44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 28, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/28/23 10:08:03 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would first ask for the consent of the House to share my time with my friend, the one and only member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue.
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Madam Speaker, during the first part of my speech, in March, I spoke in favour of this bill. It is a good bill. It is a step toward transparency that will help fight tax evasion and fraud.
The bill is respectful of the provinces. In fact, Quebec's registry has been in place for almost a month.
However, the tax cheats who were exposed in the Paradise papers did not create their shell companies in Canada; they created them in tax havens. The bill does nothing to address that. The work has only just begun.
Cracking down on fraudsters who use tax havens requires a global registry—not just a registry of the real company owners, but also a registry of real beneficial owners of trusts. I am thinking, for example, of the real beneficial owners of the Isle of Man trusts that KPMG Canada created for Canadian tax evaders, the ones who were granted amnesty by the Canada Revenue Agency. It sounds like a huge undertaking, but it is not. In fact, this registry already exists to a large extent, and it is maintained, for one, in Luxembourg by a consortium of financial institutions. Even tax cheats like their banks to know they have assets somewhere; it is good for their credit.
This registry is available to financial institutions, but not to governments that want to go after fraud. I think we can all agree that there is something wrong with that. Transparency, public registries and so on are excellent tools against fraud, but they do nothing against profiteers, against those who take advantage of all the loopholes in the Income Tax Act to use tax havens legally. Those individuals do not need to hide their income. All they need is a good accountant to make sure their income is not taxable, even when it is declared.
The United States forced Canada's hand by imposing its idea of endorsing a 15% minimum global tax rate at the G20. The latest budget introduces Joe Biden's minimum global tax rate. Using tax havens will become less attractive, but the government is doing the bare minimum to fight tax havens. Income repatriated from tax havens that have information exchange agreements with Canada remains tax-free. This has to stop.
Yes, we will support Bill C-42, but it does not go far enough. A registry is good, but tax fairness is better.
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- Apr/28/23 10:11:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a simple answer: Yes, but all that is not enough.
I want to talk about the example I gave at the end of my speech. In committee we looked at the issue of who really profited from the Isle of Man trusts created by KPMG for Canadian tax cheats. We worked for a long time on that issue.
In the United States, when the same thing was done, there were investigations, criminal prosecutions and even jail time. The IRS, the Canada Revenue Agency counterpart, put a stop to it. Here, there have been no criminal prosecutions and no jail time. Even though we have laws, even though we have the funding, we do not have the will. The minister refuses to use her discretionary authority to make the CRA do more.
We must change the way things are done by this government and the CRA, because we can see that our laws and funding are still not enough.
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- Apr/28/23 10:13:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from Mirabel for the question.
The minister came to committee and told us that she did not want to get involved in this, that she considered the Canada Revenue Agency to be independent. However, Mr. Lareau, a global tax expert, came to committee and told us that the minister was the only person in the country who had the power to launch an investigation. She has the power but is choosing not to use it, while the government is choosing to leave her in her position. It is not good enough, and it is unacceptable.
We are seeing some progress being made worldwide under the leadership of the United States. The Biden administration is saying enough is enough. The wealthy need to pay a minimum of 15%. Now the G20, the OECD and other groups of rich countries are following suit.
From day one, Canada has systematically been lagging behind others. It also does the minimum and maintains this system of impunity. The message being sent to KPMG and potential beneficial owners is that there will be no consequences if they try; at best, they will pay less taxes, at worst, they will have to pay it back. The message that is being sent is unacceptable.
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- Apr/28/23 10:15:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question, which he asked in excellent French. I really appreciate that.
In my opinion, what we are seeing in this bill is a possible harmonization with the provinces. It seems to be respectful of the rights of the provinces. For example, Quebec has had its own registry for a month now. This will require collaboration and information sharing, as with all countries around the world, but things seem to be on the right track. Obviously, we must always do more to fight against money laundering, and our job is to remain vigilant to ensure that everything works well and that we can do more.
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- Apr/28/23 12:28:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very interesting speech. I think we share rather similar points of view on this bill.
His colleague from Sarnia—Lambton, who spoke before he did, brought up the Panama Papers scandal in her speech to illustrate the fact that the government is not doing enough.
I would like to remind the House of some of the figures from that scandal. While the government brags about how much it is doing, the Canada Revenue Agency has recovered less money than Revenu Québec has. By way of comparison, the United Kingdom recovered more than $317 million; Germany, $246 million; Spain, $209 million; France, $179 million; Australia, $173 million and Canada, $21 million. That is 10 times less than the others.
Does my colleague agree that the government needs to be doing a lot more?
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Mr. Speaker, I want to start by commenting on the time allocation that was just imposed on us.
I just want to remind my colleagues in the House that the Standing Committee on Finance is already doing a pre-study of Bill C-47. It is progressing very well. Work is moving forward. We are sitting until midnight. This allows my colleagues who want to speak to Bill C-47 to do so. There was no need for the government to impose time allocation. This infringes on the rights of members of Parliament in the House. It is shameful.
What does my hon. colleague think of this?
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his very interesting speech. We obviously agree on Bill C‑42. With regard to the fight against tax havens, my colleague talked about the Panama papers scandal. Does he agree with me that, despite all the money that has been invested and all the laws that are in place to give us the power to intervene, Canada is still lagging behind other countries on this?
The Canada Revenue Agency recovered less money than Revenu Québec. Let us compare the numbers. The United Kingdom recovered $317 million, Germany recovered $246 million, Spain recovered $209 million, France recovered $179 million, Australia recovered $173 million, and Canada recovered $21 million. Is that acceptable?
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- Apr/28/23 1:41:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member and committee chair for her speech.
I am concerned about our youth's eye health. Research shows because of the ever-increasing use of screens, phones and tablets, and also because youth are spending more and more time indoors, there will be an epidemic of retinal detachments in the future. This is a serious eye condition.
Could my colleague comment on this concern?
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