Jean-Pierre Blackburn

[Justice, September 16th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to point out that this government is making real progress in attempting to eliminate these very tax havens. It is not illegal to have a bank account in a foreign country. What is not right is the failure to declare amounts earned on this money for taxation in Canada. We are continuing to work on this. I would just point out that, recently, in the case of UBS among others, the matter has become so public that people know they will be found out and have begun making voluntary disclosures.

[Employment Insurance, September 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we have introduced several measures to help workers who lose their jobs.

First of all, we have added five weeks. We added them at the end so people will receive more EI benefits during that difficult time. Second, we amended job sharing to allow more employees to take advantage of it and to help more employers. In addition, yesterday we introduced a measure for long-tenured workers and for those looking for retraining. Overall, the four measures I just mentioned will help over 750,000 workers who have lost their jobs.

[Employment Insurance, September 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois member should check his numbers, given that, in 2008, 82% of those who paid into EI were eligible. Furthermore, I would also remind the member that all employees, all long-tenured workers in the manufacturing, auto, mining and forestry sectors—all sectors hard hit by the economic crisis—are eligible for our program based on the criteria mentioned yesterday.

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to advance deposits from corporate taxpayers, what follows is the response from the Canada Revenue Agency, CRA, to the above-noted question. Please note that the CRA’s reply includes information from fiscal years 2004-2005 to 2007-2008.

In response to (a), the total amount of outstanding advance deposits from corporate taxpayers, as of May 31, 2008, was $4.4 billion.

In response to (b), please note that the confidentiality provisions of the Income tax Act, specifically Section 241(1), prohibit the CRA from either directly or indirectly disclosing “taxpayer information”. As a result of this prohibition, the CRA cannot provide the information in the manner requested.

In response to (c), as the CRA data banks do not separate refund interest related to advance deposits from any other type of refund interest paid to corporate taxpayers, the information cannot be provided in the manner requested. However, the total amount of refund interest paid over the previous five years, 2004-2008, including interest on advance deposits, was $3.1 billion.

In response to (d), please note that the confidentiality provisions of the Income tax Act, specifically Section 241(1), prohibit the CRA from directly or indirectly disclosing “taxpayer information”. As a result of this prohibition, the CRA cannot provide the information in the manner requested.

[Employment Insurance, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, allow me once again to point out all the measures we have put in place in recent months to help workers.

First, we extended the EI period by five weeks. Then we helped companies and employees by extending the job-sharing period from 38 to 52 weeks. Today we are announcing other measures to help long-tenured workers, those who work in mining, the manufacturing, automobile and forestry sectors, among others, those who have paid premiums for years. We want to help them by giving them an additional 5 to 20 weeks.

Will the opposition support us in this measure?

[Employment Insurance, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I would like to point out we indicated clearly this morning that premiums would not be increased in 2009, or 2010. They will remain unchanged for all workers.

The question that is worth asking, though, is this. Why did the Liberals abandon the unemployed when, at the end of June, they were prepared to sit on a committee to suggest measures to help them? They abandoned them, not us. Today we are in fact proposing help to long-tenured workers so that they may extend their employment insurance by 5 to 20 weeks.

[Employment Insurance, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the member is right to point out what is happening on the Liberal side because, as you know, we were supposed to have a bipartisan committee. They were supposed to work in good faith with us. They abandoned the committee. They abandoned the unemployed.

Today we are showing that we take this matter seriously and that we intend to help long-tenured workers. We will give them an additional 5 to 20 weeks. I would also like to tell the member that we will soon have more to say about our desire to help self-employed workers.

[Employment Insurance, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I would like to remind the member that we confirmed this morning that EI rates would remain the same for 2009-10, meaning that the premiums for workers will not increase.

Second, a few months ago, we implemented a measure granting an additional five weeks, to support workers during a time when our country is experiencing economic difficulties in this global recession. We also helped workers by allowing them to do job-sharing, a measure that 165,000 people have taken advantage of.

With respect to transitioning workers, we also helped those who want to take training. We gave $1.5 billion to the provinces to help them do so. There are all kinds of measures—

[Employment Insurance, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the question that the member should be asking is whether her party will support our government and long-tenured workers, while we are proposing changes today to support long-tenured workers who have lost their jobs. I am thinking, for instance, of workers in the forestry industry. We want to give five to 20 additional weeks of EI benefits to these long-tenured workers who have been contributing to EI for a long time.

Will you support these workers, yes or no? Will you support the government, yes or no?

[Taxation, September 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is nevertheless interesting to see that there is considerable discussion on the matter of tax havens. I mentioned 12 cases completed of the 38 which have begun the process of voluntary disclosure. The situation is the same for other offshore jurisdictions. Seven of 23 cases are already underway. As regards eBay, 2 of 36 have made a voluntary disclosure. People see that our government is responsible. We are continuing in that direction.