Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my opening remarks, we are the government that understands that every dollar we spend is a dollar out of Marsha the nurse's pocket and a dollar out of someone else's pocket. As I looked at the NDP platform and saw the extraordinary list of expenditures they intended to make, I could feel many people wanting to tighten up, sew up, their pockets to protect their very hard-earned dollars.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, certainly the tradition of the House has been that there is a budget that is tabled and there is legislation that follows, so I cannot speak to what will be coming. We do know that in the budget there were a few other measures that the Minister of Finance will perhaps look at moving forward at some other date.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, the minister presented the budget in the spring of this year. We had comprehensive debate regarding it. I cannot speak for the decisions of what the committee does in terms of moving forward for study. However, if I look at the threads that go throughout the budget implementation act, we are seeing things we have actually heard for well over a year.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I too am very pleased to rise today to speak to the budget implementation act, economic action plan 2013. First, we have to note that this is a very timely discussion, because of course, yesterday, April 30, was our tax-filing deadline. By yesterday, there were probably about 28 million individuals throughout Canada who had filed their taxes, and we know that they put over $120 billion into taxpayers' coffers.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the vast majority of Canadians pay their taxes on time. In 2011-12, 94% paid their taxes. That was reported. The outstanding tax debt is an inventory of amounts that are known, undisputed and are under collection by Canada Revenue Agency. We do take a balanced approach in terms of tax fairness for all Canadians, but not unnecessary hardships in terms of individuals' families.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the Canada Revenue Agency is not laying off tax evasion experts. These people are key to battling tax cheats and ensuring fairness for taxpayers. We have moved some positions to allow better coordination between Canada Revenue Agency and the RCMP. People now file their taxes electronically, so we do not need as many data managers.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is a very experienced politician, and he knows that the minister has no involvement in administrative individual tax cases. Independent, non-partisan public servants with the Canada Revenue Agency are responsible for the administration and enforcement of Canada's tax legislation.

Canada Revenue Agency  Mr. Speaker, the minister has no responsibility whatsoever in the administration of individual tax cases. Non-partisan public servants of the Canada Revenue Agency are responsible both for the administration and enforcement of the tax legislation.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague with interest, but I think he is missing the main intent and purpose of this agreement. I would like to give him an example. There is a very successful business person in British Columbia who has been doing business in British Columbia for many years and has just recently set up his business in China.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, this is a situation involving decisions made under the former Liberal government. I am happy to report that all the fishermen involved in the initial court case have received their due payments, and our expectation is that reassessments and cheques will continue to be issued going forward.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, our government takes aggressive international tax planning seriously and is committed to cracking down on those who attempt to cheat the system. That is why we have increased audit resources for our international audit program by roughly 40% and for the aggressive tax planning program by over 90%.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I hope the opposition will support economic action plan 2013. It can see the clear work we have done to create tax fairness for all Canadians. We have taken some important measures in terms of tax loopholes. We have given the Canada Revenue Agency some important tools to help in its ability to crack down on tax evasion and the use of offshore tax havens.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we absolutely recognize that our young adults have challenges in terms of buying that first home. Therefore, we have measures that really provide support for those first-time home buyers. Importantly, the bigger picture is that we are ensuring that they are going to get the training to do the jobs that need to be done.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, we certainly believe in a system of tax fairness. The member has sat with me on the finance committee and has heard of some fairly aggressive tax planning practices. The aggressiveness is perhaps legal but is above the spirit of what we are trying to do with our tax system.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member for Westmount—Ville-Marie was sitting in the House in 2008 when we were in a global recession. People were concerned. What I heard was the opposition saying spend more money. I hate to imagine what the deficit would have been had we listened. We chose to do targeted, timely spending, along with our G7 counterparts.