Thierry St-Cyr

[Sales Tax Amendments Act, 2006, January 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his excellent question.

It is clear that we could do more to support the small wine producers in Quebec. Nonetheless, this is a measure that goes in the right direction.

For the small producer, the stock that is sometimes divided among several outlets can be a major burden. Not having to pay the tax in advance on the products in stock is certainly an advantage, but the situation could be further improved.

In another bill, the government answered a longstanding demand from the Bloc by changing the excise tax regime for microbreweries and wine producers. We think that measure will help microbreweries and wine producers in Quebec.

Of course, the Bloc Quebecois will continue to put propositions forward and we hope that the government will continue to implement them for the benefit of Quebeckers.

[Sales Tax Amendments Act, 2006, January 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, given that this is my first opportunity to address the House since the holidays, I would like to start by wishing you a happy 2007.

I would also like to wish my honourable colleagues and the citizens of my riding a happy and profitable new year.

I would now like to give an overview of Bill C-40, which is now before this House. I will first summarize the main reasons why the Bloc Québécois supports Bill C-40.

This bill addresses shortcomings associated with the GST and the excise tax. Bill C-40 removes taxes from certain medical services, which facilitates access to these services. The bill reduces the burden of taxation on charities. It also contains measures that help small wine producers. It tightens legislative provisions surrounding the sale and production of tobacco in an effort to counter smuggling. Bill C-40 reduces the air travellers security charge and will reflect the Quebec situation. That was required. For all these reasons, we will support this bill.

To briefly put things into context, this bill is divided into three large parts. It is aimed, first, at instituting corrective steps to improve and specify certain measures having to do with the collection of the GST. It also amends the act in order to zero-rate particular products and services. It turns then to the excise tax, laying out certain measures related to the taxation of wine, beer and spirits. Finally, it amends the rules on the air travellers security charge.

In the first part or the GST-HST-related measures, we find five categories or broadly distinct measures. The bill amends the rules on health, charities, business arrangements, and governments and contains certain provisions changing the way in which the GST is applied.

The first of these measures has to due with health-related rules. The bill amends the act so that speech-language pathology services are henceforth effectively zero-rated. This change confirms the tax-exempt status of these services. It will make it easier for young people with language problems to access such services.

This change will also help older people who have suffered strokes to access services that enable them to continue living in dignity.

In this same measure, the government also exempts health-related services provided in the practice of the profession of social work. This too will make it easier to access private social work services and permit people who have the means or have insurance not to pay taxes any more when they purchase the services of social workers.

Then the government zero-rates sales and importations of a product that can be used to some extent as a blood-substitute. Plasma expander makes it possible, for example, to inject a blood substitute during treatment for severe hemorrhaging, very serious burns or open fractures. Although it does not contain any red blood cells or the anticoagulants found in bagged blood, it provides an alternative during crucial treatments for seriously injured patients.

The government is also going to restore the zero-rated status of a group of drugs collectively known as benzodiazepines. These include medications such as Valium, Ativan and other similar drugs. They are used primarily to treat anxiety, for alcohol withdrawal or as a preanaesthetic medication.

Lastly, the government will offer a GST rebate on motor vehicles that have been used after being specially equipped for use by individuals with disabilities.

The second principal measure, which forms part of the same group, concerns charities. Some amendments will ensure that the exemption of supplies by charities of real property under short-term leases and licences extends to any goods supplied with such real property. This will mean less financial pressure on charities as they carry out their social mission.

The third measure concerns business arrangements. The amendment to the GST legislation provides transitional GST/HST relief on the initial asset transfer by a foreign bank that restructures its Canadian subsidiary into a Canadian branch. This measure will act as an incentive to foreign banks in Canada to restructure their subsidiaries as Canadian branches, which will promote more competition in the Canadian banking sector.

The bill removes technical impediments that hinder the use of existing group relief provisions under the GST/HST. This amendment simply clarifies the rules of application of the legislation that are already in effect. In addition, the bill simplifies compliance by excluding beverage container deposits that are refundable to the consumer from the GST/HST base. This will make it easier for businesses to manage collection and will lighten the regulatory burden associated with deposits, with a view to promoting more recycling and environmental protection.

