Robert Chisholm

[Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012, February 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to weigh in, for a few moments anyway, on Bill C-48. I commend the member for Brossard—La Prairie, not only for his speech but also for the incredibly valuable work he performed as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance. Not to put too fine a point on it, he is a brilliant deputé and made an important contribution. I know that he will make a similar type of contribution on the justice committee, where he is now focusing his attention.

We are dealing with a bill that is nearly a thousand pages long. As others have said, it deals with a huge number of needed amendments that have been outstanding for nearly 15 years. They were announced but were not enacted in legislation, creating great confusion and problems for tax practitioners and individual Canadians.

The point made by one of the groups we spoke to, and that I am sure he heard from, Blakes, was that as a result of allowing this backlog of amendments to build up, the government has increased the complexity of the tax system. That flies in the face of everything the government has claimed it stands for as it relates to things such as reducing red tape and simplifying the tax system to make it easily accessible and understood by Canadians. That is another example of how the government tells Canadians one thing and goes ahead and does something else.

We heard from other members of this caucus that the Auditor General, in 2009, reported to the House that there were upwards of 400 tax amendments that had been proclaimed and were being carried forward but they had not been codified and enacted in legislation. That was creating a problem, a sense of confusion and an added level of complexity. He said it was simply bad practice and was not the way to run something as technical and important as the tax system under the finance acts.

Bill C-48, I understand, deals with about half of those. It does not deal with the additional ones that have been announced by the government since 2009. Therefore, even though we are dealing with a piece of legislation that is 1000 pages long and is extraordinarily complex, we will not have time to go through it in the kind of detail with which we probably should go through it. The government is still not dealing with all the changes in the tax system that have been enacted already but that have yet to be codified.

That is why the experts, such as the Certified General Accountants-Canada and the Auditor General, have said it is so important. We have comments from Thomas McDonnell, from Thorsteinssons LLP tax lawyers, and others who have said it is important to make sure that, for the tax changes that are proposed, announced and put in place by the Minister of Finance or the government, whether at budget time or at other times during the year, the government should be introducing legislation annually in the House to make sure that happens.

In 2007 the Conservatives introduced Bill C-10, which was an attempt to try to catch up to the backlog. Members will know that in 2008, they pulled the plug, because they felt that they might be able to get a majority government at the time. Even though they were flying in the face of fixed-term legislation that the Prime Minister himself lauded, they went to the polls in the fall of 2008. As a result, Bill C-10 died on the order paper.

The point is that they should not be waiting years to take care of business that should be looked after on an annual basis. It would give legislators here and experts across the country an opportunity to take a small chunk of legislation and amendments and to have a full discussion about their implications. That would be a sign of good governance.

If Parliament were up to date on those kinds of legislative changes, and the government of the day decided to prorogue the House or call an election or whatever, we would only be dealing with one year of changes next time around and would not be participating in a buildup of a backlog.

As everyone who knows about this system has said, it is extraordinarily complex. Allowing this backlog to build and bringing in amendments this way to an extraordinarily technical piece of legislation of almost 1,000 pages does not provide the clarity and opportunity for simplifying the tax system that we should be looking for. It is in the interest of all Canadians.

Since my time is winding down, I will make three points. I have said already that the bill is extremely technical. New Democrats think it does not need to be so technical.

In respect of good governance and legislative management, it should be done on an annual basis. Let me be clear that we on this side believe in cracking down on both tax avoidance and tax evasion while ensuring the integrity of our tax system. We support these changes, but we want to ensure that they happen on a more manageable basis.

This is an omnibus bill of sorts, but as opposed to Bills C-45 and C-38, it does not bring 60 pieces of legislation together with nothing that ties them together. It deals with changes to closely related pieces of legislation.

Finally, the massive size of this bill demonstrates that there is still work to be done in getting technical changes legislated in a timely fashion. As I have said and will reiterate, failing to do so hurts the business community. It makes it difficult for proper evaluation by Parliament. Ultimately, it impacts the economy of this country and individual Canadians who are trying to work with an increasingly complex tax system as they go about their business and their daily lives making sure they provide for themselves and their families and build stronger communities and a stronger country.

That is our goal. Those are the measures we would like to see the government move forward with.

We will be supporting the legislation. I urge the government to ensure that this is done on an annual basis from here on in.

[Fisheries and Oceans, February 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on February 11, I asked the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans a question about silencing scientists. He told me, “there has been no change in DFO policy with regard to scientists”. Now we learn that managers at DFO in fact emailed scientists on January 29, warning them to keep their mouths shut unless they had approval from DFO. Muzzling scientists is wrong; so is trying to mislead the House.

I want to ask the minister to do the right thing, let scientists tell the truth to Canadians and apologize to the House.

[Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012, February 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I do not want to belabour the point about what the Liberals did when they were in power. That was a while ago, and it will be a lot longer before they have the opportunity to not do things. I think we will all be better off for that.

I want to ask the member, who spoke quite eloquently about what the Conservatives have not done, a question. I do not disagree with the member and will make some of the same points myself later on this morning when I have the opportunity to speak to this bill.

In response to an earlier question, I noted that he said that the Conservatives had not moved on the need for annual updates and annual legislation to update the tax regime since 2001. In fact, we have had Auditor General reports. We have had submissions from tax experts, certified general accountants, before the finance committee for many years. They have advocated just that thing.

