Bill C-52 (Historical)

Budget Implementation Act, 2007

An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 19, 2007

Part 1 implements income tax measures proposed or referenced in Budget 2007 to
(a) introduce a tax on distributions from certain publicly traded income trusts and limited partnerships, effective beginning with the 2007 taxation year;
(b) reduce the general corporate income tax rate by one half of a percentage point, effective January 1, 2011;
(c) increase the age credit amount by $1,000 from $4,066 to $5,066, effective January 1, 2006;
(d) permit income splitting for pensioners, effective beginning in 2007;
(e) introduce a new child tax credit of $2,000 multiplied by the appropriate percentage for a taxation year, effective beginning in 2007;
(f) increase the spousal and other amounts to equal the basic personal amount, effective beginning in 2007;
(g) increase the age limit for maturing registered retirement savings plans, registered pension plans and deferred profit sharing plans to 71 years of age, effective beginning in 2007;
(h) expand the types of investments eligible for registered retirement savings plans and other deferred income plans, effective March 19, 2007; and
(i) increase the contribution limits for registered education savings plans and expand eligible payments for part-time studies, effective beginning in 2007.
Part 1 also amends the Canada Education Savings Act to increase the maximum annual grant payable on contributions made to a registered education savings plan after 2006.
Part 2 amends the Excise Tax Act to clarify the legislative authority that allows the Canada Revenue Agency to pay refunds of excise tax directly to end-users, where fuel subject to excise has been used in tax-exempt circumstances. It also amends that Act to repeal the excise tax on heavy vehicles and to implement the Green Levy on vehicles with fuel consumption of 13 litres or more per 100 kilometres. It also provides an authority for the Canada Revenue Agency to pay a refund of the Green Levy for vans equipped for wheelchair access.
Part 3 implements goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) measures proposed or referenced in Budget 2007. It amends the Excise Tax Act to exempt midwifery services from the GST/HST and to zero-rate certain supplies of intangible personal property made to non-GST/HST registered non-residents. It also amends that Act to repeal the GST/HST Visitor Rebate Program and to implement a new Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive Program, which provides rebates of tax in respect of certain property and services used in the course of conventions held in Canada and the accommodation portion of tour packages for non-residents, and establishes new information requirements in the case where rebates are credited by the vendor.
Part 4 implements other measures relating to taxation. It amends the Customs Tariff to increase the duty-free exemption for returning Canadian residents, from $200 to $400, for absences from Canada of not less than 48 hours. It amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to clarify that when a federal corporation listed in Schedule I to that Act pays provincial taxes or fees, wholly-owned subsidiaries of that corporation also pay provincial taxes or fees. It also authorizes the Minister of Finance to make payments totaling $400 million out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the Province of Ontario to assist the province in the transition to a single corporate tax administration. This last measure is consequential to the October 6, 2006 Canada-Ontario Memorandum of Agreement Concerning a Single Administration of Ontario Corporate Tax.
Part 5 enacts the Tax-back Guarantee Act, which legislates the Government’s commitment to dedicate all effective interest savings from federal debt reduction each year to ongoing personal income tax reductions. That Part also commits the Minister of Finance to report publicly at least once a year on personal income tax relief provided under the Guarantee to Canadians.
Part 6 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to set out the amounts of the fiscal equalization payments to the provinces and the territorial formula financing payments to the territories for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2007 and to provide for the method by which those amounts will be calculated for subsequent fiscal years. It also authorizes certain deductions from those amounts that would otherwise be payable under that Act. In addition, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Part 6 also amends that Act to provide increased funding for the Canada Social Transfer beginning on April 1, 2007, and to provide for the method by which the Canada Social Transfer and the Canada Health Transfer amounts will be calculated for subsequent fiscal years, including per capita cash allocations. It also provides for transition protection.
Part 7 amends the Financial Administration Act to modernize Crown borrowing authorities.
Part 8 amends the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Act to permit the Minister of Finance to lend money to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Part 9 amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act and the Winding-up and Restructuring Act to allow the Governor in Council to prescribe the meaning of “eligible financial contract”. Those Acts are also amended to provide that, after an insolvency event occurs, a party to an eligible financial contract can deal with supporting collateral in accordance with the terms of the contract despite any stay of proceedings or court order to the contrary. This Part also includes amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Winding-up and Restructuring Act to provide that collateral transactions executed in accordance with the terms of an eligible financial contract are not void only because they occurred in the prescribed pre-insolvency or winding-up period.
Part 10 authorizes payments to provinces and territories.
Part 11 authorizes payments to certain entities.
Part 12 extends the sunset provisions of financial institutions statutes by six months from April 24, 2007 to October 24, 2007.
Part 13 amends the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act to provide the Minister of Public Works and Government Services with the power to authorize another minister, to whom he or she has delegated powers under that Act, to subdelegate those powers to the chief executive of the relevant department. That Act is also amended with respect to the application of section 9 to certain departments.
Part 14 amends the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act to allow the Minister of Finance to provide funding to the Agency for activities related to financial education.

