Marc Garneau

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 7th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments. I always find him extremely entertaining. I have been asking the different members on the government side the same question. So, let me ask that question of him.

The government's tax credits contained in its budget implementation plan are a good idea. However, in the interest of fairness for those who are of low income, I would like to have his personal opinion on whether or not he thinks it is a reasonable proposition, and it will not cost that much, to make those non-refundable tax credits, and he knows the categories I am talking about, refundable so that we are not actually discriminating against low income Canadians.

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 7th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, in her presentation, the hon. member mentioned that the opposition parties were against the tax credits. I want to let her know that we are in favour of the tax credits that are in the budget. That is a good move.

However, why does the government not consider it a good idea to make those refundable tax credits so that the people who are in the lower incomes will be able to take advantage of them? I know the government wants to be fair to all Canadians. It would like the children of poor people to be able to take arts courses. It would like low-income volunteer firefighters to also be able to benefit from the tax credit. It would not cost that much more to make it a refundable tax credit.

I would like to hear her ideas on this, what I think, is a useful suggestion.

[National Defence, October 7th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I have a second question for the government. Japan recently decided to purchase fighter jets and has launched a call for tenders, as we should have done.

With a call for tenders, the best benefits are guaranteed and one can save a lot of money. Lockheed Martin has offered to assemble the F-35 jets in Japan, something it certainly did not offer to Canada. With a call for tenders, we would be guaranteed the best industrial benefits and we would save a lot of money. When will we have a call for tenders here in Canada?

[The Budget, October 7th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has more than once said that he is open to suggestions on the budget. Here is one suggestion. While the budget contains a number of tax credits for volunteer firemen, home caregivers and children taking arts courses, the problem is that these are not refundable. The solution to this is to make them refundable.

Will the Prime Minister consider this option, please?

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure whether I want to thank the hon. member for his speech. It was not really a sales pitch for the budget. It was really more a diatribe against the NDP. However, he did say somewhere in there that he would be glad to hear some useful ideas.

I will give him this idea. There are a number of tax credits in this plan but they are non-refundable. I would make the suggestion that they should be refundable so that the least fortunate, the lowest income Canadian, would actually be able to benefit from them. I think that is a good suggestion. I would like to hear what he has to say about it.

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I think tax credits can be a good thing. They are a good thing if everybody benefits from them. However, there is a difference between a non-refundable tax credit and a refundable tax credit. Unfortunately, when we are talking about non-refundable tax credits, as we are here, those who are in the lowest income bracket do not get the benefit. Yet the government is acting as though everybody is going to benefit from its tax credit.

Does the hon. member recognize that those with very low incomes are not going to get the benefit of these tax credits?

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, I will ask the hon. member the same question that his colleague did not answer.

The member talked about the family caregiver tax credit. Does he realize that if one has a low income, one does not benefit from this tax credit? I cannot ask the question more simply.

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, I will follow up on what the hon. member just said. Even people on social assistance want their children to get some exposure to the arts and that is a great idea. However, it is a non-refundable tax credit.

I hope the member understands that if it is a non-refundable tax credit and parents do not have taxable income they would not get any benefit from it whatsoever. They need to have taxable income to actually write off against the tax credit. It would not work if they are below a certain income.

It is the same with the firefighter volunteers and the family caregiver tax credits. If they are non-refundable it discriminates against people with low incomes. What does the member have to say about that?

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, it is unfortunate that we are beginning to see a trend here with government bills with the new majority government. Unfortunately, it will stifle the proper debates that need to happen.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that one of the big shortcomings in this budget implementation plan, Bill C-13, is the fact that, once again, the government is discriminating against those who are poor, those who have less than the average Canadian. I will give an example. It has to do with the fact that some of the tax measures that the government talks about are non-refundable. This is something that perhaps escapes many Canadians but, unfortunately, it has a very real effect on those who are poor in this country.

I will talk about the example of the volunteer firemen who will have the opportunity to have a non-refundable tax credit. We, in the Liberal Party, gave a refundable tax credit. However, the reality is that if they are well off as volunteer firemen, they will be able to take full advantage of that tax credit against their imposable tax. If they are not, they will not have that opportunity to take advantage of it. That means again that it is the poor in this country who will be discriminated again, and we need to talk about that.

[National Defence, October 5th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Lockheed Martin is not allowed to sell F-35s in Canada at a lower price than in the United States. That is why the $9 billion price tag bothers me so much. I do not see how we are going to buy these planes and all the support equipment. I can see only two possible outcomes: we are going spend far more than $9 billion or we will have to buy less than 65 planes.

Which option will this government choose?