Debates of Nov. 22nd, 2006

Transfer Payments

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. the Minister of Finance has the floor.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

These are not just simple numbers, Mr. Speaker, they are single digit numbers: $9 billion more in transfers, and for health care alone, $8 billion more.

It was a lot worse in the 1990s. I knew, as the finance minister of Ontario, when we had to try to balance budgets, the Liberal government reduced funding for health care, reduced funding for education, and reduced money for social services on the backs of the people of every province in this country.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the shrimping industry is facing an unprecedented crisis with the collapse of market prices. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will have a good opportunity to propose solutions because an important forum on the future of this industry will be held in Quebec City on Friday.

Will the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans acknowledge that capping quotas and reducing licence fees could be a first step in solving the crisis affecting shrimp fishermen?

[Loyola Hearn, Conservative, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, as the member quite clearly stated, on Thursday of this week there will be a major meeting in Quebec hosted by the provincial government. We will be attending, as we did in Newfoundland and Labrador, and as we did in the maritime provinces. At that meeting, we hope the concerns expressed by the entire industry will be clearly aired and then collectively we can address the problems because there are many of them.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when will the minister realize that one of the solutions available to him is to depoliticize the allocation of fishing quotas and base his decisions on scientific facts? That is easily understood.

[Loyola Hearn, Conservative, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will be in attendance at the meeting in Quebec on Thursday and I am sure he will bring forward any solutions that his party might have. This is a gathering so that collectively the entire industry can work together to find solutions to the tremendous amount of problems we have. Anything that can be done from a federal perspective, the hon. member can be assured it will be done.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, potato farmers in Saint-Amable have been suffering from the golden nematode crisis for over three months. The federal government claims that financial assistance is available to them through the Canadian agricultural income stabilization program, or CAIS, although, as the government knows, this program does not apply to their situation.

My question is simple. Does the minister plan to implement a program that is specifically adapted to the situation facing the farmers of Saint-Amable? He can create an emergency program or ad hoc program—he can call it whatever he likes—but he must help them.

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, we are very concerned about the situation in Saint-Amable. We are very pleased that we were able to regionalize the problem very quickly. However, for those farmers who are left, we are moving ahead on negotiations with the Quebec government.

We moved ahead in our last federal-provincial meeting with a framework for disaster relief. This will help us get the funds necessary and get them out to those farmers as quickly as possible, hopefully within a few weeks.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a few days ago, the Quebec minister of agriculture, fisheries and food and the president of the UPA came to Ottawa to meet with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to plead the case of the Saint-Amable farmers. They came to insist on the urgency of the matter.

Does the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food understand that, when there is an emergency, immediate action is required? I would like to know what he is waiting for to help the farmers of Saint-Amable in particular?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that, in its 16 years of existence, the Bloc Québécois has not introduced a single program to help farmers in Quebec. Unlike the Bloc, we went to see the farmers, we are in the process of negotiating with them and we are going to find a solution for Saint-Amable.

Transfer Payments

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the minority Conservative government has not increased, indeed it has decreased, federal transfer payments to Saskatchewan. It took away $109 million from labour market agreements and $104 million from child care. Saskatchewan is worse off under the Conservative government.

Will the Prime Minister guarantee his long promised, but still undelivered, answer to Saskatchewan on equalization will be in addition to the money that he already owes Saskatchewan for labour market partnerships and for child care?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be some challenge on the other side in understanding the figures. Once again, transfers to the provinces and municipalities are increasing by $9 billion, a very substantial increase.

With respect to the other point the hon. member raises relating to equalization, it is an ongoing discussion. There have been a series of reports released. We are on track in our discussions. Our plan from budget 2006 is being followed. There will be a meeting next month of the ministers of finance. Not long ago I met with the minister of finance from Saskatchewan in Ottawa. We are having useful discussions--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Wascana.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, let me advise the minister that under the Liberal government $800 million extra was provided to Saskatchewan. Under his government in Ontario, he left a deficit of $6 billion.