Budget Implementation Act, 2007

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should look at his tax forms to see what his government did. It inexplicably raised taxes on the poor and actually lowered the basic personal exemption. I do not know how he can actually compute that in his own mind. His government actually increased the lowest tax rate from 15% to 15.5%.

I also need to remind the member that his government received the benefits of the fiscal probity of our government. We presided over the biggest change of moving from a massive deficit and debt situation that almost drove our country into a third world situation and where our bonds were actually going to be downgraded. We inherited that situation in 1993 when we formed government but, due to strong fiscal measures by the then finance minister, over a period of time the situation changed from a deficit into a surplus which the Conservatives are enjoying.

I do not know how the member can actually explain in his own heart how his government is spending at three times the rate of inflation, the largest rate of spending that any government has ever seen.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I find it quite astounding to listen to the government member talk about people in poverty being able to raise themselves up with education when they do not even have enough money to eat. It is hard to fathom. As I indicated before, there are 93,000 people in Hamilton living in poverty.

However, the member opposite talked about interprovincial trade barriers. I spoke against that in the 1980s and it is still there.

I agree with the early learning and child care. It is not often that I find myself agreeing with Liberals but on this occasion, as a former school board trustee, I was there when that program started and it was a vital program for our young people.

Would the member opposite agree that it is also time for a national drug program for Canadians throughout this country? When the government has $15 billion, why can it not do things like this?

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very prudent suggestion. Catastrophic drug coverage should be something that the federal government should work on with its provincial colleagues. Why on earth do we have silence from the government at a time when individuals, frequently seniors and those of limited incomes, are facing enormous costs for their drugs and medications?

I do not think it is necessarily possible to have a complete drug coverage policy across the country for everything but there is room for a catastrophic drug coverage program that the government should adopt and, in doing so, it would relieve a lot of suffering and insecurity among people.

I want to attach one other provision, which goes to the government member's comments previously. Not everybody who is poor is of a working age. A lot of seniors are poor. A lot of seniors live lives of quiet desperation because they have added costs at that time of life and they are on fixed incomes, which is why a Canadian low income supplement would help those seniors who are suffering today.

Speaker's Ruling

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The period for questions and comments now being over, the Chair is now prepared to rule on the point of order raised by the hon. member for Markham—Unionville concerning an amendment ruled out of order during the deliberations of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-52, the Budget Implementation Act, 2007.

The Chair would like to thank the member for Mississauga South and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance for their input, which was very useful.

As a starting point to this rather complex matter, I wish to review what happened in committee. During consideration of Bill C-52 in the Standing Committee of Finance on Wednesday, May 30, several amendments were proposed by the hon. member for Markham—Unionville dealing with SIFT or income trusts. In dealing with the amendments, the chair expressed some doubt as to their procedural admissibility but asked for guidance from the mover and the departmental official present as to what the amendments were attempting to accomplish. From the exchange that occurred, the chair concluded that Bill C-52 was creating a non- refundable dividend tax credit whereas the amendment was:

...putting in place a refundable credit that requires additional use of monies from the consolidated revenue fund, and therefore that particular amendment is not in order.

That ruling was challenged and sustained. The other amendments from the hon. member for Markham—Unionville were defeated.

Before considering the impact of Motion 2 at the report stage, which is identical to the amendment ruled out of order at the Standing Committee on Finance, the Chair would like to quickly review the basic rules that must be followed when the Crown exercises its financial initiative.

The first is that any increase in a charge to the public, that is, a new tax, an increase in an existing tax or the continuation of a tax which is to expire, would need to be preceded by the adoption of a ways and means motion. An alleviation of taxation, that is, a reduction in an existing tax, does not need to be preceded by the adoption of a ways and means motion.

The second is that any appropriation of public moneys, that is, the spending of moneys from the consolidated revenue fund, must be first recommended by the Crown before being approved by Parliament.

