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Results: 1 - 15 of 26
View Paul Manly Profile
GP (BC)
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's an honour to rise in the House again and to be here.
I'd like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin first nation as uninvited guests. To them I say meegwetch.
I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of my staff members, who have been working overtime during this crisis. Answering the phone calls and the emails, and dealing with constituents in crisis, is difficult work. I really appreciate what they've done, and I know the constituents do as well.
I'd like to thank the government for its response, and I know that many Canadians have needed help and are getting help. The opposition and members of the Liberal backbench have brought forth all kinds of issues and gaps in the programs, and the government has been responsive and has been helping Canadians. I think it's really important at this time that we have this unity, working together, because our constituents and Canadians are important. They need our help, and playing politics during a pandemic and a crisis isn't the right thing to do. Working together to make sure that we deal with people, and help them with their problems, is the right thing to do.
There are still many needs that people have. For small businesses, too many are still falling through the cracks and are unable to access relief. A lot of micro-businesses are having problems. Some landlords won't sign the new CECRA program. In cases where landlords refuse to co-operate, commercial tenants should be able to apply directly to the government. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business's latest report found that half of small businesses surveyed cannot make their June rent. We're asking the government to allow tenants to access the 50% rental funding when landlords don't agree to opt in to the CECRA program. We're also asking that the government ease the 70% revenue drop criteria for CECRA so more businesses can apply.
CEBA, the business account, still requires a business chequing account. I know that the government has promised changes to that, and I'm looking forward to hearing about those changes. This is something that opposition members have brought up a number of times.
Many in the arts and music industry who rely on summer business will need a lot more help to survive until next year. I'm thinking about all of the festivals and the industries behind them that support them. RSM Productions in Nanaimo, a sound and lighting company, has lost all of its contracts. It is a company that needs help.
Municipalities have experienced staggering drops in revenue, and increased costs. They must continue to provide essential services including police, fire, water, sewage and waste management, regardless of those lost revenues. They're going to have trouble collecting property taxes from businesses and homeowners in financial distress. In my community, they've had free public transit, but ridership has been down to next to nothing anyway. The FCM estimates that municipal transit systems are incurring monthly losses of about $400 million due to diminished ridership, part of at least $10 billion to $15 billion in near-term, non-recoverable losses due to COVID-19.
We need to help municipalities. I understand that they are under provincial jurisdiction, but we work with municipalities with the green infrastructure fund and with the gas tax, and we need to be able to help municipalities weather this storm.
Aboriginal friendship centres have been asking for more help. I know the Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre in my community provides a broad spectrum of important programs for the 12,000 urban indigenous people in my riding, including a health centre, youth and elder housing, a safe house for homeless youth, a home for single moms and a food hamper program. It also provides mental health and addiction counselling, and continues to provide that online during this crisis. It's an integral part of the urban indigenous community, and it's seriously struggling. It hasn't received any funding yet, and it's expecting to receive maybe $25,000 to $30,000. I'm hoping that the government steps up with more funding for urban aboriginal organizations.
Many non-profit organizations are suffering. In B.C., non-profits contribute $6.4 billion to the economy and employ 86,000 people. However, 78% are facing serious disruption, 74% have seen a large decrease in funding, and at least 19% are shutting down permanently.
I was disappointed to see the government contract with Amazon rather than Canada Post for delivering PPE. That's because of the way Amazon treats its employees. We see that Jeff Bezos is now on track to becoming the first trillionaire. In contrast, our Canada Post employees are paid well, they work hard for their money and they return that money into our economy. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has great ideas for how it can improve things in our economy, including public banking and more energy-efficient delivery systems, so we really need to be supporting our Crown corporations rather than a trillionaire.
Our airlines have really let down passengers. The local chamber of commerce bought tickets to go to two separate conferences, and when they cancelled those tickets they got a voucher for 11 months from the day of cancellation. How are they going to use that for the annual conference next year? That's completely useless to them. I have constituents who have tickets that the airline said they needed to use before September, but there are no bookings before September. Therefore, the airlines are letting people down. We need to stand up for consumers in this country the same way that the Europeans and the Americans do and make sure that the passengers get a refund or at least a voucher that they can use. Eleven months is ridiculous. Four months is ridiculous.
People living on CPP disability need relief and really need a permanent increase in their benefits so that they are on par with the benefits that the province gives people on disability.
With our health care system, we've seen the need for improving health care, and we know there's a $15 billion deficit just in maintenance in our health care system; and our long-term care system needs to be brought into the health care system properly so that our seniors are not abandoned to a for-profit model.
Regarding CPP, OAS and GIS, our seniors have been asking for a raise in these things for a long time. They deserve it. The cost of living in my riding has gone way up. Because real estate values have escalated in the last five years, the cost of renting a place has driven up the cost of living. We need to take these things into consideration. It's not the same in every part of the country, but in some parts of this country it is out of control.
I know there are worries about fraud in the relief programs, but we see fraud in other areas. We see polluters who abandon their messes, declare bankruptcy and then leave it for us, the citizens and the taxpayers, to clean up. That's privatizing the profits and socializing the losses, and that needs to end.
We also need to make sure that offshoring of wealth, whether that's legal through loopholes or illegal through tax evasion, is stopped. We lose about $19 billion a year in taxes, through tax evasion or tax avoidance.
One of the things I've been talking about here for a while is a guaranteed livable income. It's similar to the basic income or universal basic income that's proposed, but we base it upon a basket of goods, the same way that a living wage would, so that people have the things they need to survive. It's an idea that has gained support across the political spectrum, but the Greens have been talking about this for several decades. In fact, 50 Canadian senators have written to the Canadian Prime Minister, calling for a minimum basic income for Canadians. The GLI establishes an income floor below which no Canadian can fall. It's something whose time has come.
