P.E.I. MPs vote against extending tax debate
All four Liberal MPs say government has heard concerns of businesses ‘loud and clear’
Three of P.E.I.’s four federal MPs voted against a request for more consultations on Ottawa’s controversial proposed tax reforms Tuesday, saying this would only prolong the anxiety and uncertainty being felt by business owners.
Charlottetown MP Sean Casey, Cardigan MP Lawrence MacAulay and Egmont MP Bobby Morrissey joined almost all Liberal
MPs present in the House Tuesday to vote against an Opposition motion that called for government to continue public consultations on the tax changes until Jan. 31, 2018.
The motion was defeated. All three MPs told The Guardian that while they have heard a significant level of concern, the time has come to start working on the actual legislation.
“One of the things that I’m hearing from business that the worst thing for the business environment for them is uncertainty,” Morrissey said.
“We’ve heard loud and clear, and businesses have been extremely effective in communicating to government their concern with interpretations on the discussion paper.”
Casey says he does not believe extending consultations will elicit any new arguments or ideas than those that have already been gener- ated over the last
75 days.
“I can say with absolute certainty that I have heard nothing in the last 10 days about this that I didn’t hear in the month or two months prior,” he said.
“I’m hearing the arguments repeated, I’m hearing the points of view reinforced, I’m hearing them stated a different way, but every single unintended consequence, every single perceived error or slight contained in the (discussion) document has been laid clear by my constituents, by Canadians generally…, and as far as I’m concerned we’ve received the advice, now we’re going to act on it.”
Island MPs admit they have been feeling the heat over the proposed tax reforms. Morrissey says he has spent the last two-and-a-half weeks fielding phone calls on almost nothing else. Casey, a lawyer with close personal ties to the medical and business community in Charlottetown, says some personal relationships have been hurt by this process.
“I’ve had a lot of people with whom I’ve had positive longterm relationships that are expressing their displeasure with varying degrees of respectfulness.”
But the MPs argue many of the “doomsday” reactions from businesses are based on some “misrepresentations” of what the tax changes will actually look like once implemented.
They blame the government discussion document they say left too much open to interpretation.
“There’s been a hysteria over what the draft legislation might look like and all the doomsday scenarios,” Casey said.
“When you have a discussion paper, it is not black and white, so various interpretations have been put on … some of those were not the intended direction and, in some cases there was misrepresentation,” Morrissey said.
But Malpeque Wayne Easter says the consultations did uncover some unintended consequences, including that the changes would disproportionally tax family farms that transfer property to the next generation — an issue he has voiced concern about.
“I do feel the government is listening… they are taking that concern and constructive criticism to heart.”
Easter was in Western Canada Tuesday taking part in prebudget meetings and was not present for the vote on the Opposition motion. While he feels the public feedback was helpful, he disagrees with extending the tax consultations.
“I think it’s critical to bring clarity as quickly as possible.” MacAulay, who is at the Trudeau government’s cabinet table as agriculture minister, says he has been engaged on this issue, particularly on the potential impact on farmers.
“I can assure you that farmers’ views will be taken into consideration as we move forward. Being a farmer, I understand that many farmers use these accounts to save for a rainy day – to purchase or repair equipment or buy land,” MacAulay said.
He noted Finance Minister Bill Morneau committed Tuesday to act on the feedback government has received, including ensuring transfers of family farms are not negatively impacted.