Discussion · Government Orders
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Québécois
“The Liberals let down the cultural sector by dropping the digital services tax, which cost our artists 1.5 billion dollars. They gave up this tax because Donald Trump complained. I want to know what the government actually got in return for dropping it. I think the answer is nothing.”
“Madam Speaker, this is surprising, because the parliamentary secretary’s main argument is that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, cannot be told what to do. He does not even say whether he agrees with the 15% or not. All he says is that the CRTC cannot be directed to do anything. My colleague says that the cultural sector must not be abandoned. It remains to be seen whether past actions are any indication of the future, but in July 2025, the Liberals scrapped the digital services tax, which would have generated $1.5 billion that would have been reinvested in the cultural sector. If any government has let the cultural sector down, it is this Liberal government, which did so as recently as last year, because Donald Trump wrote a tweet and the government expected to go back to the bargaining table. The hope was that the government would get something in return for scrapping this tax. Can the parliamentary secretary tell me what the government got in return for scrapping that 3% digital services tax? I would like to hear his answer, because I think it was a big fat zero.”
Madam Speaker, this is surprising, because the parliamentary secretary’s main argument is that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, cannot be told what to do. He does not even say whether he agrees with the 15% or not. All he says is that the CRTC cannot be directed to do anything. My colleague says that the cultural sector must not be abandoned. It remains to be seen whether past actions are any indication of the future, but in July 2025, the Liberals scrapped the digital services tax, which would have generated $1.5 billion that would have been reinvested in the cultural sector. If any government has let the cultural sector down, it is this Liberal government, which did so as recently as last year, because Donald Trump wrote a tweet and the government expected to go back to the bargaining table. The hope was that the government would get something in return for scrapping this tax. Can the parliamentary secretary tell me what the government got in return for scrapping that 3% digital services tax? I would like to hear his answer, because I think it was a big fat zero.