I wonder if the member could perhaps explain why it is that his government failed when it had the opportunity. I know that it will be the last opportunity for many years. Perhaps the member could try to give us a better explanation of why the Liberals were not able to move forward. That will help us in weighing the veracity of their complaints against this government.

[Petitions, February 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to introduce a petition signed by many Canadians who have recognized the serious lack of affordable housing in the country and the need for some federal responsibility and some leadership on this issue.

The petitioners have witnessed Bill C-400, which calls on the federal government develop a national housing strategy. They ask us to support Bill C-400 and to bring this matter to the attention of the government and to other Canadians.

[Fisheries and Oceans, February 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it was not enough that the Conservatives shut down the Experimental Lakes Area, the ozone network, the PEARL research centre and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. They then stopped Environment Canada scientists from talking to the media.

Now they are telling Fisheries and Oceans scientists that every publication they work on will have to have DFO approval before they can say anything. This is muzzling, plain and simple. What are the Conservatives afraid of, and why did the minister approve this policy?

[Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act, February 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate, for a short period of time, in this important debate.

Let me first add my words of congratulations to the member for New Westminster—Coquitlam for bringing in Bill C-380. The member has recognized there is a problem that exists in this country, and that in fact there is a problem that exists globally, with respect to this issue of the illegal trade in shark fins. He has said he is going to do something about it.

The member has been talking to Canadians, municipalities, members of this House and school children, and people support what he is talking about. We have heard members on all sides in this House say that they too agree the international trade in shark fins is deplorable. The practice of shark finning is deplorable. We have heard everyone agree with that.

However, the only one who has come forward with a plan to stop the problem is the member for New Westminster—Coquitlam. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans had all kinds of excuses as to why the Conservatives are not going to support our attempt to ban the illegal trade in shark fins.

Let me highlight one point that the parliamentary secretary made, and that is the work the government is doing in international co-operation with other groups and organizations, be they regional or otherwise. One example is ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, which has held meetings recently to deal with issues of tuna conservation but also the subsequent impact of that fishery on the porbeagle shark.

In 2008, a joint ICCAT-ICES assessment for the northeast Atlantic population of porbeagle gave the following advice:

Given the state of the stock, no targeted fishing for porbeagle should be permitted and by-catch should be limited and landings of porbeagle should not be allowed.

The EU and that committee then went on to set limits on the total allowable catches. In 2012, at ICCAT meetings in Morocco, the only country that objected to a ban on the fishing of the porbeagle shark, which is facing extinction, was Canada. This is one shark that is not included on the list right now because of the work that Canada has been doing. To suggest we can solve the illegal trade in shark fins across the world and deal with the impact of conservation on sharks and the devastation on the marine ecosystem through existing agreements and existing relationships is simply fanciful.

My colleague has said, with the support of his colleagues in his caucus, and I believe I heard some support from the Liberal caucus, that we should bring this bill forward, pass it at second reading, move it to committee and have a good discussion. If we agree, and we have heard everyone say they do, and Canadians by the thousands are reporting that they want this practice stopped, then let us move this bill, which is the first attempt in this Parliament to begin to deal with the problem, into committee. Let us deal with it once and for all.

Let us make a commitment on behalf of Canadians and on behalf of our marine ecosystem, on behalf of those who recognize the fact that we need to step up and stop the illegal trade in shark fins. We need to stop this practice, so let us actually do something about it.

I understand that my time has come to a close. I want to urge all members of the House to vote in support of Bill C-380 and to do something about this deplorable practice of shark finning.

[The Environment, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the commissioner also had strong words about the Conservatives' failure to protect our coastline. Less than 1% of Canadian marine areas are protected, which is a long way away from our UN commitment to protect 10% by 2020. The commissioner warned that at the current pace, it would be decades before we would be able to achieve our 2020 goal. Our oceans and fisheries do not have decades.

Is the minister still committed to the 2020 goal, and what is his plan to achieve it?

[Employment Insurance, February 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the government is making a mess of the EI system. I was talking to Frances this weekend, one of a whole flood of constituents who have been calling my office because they cannot get through to Service Canada to deal with their problems. In Frances' case, she said she had been calling every hour on the hour for a week, and all she got was an answering machine that said,“Sorry, call back please. We're busy”.

Can the government explain to Canadians why it is messing up the EI system? It cannot even manage a call centre. Please explain that.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member makes a good point. There is not a lot of public transit outside of metro in Nova Scotia. There is not a lot of public transit outside of the metropolitan area in Cape Breton. There is not a lot of public transit in areas outside of Toronto, in Prince Edward Island or in Newfoundland.

The government is setting standards on the basis of downtown Toronto or some other kind of economy. It just simply does not exist from one end of the country to the other, and that is why it is so unfair, the way it is penalizing economies like the one in Atlantic Canada.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked an important question. Where are we headed under the Conservative government?

Maybe the rest of Canada is prosperous, although that is not what I am hearing. The people of Atlantic Canada, especially unemployed people and people who work in seasonal industries, feel that they are being attacked by the Conservative government. Their wages are being lowered. If they happen to be unemployed, their wages are being driven down. Companies are allowed to bring in foreign workers and pay them 15% less to do the same work.

The Conservative government is not doing anything to help create jobs in Atlantic Canada. The government is ensuring that small business people and seasonal industries cannot operate and provide the jobs that they need to provide.