Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill S-3, An Act to implement conventions and protocols concluded between Canada and Colombia, Greece and Turkey for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Taxation  We are at a crossroads: borrow money today to cut corporate taxes or freeze corporate taxes, fight the deficit and invest in education. We can take the Conservative path of the eighties and become more like Greece or the Liberal path of the nineties and become more prosperous. Why are the Conservatives choosing more debt over prosperity?

Taxation  It is thanks to a decade of sound Liberal financial management that we are not in the same mess as Greece and other countries.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  Madam Speaker, would my colleague be willing to split this bill into two parts? One part would deal with Greece and Turkey, which do not pose a problem in terms of taxation and human rights, and the other would deal with Colombia which, naturally—

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  They put all sorts of things in that bill, but of course it was inappropriate and showed a complete lack of respect for Parliament. Bill S-3 has to do with Greece and Turkey, two countries that have rather advanced tax systems, and Colombia, where the drug industry rakes in about $90 billion a year in revenues. We know that that industry has close ties to the government.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  The Bloc Québécois supports the bill because we believe that it is important to implement the tax conventions negotiated with Colombia, Greece and Turkey. The goal of these conventions is to avoid double taxation and promote the exchange of information. Any time economic relations are established with another country, the individuals or businesses in question likely enjoy revenues in both countries.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  Madam Speaker, I listened very carefully to the hon. member's comments. He referred to Colombia, Greece and Turkey and his resistance with Colombia because of human rights. One-third of island of Cyprus is illegally occupied by Turkish forces. There are 1,600 Greek and Turkish Cypriots still unaccounted for with regard to laws, properties, et cetera.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill S-3, An Act to implement conventions and protocols concluded between Canada and Colombia, Greece and Turkey for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. The first thing I want to say is that the bill's alphanumeric designation is a clear indication that it comes from the Senate of Canada.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If anybody's been reading the press lately, they'll know about the credit default swap and what it's doing to countries like Greece. Credit default swap is a form of insurance, but it's not just like any insurance. You can actually go and buy.... It's like buying insurance on your neighbour's house and worrying--or maybe hoping--that your neighbour's house is going to buy down.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  Surely the government has some idea of how many citizens this particular new initiative, the new Bill S-3, would apply to in terms of citizens from Greece, Colombia and Turkey who we are dealing with here. Clearly the government should be a little more prepared and have more information when it brings in bills such as this. I ask the member if he would like to make some comments about those points.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  Speaker, the hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona addressed the main issue to which I had already spoken, which is what the objective is of this bill. What do we want to do when we engage in tax treaties with countries like Turkey, Greece and Colombia? We need to have an objective. What is our strategy? I hear the minister for war and peace in the Middle East saying that we need to have a strategy. I do not know what the strategy of the government is.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  We have developed a series of treaties with many countries. I am glad to see that we are now moving ahead with Greece, Turkey and Colombia. I understand that we are already in negotiations with other countries like Cuba. The idea is that those countries and their legitimate authorities help our own investors to secure a proper investment environment and at the same time leave behind an additional investment through taxation that is not so onerous as to generate avoidance, evasion and corruption.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  Getting back to Bill S-3, this is very important for his home country, for Colombians, for Canadians operating in Greece, Turkey and Colombia. They need to be assured that when they send employees of a Canadian company to those countries, they are not going to be overtaxed or double taxed. It is a part of our pattern of expanding trade.

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2010  moved that Bill S-3, An Act to implement conventions and protocols concluded between Canada and Colombia, Greece and Turkey for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Taxation  Speaker, in the middle of the 1990s, Jean Chrétien inherited a $42 billion Conservative deficit and an overall government debt burden equal to that of Greece. He and Paul Martin massively paid down debt, delaying tax cuts until the books were balanced. Why, in the middle of a global debt crisis, do Conservatives insist on corporate tax cuts paid for with borrowed money?