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Results: 1 - 15 of 26
View Irek Kusmierczyk Profile
Lib. (ON)
Okay. I get it.
Most requests emanate from businesses. Can you explain that? How does that relate to the fact that, again, 75% are directed at IRCC? Can you give us a sense of what businesses are asking for? I'm just curious.
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 18:55
The businesses, I believe, appear because a lot of non-Canadians will use agents or lawyers or a company composed of experts in immigration files, and part of that process involves access requests.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, Madam Commissioner. Thank you for being with us this evening.
I'd like to address the issue of trade secrets and intellectual property.
Of course, procurement issues are topical. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the idea that a company might be more reluctant to provide patented materials, services or methods, for example, to a government with an overly open access-to-information regime.
Have you thought about this issue?
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:05
Of course, even in the context of more permissive legislation, there are factors that justify the desire to protect certain information. In such situations, the act provides certain exceptions for third party information, meaning companies doing business with the government. For example, certain clauses of a contract could be excluded.
Now, what we often hear is that it should be all or nothing. Personally, I think there's a happy medium. If companies were told exactly which clauses would be accessible and which ones would be protected, they would be more open.
We are currently operating on a consultation system. When an institution receives an access to information request about a contract it has signed with a third party, the third party is always consulted and can object to the release of the information. In my view, third parties have a right to be consulted, and this is something that can never go away.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:07
I believe this is justified in situations where there could be real prejudice to commercial value or trade secrets. The problem that is often mentioned is that, since it involves a danger of prejudice it's difficult to demonstrate. In any event, the protections offered by the act in this regard are entirely justified.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:08
Right now, when an institution receives an access to information request, it has an obligation to disclose information. That is the first obligation. Then, it must determine which parts of the information must be protected and which could be protected. Often people think of information that could be protected as information that must be protected. Discretion is rarely used to disclose the information. When we receive a complaint, we are able to negotiate, but the first reaction is often to protect the information.
Access to information software allows you to carefully check information and redact what should not be disclosed. So people will often receive a document in which information has been blacked out. That is a possibility.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
The commercial entity or the third party therefore often has the discretionary power to require that the information not be disclosed. If the government absolutely needs a unique, one-of-a-kind product or service, you think it is appropriate to withhold that information.
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:10
It's hard to say. I have to be careful, because there could be a complaint or an investigation about this.
What I am saying is that provisions in the act allow information to be disclosed, just as provisions allow for information to be protected. You would have to refer to the contract in question. Just because there is a confidentiality clause does not mean that the entire contract must be protected.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
With recent announcements, I think it's generally felt that by targeting only those convicted of tax evasion, the government is setting the bar far too low and is still letting public money go to companies that use offshore tax havens and funnel resources to tax-sheltered jurisdictions with public money.
To the hon. minister responsible for CRA, will companies under investigation with regard to the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers still be eligible for the large business credit, yes or no?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
I would say that your question is too complex to be answered with a yes or no answer. What I can say, though, is that all the programs we put in place really serve to protect the workers and employees of companies, regardless of who their employer is. I can assure you that we continue to fight against companies that use these stratagems.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
I can certainly appreciate folks wanting to evade their taxes, but I want to make sure we don't evade the question.
How many companies and taxpayers disclosed in the Paradise Paper cases have been convicted of tax evasion?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.
As I was telling you, Mr. Green, this type of case is complex because people use very sophisticated schemes. We will continue to protect employees, no matter who they work for. My goal is really to make sure that Canadians have money to pay for their groceries and their housing. Companies that use schemes will be prosecuted and held accountable. That could go as far as jail time.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
I'm assuming that through the good work of the CRA and through your investigations, honourable minister, you ought to have a list.
Are you going to use the list of tax havens to draw up a list of companies that will not be eligible for credits to the large companies, and if so, what is this list and which tax havens are mentioned in it by country?
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