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Results: 61 - 75 of 86
View Pierre Poilievre Profile
CPC (ON)
View Pierre Poilievre Profile
2020-07-08 15:06 [p.2564]
Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for the question.
I agree with the sentiments he expressed. We both sit on the Standing Committee on Finance, which finally adopted a motion calling for the Auditor General to receive all the funding she needs to carry out audits.
We know that even in cases where officials noticed potential fraud, the government told them to send out the cheques anyway. We also know that some inmates got cheques. These are precisely the reasons why the Auditor General ought to receive all the funding she needs to audit this spending and make sure that a lot of this money did not go to fraudsters.
View Candice Bergen Profile
CPC (MB)
View Candice Bergen Profile
2020-05-26 14:38 [p.2440]
Mr. Speaker, a relative of one of my constituents is a student who is renting out a room in her home to a foreign student. The student recently informed her that he has found a way to collect the CERB and go back to his home country overseas, and that he would not be paying her rent any longer. He gets to leave Canada, he gets to collect the CERB and she gets shafted. We are hearing more and more stories like this.
Why are the Liberals turning a blind eye to individuals who seem to be purposely trying to scam the system?
View Jean-Yves Duclos Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Jean-Yves Duclos Profile
2020-05-26 14:38 [p.2440]
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for raising that question.
Our plan has been very clear from the start. The plan is to quickly and efficiently get help to Canadians, especially students, who are really struggling to get through this crisis.
We need all Canadians and all students on board so we can start the economic recovery soon. We also know that there are mechanisms that the Canada Revenue Agency can use to ensure that aid is being distributed to Canadians with all due diligence. We are counting on its employees to do their job.
View Candice Bergen Profile
CPC (MB)
View Candice Bergen Profile
2020-05-26 14:39 [p.2440]
Mr. Speaker, according to a memo obtained by the National Post, foreign nationals are not required to show any proof of status before getting CERB payments. Temporary foreign workers do not need to show a work permit and international students do not need to show enrolment or a student visa. There are virtually no safeguards in place.
Does the minister not realize that by failing to prevent fraud he is actually encouraging it?
View Jean-Yves Duclos Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Jean-Yves Duclos Profile
2020-05-26 14:39 [p.2440]
Mr. Speaker, I have two exceedingly clear messages.
Because of the very difficult situation that many Canadians are experiencing, the Canadian government made the obvious choice to make support available quickly and efficiently.
However, from the start, we made it clear to all Canadians that we would be doing our due diligence and that the Canada Revenue Agency would eventually be applying mechanisms to ensure not only that Canadians could get the help they need, but that it would be delivered with the necessary integrity.
View Doug Shipley Profile
CPC (ON)
Madam Chair, I have a specific question then.
During the pandemic crisis, one of the disgusting sides that has arisen is the rise in fraud. It is hard to believe that criminals are out there taking advantage of people in this time of need.
Has the government considered providing tougher sentences for individuals found to be committing fraud against individuals during this pandemic?
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Chair, perhaps in the bipartisan spirit of the Aileen Carroll tribute we have just heard, I will quote the premier of Ontario, who was rightfully very passionate in denouncing anyone who would seek to price gouge, who would seek to be fraudulent or who would seek to profit off of the pain and suffering of Canadians today. I will begin by denouncing that kind of selfish behaviour in the strongest possible terms, and as a society, we just have to not tolerate anyone behaving that way.
View Jeremy Patzer Profile
CPC (SK)
Mr. Speaker, with all the money that has been handed out to businesses and individuals, I would like to ask my colleague if he is at all concerned that small businesses will be the ones that will be unfairly targeted by the CRA for audits in the aftermath of this crisis.
View Alain Therrien Profile
BQ (QC)
View Alain Therrien Profile
2020-04-20 19:39 [p.2236]
Mr. Speaker, we have focused on assistance for small and medium-sized businesses, because by and large, they are the ones that will be struggling through this difficult period and who will keep struggling in the future. The Bloc Québécois believes that the assistance we can provide must be increased.
We talked about 75% of payroll, which is fine. However, we must also help them by subsidizing part of their fixed costs. In the April 11 motion, the government stated that it must subsidize a portion of fixed costs and the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons knows that. We are still waiting. I hope they will take action on that fairly quickly.
I am impatiently waiting for more assistance for business. We have gotten off to a good start, but we must not let certain businesses fall through the cracks.
View Dan Albas Profile
CPC (BC)
Mr. Chair, we now know that anyone who applies for the CERB, regardless of eligibility, will get it.
Is it the government's plan to conduct audits on millions of people to determine who got it and who should not have? What will be the consequences of defrauding the taxpayer?
View Carla Qualtrough Profile
Lib. (BC)
View Carla Qualtrough Profile
2020-04-11 14:01 [p.2118]
Mr. Chair, I am very hopeful and confident in the integrity and truthfulness of Canadians in this time of crisis. As I mentioned, we have built in integrity measures at the front and the back end. Based on social insurance numbers, we can track if someone receives a benefit and also receives a T4. We can track if someone receives the benefit and gets a second payment accidentally. There will be a certain amount of integrity measures in the weeks, months and year to come.
Quite frankly, I do not think that there are Canadians out there, in this time of need, spending a lot of time trying to defraud the government.
View Brian Masse Profile
NDP (ON)
View Brian Masse Profile
2020-02-03 14:28 [p.824]
Mr. Speaker, time and time again, we learn more about the Liberal government's will to bend over backward for large corporations instead of working for Canadians. The U.S. has levied Volkswagen $20 billion in fines for breaking the law, whereas in Canada the government is bragging about a $2.5-million fine. This is after Export Development Canada loaned Volkswagen $525 million to build vehicles in other countries while carrying out its environmental crimes. What an embarrassment.
