Senator Dupuis: In a question that was asked of you earlier, a senator said that 11 million Canadians could benefit from this measure. What I understood the minister to say, in Committee of the Whole, was that 11 million households will benefit, not 11 million Canadians. Can you clarify, both for our benefit and for those listening?

Senator Loffreda: Thank you for the question. The minister said 11 million households, so that must be the case, but I will come back to you on third reading tomorrow to clear up any confusion.

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Hon. Renée Dupuis: Would Senator Loffreda agree to answer a clarifying question?

Senator Loffreda: Yes.

Senator Dupuis: Honourable senators, I rise at second reading of Bill C-30, which provides for the temporary enhancement to the Goods and Services Tax and Harmonized Sales Tax credit.

Senators will recall that, during the Committee of the Whole held by the Senate on October 6 with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, I asked the minister a question about Gender-based Analysis Plus. As you know, every bill must undergo an analysis that compares its positive and negative impacts on men, women and gender-diverse people. The results of this analysis are included in the memorandum to cabinet for its study of the bill. Since this document is confidential, the government won’t agree to give Senate committees the GBA+ analysis that is done on all government bills. That’s a problem, in my opinion.

At the request of senators such as myself, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee developed a practice: The Minister of Justice agreed to table a written summary of the elements of the Gender-based Analysis Plus that were applied to bills that are his department’s responsibility. This practice should be extended to all bills, and the summary of this analysis should be tabled before all Senate committees. This practice should be routine, not left to the whim of individual ministers.

At Committee of the Whole on Bill C-30, the minister gave a preliminary response. The sponsor of the bill repeated the terms. She said that this bill has a positive impact on women, who are more frequently represented among Canada’s most vulnerable citizens, particularly women who are heads of single-parent families and seniors. The minister then said she would contact me to supplement her response.

On October 14, in response to my question to the minister in Committee of the Whole, I received from her office a summary of Bill C-30’s Gender-based Analysis Plus. As my question was of general interest, I’m sharing this supplemental response with you, and I’d like it to be included in the official record of the Senate’s debates on this bill. The minister’s response reads as follows:

Individuals and low-income families would be the primary beneficiaries of the proposal to double the GST credit for six months. Overall, nearly 90% of the temporary increase in the GST credit would go to families with net incomes below $40,000.

The department estimates that nearly 78% of the additional support provided by the proposal to double the GST credit for six months would go to individuals living alone and single parents, while 22% would go to couples. This result is predictable given that single individuals and single-parent families are more likely to have lower incomes than couples and are therefore more likely to qualify for the GST credit.

With respect to Indigenous communities, the tax data do not contain information on the Indigenous identity of people who file their taxes, but it is to be expected that Indigenous families living on reserve would be significant beneficiaries of the proposed temporary GST credit increase given the high levels of poverty among children in those families.

I very much appreciate the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance taking this matter seriously, and I invite her to table at least a summary of the GBA+ for each of the bills in her purview going forward.

Colleagues, I encourage you to make sure that ministers who introduce bills table at least a summary of the key elements of their GBA+ when they appear before you during Senate committee meetings. This is an accountability measure we must continue to demand of the government given that it doesn’t seem to be standard practice yet.

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