In this particular case, we have a unique situation. The amendment by the hon. member for Markham—Unionville appears to effect “a refund or credit against taxes otherwise payable”. Is this the alleviation of taxation or is this an authorization for a new and distinct program of spending? If it is the former, no ways and means motion is required. If it is the latter, a royal recommendation would need to accompany the amendment.

In reviewing the evidence of the Standing Committee on Finance, I am inclined to agree with the conclusion of the chair, that is, that the amendment proposes to create a new initiative, in this case, it is called a refundable tax credit, which results in the appropriation of moneys from the consolidated revenue fund for a distinct purpose.

Therefore, I would conclude that Motion No. 2 cannot be selected for report state as it requires a royal recommendation and that Motions Nos. 1, 3 and 4 ought not to be selected as they were defeated in committee.

I thank all hon. members for having raised this issue.

Resuming debate. The hon. member for Saint John.

Report stage

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, since March 19, when the budget was first presented, the Liberal Party has been very clear with Canadians about why we oppose it.

We look at this mixture of electoral posturing and bad public policy and see Canadians left behind and entire regions of our country forgotten. For some reason, the Prime Minister thought that dividing Canadians would unite his ambition and political fortunes.

Over the last months, Canadians have told him and this party that they have other ideas. Just as troubling as the government's political approach to governing is its inability to coherently implement its agenda.

With all of the flip-flops and the disconnections between the Prime Minister and his front bench ministers, the so-called further clarifications, Canadians are right to be asking themselves whether the government has the ability to formulate a plan and to competently manage one of the largest and most complex economies in the world.

The most recent example of the government's naiveté on financial matters was the announcement by the Minister of Finance that the government had reversed its policy on income deductibility. For weeks and weeks the Liberal Party told the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance that their decision to revoke interest deductibility for Canadian multinational corporations made our business leaders less able to compete. As a party, we repeatedly said that was simply not the way to manage our economy in the context of gruelling international competitive forces.

Though he failed to consult any stakeholders before bringing down his budget on this specific point, we are pleased to see that the Minister of Finance has listened to our position on this matter and for once chose reason over ideology.

I would hope that the minister will take our advice and also look at debt dumping. The double-dipping he has sought to curtail is still taking place as foreign companies, and with affiliates, are permitted to borrow Canadian dollars and invest them in their home countries and do so without paying Canadian corporate taxes.

A further question of competence arises with the issue where Canadians from coast to coast are concerned about the government's total flip-flop on income trusts. As he surely remembers, the Prime Minister campaigned in the last election as the defender of income trusts and investments of Canadians. He took advantage of trumped up gossip against the Liberal government and promised Canadians that his government would preserve their financial security. What a surprise we were all in for when the Conservatives abruptly altered their course and completely changed that position.

In one day, $25 billion of Canadians' investments were wiped out. Since then, the Liberal Party has proposed a reasonable 10% tax on income trusts as opposed to the punitive 31.5% tax levied by the government. This is fair-minded public policy and, frankly, would have avoided the financial disaster that was brought upon many Canadians who were moving into retirement years or were in fact retired. Canadians retired based on the Prime Minister's promise that he would not change his position on the income trusts and he broke that trust and that promise.

Canadian tax policy is just one area of financial policy that the Conservative government has been unable to effectively manage. The federal government's relationships with the cities is another black hole of public policy.

The Prime Minister's only announcement since he has been elected, which addresses the issue of cities, is the transit strategy, and that is perhaps the most blatant example of the Conservative government taking credit for successful Liberal programs and initiatives.

In March the Prime Minister announced funding for a variety of transit projects in the GTA totalling $927 million. However, this money was Liberal government money that was set aside as funding for infrastructure spending in 2006-07 and 2007-08 that until now had not been used by the Conservative government.

Furthermore, just last week the Prime Minister spoke to the Canadian Federation of Municipalities convention and called the government's investment in Canadian cities “historic”. What he failed to mention was that the programs he touted were put in place by the past Liberal government. When is the Conservative government going to show some leadership on this file? As Canada is fast becoming an urban country, what the assembled delegates in Calgary were waiting to hear from the Prime Minister was a plan to provide cities with stable, predictable and long term funding.

As part of our new deal for cities, the Liberal government made a five year, $5 billion commitment to directly fund cities, including $20 billion for 2010-11, but the government has been silent on whether it intends to make this annual contribution permanent.

