Taxation  Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Let us get the facts straight on this. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% in January 2016. Our commitment during the election campaign was to invest in the Canadian economy specifically to benefit small businesses, Canadian families, and the middle class.

Taxation  Madam Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to read the entire budget. What we have done is historic. We are investing $1 billion in clean tech across the country to ensure we can invest in innovation and new technology. That is what Canadians wanted; that is what we are delivering.

Taxation  Madam Speaker, let us be clear once and for all on this issue. The tax rate for small businesses went from 11% to 10.5% as of January 1, 2016. Those are the facts. What Canadian businesses need is a strong economy, and it is exactly what budget 2016 would do. We are investing in infrastructure.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I am so happy for the question from the hon. member. Let me quote from the independent parliamentary budget officer talking about our budget: ...we believe that ultimately these measures will have a sizable impact on the Canadian economy”. That is what the PBO said yesterday.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand, and everyone in this House should understand, that in the last month of the fiscal year our expenses are going up and our revenues are going down. The Conservatives have left us a deficit. Let me say what the independent parliamentary budget officer said about the Conservatives.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, this budget is historic in investing in Canadians. We have reduced taxes for nine million Canadians already, which is helping our economy. We have the Canada child benefit, which is going to help nine families out of 10, lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty; and we are investing in our seniors, in youth, in clean tech, and in innovation.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her question. This is the government that is tackling tax evasion. We are investing $444.4 million to tackle tax evasion, which will do three things: provide technology to the Canada Revenue Agency, provide teams to the Canada Revenue Agency, and provide the tools they need to detect, investigate, and prosecute those who are doing tax evasion.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question. As I said, this is the government that is tackling tax evasion. We talked about it in the recent budget and even during the election campaign. Well before the Panama papers, the Liberal team was saying that tax evasion was a problem that needed to be solved.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to read the budget in its entirety, because actually this budget is a budget for middle-class Canadians and Canadian families. We are the government that reduced the taxes for the middle class. Nine million Canadians are paying less tax as of January 1 because of this government.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, we have a budget that works for the middle class, that works for Canadian families. I would just like to remind my colleague opposite that this morning The Wall Street Journal called us the “poster child” of the IMF's global growth strategy. The Financial Times called Canada a “glimmer of light” in the world.

Tax Avoidance  Madam Speaker, again, I thank my colleague for his initiative. However, I would like to point out that it is this government that has made an historic investment to combat tax evasion. My colleague is talking about Barbados, but I might point out that the Minister of National Revenue was clear on the subject of tax evasion.

Tax Avoidance  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for raising this important issue. I have a lot of respect for him and especially for the issue he is raising in the House this evening. We knew that tax evasion was a problem long before the famous Panama papers. During the election campaign, the government promised to fight tax evasion.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, I want to remind my hon. colleague that we did reduce taxes for small businesses and we did reduce taxes for nine million Canadians. I would invite my hon. colleague to read the entire budget. He will see that this government is working for Canadians.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague to read the entire budget, because this is the government that reduced taxes on nine million Canadians. We did that in December. The taxes on small business have been reduced. This is a government that works for Canadians, Canadian families, and small business.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question and I invite him to read —