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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 42

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2022 11:00AM
  • Mar/21/22 1:51:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Victoria, a fellow British Columbian, for her intervention. I know she feels strongly about these issues. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan invests heavily in financials, with 15% or 16% of its assets there. Many widows and orphans get what they get back from banking stocks. By the same token, we have the Liberals' crazy idea, which the NDP is endorsing, of suddenly raising corporate taxes on specific banks and deciding which ones will be in and which ones will be out. However, the fact is that most banks will just raise user fees a slight amount for everyone they serve rather than lose the business of wealthy people who the NDP apparently wants to target. How does the member square that circle? I am certainly supportive of the idea of a beneficial ownership registry. I wish the government would get that registry up and started properly.
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  • Mar/21/22 4:35:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would not want to see false impressions being given when we have seen over the last number of years a progressive government that has focused special taxes on some of the wealthiest in Canada, right from the first budget up to legislation that we just passed. Recognizing that the member made reference to the cost of housing, we now have an annual tax for individuals who are purchasing condos and so forth, in places such as Vancouver and our other big cities, and using them purely as an investment as opposed to a residence. That is a special annual tax that will be applied to very wealthy people. There are different ways we can approach this. I would suggest to the member that what she said has been noted, and I appreciate the comments, but I would ask her if she could provide her thoughts on this: When you make reference to banks, we need to be fair. Many of the shareholders of the banks are pension funds and so forth, so it is not only individuals per se.
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