Second World War Bravery  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the incredible bravery of a recently deceased constituent, Mrs. Nathalia Petrovna Buchan, and her husband, William Muir Buchan, who were Allied prisoners during the Second World War. I also rise to recognize and honour the extraordinary huma

Government Expenditures  Mr. Speaker, in the fog of the Senate scandals and the PMO secret slush fund, the Conservatives still have not answered a very simple question. Just where did that $3.1 billion go? If the money was in the public accounts and earmarked for public safety, then every penny of that m

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of being the official opposition's revenue critic and do not know of the 100 days of which my friend speaks. If he is referring to the other place, there are no representatives from the official opposition there. I understand we offered an arrange

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill S-17, which is a lengthy statute to deal with certain double taxation conventions between Canada and Namibia, Serbia, Poland, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Switzerland. This is second reading debate. I want to say at the outset that the offi

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013  Mr. Speaker, I said on two occasions during my remarks that there were 90 such conventions, so I do not think I can be corrected on that matter. I also said that these types of arrangements had been around since 1920 and that the OECD, of which Canada is a proud part, had done a

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013  Mr. Speaker, I would agree entirely with my colleague's thoughtful intervention. It is a matter of some sadness to me that the government's rhetoric is all about going after tax evaders, all about a crisis and tax havens and so forth. The government announced a while ago that it

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the hon. member has put these cuts in the personnel of the Canada Revenue Agency in a very interesting context and much broader context. She talked about parks, climate change, family farm regulation and so forth. The cuts the government has made t

Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2013  Mr. Speaker, the amount of money that the same organization, Canadians for Tax Fairness, has indicated every year is lost bears repeating. Its study shows it is $7.8 billion. The Tax Justice Network, of which it is a part, has done enormously good work around the globe in trying

Electronic Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to speak in the strongest terms possible in support of Motion No. 428, moved by my colleague, the member for Burnaby—Douglas. He has been a leader in Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in trying to come up with measures to improve Canadi

Access to Information  Mr. Speaker, the Information Commissioner pulls no punches in her report on access to information. She writes about failure and even says that “the integrity of the federal access to information program is at serious risk”. I repeat, “serious risk”. At the very least, can the go

Access to Information  Mr. Speaker, yes, Conservatives have set a number of records, but none I would brag about. The Conservatives committed to spend $50 million, they say, on access to information matters, but the Information Commissioner says that she does not know where the money was spent. She sa

Pensions  Mr. Speaker, between 2010 and 2036 the number of seniors in Canada will double, and Canadians are facing a crisis of retirement insecurity. The provinces are in agreement that increasing the Canada pension plan is the very best way to ensure that Canadian seniors will have a sec

Pensions  Mr. Speaker, Canadians want the Canada pension plan improved. They do not want more studies. The provinces agree. Seniors agree. Experts agree. Why are the Conservatives standing in the way of progress? With Canada's population rapidly aging, ensuring a secure retirement is a ma

Retirement Income Bill of Rights  Mr. Speaker, I guess my first question to the member would be as follows. She said that the bill would just set goals to which governments should aspire. I think those were her words. How exactly would the bill legally compel any change of government behaviour? Where are the ju

Retirement Income Bill of Rights  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-513, the so-called retirement income bill of rights. As I will describe in greater detail later, I have very serious reservations about supporting the bill even at this stage, but on balance, I believe that it is more important that th