Jim Flaherty

[Government Appointments, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, at first the member opposite suggested that it is not an appropriate appointment. He now suggests that I do not agree with the individual and therefore, the person ought not be appointed. It is still a free country.

We have intellectual activity in this country, thank goodness. We have eminent intellectuals in economics, like Dr. Crowley, who are prepared to express their views on various issues. Most important, Dr. Crowley is now prepared to take time from his life to dedicate to public issues in the Government of Canada and we thank him for his service.

[Government Appointments, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the appointment of the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at the Department of Finance is made by the deputy minister of finance and not by the minister.

Dr. Crowley is an eminent Canadian. He is a Canadian public intellectual. He has experience across this country in working with various governments, including the governments of Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Alberta. He is extremely well educated.

[Income Trusts, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very confused opposition. It bungled this issue last year. It voted last night against helping out pensioners regarding income splitting in Canada and now it seems to be in favour of foreigners paying only a 15% withholding tax while Canadians bear the brunt of the Canadian tax burden.

That is the position it is taking, probably on the guidance I suppose of someone who spent a lot of time in foreign places paying foreign taxes, and that would be the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore.

[Income Trusts, November 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite correctly identifies the fact that a large number of unit holders in income trusts were foreigners and yes they were benefiting, and arguably benefiting unfairly from this tax loophole in Canada. I understand the party opposite voting against pensioners, but now it is advocating in favour of foreigners taking advantage of the Canadian tax system.

[Taxation, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, there was a commitment in the platform with respect to working on capital gains. It is one of a number of issues that we are reviewing, studying and consulting with people on as we begin the preparations for the budget for next year.

[Income Trusts, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, only one party in the House supports the notion that large companies in this country should not pay their fair share of corporate taxes and that is the Liberal Party of Canada.

[Income Trusts, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Sue from Calgary wrote, “I am writing to applaud your decisive action in taxing income trusts. It is about time the government took action to stop the hemorrhaging of our tax dollars”.

As Douglas from Kitchener, Ontario wrote, “Congratulations. This took some courage. As a small business owner, I agree with your decision to stop the mad rush to trust conversions. We need Canadians to invest and grow their businesses. I am involved with a number of U.S. companies that are aggressive and built for growth. We were turning Canadians into a nation of coupon clippers”.

[Income Trusts, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, there are many letters and we have heard many of them, for example, from Thomas in Victoria. He said, “I'm a senior and a pensioner. I want to congratulate you both on the courage you had to impose a tax on distributions from income trusts. It had to be done but previous governments lacked the resolve to do it”.

We also heard from Alice in Guelph, Ontario. She said, “I know we are more inclined to write when we oppose something a member of our government does. It must have taken a lot of courage to face up to the affected big businesses. You did good. We little people are proud”--

[Taxation, November 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, yes, I have heard that figure and I have heard other figures from various provinces. I have heard figures from Quebec with respect to the issue of fiscal imbalances. We are on track. We are continuing the discussions vigorously with the various provinces on the fiscal balance issues. We said that we would continue these discussions into the autumn and we are. The finance ministers intend to meet, probably in December, and then moving toward a resolution in budget 2007.

[Taxation, November 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the information we used with respect to decision making on the income trust issue was the information that was available about the growth of income trusts, about the reality that we were seeing income trusts being chosen as an instrument of conversion by companies in the telecommunications business, that there were many more to come, and the kind of economy that we would end up having in Canada, not to mention the tax fairness issue where large telecommunications companies could avoid taxes in excess of $1 billion.