Cities can no longer depend solely on property taxes for revenue generation. What they need is a commitment from the federal government. They can no longer be treated as creatures of the province. With their ever increasing range of responsibilities and services, cities require some indication that the federal government is interested in ensuring their success.

Clearly, the Conservatives are ignoring the plight of our Canadian cities and communities. How many desperate calls are going to have to be made from mayors across Canada before the government realizes that cities and communities are the drivers of our economy? When will the government wake up and see the need to deal with cities directly to address these issues?

Perhaps the strongest reason to oppose this budget and its implementation is the crassly political way the Conservative government has favoured one region of Canada over the other. The Prime Minister came to office advocating a new approach to federalism. The numbers speak for themselves. Quebec received a 29% increase, or $698 million in equalization. New Brunswick, my home province, received a mere meanspirited 1.8%. Atlantic Canada received only 4% of all new money spent on equalization. Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia received zero increases in payments.

For a second straight year, ACOA, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, has failed to receive mention in the budget or the Speech from the Throne.

The Prime Minister memorably attributes a culture of defeat to the Maritime region. His budget seems designed to give his claims a ring of truth.

The sad reality is that when we listen to Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert, or Progressive Conservative Atlantic Premier Rodney MacDonald, or Progressive Conservative Premier Danny Williams, we get the message loud and clear: Canadians who need the most support have been left out of this budget.

The Conservative government has simply shown that it does not have the right plan to run the country nor the competence to implement the meanspirited and narrow-minded policy proposals it has put forward. With this budget, the Prime Minister has failed to address the concerns of Canadian industry, sold out investors, picked winners in the equalization sweepstakes, ignored Canadian cities, and punished Canadians who need the most help.

The Liberal Party cannot support the passage—

[The Acting Speaker, Royal Galipeau]

It is with regret that I must interrupt the hon. member. I had given him a two minute signal and a one minute signal.

Questions and comments, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.

[Betty Hinton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I do not have a question, but I do have a comment.

As I was listening to the opposite member speaking, most of what he was saying was complete and total nonsense, but some of it he may actually believe. However, the one thing he said that spelled it out extremely clearly and put it in a nutshell in terms of how the former Liberal government treated taxpayers' money was the phrase he used, “Liberal government money”.

The Liberal government, or any other government for that matter, has no money. The money belongs to the taxpayers of Canada, and perhaps the biggest difference between the Conservative government and the Liberal government is that the Conservative government recognizes that fact. We know where the funding comes from. We also realize that we are supposed to, as a government, use that money wisely and judiciously to help as many Canadians as possible, and that is what we have done.

The arrogance in the comment, “Liberal government money”, sticks in my craw, as I am sure it sticks in the craw of many people in this country. All Canadians contribute.

The other comment I would like to make is that, in case the member opposite is unaware of it, no government generates income. The only income we have is the taxation that we take from everyday Canadians who work very hard for that money and expect us to do the right thing with it.

We are doing the right thing with it, and if that bothers the member opposite, he has my sympathy; but that is it, just my sympathy.

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Saint John, NB]

First, Mr. Speaker, I do agree with the hon. member on one point that she raised and that is the fact that it is taxpayers' money.

However, when a government tries to pit one region of the country against another and, more important, one taxpayer against another, that is what we, as Canadians, find offensive about the budget and about this political party.

The other thing that the hon. member raised, which I think is very important, is what about the ordinary taxpayer? What does the budget mean to the ordinary taxpayer? The budget means in fact an increase on those who have the least amount of income in our society. The increase at the lowest corporate rate, from 15% to 15.5%, is not only offensive, but it is disgraceful to those Canadians who need the most help from our national government.

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week when the Canadian Labour Congress came forward, they made the case that some of the new jobs that are being created and that the government wants to talk about ad nauseam, a big percentage of those jobs are actually low wage and part time.

The Conservatives introduced a concept of temporary agencies which get jobs for people and take a percentage off the top. These are the kinds of jobs that are now being generated in the economy that are beginning to be rolled out under the leadership of the government.

There are people who had lost manufacturing jobs in northern Ontario, southern Ontario, southeastern Ontario and across the country. The only choice they have is to take these low wage, no benefits, no pension, oftentimes temporary agency jobs in order to feed their families, pay the rent, and contribute in the way they have grown accustomed.

I wonder if the member would like to respond to that.

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the reality and one of the concerns we all have in every region of Canada is the migration of our workforce.

Certainly in my area of the country in Atlantic Canada, a lot of our workforce is migrating to places west and throughout the United States. We have a big concern about that.