This is not a very impressive measure from the current government, but it is a step in the right direction for the environment. We hope that this government will go a bit further and take a more serious approach to the environment. On the whole, this seems promising.

On a more technical level, the bill permits an agent to claim a GST/HST deduction for bad debts, and to claim adjustments or refunds of tax, in respect of sales made on behalf of a principal where the agent collects and reports tax.

Another measure extends the existing agent rules under the GST/HST legislation to persons acting only as billing agents for vendors.

Another measure will better accommodate special import arrangements between businesses in certain situations where goods are supplied outside Canada to a Canadian customer. We will also ensure that GST/HST group relief rules cannot be used to exempt from GST/HST otherwise taxable clearing services that are provided by a group member to a closely related financial institution who will then re-supply those services on an exempt basis to a third-party purchaser outside the group.

The measure also clarifies the treatment of the right to use certain types of amusement or entertainment devices, such as the playing of a game, when it is provided through the operation of a mechanical coin-operated device that can accept only a single coin of twenty-five cents or less as the total consideration for the supply. Finally, it confirms the policy intent and Canada Revenue Agency’s existing practice that no GST/HST or provincial sales taxes on a passenger vehicle are included in calculating the maximum allowable value for input tax credit purposes.

The fourth measure relates to governments. First, it will exempt a supply of a right to file or retrieve a document or information stored in an electronic official registry. That will thus allow municipalities and government agencies to supply information to citizens at a better cost, which in turn will increase access to information.

The new legislation will also ensure that a small supplier division of a municipality is treated in the same manner as a municipality that is a small supplier. Thus, the fairness of treatment will be respected.

The fifth measure, always in the same group, deals with the change in the implementation processes of the legislation. First, the bill will provide the Minister of National Revenue with the discretionary power to accept late-filed applications for the GST new housing rebate and the Nova Scotia HST new housing rebate for owner-built homes, where exceptional circumstances have prevented an application from meeting the normal filing deadline. Second, the Minister of National Revenue will have the discretionary power to accept late-filed elections between closely related financial institutions for adjustments that they are required to make for the provincial component of the HST.

As for the exchange of information, the bill authorizes the Minister of National Revenue to exchange GST-HST information with foreign governments that are signatories to the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Thus, the government will be better able to fight tax evasion.

Finally, the bill gives the Chief Statistician of Canada the discretionary power to provide statistical information concerning business activities to the provinces similar to an existing provision in the Income Tax Act. This new power will give provinces a better access to income statistics, which will allow them to better focus their public policies. This is the first group, which is quite technical, as is the bill as a whole.

Part two of the bill contains a series of measures dealing with excise taxes. Those measures amend the Excise Act 2001 to implement minor refinements that will improve the operation of the act and more accurately reflect current industry and administrative practices. They also implement related and consequential amendments to the Access to Information Act, the Customs Act, the Customs Tariff and the Excise Tax Act.

Since it is very technical and we do not have a lot of time, I will not go into detail. The first of the principal measures deals with tobacco and seeks to give greater precision to certain provisions contained in the Excise Tax Act in order to better defend against the smuggling of tobacco products and facilitate collection of taxes on tobacco. The bill includes measures to extend the requirement to identify the origin of tobacco products to all products, including those sold at duty-free shops or for export, consistent with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international agreement. It also specifies that cigarettes, tobacco sticks, fine-cut tobacco or cigars, but not packaged raw leaf tobacco, may be supplied to the export market or the domestic duty-free market.

The second measure concerns alcohol. The bill has two main objectives. First, it authorizes provincial liquor boards and vintners to possess a still or similar equipment, for the purpose of analyzing substances containing ethyl alcohol without holding a spirits licence. This measure aims to avoid the administrative burden and cost of requiring provincial liquor boards and vintners to obtain a permit. In addition, to encourage the growth of the wine industry in Canada, the government will defer payment of duty by small vintners who sell wine on consignment in retail stores operated by an association of vintners until the wine is sold. As a result, when small producers offer their products in a store operated by a producers’ association, they will not have to pay GST until the product is sold. This measure encourages our home-grown industry and the Bloc Québécois is very happy about that.