Why do lobbyists and insiders always win with the Prime Minister's government?
View Justin Trudeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Justin Trudeau Profile
2020-02-03 14:29 [p.824]
Mr. Speaker, this investigation, all related prosecution matters and the judge's approval of the penalty are made independently of ministers' offices. The company paid an unprecedented fine in Canada as a result of the investigation. Indeed, it was 23 times greater than the highest federal environmental fine ever imposed.
The Public Prosecution Service determines what charges can be sustained, and it has sole jurisdiction to pursue a prosecution. Funds from the fine will go toward projects that protect our environment.
View Laurel Collins Profile
NDP (BC)
View Laurel Collins Profile
2020-02-03 18:48 [p.863]
Madam Speaker, Volkswagen was caught lying about illegal levels of emissions. Volkswagen Canada has finally formally pleaded guilty to 60 offences under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and was ordered to pay a fine, a fine that is $70 million short of the maximum that could have been sought. The government keeps bragging that it is the largest fine ever awarded. If letting big polluters off the hook for $70 million is the best ever, we have a bigger problem.
Last week, I asked the Prime Minister to explain why it took years to charge Volkswagen for illegally cheating emissions testing, especially when the U.S. quickly charged VW and made the company pay $20 billion.
Let us look at the facts. The company has admitted to using so-called defeat devices that allowed them to pass emissions tests while actually emitting far more nitrogen oxide than legally permissible, putting the health of Canadians and the planet at risk. Their cheating was initially discovered by U.S. scientists, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation in 2015. Volkswagen attempted to cover up the scandal, but eventually caved under legal pressure in the U.S. and pleaded guilty, just over a year later, to three criminal felonies and agreed to pay $20 billion. They also entered an agreed statement of fact about those felonies that would have been admissible in Canadian court.
According to internal documents, Environment Canada worked closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during their respective investigations, which began in Canada in September 2015. However, charges were not filed until December 2019, four years later, despite the legally admissible statement of fact existing from the U.S. for the last three of those years.
There has been no public accounting for the length of the investigation. Environment and Climate Change Canada's investigators are not independent law enforcement officers. They are designated by and responsible to the minister. The charges appear to have been laid only after a plea agreement was reached, and the Canadian charges don't go as far as U.S. charges, despite the fact that we have the same emissions laws. Volkswagen has not been charged under the Criminal Code, and there is no evidence that investigators referred the matter to the RCMP, even though VW admitted to criminal wrongdoing in the U.S.
Canadian emissions laws are the same as those in the U.S., so why did it take years to charge Volkswagen in Canada while the U.S. quickly charged VW? Why did Canada wait so long, and why did VW get a fine that is well below the maximum? We do not know. What we do know is that ministers' offices and officials from the PMO, including Mathieu Bouchard, who some may remember from his involvement in the SNC scandal, started meeting with Volkswagen lobbyists during this time. It looks a lot like a corporation that was found guilty of committing what amounts to environmental fraud got a backroom deal.
We are facing a climate crisis, so why do the Liberals keep letting big polluters off the hook, and why do they keep putting corporate profits ahead of Canadians and the planet?
View Peter Schiefke Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Peter Schiefke Profile
2020-02-03 18:52 [p.864]
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Victoria and congratulate her again on having won her election.
Our government takes the health and safety of Canadians and our environment incredibly seriously. We are committed to clean transportation and to working to make sure Canadians have clean air and healthier communities. We are also committed to enforcing the laws that protect Canada's environment and the health of Canadians.
On January 22, 2020, Volkswagen AG, a German-based car manufacturer, was ordered to pay an unprecedented $196.5-million fine after pleading guilty to 60 charges for offences under federal environmental regulations. This fine is the largest penalty ever levied in Canada against a company for an environmental violation. In fact, it is 20 times higher than the next-largest fine, which reflects the gravity of the offence.
The charges relate to unlawfully importing nearly 128,000 vehicles that used defeat devices. A defeat device, as mentioned by my hon. colleague, consists of software that reduces the effectiveness of the emission control system during normal vehicle operations and use. Volkswagen AG was also charged with providing misleading information to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The $196.5-million fine is on top of the class action settlement by VW AG that compensated Canadian consumers of the non-compliant vehicles and provided benefits and buyback options to them up to a maximum of nearly $2.7 billion.
As well, VW AG paid a civil administrative penalty of $17.5 million under the Competition Act for misleading advertising related to the sale of those vehicles.
It is important to note that penalties are based on precedents. This result has raised the bar on environmental fines in Canada.
It is difficult to compare the situation in the U.S. with that in Canada. They are different jurisdictions with different legislative and legal processes.
Environment and Climate Change Canada's investigation was thorough, comprehensive and methodical. This was a complex case involving a number of domestic and foreign organizations and a number of potential offences under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Investigators needed to take the necessary time to gather sufficient evidence, both domestically and internationally, and time was needed to analyze the massive amount of information and gather relevant evidence.
The $196.5-million unprecedented fine will go to the environmental damages fund. It will be used to pay for projects that focus on improving Canada's environment across the country. The environmental damages fund was created in 1995 to create a mechanism for directing funds received as a result of fines, court orders and voluntary payments to priority projects that will benefit our natural environment.
Results: 61 - 75 of 86 | Page: 5 of 6

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