This crisis has shown us that there are a lot of issues we need to deal with. One of the things it has taught us is that life is more important than money, and when we work together we can get things done. I look forward to continuing to improve the programs the government has put forward.
View Alain Therrien Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Last week, during a virtual sitting of Parliament, I repeatedly asked the Minister of National Revenue about tax havens and I was treated to a broken record. She kept telling me things that didn't make sense and that didn't answer any of my questions. Believe me, even a Buddhist monk would have lost patience.
I've analyzed the situation. Everyone thinks that it makes no sense that people who can afford to pay their taxes aren't doing so. Everyone understands this, except the government.
In the minister's responses, throughout her broken record, I found something. She said that the government would fight aggressive tax avoidance. I think that I understood and my question is simple. What's non-aggressive tax avoidance?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
We know that we're currently going through an unprecedented crisis. We want to support workers, and we're doing so through the Canada emergency wage subsidy. The subsidy is designed to help Canadians pay their bills, keep their jobs and get through this crisis.
If a business that avoids paying taxes gets caught, it must face the full force of the law. The business may be deemed ineligible for federal emergency programs. The government will target the decision-makers, whether they be the executives, board of directors or shareholders.
View Alain Therrien Profile
BQ (QC)
I can see that the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity is reading the responses prepared for her colleague from national revenue. We aren't out of the woods yet. I'd like the responses to be as long as the questions.
Let me start again. What's non-aggressive tax avoidance?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
I just want to take my few remaining seconds to say that we're currently focusing on workers.
View Alain Therrien Profile
BQ (QC)
The government doesn't seem to have a definition of what constitutes non-aggressive or aggressive tax avoidance. That's my understanding.
I'll ask another very simple question. Why can Denmark say that it will give money only to the people who have paid their fair share of taxes? Why can Denmark do this? Why is Poland doing this? Why are France and other countries doing this? Simply put, why isn't the Government of Canada doing this? The logic is simple. The people who don't pay their taxes shouldn't receive any assistance.
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
Since we were elected to form the government in 2015, we've invested billions of dollars to fight tax evasion. We'll continue to crack down on tax cheats in Canada and abroad because this issue is a priority for our government.
View Alain Therrien Profile
BQ (QC)
The results show that the government isn't able to do this. Yet it's simple. The people who don't pay their taxes shouldn't receive any assistance from the government. Even my dog would understand this.
I'll ask my question again. Why doesn't the government make sure that the people who fail to pay their taxes don't receive any assistance?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
Once again, I want to remind my colleague that, since 2015, we've been making historic investments in the Canada Revenue Agency to ensure that we have the necessary tools to catch offenders and bring them to justice. There are 50 international tax evasion investigations under way. I also want to reiterate that we're in a time of crisis and that we'll be focusing our efforts on workers.
View Alain Therrien Profile
BQ (QC)
We know that we're in a time of crisis and that the Liberals are providing over $150 billion in assistance, since we've given our approval for this assistance.
However, now that we're in a time of crisis, why aren't the Liberals choosing to give money to the people who have paid their share? Can the minister stop reading the responses prepared for the Minister of National Revenue? I don't read. I speak from the heart. I want the minister to do the same and to answer the question. Why doesn't the government take the same approach as Denmark, France and Poland? These countries are fiscally virtuous.
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
We're currently focusing on workers. The Canada emergency wage subsidy covers 75% of wages and helps pay workers. We want workers to be able to keep their jobs and we want to protect their jobs. We'll continue to focus our efforts on supporting workers.
View Yves-François Blanchet Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon.
Government representatives and representatives from the political parties are simultaneously discussing the treatment that seniors must receive and the way that we are going to get out of this difficult situation, using wording that is specific enough for us to understand each other and broad enough for the requirements to follow naturally in the time we have.
Meanwhile, I want to go back to another issue, but I do not want it to be seen as casting doubt on anyone's good intentions. The banking industry, let's say, and the government, let's say, are somewhat close historically. However, the Prime Minister indicated yesterday that companies engaging in tax avoidance would not have access to government programs. I want to make sure that the meaning of that sentence is very clear, very specific, and very precise.
Am I correct to understand that the government is implementing clear measures and a clear tracking of companies engaged in tax avoidance, that they will be identified by name, and they will have no access to the emergency programs during the pandemic?
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
Companies engaged in tax avoidance and tax evasion face consequences in our system. That is ongoing, even during this time of pandemic. We are taking unprecedented steps to help Canadian workers to keep their jobs and to support them through this difficult time.
An audit process has been established for the extraordinary or unusual claims. At the same time, the fight against tax evasion continues to be a priority. Since 2015, we have made unprecedented investments in the Canada Revenue Agency in order to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance. Even during the pandemic, we will continue to ensure consequences for any company not paying its fair share of taxes.
View Yves-François Blanchet Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Chair, there is a difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance.
Tax avoidance is legal under Canadian law, which is perhaps where the scandal lies. I want to be very specific. If a bank doing business in Canada is engaged in tax avoidance by positioning money overseas in order to pay less tax in Canada, would it be automatically excluded from the support programs during the pandemic?
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
We will still continue to deal very severely with those who do not pay their fair share of taxes. That is why, over the years, we have given more tools to the Canada Revenue Agency. We want to make sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes.
Our priority, to help Canadians and to help workers, has been to give them the support they need, and that will continue.
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