In 1995 the now Prime Minister said that the government then had not cut enough. Will the Prime Minister honour the very explicit promise that he made to Saskatchewan? That promise was to take non-renewable resources out of the equalization formula altogether. It was explicit. It was in writing, 100%. No ifs, ands or buts, yes or no?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite apparently is confused about the fiscal situation in Canada as between the provinces and the federal government. In fact, the total surpluses in the provinces this year are $13.4 billion. In addition, the level of accumulated debt in the provinces is lower than that in the federal government.

The surplus in the provinces is higher than the federal surplus of $13.2 billion. Nevertheless, we know we have to move forward on transfers to accomplish fiscal balance in Canada, something that the former government always denied existed.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the list of broken Conservative promises continues to grow. Just weeks after the income trust flip-flop that cost investors $25 billion overnight, we now know the Conservatives have slashed transfers to the provinces by $6 billion.

Apart from the fiscal imbalance fiasco, another $180 million was taken away from the Atlantic provinces, as a result of the government cancelling child care and infrastructure deals. No wonder Atlantic premiers have been seeing red since the government took office.

When can Atlantic Canada expect to see these signed agreements restored?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we have fully funded the trust transfers for post-secondary education, for infrastructure, for aboriginal and off reserve housing and for public transit. We are providing $2.5 billion per year directly to children and families through the new universal child care benefit plus $250 million for child care spaces.

In addition to the transfers that I have already spoken about, which members opposite do not seem to understand, it increases from $40 billion to $49 billion over the course of the fiscal years to 2011.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, these were provincial deals that were signed and booked by the previous Liberal government. The Conservatives only honour deals that are convenient or that fit their strict ideology.

On equalization, the Prime Minister guaranteed no province would lose out to the changes in the formula. Now that he realizes he cannot do this, he ignores the issue. In the meantime, he has taken away $6 billion from the provinces.

A promise from the government is not worth the non-recycled paper it is written on. How anybody take it at its word?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, forgive me for trying to figure out which one of the Liberal budgets the member opposite is speaking about. Was it the budget that was first announced in the House, or was it the NDP budget that followed along? Was it perhaps the announcements that were made in November last year?

One can select from three sets of figures that the former government had about potential transfers to real Canadians. We prefer our solid numbers in budget 2006, which are all increases in transfers to the provinces.

Public Safety

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we learned today that police in Montreal had conducted a series of raids targeting organized crime.

Can the Minister of Public Safety give us the details of the operation?

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, today in Montreal, the RCMP arrested individuals linked to alleged organized crime activities.

Canada's new government made fighting crime one of its priorities. We promised to fight against organized crime and to make our streets safe.

I applaud and commend the courage and professionalism of the men and women of the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec and the Montreal police, who are working to make our communities safe.

Taxation

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the finances of our country, working families in Canada want balance, something the government seems to know nothing about. After cutting $1 billion from programs that help the most vulnerable, the minister is now musing about another $5 billion reckless tax cut through income splitting, not pension splitting, income splitting.

How is he going to pay for it? Is he going to hike personal income taxes, or will he do what he did in Ontario: cut health, education, the environment and run a deficit?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member knows, since I had these discussions with her prebudget, we increased the funding for families with children with disabilities in budget 2006, fulfilling the recommendations from the technical committee in that regard.

We also appointed a panel, which will be reporting shortly, to study the issue of some sort of tax deferred savings plan for families with children with disabilities.

I believe the hon. member supports those initiatives.

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, another study on another pressing concern of Canadians does not make up for the fact that the government has been busy slashing funding and not investing in Canadians. Costs for families, on average, are on the rise. In fact, under the government, most are actually worse off. Child care costs are up. Tuition fees for college or university are up. Prescription drugs costs are up.

If the minister will not come clean on what he will cut or who will pay for the risky schemes that he talks about, maybe he will tell us what promises he plans to break to pay for income splitting.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the only income splitting of which we have spoken was in the tax fairness plan announced a few weeks ago, to come into force January 1, 2007, not just for seniors who are pensioners, but also for pensioners who are not yet seniors. It is a major change in tax policy for pensioners and seniors, particularly for them, and it was supported by the member opposite, and I thank her for her support, and by her party.