Hon. Lucie Moncion: My question is for Senator Gold, the Government Representative in the Senate.

It concerns Canada’s financial cooperative sector. The 2023 budget announced changes to the current definition of “credit union” in the Income Tax Act. These changes will guarantee that credit cooperatives can continue to provide a full range of financial services to more than 10 million Canadians and remain competitive in order to prevent Canadian banks from having a monopoly on financial services.

Having spent 38 years in the sector, I am pleased with Canada’s commitment to financial cooperatives. However, these amendments are not found in Bill C-47, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 28, 2023.

Senator Gold, what is the government’s intention with respect to this measure announced in the 2023 budget? Why wasn’t it included in Bill C-47, and when will it be included in a budget implementation bill?

Senator Moncion: I just want to add to the last comment you made. It’s information that would be valuable to the members of the committee so that we have a better understanding of how many people have the golden benefits and how many are maybe not as well protected. Having these numbers often makes it easier for us to make a decision at the end of the process when this bill comes back to us — wouldn’t you think?

Senator Wells: I know that defined programs are obviously less and less these days — I think even less than 10%. But you’re right. We need to know the scope of this. However, colleagues, it’s also important to not forget the principle of the bill, and that’s to protect those who are at the end of the line and who have been paying into a pension. In fact, when you sign on with a company and you pay into a pension, it’s essentially a contract. It’s an agreement that you have — that’s one of the benefits, like your salary or your hours — when you sign up with a company. It’s that contract that this bill aims to protect.

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