House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 58% of the vote.
Taxation May 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we know that the Liberal opposition wants to raise taxes. The Liberals want to raise personal taxes for Canadians. They want to raise taxes for small and medium-sized Canadian businesses. They even muse about raising the GST.
We know, from the way they have voted in this place, that they are opposed to the tax reductions that we have made over the last four years; that is, $3,000 on average for every Canadian family in tax reductions over the course of the past four years.
Securities May 12th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I am glad the hon. member does not feel too strongly about the subject.
This is a voluntary proposal. Ten provinces and the territories are working together with the federal transition office to create the common securities regulator. They are working together. We welcome the participation of those two provinces that have not chosen to participate yet.
Yes, we are going to do a reference to the Supreme Court of Canada. Yes, business and the Canadian people need to have certainty about the legislative authority of Parliament to legislate in this area, and that is what we will do.
Securities May 12th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we will respect provincial jurisdictions.
This provision, with respect to funding of the transition office, was in budget 2008 and it received the support of the House.
Securities May 12th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, it is to be noted that two of the largest financial institutions in Quebec chose not to participate in that. However, let us say this. This is a great project for Canada, This is an opportunity for Canada to get that pillar, that securities pillar, in line with the rest of our harmonized system.
As we see around the world today, there are tremendous challenges to financial institutions. Fortunately, in this country, our financial institutions are functioning well, with the exception of 13 securities regulators. We look forward to gathering them together.
Securities May 12th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Securities Transition Office has been working hard for many months with respect to the drafting of the legislation, which should be ready soon.
I can assure the hon. member that no decisions have been taken with respect to location of offices except this decision: that those participating jurisdictions, those participating provinces and territories, will maintain offices in the new national scheme.
Taxation May 12th, 2010
It is apparent, Mr. Speaker, that sometimes the Liberals like tax reductions and sometimes they like tax hikes. What is clear is they are prepared to raise the GST, which we reduced by two percentage points. It is clear that they are prepared to raise other taxes. Their leader talks about raising taxes. He describes himself as a “tax and spend Liberal”.
Taxation May 12th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, unlike the party opposite, the Liberal Party, we actually do not believe in more taxes and more spending. We believe in less taxes on Canadians. In fact, since we took office, a typical family pays $3,000 less in taxes than they paid back in 2006.
That is the difference between the government on this side of the House and the tax and spend Liberals on the other side of the House.
Taxation May 11th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I was living in Canada in the middle of the 1990s and I was in a provincial government then. I know how the former prime minister balanced the budget: on the backs of nurses, teachers, school children and people needing social services in the provinces. That is the Liberal way but that is not our way.
Taxation May 11th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we have been working hard. in co-operation with most of the provinces and territories. to reduce the federal corporate tax, which was a little above 22% when our government came to office, to about 15% by 2012. We asked the provinces to move in the same direction to get their corporate taxes, those that have them, down to about 10% in the same time frame. It looks like the majority of the provinces will be there.
This is an incredible opportunity to brand our country as a country that does business taxes at about 25%. Overall, it adds to our advantage with respect to financial institutions. This is Canada's moment to take these kinds of steps to improve our standard of living.
Pensions May 11th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we are listening to Canadians and so are seven other provincial and territorial governments in Canada. We agreed as finance ministers that we would listen carefully, consult carefully.
The first rule has to be with respect to the Canada pension plan, a remarkable success story as a public pension plan, that we do no harm. We are making sure, first of all, that we do no harm. We are co-operating with the provinces and territories. The federation is working well on pension reform.