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Here are a few facts for the Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore.

First, unlike all the other provinces, Quebec does not have an agreement with the federal government to collect its taxes.

Quebeckers must file separate federal and Quebec tax forms.

For other Canadians, the federal government collects the taxes on behalf of the provinces, according to an agreed formula in each case.

Second, the NDP Montreal area member, Tyrone Benskin, owes a little less than $60,000 to the Quebec revenue agency, for back taxes. He has agreed to pay it back and has been removed from his Parliamentary critic duties until that happens.

Third, last year, the same NDP MP, Mr. Benskin, introduced a Private Member’s Bill that would have modified the federal tax code to allow artists of all kinds to average their income over five years.

The key word here is federal.

The province of Quebec has had such income averaging for artists since the mid 1990s.

Had Benskin’s bill passed it would not have changed the amount he owes Quebec by one penny.

When the Minister of Canadian Heritage, pinch hitting for his boss, the Prime Minister, tried to deflect questions about the Duffy affair by accusing Benskin of promoting a tax change that would get him out of his current trouble with Quebec, he was saying something that was entirely untrue.

Moore probably knew that.

Or perhaps he and his staff had not done their homework very carefully.

Maybe they were relying on the overheated exuberance of National Citizens’ Coalition Director and right-of-centre blogger Stephen Taylor.

Ultra-right-winger’s blog post dictating Conservative House tactics?

Taylor wrote a silly and completely inaccurate blog post last week entitled: “Was Tyrone Benskin’s Private Member’s Bill about himself?”

The answer to that question is, in fact: no — as anyone with the vaguest knowledge of the Canadian and Quebec tax systems would know.

Now, it is true, of course, that, as an artist himself, Benskin could, hypothetically, and in the future, derive some benefit from a federal artists’ income averaging provision.

In the same way, the Prime Minister, Moore, the Finance Minister, and Mr. Taylor could all benefit from any number of the tax provisions the current Conservative government has introduced — and they very likely do.

Just take the tax free savings account, for example, a Conservative tax benefit quite specifically designed to help relatively high income taxpayers.

But that is not the accusation Taylor and Moore hurled against Benskin. They tried to fabricate a story in which Benkin’s Bill would have afforded him immediate relief from his Quebec taxes owing.

That is complete nonsense.

One of the most outrageous slanders ever uttered in the House?

Throughout Question Period on Thursday, Moore kept repeating the smear about Benskin until it was finally more than Liberal Bob Rae could endure.

He rose in the House and called Moore’s rhetorical gambit “one of the nastiest” personal attacks he had ever heard in the House. 

The Liberal Member for Toronto Centre and former Ontario Premier has had a long career. He was first elected to Parliament in 1978, when James Moore was, literally, still in diapers.

Bob Rae has seen his fair share of outrages.

If he says Moore’s unfair and un-called-for attack is among the worst he’s heard, it’s got to be pretty bad.

Karl Nerenberg

Karl Nerenberg joined rabble in 2011 to cover Canadian politics. He has worked as a journalist and filmmaker for many decades, including two and a half decades at CBC/Radio-Canada. Among his career highlights...