I would like to make a small aside concerning the wine industry in Quebec. That industry is represented by the Association des Vignerons du Québec. In 2006, the association was made up of 42 wine growers operating in the regions of Québec, de Lanaudière, the Eastern Townships, Montérégie and the Basses-Laurentides.

Unfortunately, as you can well imagine, no Quebec wine is produced in Montreal, in the region where I live and where my riding is located. To make up for it, we enjoy these Quebec wines that keep on getting better year after year. In any event, I try to do my part.

More than 100 hectares of vines are harvested annually. Nearly 300,000 bottles of wine are produced every year. The main products are white wine, ice wine and fortified wine.

As far as the application of the bill is concerned, as in the previous section, the new legislation permits the Minister of National Revenue to exchange excise tax information with foreign governments that are signatories to the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The bill also adds a discretionary power for the Chief Statistician of Canada to provide statistical information concerning business activities to the provinces similar to an existing provision in the Income Tax Act.

Finally, the third part includes measures on the air travellers security charge. These were implemented a few years ago after the unfortunate events of September 11. These measures have to do with the air travellers security charge and are in part 3 of the bill. They include the announced relief measures and minor changes to the Air Travellers Security Charge Act.

There are two main measures. The first is tax relief. The bill relieves, in particular circumstances, the air travellers security charge in respect of air travel sold by resellers or donated by air carriers. From an administrative point of view, the bill provides authority for the Governor in Council to add, delete or vary by regulation the schedule of listed airports. Thus, the bill will change the status of three of Quebec's airports in order to ensure that standards meet market demand.

So the bill is going to remove La Grande-3 and La Grande-4, in Northern Quebec, from the list of airports subject to the surtax arising from the Air Travellers Security Charge Act. This measure reflects the very special nature of these airports. However, the amazing increase in air traffic at the Mont-Tremblant airport has meant that the minister has decided to include it in the list of airports now subject to the Air Travellers Security Charge.

This is a very technical bill and the Bloc Québécois supports its principles because of the various measures it contains. We are also glad that some measures concerning the GST act have not been included. These are some of the measures announced by the government concerning its intention to abolish GST refunds for foreign visitors. I have to say that we are very pleased that this is not included in this bill because we think that it is a bad measure and that it would punish the tourism industry in Quebec unduly. We hope that the government will have the wisdom to forget this measure entirely and that we never have to debate it in this House. It would be a huge problem.

I would like to end simply by saying that we are going to support this bill because it is designed to correct the technical shortcomings and differences pertaining to other laws, including the GST act and the one on Excise Tax. The tax is going to be removed from certain medial services so as to facilitate access to them and lighten the tax burden for charitable organizations.

There will be measures to support small wine producers; to tighten up legislation on the sale of tobacco products with a view to counteracting smuggling; and to adjust the Air Travellers Security Charge to the situation in Quebec.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I think the best part of my colleague's comment was the last thing he said. He asked why it is important that the finance minister act on that recommendation. Indeed, the minister must act on it. Honestly, the Conservatives have been here for almost a year. For 13 years, the Liberals did nothing on this. We even saw the hon. member for LaSalle—Émard, when he was finance minister, amend the Canadian tax conventions and laws to benefit shipping companies. This has to stop. Taxpayers, who for the most part are very honest, are doing everything they can. Everyone must contribute and do their share.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel for all his work on the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. This is a concrete example of what the Bloc Québécois can do for the citizens of Quebec. This gave more teeth to the Canada Transportation Act, to ensure that it would have real power to force railway companies to make the mandatory changes, if they do not do so voluntarily.

