Budget Implementation Act, 2018 No. 2  Madam Speaker, it is an important question, so I thank you for setting the member for Carleton right on this. The member's amendment does not address two of the main considerations that came from the pre-budget hearings. The web giants are getting off scot-free and basically not paying taxes in Canada.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question, Peter, and thank you again to everyone for inviting me to join you today. We have some large cross-country studies that look at the impact of trade liberalization over time in different sectors.

Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's shared concern and disgust at the events in the synagogue in Pittsburgh, the continuing threats to our holy places of all faiths in Canada and the amount of time, effort, security and money that needs to be expended to guarantee the security of these vulnerable holy meeting places.

Finance committee  Many thanks to all the witnesses. You are clearly providing some interesting food for thought. I'm going to start with you, Mr. Kobly. I'm a member of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce and the Burnaby Board of Trade. Welcome to this committee. You talk about a review of income tax and we've heard from other witnesses across the country who have talked about how dysfunctional our tax system is right now.

Finance committee  I would be happy to do that. Thank you very much. I'd like to go now to Chief Smith, Chief Dickson, Chief Joseph and Chief Sidney. You have been very eloquent in terms of where investments need to be made by the federal government to push back and eliminate, as you mentioned Chief Dickson, the legacy of colonialism.

Finance committee  Thanks to all witnesses. Wow, there has been a lot of very good testimony to us today. I'm going to try to get through as many questions as I can, so I'll ask you to keep your answers relatively short. I'll start with Mr. Rowlinson and Mr. DeRochie. Mr. Rowlinson, you spoke very eloquently about the issue of the just transition and the possibility of developing our economy.

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, this will be the last speech I deliver in the House of Commons, in where it has been an honour to represent the people of York--Simcoe for a decade and a half. Bill C-81 seeks to enhance accessibility in areas of federal jurisdiction. It is a worthy objective. Accessibility is an area where we have seen much change and progress in my lifetime.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. I'll come back to Mr. Mullin and Mr. Irving. Both of you have raised very interesting points, Mr. Mullin around the review of the tax system and Mr. Irving around the Competition Bureau. I come out of social enterprise. As I mentioned, I'm a member of the Burnaby Board of Trade and the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd like to go to you, as well, Mr. Neuheimer. I represent a riding that, after the softwood lumber sellout was signed, lost 2,000 direct and indirect jobs. We lost Canfor, Interfor and Western Forest Products. They all went down within six months of the softwood lumber sellout, and the sector has never recovered.

Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. The science and technology accomplishments in Israel at the great universities, like the Technion, Haifa University, Tel Aviv University, the Bar-Ilan University and the co-operation with Canadian universities in Toronto and Montreal in the development of artificial intelligence is spectacular, and there is great opportunity.

International Trade committee  We saw with the softwood lumber example—I just met with the Canadian Forestry Association's president—that the average price of American homes for the middle class just went up $10,000. It's not who we are. We are both countries of free trade, as well as Mexico. Hopefully we can get down to that particular program. There are some other relief programs that are in place for steel companies. Has my friend in P.E.I. applied for any of that particular programming?

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses. Mr. Nantais, I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on the USMCA. As you well know, under the terms of the revised NAFTA, cars will be traded tariff-free as long as 40% to 45% of the automobile is made by workers making a minimum of $16 an hour.

Finance committee  It's a reasonable view. I read his comments in the Financial Post and then looked at his testimony to the Senate committee on banking, I think. I come from academia. I have respect for anyone who has studied this. Jack Mintz has studied taxation his whole life and hasn't found a tax cut he didn't like, and I think he himself would admit that.

The Budget  Madam Speaker, I am going to start off where my Liberal colleague from Scarborough—Guildwood left off, where he talked about economic fundamentals. What are the economic fundamentals right now of Canada? The economic fundamentals are that we are living through the period of greatest inequality in our nation's history.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I'd first like to thank the committee for offering me this opportunity to share a few thoughts with you on various issues of Canada's engagement in Asia. Today I will focus particularly on the absence of the rule of law in China and its declining attention in China.