My question really centres around this. What happens a lot is that the government takes the approach of robbing Peter to pay Paul. That is to say, they will introduce new immigration measures without actually providing additional immigration levels or resources to accommodate those new immigration measures. As a result, you have a huge backlog that would be impacted. This means that existing applications would be further delayed. The reality is that, with the privately sponsored refugee stream, there were significant delays even prior to the Afghanistan crisis.
When the government introduces new immigration measures, should they introduce them without ensuring that there are new resources and immigration level numbers to accommodate them, or should they do those special immigration measures with additional resources intact, both level numbers and staffing for processing?
Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Hallelujah to progress being made on the bill.
NDP-2 requires the Minister of Finance to report to Parliament and the public on how reducing the lowest federal personal income tax rate affects the value of non-refundable tax credits, which are calculated using that same tax rate. This is a critical measure, because lowering the personal income tax rate not only reduces the amount of tax owed; it also diminishes the value of tax credits such as the disability tax credit, the age credit and the caregiver credit. These are important supports, particularly for lower-income Canadians, seniors and people with disabilities. For individuals who claim these tax credits, the net benefit of the government's proposed tax cut will be significantly reduced.
The National Disability Network, March of Dimes Canada and Inclusion Canada have also raised these concerns that some claimants may be worse off overall, as the drop in credit value could outweigh the savings from the lower tax rate.
Recent testimony before this committee from the finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, and senior finance official Stefania Bartucci confirms that the government is aware of the unintended consequences of the reduction in the lowest personal income tax rate on non-refundable tax credits. On October 6, 2025, the finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, told this committee, “we heard concerns regarding unintended consequences of the tax cuts on some disability tax credit recipients. I can assure you, Madam Chair, that we are working on resolving them.”
By mandating a transparent, timely report to Parliament and the public, this amendment ensures that the full impact of the tax change is understood and that vulnerable groups are not unintentionally disadvantaged. This amendment also holds the minister accountable to his commitment to addressing these impacts and ensures that Parliament can monitor progress on mitigating harm to vulnerable Canadians.
Madam Chair, I hope committee members will support this amendment.