There is, of course, a regulatory aspect, but the Bloc Québécois did not stop there. We saw that the railway companies wanted to do their part to change their equipment, but, obviously, this often requires considerable investments. We wanted to recognize this reality. We therefore proposed accelerated capital depreciation allowances for rail equipment that helps decrease the noise and disturbances associated with railway operations. This proposal was accepted by the committee and is now part of the recommendations.

What is an accelerated capital depreciation allowance? This means that railway companies, if the measure is accepted by the minister—as we hope it will be—could deduct from their taxes, more quickly than they could have otherwise, any spending they do in this area. It is a way of encouraging them. This would allow them to make the changes faster, for example, and would shorten the timeframe required to make such changes.

It is an example of the committee's work on regulatory constraints by giving more teeth to the Canada Transportation Act, while encouraging and supporting, through taxation, companies that want to improve their performance in terms of noise.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, basically, the purpose of my speech was to show that the Quebec nation must be able to make its own budget choices, which it cannot do within the existing federal structure. This is not a competition about who got what handout to please one region of the country or another.

My colleague talked about equality among the provinces. That is not the issue. It is to be expected that members of a nation support one another. It does not make sense that the Quebec nation—which relies on its own Parliament, its own National Assembly in Quebec City—cannot make all of its own budget decisions or, at any rate, cannot make more decisions than it does now.

On the contrary, for many years, we have seen the opposite from all parties, Liberal, NDP and Conservative: an inexorable movement to centralize Canada. We have reached a point where we are asking ourselves what we need to do, as a nation, to move forward.

We must do more than vote in the House to recognize that Quebeckers form a nation. We must give them the means to make their own budget decisions. It does not look like that can happen in Canada.

I am not criticizing Canadians for making their own budget choices and their own decisions. A very interesting example came up: the government is giving parents a childcare allowance even though the Government of Quebec's priority request was to maintain the $800 compensation for the daycare program. That is a very good example of how the government does exactly the opposite of what we want. We do not want the federal government, whether it is Conservative or Liberal, to tell us about how good it is and all of the great stuff it is giving us. We want to make our own choices and we want them to be respected. It is as simple as that.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, since this is probably the last time I will address this House before the holiday season, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my hon. colleagues and everyone in my riding happy holidays. I hope they will have a safe and happy festive season.

I would also like to thank all the staff of the Standing Committee on Finance, who did an outstanding job so that we could release this report, about which the Bloc Québécois has serious reservations. But that is the fault of the elected representatives, not the staff who assisted us throughout our work, both in Ottawa and during our trips to western and eastern Canada. I want to make special mention of their contribution.

In this report, the Bloc Québécois nevertheless made some interesting gains. Personally, I am pleased with one measure in particular, a recommendation concerning train noise, because this is a huge concern in my riding.

People who live near railways are increasingly bothered by noise. This is especially true in Pointe-Saint-Charles, where there are people who did not build their homes near railways, but were already living in the area when the railways were built. For years, even decades, the residents and the railways coexisted relatively happily. But in recent years, with changes in the way the railway industry operates, the situation has become increasingly difficult for these people. I therefore tried to see how these people's lives could be improved, with the help of my colleague who sits on the Standing Committee on Transport. He worked to win adoption of amendments to the bill that is currently being studied, and some important gains have been made. On behalf of the people of Jeanne-Le Ber, I would like to thank him for the good work he did.

For my part, I suggested to the Standing Committee on Finance that the government provide a tax incentive to railway companies that purchase quieter machinery and equipment and thus reduce the annoyance factor. This incentive could consist of accelerated depreciation in order to truly encourage the companies to replace their equipment and cause less harm in our communities. The committee supported this measure and I am pleased to see it among the recommendations.

Among the other recommendations included in the report, I am pleased to note the proposal to review the drastic cuts—we must call a spade a spade—announced by the Conservatives a little earlier in this session. These cuts often affect the less fortunate in our society, individuals who are the most disadvantaged, for example, people with literacy problems, women living in difficult situations and students. They are all victims of these cuts.

