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House Hansard - 109

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 6, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22
Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)
  • Oct/6/22 10:36:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke of tax havens, and I think it is important to spend some time talking about that. Not only is the government not doing anything, but it actually participated in the creation of these tax havens. In 1994, the Chrétien government gave companies permission to repatriate income that they were earning in Barbados without paying tax in Canada. From that moment, Barbados became the tax haven of choice for Canadian companies. Even Paul Martin registered his shipping company in Barbados. Worse yet, in 2009, the Harper government decided that Barbados was not enough. It made another regulatory change. It decided that, once Canada entered into an information sharing agreement with a tax haven, it would be possible to repatriate profits without paying tax. It created 18 new ones. Not only did the Conservatives and the Liberals do nothing, they took it one step further and participated in the creation of tax havens. My colleague agrees with me that the NDP and the Bloc Québécois have been speaking out on this issue for years, but that neither of our parties is going to form government. Would he also agree with me that the only way to combat tax havens is for Quebec to become independent?
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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22
Mr. Alexandre Boulerice
  • Oct/6/22 10:37:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague on why it is so important to fight tax havens, but here is where we part ways. The Bloc Québécois will never be in power, but we might be. It is entirely possible—more possible, anyway. It is true that both Liberals and Conservatives have for years failed to take action on tax havens. It is a perennial problem. Barbados alone is sheltering $80 billion Canadian. What about the Cayman Islands? Believe it or not, there are more companies registered in the Cayman Islands than there are people who live there. Either they are very entrepreneurial people, or the system is not working at all.
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