44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 31, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague knows I have enormous respect for him, and I take it from his comments that he will be supporting Bill C-42.
The genesis of Bill C-42 is to combat money laundering. It is to make Canada best in class. It is to make Canada a leader in the G7. The faster this House can pass Bill C-42, the better off we will all be. I dream that we could even do that by unanimous consent so that we can move to phase this in very quickly. The reason is that the longer we wait, the less we will be capable of fighting the fight that we need to fight, not only domestically but internationally. We want the public registry to be operational by the end of 2023.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague. Every one of his colleagues holds him in high esteem, and he is always there to defend Quebec's interests and to help advance all financial matters and tax measures in the House.
On behalf of the government, I want to note his support for Bill C-42, which is important, because the more time that goes by, the longer we delay implementing measures to combat fraud and various crimes.
To answer his question, I will say that there are now 112 countries that have committed to implementing similar measures to combat illegal activities—that is, various types of fraud—and to ensure greater rigour and enable different organizations to identify the beneficial owners.
The act provides for measures requiring heads of corporations to trace beneficial owners with a positive obligation to ask questions and obtain that information.
It is clear that we will need to continue working with our partners around the world.
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- Mar/31/23 10:24:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important question. This is an esteemed colleague who, I believe, is also prepared to move this bill forward quickly. As I was saying, it is in Canada's best interest for us to adopt such a framework.
My colleague will have noticed that we ensured that this registry would be capable of what is known as interoperability. We chose to adopt a standard, in fact, the international standard, to enable this interoperability, not only with the registries that we hope the provinces and territories will adopt but also with international registries.
As my colleague was saying earlier, there may be businesses located in other administrative regions. Canada is positioning itself as a leader. Obviously, the House will send a strong message to the provinces and territories. Consequently, I implore my colleagues from all parties to support this bill. I think we will be able to count on support from the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, as well as, I hope, our Conservative colleagues to take a step in the right direction so that we have measures to ensure transparency and allow us to fight tax evasion.
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- Mar/31/23 10:26:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my esteemed colleague for his contribution, and I think his words lead us to believe that the Conservatives will be supportive.
On the first issue, there are some exemptions. One that comes to mind is around minors, for example, and other people who could be at risk when providing that information. What we need to know is that what would be public and searchable would be the name and address of the beneficial owner. What law enforcement authorities would have access to, in addition to that, would be the date of birth and citizenship. We can have a split to make sure that we provide as much relevant information as possible to the public and other entities to be able to search, but I would be open to see what we can do on that, with the caveat that we go fast. The number of exclusions is very limited and they are based on consultation.
With respect to interoperability, my colleague will have noted that we developed and used the beneficial ownership data standard, or what we call BODS, which is the international standard, exactly to make sure we can have as many people as possible be able to contribute and ultimately provide the level of accuracy and searchability that we would want to see.
I welcome the member's contribution.
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- Mar/31/23 10:29:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is a key member of our team and is always there to make sure that when it comes to financial matters, this government listens to different stakeholders.
What we see is a kind of compromise that we have been able to draw based on best practices, also with the OECD. What is going to be made public is the name and address. What law enforcement authorities will have access to is date of birth and citizenship.
There are reasons for that in terms of discrimination and misuse of information. I think that, on balance, we strike the right balance in the act, but I take the member's point and I want to thank him for his contribution. He is a very esteemed member of our team.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague mentioned a number of things that are really fundamental in illicit money being used in real estate, for example, in the city of Vancouver, which he mentioned.
I want to thank the member for being on board with Bill C-42. The best way to do more to combat illegal activities and increase corporation accountability is to adopt Bill C-42. How quickly are the Conservatives prepared to work with the government to put an end to money laundering in Canada and adopt Bill C-42?
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- Mar/31/23 11:22:16 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives and their leader, that is for sure. We listen to Canadians, and I think they should do that more often. Canadians have told us one thing: they want lower prices. The way to have lower prices is through competition. The way to have more competition is to have a strong, fourth national player that will bring prices down. That is why the transfer of licence will go forward with 21 conditions. They have made a contract with Canadians, which is enforceable and with penalties. That is what Canadians want; they want lower prices.
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- Mar/31/23 11:30:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. However, I think he missed this morning's press conference. This morning, we said that Canadians asked us for one thing: to lower the price of telecommunications services in Canada.
The best way to do that is to have competition, and we need a fourth national player to do that. Not only will we have a fourth national player, but we also imposed 21 conditions in an unprecedented contract with Canadians. We will be there to ensure that this contract is respected to lower prices in Canada.
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- Mar/31/23 11:31:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have enormous respect for my colleague, but when we gave the red light, we did not approve the transfer of licence from Shaw to Rogers. That was very clear. Instead, we listened to Canadians, something that everyone in this House should do. Canadians have told us one thing: Bring prices down and have more competition. The way to do that in Canada is to have a fourth national player. That is why we imposed conditions. We want lower prices for Canadians, and we will be watching them like a hawk.
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- Mar/31/23 11:43:20 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased with the question from my colleague. Perhaps he did not fully listen to the press conference this morning. If he looks at the contract the prices that we see in Quebec, which are on average 20% lower than in the rest of Canada, now will have to be offered in Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta. In addition to that, we got commitments to have a headquarters in Calgary, Alberta and 3,000 new jobs in western Canada. Canadians know that we have their backs and western Canadians understand that.
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- Mar/31/23 11:44:35 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have enormous respect for my colleague and my critic. One thing he would know is that, as the regulator, they do not meet with the parties. That is a basic principle in due process. What Canadians, particularly western Canadians, understood this morning is that we have their backs because what they want is lower prices. The way to do that is to have competition and the way to do that is for a fourth national player. Members on the other side who may not have had a chance can read the contract with Canadians. That is the way that we bring lower prices in Canada.
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- Mar/31/23 11:45:51 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am so happy that my colleagues ask questions. I look forward to more questions because one thing that people at home understand is that we are fighting every step of the way to bring prices lower in Canada. What we have achieved today is a new chapter in telecom in Canada. For the first time in Canada's history, more than 150 years, we have binding legal commitments by telecom in a contract with Canada to bring prices lower in Canada. It is this government that did that. Canadians know we have their backs. We will fight for them every step of the way.
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- Mar/31/23 11:46:51 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It is fairly straightforward. We are the regulator and there are two parties involved, which is why we were able to get commitments from both Vidéotron and Rogers.
There is one thing Canadians understand, and it is very simple. If Vidéotron adds pricing pressure in western Canadian markets, it will cause the other telecoms to lower their prices as well. Boosting competition brings prices down. That is exactly what we did today for Canadians.
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- Mar/31/23 12:02:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question, which gives me an opportunity to talk about the budget measures.
My colleague is right. We have taken action to achieve our ambitious goals by introducing initiatives like a tax credit for clean technology manufacturing, a tax credit for clean hydrogen and a tax credit for electricity.
The people I want to thank today are Canadian workers. It is thanks to their expertise, know-how and excellence that we are able to attract record investments to our country, like the recent investments by Volkswagen.
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