Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  They cannot imagine why Canadian veterans and their spouses have to chase this Minister of Veterans Affairs down the hall just to be shown a modicum of respect. Regarding FATCA, I could do an entire speech on this agreement. The Conservatives said they wrestled hard with those Americans and they really brought them to their knees, and they got basically nothing.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, given that the FATCA buried in Bill C-31 requires that the bank search every single customer record with a fine-tooth comb, does the government have any estimates for what that is going to cost and how much of those costs will be passed on to every bank customer across Canada?

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Speaker, what the hon. member refers to is a conversation I had with the former finance minister, as I had several constituents in my riding come to my office and inquire about the FATCA situation and how it was going to affect them. I was told at that time by the finance minister that we were in heavy negotiations with the United States of America to make sure that we negotiated a deal that would protect the rights and privacy of Canadians who could be affected by this legislation enacted in the U.S.A.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  I am sure she will vote for it happily without even understanding it. I want my friend to expand a bit on not just the process, but on the issue of FATCA, this agreement with the U.S., and how little information has gone forward to Canadians, how there is no legislative rush that the government has put on this, that it is ramming something through that would affect up to a million Canadians and their private banking information, sending it on to the IRS.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  My colleague from Prince Edward Island is reminding me of balanced budgets and paid-down debt and cut taxes. Those were the good old days. In terms of FATCA, I can say absolutely that when the minister appeared before the committee he did not even know how many Canadians would be affected by this. In fact, the government has said at various points that no Canadians would be affected, because they are exempt.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  The bill continues to ignore the challenges faced by veterans in Canada, continues to show contempt for veterans. The bill, through the FATCA provisions, makes the CRA effectively the tax collector for the IRS, and continues to demonstrate disrespect for Parliament and democracy by putting all of these poorly thought out provisions in a budget implementation act as opposed to free-standing legislation, dealt with by committees with the expertise to make the best possible legislative decisions.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Flaherty spoke up compassionately against these accidental Americans who would be caught in what I call the FATCA web. There are a million of them and the government is standing by and waiting for an inevitable lawsuit because it did not stand up for our sovereignty when this was before us initially.

Privacy  Speaker, there is no clearer example of Conservative disregard for the privacy rights of Canadians than their rush to hand over personal financial information to the American IRS under FATCA. Last night, Conservatives even voted against an NDP amendment that would ensure compliance with the Charter of Rights and with the Privacy Act. They have refused to fix even a single comma.

Finance committee  I think I'll speak to each separately, Mr. Chair, because they do speak to different issues, unlike the last ones that dealt with FATCA more or less at once. This is what I'm proposing to do here, Mr. Chair. At clause 115 on page 97, there's an opportunity to do something that's a lacuna in Canadian regulatory practice.

Finance committee  It would require our banks or financial institutions to provide 60 days' notice to those people who were caught in the FATCA web. There can be no doubt as to the constitutionality of this. Banks are federally regulated. This is a requirement of those institutions to provide notice. That would, I think, alleviate some of the concern of so many of our fellow citizens who are going to be caught in this law.

Finance committee  We have heard testimony from him and from some others, that maybe in the process of a bank inquiring after a client's information, that may not tip them off, but give them the indication that they may be in this FATCA net. That seems a passive way to go about this. If privacy laws are of any interest, and sovereignty is of any interest to my friends across the way, then this simple notification measure here requiring the banks to notify somebody, it's not....

Finance committee  First, a number of those amendments that are being proposed again bring us back to the comment about restrictions within the IGA that would ultimately make the IGA non-implementable, which would ultimately lead to the U.S. imposing FATCA on Canada itself in the absence of an IGA. I can't support that and just to confirm that with the official.... Also, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps you could take us through a new subsection 265(5) which also relates to if the Canadian financial institution discovers U.S. indicia in the electronic search.

Finance committee  I'm bringing this up somewhat in assistance to Mr. Keddy as he was talking about if the U.S. side of FATCA is terminated, there is a consequence obviously on this side. Why would we uphold an agreement that we were forced into somewhat unwillingly and maintain it except for this one section of XVIII where six years of reporting is held by the banks?

Finance committee  Is this completely exclusive of FATCA? This is just statutes under Canadian law and the tax act.

Finance committee  I'm sure some of this originated in your department. If this is a redundant amendment, an amendment that suggests that the Americans renege on FATCA and we obviously do the same, so be it and we move on with our relationship. Then again, it's a potentially supportable amendment, and Mr. Keddy raised some concern about a section under part XVIII under our own tax law which I can't imagine this amendment affecting.