Some of the recommendations in this report ask us to take a step back and use some common sense. I am rather pleased that, this time, the NDP also agreed. I thought it was unfortunate that in this chamber, earlier in the session, they said they were in favour of cuts and against the motion denouncing the cuts. I think that things have returned somewhat to normal.

I found some good things in the report. However, we should look at what is missing. What is really missing is the follow-up to the motion recognizing the Quebec nation, adopted by a crushing majority in this chamber. None of the other three parties that supported this motion deemed it necessary to go beyond the mere symbolic gesture and the simple motion and to begin creating a tangible expression of that reality, recognizing that Quebeckers form a nation.

In its actual wording, this report does not recognize that Quebeckers are a nation because it still talks about national programs, national issues and never considers that if there are two or more nations in this country, then terms other than “national” need to be used to denote several nations.

One could argue that these are just words, nothing more than a speech, but it is more than that. In practice, this report is peppered with instances of interference in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces. Despite the motion that was passed in this House, we are still getting the same attitude from the federal government, which wants to set more federal standards and have more programs, criteria and controls when it does not have the constitutional authority to do so. It is unfortunate to see that, for now, this motion seems to be nothing but lip service.

Finally, this report does not recognize the Quebec nation because it does not want to recognize that a nation has to be able to make its own budgetary choices to allow it to develop as it sees fit. Clearly, the only real way for Quebeckers to be able to make their own budgetary choices, now that they are recognized as a nation, will be to take the logical next step of making Quebec a country. Then we could make our own budgetary choices.

In my presentation today, I would like to give a few examples of what making our own budgetary choices as a nation would entail.

First, the Bloc Québécois has long been fighting for the implementation of the Kyoto protocol. As far as the environment is concerned, everyone—serious people, I mean—agrees it is urgent to take action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. It is no longer an issue of wondering whether we will be able to achieve our targets; we have to succeed. We have a moral obligation to the youth of today and the generations to come to prevent this tragedy. Not to succeed would be an awful failure.

The performance of the previous Liberal government in this area was pitiful. In the 13 years they were in power, greenhouse gas emissions went through the roof. No control was done. Except for a few programs, they essentially did not have any real determination.

This is not an excuse for the new government to do nothing. It is unacceptable to say that we will not meet our targets because we are not able to. This is nothing but an admission of incompetence. In other words, the only difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives is that the Conservatives know that they are incompetent when it comes to the environment. But in the end, nothing is happening in either case.

We are talking about the environment, but there is more than that. For Quebec in particular, the whole issue of the Kyoto protocol is vitally important to the economy. Emission credit mechanisms exist and would benefit Quebec. For example, if it were a country—or at least, if Canada wanted to implement the Kyoto protocol properly and comply with the territorial approach—Quebec could meet and even exceed its targets and then issue emission credits. Quebec could sell these credits to other countries, other governments, and add to its coffers while improving our environment. This would be fantastic.

For months, there has been talk of a carbon exchange in Montreal. The government has been asked about this. We are losing an economic institution that could do wonderful things for development in Quebec: the carbon exchange in Montreal. But the government is doing nothing about it.

Yet when it is time to dole out gifts to oil companies for the Alberta tar sands, there is no problem, the government goes right ahead.

In the end, companies in Quebec are losing out on thousands of promising business opportunities in the environmental field that could grow and stimulate our economy if we complied with the Kyoto protocol.

Finally, a sovereign Quebec could very easily enjoy benefits based on the environmental sector similar to those currently enjoyed by Alberta based on the oil sands. However, the decisions made in this House by the federalist parties go against the best interests of Quebec.

We saw this clearly with the $320 million requested by Quebec for its plan. The government never wanted to give Quebec this money for its plan. Even worse, we saw the government refuse Quebec the right to speak for 45 seconds at the Kyoto protocol discussions in Kenya. And 45 seconds is not a long time. Personally, I hold the provincial Liberal government in Quebec somewhat responsible for getting on its knees, if not on prostrating itself entirely, to beg for just 45 seconds for Quebec to voice its opinion on the world stage. Even 45 seconds is too long for the government. It is too long for the federalist parties who do not want to recognize that Quebeckers really do form a nation and that they should actually be treated differently.