We also have a large concern as it relates to these temporary and part time permanent jobs, but I have to say that one of the concerns we all have is pitting region against region. That is why I am voting against the budget.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise and speak to the budget. Again, like many, I have had a chance to talk about it on a number of occasions.

To be very honest and upfront, and I do not want to disappoint anybody, I do not like it. I do not think it is a fair budget. I do not think it is a budget that does anything to decrease the gap between the rich and the poor and, in fact, it increases the gap.

I want to echo the comments of my colleague from Saint John. I want to speak a little bit to the issue of how I believe that this budget divides Canadians, which I think it does.

I am going to talk about three examples. The first is the Atlantic accord. The accord has received a lot of attention, particularly where I come from in Nova Scotia, in Newfoundland and Labrador, and also across the country. It is a sign of how a government should not do business by alienating one region and playing one off against the other in a game of what I would call crude political arithmetic. The government thinks it can afford to maybe lose a few seats here if it gains a few seats there, and it adds up to where it wants to go.

When the Atlantic accord was torched, when it was betrayed so callously in the budget, it set off a firestorm. It did not just set off a firestorm among opposition MPs in Ottawa. It set off a firestorm among Progressive Conservatives in Atlantic Canada.

I have recited some of these before, so I will not spend a lot of time on this. Back home the premier of Nova Scotia, Rodney MacDonald, rather mildly rebuked the government. The premier had to say something and he acknowledged very quickly that the Atlantic accord had been betrayed. The accord had been worked on by his former colleague, Dr. John Hamm, the former premier of Nova Scotia, a very distinguished leader in our province. Premier MacDonald today acknowledged the fact that Dr. Hamm's work had all gone for naught with the betrayal of the Atlantic accord.

Premier Danny Williams has been reasonably vocal in his concern about the Atlantic accord and what he thinks it means to Newfoundland and Labrador. He has spoken out loudly. Premier Rodney MacDonald has not spoken out as loudly. I think we can be fortunate that we have a new Liberal leader in Nova Scotia, Stephen McNeil, who will stand tall for Nova Scotians and demand fairness.

Premier MacDonald and all legislators in Nova Scotia in an all-party resolution of the legislature, including the wife of the Conservative member for South Shore—St. Margaret's who was a minister in the Rodney MacDonald government, condemned the federal government for breaking its word on the Atlantic accord.

Here is a commentary from back home the day after the budget. Marilla Stephenson, a columnist in the Chronicle-Herald, said, “If any theme rang through the Harper budget delivered on Monday night, it was that the have-nots are to remain--

[The Deputy Speaker, Bill Blaikie]

Order, please. The hon. member cannot do indirectly what the rules prohibit him from doing directly. I would ask him to please refrain from referring to the Prime Minister by name.

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

I apologize, Mr. Speaker. The article states:

If any theme rang through the Harper budget delivered on Monday night, it was that the have-nots are to remain, well, have-nots.

Jim Meek indicated:

Jeering from the sidelines were the budget's unlucky trio of obvious losers: Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan. All are now victims of a calculated insult—the effective federal clawback of resource revenues under the new equalization schemed insult.

David Rodenhiser said:

Nova Scotians are left asking themselves: Who's standing up for us?...Right now, the answer is no one....Certainly not our federal cabinet minister, [the member for Central Nova], who's defending Ottawa rather than Nova Scotia on this.

An article in the Chronicle Herald states, “Atlantic Tories running for cover”.

On the weekend, the member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley on the government side indicated, acknowledging that the Atlantic accord has been betrayed, that it gave him concern about how he should vote. That is not easy for anyone. I wish him well in his deliberations. All government members should have the same principled approach to this.

The Atlantic accord is gone. Atlantic Conservative candidates, people who were going to run for the Conservatives in Atlantic Canada, like Jane Purves in Halifax, are having second thoughts. A candidate in Newfoundland said, “That's it, I can't run for these guys. What chance would I have? We can't win if we're going to be breaking accords like the Atlantic accord which was so important. You can't do it”

The Atlantic accord was opposed by virtually everybody in Atlantic Canada, again, dividing one part of Canada against the other.

I want to talk about the Coast Guard. A month or so ago we had an announcement in the riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour that two icebreakers, employing some 130 people plus support staff, would be moved from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, to the two ridings where Conservative members happen to reside.

