Finance committee  We salute the spirit of the House of Commons in providing private members with the opportunity for legislation, over the last couple of decades, thanks to the outrage of groups like ours that see private members not given the independence they deserve and not being able to bring

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Gregory Thomas. I am the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, representing 79,000 supporters across Canada. We are Canada's oldest and largest voice for smaller government, more accountability, and lower taxes. We apprecia

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Yes. We need to eliminate duplication and we need to set out the responsibility for different aspects of protecting the environment with a tremendous amount of precision. I don't think anyone would suggest that protection of our oceans should be the responsibility of provincial g

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  We believe that the—

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  We believe that those who cause the damage should be financially responsible for the damage that they cause. Yes, that's—

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Yes, absolutely. I think it goes back to what I addressed in my submission, which is that Canada is doing a very bad job of getting relevant information in front of decision-makers about the effects on the environment, the cost to the environment, the cost to the economy, and the

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Exactly. How much oxygen is being removed from the Fraser River from the silt that flows down from farmers' fields, and how effective are the mitigation factors that are foisted on the people who've farmed the land for 100 years, as one example? I thought Mr. Hazell's comment ab

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  It was clever, but it actually missed the mark, because we missed many periods of $12 and $16 gigajoule gas that would have created apprenticeships for aboriginal people, that would have built a vital economy, and that would have built a self-sufficient northern Canada. Ultimat

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  I think what you experienced is fisheries officers refusing to embark on some of these overzealous adventures. Activists groups used the legislation to force the government into undertaking things like the Salish sucker initiative. So, yes, we believe that changes to the legislat

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  No. I think the environment movement and thoughtful parties on all sides should actually quantify them by asking how vital the culvert is, how critical it is, how many fish are being impacted, and whether there is a cheaper way to do it that has less effect. As I mentioned, in t

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  What they saw was that they're actually closer to the ground—pardon the pun—and they know how their ditches operate. They know when the fish run in them, and they know effective ways to manage their own ditches better than the fisheries officers and better than the environmental

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Gregory Thomas. I'm the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. We are Canada's oldest and largest taxpayer advocacy group, founded in 1990, with 72,000 supporters across the country. We appreciate the invitation to participate

Finance committee  We deal with a large number of taxpayers who are vitally interested in the tax system. They give us millions of dollars to come here and represent them to you. Tax filers, taxpayers, are frustrated by the taxation system.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  It's a question of motivation. If you want to do some tax planning, some work with charitable donations, and the person with the money, let's say an elderly entrepreneur who's run a mill or a small business in a community, if that person's eyes glaze over and he goes “Oh, my head