If Quebec had been a sovereign country, it would not have had to fight for 45 seconds. It would have the entire week to advance its files, to demonstrate its achievements and display its successes in this area.

That is the advantage of sovereignty: making one's own budgetary choices. I have never blamed Canadians for making their own budgetary choices. The problem is that we are not talking about the same nation. I think the best solution, when we face conflicting budgetary choices, would be for each nation to make its own decisions. We can work together on files on which we agree, but each nation could develop its respective strengths without harming the other.

Child care is another example of budgetary choices that elude Quebec. Quebeckers decided to create a program for themselves. They worked hard and had to pay, through taxes, for public child care. The program has been commended by many organizations for its high quality. An agreement had been reached with the previous government to give Quebec $800 million to fund its system. That agreement was cancelled by the Conservatives.

That is what happens every time the government changes. Depending on the mood of the times, money is given to or taken away from Quebec and the provinces. The cancellation of the agreement demonstrates two things. First, contrary to what the member for Peterborough was saying earlier, the fiscal imbalance is not about to be fixed. The imbalance has grown by another $800 million with this measure. Second, in order for the resolution of the fiscal imbalance to be acceptable in the medium term to the Bloc Québécois, we cannot just have money this year without knowing what will happen the next year. We will not fall into the trap of having to fight this battle for all time. The fiscal imbalance must be corrected by means of a tax transfer. That goes without saying and is proven by the fact that without a tax transfer the Government of Quebec will not be able make long-term plans because the federal government could change the rules whenever it wants to.

Naturally, when Quebeckers have their own country, this will no longer be a problem. There will no longer be an imbalance. We will have full control over our revenue and we will do what we want with it.

There are other examples of programs that in the end survived, but only after huge battles. I am thinking of the parental leave program. At the time, the federal government refused to give money to Quebec to establish its own, more generous, parental leave program in line with what Quebeckers wanted.

In Quebec, everyone was in agreement. The parental leave proposal met with unanimous approval. Some 10 years of negotiations were needed for us to receive a portion of our taxes in order to make our own budgetary choices, which, for all intents and purposes, are social choices.

When a nation agrees almost unanimously on something and has to wait an entire decade to get its own money, money from its taxes, it is doomed to progress slowly, to say the least, and even stagnate, if not go backward. Is this truly what Quebeckers want? Of course not. Quebeckers are increasingly saying that we must not ask for permission for years on end to make our social choices. Sovereignty will allow us to make our own choices.

Another example is the aerospace policy. The aerospace industry is highly developed in Quebec. We have been asking the government for years for an aerospace policy. There is still absolutely nothing being done about it. And yet, in other sectors, such as the automobile industry, which is very developed in Ontario, a whole host of measures are in place. That is important for the Canadian nation. However, for the Quebec nation, where we need interventions in aerospace, there is nothing.

Earlier I talked about the oil industry, where a policy is firmly in place. The industry gets tax breaks and full accelerated depreciation annually, as though investment in the tar sands is a one year event and could not, for all intents and purposes, be repeated 12 months later. Clearly, this does not hold water.

We also saw the example of Quebec City's Boîte à science science centre. The Bloc Québécois pushed very hard to move this project forward. We proposed it in committee, but it was rejected out of hand. This illustrates the inability of the Conservative members from Quebec to advance Quebec issues. It was the same story with the Liberals when they were in power. This is due to the simple fact that the elected members of the Quebec nation do not have a majority in this House. It is simply a question of mathematics. It is not out of spite or anything else, but our priorities are not respected.

When Quebec is a sovereign nation, it will be able to fund not only this science centre project in Quebec City, but the entire research and development sector. At present, federal research centres are concentrated in Ontario, in Ottawa. Quebec gets next to nothing. This is unfortunate, because investments in research and development are highly structural. Once we are a sovereign country, we will be able to develop and create numerous research centres in Quebec City, our national capital, to further our economy.

