain it to her by telling her that time allocation was basically shutting down debate. It is a word I learned when I got here from my friends the Conservatives. They have now used it about 43 or 44 times.

I explained to my daughter that it was used when the Conservatives wanted to shut down debate and did not want to debate the bill before them. They do not want MPs who represent their constituents to give their views, so they basically shut down debate.

My daughter said, “That is not democracy. You should be able to represent our constituents and speak freely in this House”.

A 16-year-old understands that it is important to have the views of constituents and what they want in their constituency represented by their members of Parliament. A 16-year-old understands it.

We have seen time allocation after time allocation used by Conservatives in shutting down debate. That is not right whether we support the bill or not, and of course we support the bill. We want to highlight how we can improve the bill, and we would encourage the Conservatives to take some of those ideas to make the bills better and improve them.

One of the elephants that has not been addressed in the bill is tax evasion. We have heard reports. I have listened to very informative debate by my NDP colleagues highlighting what needs to be done and what is being done around the world, yet we have the Conservatives dragging their feet on addressing the big elephant in the room, which is tax evasion.

I had a chance to cruise through a number of headlines while listening to speaker after speaker this evening. I looked up tax evasion in Google News, and the first seven articles were about France taking on tax evaders, Italy taking on tax evaders. A headline from India said that the Indian government is going after tax evaders. I saw a headline from the United States to the effect that they are going after virtual tax evaders. These are headlines within the last six or seven hours.

Then I saw a Canadian headline about tax evasion. The headline from the Ottawa Citizen was basically that the Conservatives are dragging their feet in tackling tax evasion.

Our partners around the world, the G7 countries, our closest allies—Japan, the United States, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom—have taken a leadership role in tackling tax evaders and getting additional revenue for the government.

My friend from Burnaby—New Westminster asked a very valid question. The Canadian government was offered information on hundreds of tax evaders, as my friend from Burnaby—New Westminster said. The Conservative government was being handed this information on a platter so that it could look at these tax invaders and go after them. What did the Conservative government do? Nothing. It did nothing.

There is another report, and we can look at some of the facts and figures. I know my Conservative friends do not believe in facts and figures, but $170 billion is being invested by Canadians in 12 of the largest tax haven countries, so there is a lot of money being invested in tax havens offshore by Canadians. It used to be a figure in the single digits back in the 1980s and 1990s, but under the Conservative government it has gone up to double digits. In fact, it is about 24%.

There is $170 billion going offshore, and the tax that we could collect from this, estimated by Canadians for Tax Fairness, is calculated at about $7.8 billion. That is what the Canadian government is losing because it is not going after the tax billionaires.

In this House, I have heard member after member talk about tax fairness and paying our fair share. I can assure members that hard-working people, people such as plumbers, electricians, taxi drivers, truck drivers and the professionals in my community, pay their fair share of taxes.

It is time for the millionaires to pay their fair share. The average person does not have the ability, or enough money, to put money offshore. Average working Canadians pay their fair share of taxes, but those with resources, those with tens of millions of dollars, are able to put this money offshore. That is $7.8 billion that we could have collected this year alone.

Why are my Conservative colleagues not going after this revenue? In fact, the money we could collect from offshore, the $7.8 billion, is being put on the backs of Canadians. We could use that money to reduce the largest deficit ever, a deficit that has occurred under the current government.

Let us talk about that. It is under the current government that we have had the largest deficit. It is not only a large deficit; we have also increased our debt by $200 billion under the Conservative government.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to stand up and ask a question. It was a very simple question. I asked who was going to pay for that $200 billion, the debt that Conservatives have accumulated over the last number of years. I did not get an answer. I would still like to get an answer on who is going to pay for that.

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Burnaby—New Westminster is one of the strong voices from British Columbia.

I am multi-tasking here, and I was googling “tax evasion” in the news of the day. From what I see on the news here, the first headline is France Expands Inquiry of Tax Evasion at UBS. The second headline I see is about Italy going after tax evaders. I see that the U.S. is cracking down on virtual currency tax evasion. This was posted in the news within four or five hours. I see India doing it, France is again doing it. The headline I see from Canada here, and this is actually from the Ottawa Citizen this morning, says, “Canada slammed for lagging behind in fighting tax evasion as G8 summit looms”.

The G8 countries are partners. They are taking proactive steps to collect funds from these tax evaders. I do not see the Conservatives coming up with a concrete plan so that we can collect unpaid taxes.

Could the member comment on the trends that we are seeing across Europe and other parts of the world, and what the Conservatives are not doing?

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear from the speeches that we all agree everyone needs to pay his or her fair share of taxes. Conservative members say one thing and do another. If we look at their record, they have cut $250 million to the CRA, which is equivalent to 3,000 full-time employees. If we are not going to make investments in people to go after tax cheaters, how will we collect that?

Would my hon. colleague not agree that we need to make an investment in CRA and hire people to go after tax evaders instead of making cuts to the Canada Revenue Agency?

[Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013, June 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I heard the question from my hon. colleague, and I think he was talking about closing the loopholes that currently exist in our system. The newspaper this morning said that Canadians for Tax Fairness cited recent statistics from Statistics Canada that show that in the top 12 tax havens around the world, Canadians have stocked away $170 billion. If we taxed those $170 billion, we could have $7.8 billion in additional revenue. Where is that additional revenue going now? It is going on the backs of Canadians.

I googled “tax evasion” just now, and the top four or five news articles say that France is expanding its inquiry of tax evasion, India is also going after tax evaders, the U.S. is cracking down on virtual currency tax fraud and the headline in the Ottawa Citizen says, “Canada slammed for lagging behind in fighting tax evasion...”. This is from just punching it into Google. This is just today's news.

I know the G8 summit is taking place. It would appear that Canada has been dragging its feet and we can do more to collect that $7.8 billion. I would like the member to comment on that, please.