House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2025, with 53% of the vote.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, as a member, I also represent people. I have seniors in my area.
I am a businessman, and this does not make any sense for any businessman. It is a tax on businesses. It is a tax on Canadians. Let Canadians save for themselves instead of taking this money away from them without their consent and without their knowing what risks they are taking.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, that was a wonderful question.
As I said, the additional risks that Canadians are taking in this fashion are that they do not know the result, and they do not know the outcome of this risk that is being taken.
As for the future, I do not think anyone will be around. I hope everyone in this room will live for over 100 years, but I do not think anyone will be around to see if this is going to work. That is why the government is doing what is it doing. That is a very unfortunate method of doing politics in Canada.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, I am very surprised that the hon. member is talking about failures.
When we introduced the TFSA, that was a pleasure for every Canadian. We have heard that from Canadians. We have done lots in that fashion to make sure that Canadians save more and are more secure.
I am not sure what the member is referring to as failures.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, if we are going to call this a business case, a lot of risks are being taken. Those risks are not the choice of Canadians but would be imposed by the government on the Canadian people. It is very hard to measure when there are really no benchmarks.
A lot of what the minister said earlier did not make sense. Is he calling growth artificial inflation, in terms of making more money by taxing people and considering that growth? Canadians are taking a lot of risks. If this is a business case, it is a failure. We have to look at it very carefully, consult more, and allow Canadians to have more input, so it can be safe and sound and work for Canadians.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, apparently the government distrusts the ability of Canadians to plan for their own retirement. There is no other reason for this ill-conceived tax hike that the members opposite like to pretend is not a tax on Canadians.
When the Canada pension plan was first introduced in 1965, it was intended to assist those Canadians who were not already part of workplace pension plans. The government apparently felt that such a plan was necessary to assist Canadians in their retirement planning.
The world has changed since then, but the Liberals still believe that we are living in 1965. They still believe that it is the role of the government to tell people what they can do with their money. They still believe that Canadians are not capable of determining for themselves what they will need financially when they retire and of preparing for retirement on their own.
As a result, we have this bill, Bill C-26, which will take money from the pockets of hard-working Canadians who have been given no choice in the matter. The benefits of this tax hike, if any, and do not be fooled when they tell us that it is not a tax hike, by the way, will happen at some point in the far future. These changes do nothing to help today's seniors who may be struggling to make ends meet.
Why do I say that this is a tax hike when the government says it is not? As the cliché goes, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. If the government taxes money from us and gives nothing in return, that is a tax.
The Canada pension plan receives money from two sources: employers and employees. They make equal payments into the fund, but at the end, only one of them receives a pension from those payments, and that is employees. For the employer, CPP is just one of many costs of doing business. The government, with these changes, is increasing the tax load on employers while pretending that it is not a tax.
I was a small businessman before the people of Edmonton Manning gave me their trust as their representative in Ottawa. I know what it means to be an employer and to have to pay my employees. I know first hand how much government red tape is involved in running a business. Liberals can call this increase in CPP whatever they like, but business owners know the truth. This is a tax grab. The Liberals can put all the lipstick on this pig they like, but at the end of the day, they are telling business owners to pay more money, with absolutely nothing in return.
The return for the country is something different. When business owners are faced with an increase in costs, adjustments have to be made somewhere else. The government is mandating this increase in taxes, for nebulous benefits at some point in the future, but business owners have to deal with this tax now. As I see it, they are faced with two choices in this situation. With this increase in costs imposed on them by the government, they will have to find other areas to cut back. One way would be to freeze or even cut wages so that the employers' tax burden does not increase. How this helps employees I do not know.
The alternative is that they will freeze hiring or even lay off employees. Personnel costs are a big part of doing business, and it does not make sense that the government would increase this burden on business owners. This extra tax is putting thousands of Canadian jobs at risk.
In 2015, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business looked at a similar CPP hike scenario. They found that it would eliminate 110,000 jobs and permanently lower wages by nearly 1%. It is not alone in predicting the negative consequence of an increase in CPP premiums. The Fraser Institute found that a 1% point increase in the CPP contribution rate reduces private savings by 0.9 points. That does not provide much benefit.
What does this tax mean for working Canadians? The government tells us that we should be happy, that there will be more money for us when we retire.
It assumes that Canadians are not using savings vehicles, such as the registered retirement savings plan or the tax-free savings account. That is perhaps why the Liberals reduced the TFSA contribution levels set by the previous Conservative government.
When these changes are introduced, Canadians will take home less pay every week. The government wants us to think that it is not much, that we will never notice it, but every penny less in a person's pocket makes a difference to that person.
What would the effects of this tax be as people see their pay reduced? With less money coming in, it would take that much longer for new graduates to pay off their student loans. That, in turn, would delay their ability to buy their first house. That would have an impact on the economy that perhaps the government has not thought enough about. Conservatives want to encourage Canadians to save, but by reducing their pay, we would take the opportunity away from them.
Through this tax increase, Liberals are saying they do not trust Canadians to be smart enough in how they spend their own money, so they will do it for them. Canadians have already shown that they know how to handle their own money. They do not need the government to do it for them.
We already have a retirement system that is the envy of the world. Canadians are saving more today for retirement than ever before, without this tax grab. Poverty among seniors has dropped significantly in recent years. According to Statistics Canada, the share of Canadian seniors living on low income has dropped from 29% in 1970, when the CPP was in its infancy, to 3.7% today. It is among the lowest in the world. Conservatives believe that Canadians should be able to manage their own money. It is not the role of government to do so.
Furthermore, Liberal promises on financial matters are somewhat suspect. It was only a year ago that the Prime Minister was promising to hold the budget deficit at $10 billion. We all know how quickly that promise was broken. How can the government expect Canadians to believe anything it says about CPP benefits in 2050? If the government were truly serious about helping Canadians to save for their retirement, it would reinstate the TFSA contribution levels set by the Conservative government. Treat Canadians like adults and let them choose how to save for their retirement.
It appears as if the government has decided that the CPP should be the only method of retirement savings that Canadians use, but that was never the intention. In 1964, the Liberal minister responsible for introducing the Canada pension plan said that CPP “is not intended to provide all the retirement income which many Canadians wish to have. This is a matter of individual choice and, in the government’s view, should properly be left to personal savings and private pension plans." That was a good idea then, and it is a good idea now. It is time for the government to show Canadians the respect they deserve. For the good of Canada, it should abandon this bill.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, first, I would like to seek the consent of the House to share my time with the member for Mégantic—L'Érable.
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, we believe that with this CPP tax hike, Canadians are taking huge risks, and many risks. First, they do not know what they are getting themselves into or what the government is getting them into. They cannot tolerate the extra risk at this difficult economic time, and they do not know if the program is properly priced and accounted for. They also do not know if the returns are worth it.
Where is the guarantee to Canadians that taking this risk will work for them and will be something they will not regret down the road?
Canada Pension Plan October 21st, 2016
Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his speech. I would appreciate that book signed by you. I read your book, and I believe that—
Taxation October 7th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the government has decided to reduce greenhouse gases by increasing taxes on Canadians. This will raise the price of gasoline at the pump by 11¢ a litre and cost middle-class Canadian families thousands of dollars annually.
Can the environment minister tell the House when her department calculated exactly how many jobs would be lost as part of the Liberals' rash scheme to impose a carbon tax on Canadians?
National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act September 30th, 2016
Madam Speaker, I hope Canada will be safer after Bill C-22 is passed. How can the bill guarantee accountability and public trust when the chair of the committee is being parachuted into the position by the Prime Minister?