Nobody in Nova Scotia wishes Newfoundland and Labrador anything but good fortune, but there was no business case along with this move, no discussion with workers and union and no discussion even with regional management of the Coast Guard. A draft business report for a business plan for the next three years of the Coast Guard, dated April 1, had no mention of this move. This was a crass political move and it is the crassest kind of political move not only to divide region against region, but province against province for political purposes. It is wrong.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the debacle, which is the summer grants program. Last year it was the subject of a $55 million cut. In the fall the program was cancelled. It came back in the spring with an $11 million cut, and no explanation of what happened to that $55 million. Maybe it is still in play and maybe it is not. We do not know. We only have budget documents and press releases to tell us, and there has not been much about that recently.

Two or three weeks ago, organizations across Canada started getting letters in the mail, like the Autism Society of Nova Scotia. It was told that it did not qualify for the summer jobs program, although it had for years under the Liberal program. It had seven people last year and ten the year before, in the last year of the Liberal government. This year the society did not qualify.

The minister keeps telling us that the old program was Liberal MPs dispensing patronage. Hogwash. It was Wal-Mart, Rogers and Bacardi giving jobs. If the Conservatives do not like them giving jobs, take the jobs away from them and give them to the Autism Society of Nova Scotia. Do not take them away from the Autism Society of Nova Scotia. Do not take them away from the Diabetes Society.

I want to read a letter from an organization called Edward's House, which deals with young students at risk, students who have either been kicked out of their home or lost their parents. The only way they can stay in school is with this program, which provides shelter, comfort and food and allows them to go to school. On May 15 it received a letter dated May 10. Always having had summer students before, the letter stated, “Thank you for your application...Your application was assessed and received a rating of 23 out of a total of 70. It did not rank high enough on the list of assessed applications to be funded. Since the demand exceeded the budget, we are unable to offer you funding at this time”.

Representatives came to see me and we talked about it. Miraculously, when we went on the summer break, the minister denied there was a problem.

We had a minister in New Brunswick saying it would be fixed a certain way. A MP in Nova Scotia there was 15% more money. A cabinet minister of the Government of Canada blamed it on the bureaucrats, scrambling everywhere. It was a disaster that had to be fixed. All of a sudden, Edward's House received a call and was told the government could fund it. Even though the letter said that the demand exceeded budget and there was no money, all of a sudden there was money. What kind of program is that? Only when the government gets caught does it throw money in.

The minister said in the House that we would soon see on the website the names of organizations requesting funding, which ones received it and which did not. I and my colleague from Saskatchewan beside me had a motion before the HRDC committee, stating that by June 1 we would know what organizations had applied, what ones received funding and what ones did not. Late in the afternoon on June 1, we received a letter saying that because of privacy concerns, we could not received that information. However, the minister can stand in the House and read a list when somebody asks him a question, but parliamentarians are not allowed to know.

That is dividing Canadians, not only region to region or province to province but non-profit organization to non-profit organization. Organizations in our communities across the street from each other are now pitted against each other because of the political crassness of the government.

We have a large and diverse country and we take pride in that. We come here to represent our constituents. Surely, there is a special place for all of us in our hearts and in this place to represent those who need help the most. For years we have done that in Canada. We have built a social infrastructure. I am concerned that this budget and last year's budget will signal the end of that belief in the social infrastructure if we do not soon do something to fix it.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, earlier the member for Saint John spoke about Bill C-45, which was a Liberal budget bill from the last Parliament. He talked about the transfers to cities for transit. It struck me how ironic that was because it was known in many circles as the NDP better balanced budget, after the member for Toronto—Danforth negotiated with the then prime minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard, to change from $4.5 billion of corporate tax breaks and have that money transferred to the municipalities.

Which way did the member support that bill, for the tax breaks for corporations or the transfers that we negotiated?

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

If I recall correctly, Mr. Speaker, that was Bill C-48, not Bill C-45. The money was not specifically for cities. It was for four areas: overseas development, the environment, post-secondary education and housing. I absolutely supported that motion.

I remind the member that the $1.5 billion negotiated by the leader of the NDP and the then prime minister of Canada for post-secondary education was dwarfed in the economic update six months later, when the Liberal government promised $2.2 billion for students who needed it the most, making the $1.5 billion irrelevant. Unfortunately, the NDP did not vote to adopt it.

When the Conservative government came in, it changed that $1.5 billion to $1 billion. It changed it from student access to infrastructure. There was very little benefit for students in that bill, but I was happy to vote for it at the time. I thought it was a good initiative and it showed that Parliament could work when leaders worked together on priorities.