I would like to conclude by coming back to the issue of the fiscal imbalance. As I said earlier today in this House, $3.9 billion must be paid to Quebec in the short term to address this imbalance. The government also must find a way of making tax transfers in the medium term, in order to truly correct the fiscal imbalance. In our opinion, this is the first step toward sovereignty. We will have to show Quebeckers everything we can accomplish when we take control of our taxes and make our own budget choices. Picture the day when, as a nation, we have control over 100% of our revenue and all our budget choices. Then, that nation will be better able to flourish and develop and will be more prosperous, in friendship and in cooperation with Canada.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Peterborough for his work in committee.

I would like to ask him a question about the fiscal imbalance, because that was the big promise made to voters in Quebec during the last election. Unfortunately, the indicators we are receiving are very disappointing. Throughout the entire lengthy report prepared in committee, only one recommendation has to do with the fiscal imbalance and it is, well, very vague. I will read it for everyone to hear.

That the federal government meet with the provincial/territorial governments with a view to assessing their relative fiscal capacity and the extent to which they are able to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.

This is not at all the same promise made to Quebeckers during the last election. That promise was to correct the fiscal imbalance, not merely to assess or react. As we all know, $3.9 billion is needed to correct the fiscal imbalance. Quebec minister Mr. Audet emphasized this figure at the National Assembly. In fact, that is not how he worded it. He said that he wants the equalization payments to be based on the 10-province standard and that natural resources must be included in the calculation, for a total of $2.8 billion.

He also called for the reinstatement of education funding, which totals $1.1 billion. It seems to me that this adds up to a grand total of $3.9 billion for the fiscal imbalance, and the other parties present in committee—Conservative, Liberal and NDP—could have made a commitment. No one saw the need to make a stronger recommendation concerning the fiscal imbalance.

Will my hon. colleague admit that this is grossly insufficient and much less than what was promised to Quebeckers?

[Petitions, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a petition from citizens in my riding who are protesting the closure of their Canada Post office, which is the only one in Verdun.

For a number of years now, Canada Post has been moving toward privatizing its client services by transferring them to private points of sale. This began while the Liberals were in power, and citizens in my riding are disappointed to see that it is continuing under the Conservatives.

[Abdel Kader Bélaouni, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Abdel Kader Bélaouni is an Algerian citizen who, since January 2006, has been living in the basement of St. Gabriel church in Pointe-Sainte-Charles, where he took refuge. The Government of Canada remains unmoved by his plight and has continued to threaten him with deportation since his refugee claim was denied.

To send him back to his country of origin, where he has not lived for 10 years, is unacceptable, because he has found a helping community here. Today, with the support of the community I represent, I am asking that his situation be regularized and that he be allowed to leave his sanctuary and contribute fully to our society.

The officials of the church that is sheltering him saw fit to give him sanctuary because they believe that there are valid humanitarian reasons for keeping Mr. Bélaouni in Canada and that he can become a citizen and contribute to his host community. This government, on the other hand, has just one goal: to send Mr. Bélaouni back to his country.

I invite the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to regularize Abdel Kader Bélaouni's situation on compassionate grounds.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2, December 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

It is true that we need to go further, and the Bloc Québécois will continue to work toward that goal. As I said earlier, I will continue to talk about this in committee and make recommendations. When the minister came, I told him my thoughts on this.

I will certainly continue to work with the parliamentary secretary and all members of the committee to move this file forward.

I believe that the Bloc Québécois' progress, though not yet complete, once again demonstrates the importance of the Bloc Québécois' work. This coincides with what the Minister of Transport said earlier this morning when he was explaining to the House that he needed the Bloc Québécois' support.

We will continue to do our work rigorously and effectively. The parliamentary secretary also sought our opinion on and support for the public transit tax credit, and we gave it.

It would certainly be nice if the Minister of Transport and the parliamentary secretary explained to some of their Conservative colleagues, who like to talk themselves hoarse criticizing the Bloc Québécois, that the party is useful and that they need it to advance the interests of Canadians and—