Finance Committee on Feb. 8th, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Massimo.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Because the original bill came from our legislative counsel, I just want to know if the legislative counsel is okay with this bill.

[A voice]

Do you mean the amendments?

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Yes, the rewritten bill.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Chair, in fairness to counsel, he can't really express an opinion on it, but I think he could express an opinion as to whether the amendment effectively clarifies things.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Yes, that's all I'm asking.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Let me assure you that they can't express—

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Sorry, I wasn't talking to you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Regardless of that, you should have been. Since you weren't, your time's up.

Is there any further discussion?

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Just out of curiosity, can we ask legislative counsel if he's okay with this amendment?

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Well, I don't know. Really, I'm at a loss for words, Mr. Pacetti.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Through you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

No.

Does anybody else want to venture in? Diane.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I only want to ask Mr. McKay, who raised some concerns about the bill, whether or not these amendments deal with those concerns, in his view. He has a lot of experience, and he's also seen this bill before. I always respect his opinion.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I don't know whether it's a different tune or we've changed hymn books.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

If I could, I have a sideways question.

I remember earlier in the discussion of this bill, there was some concern about the impact of this bill on the potential disqualification of athletes going from tier two junior to play college hockey in the States. Has it all been dealt with? Do you have some kind of prior approval from the U.S. program that there's no problem with our okaying this?

[Brian Fitzpatrick, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

When the department made this ruling, there was a major concern that there would be a negative fallout from it.

In the U.S., the University of Minnesota uses entirely American players at their main campus and a lot of the other teams they're competing against use Canadian players. There's always the potential in this kind of ruling for them to seize on the ruling to go through the process of disqualifying Canadians from being eligible for those scholarships, which I think would be a crying shame if it ever happened. It's a tremendous benefit to the players and their families, and it's a real career thing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

To be clear, though, Brian, there's no problem with this bill, to your understanding of it, in terms of any eligibility issues.

[Brian Fitzpatrick, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I think it would help clear the whole issue up. I think it would be helpful.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Mr. Pacetti.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

In extension to what Mr. Pallister was asking, Brian, is this going to make the net much bigger in terms of hockey teams trying to take advantage of this?

[Brian Fitzpatrick, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

If you mean this is some kind of income trust gimmick and there's a bunch of money at the end of the rainbow, the answer is no. The minor hockey system in Canada basically is not—

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

It's not going to hurt the players, in the end, because they're going to be able to get more money or something like that.

[Brian Fitzpatrick, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Actually, Massimo, in the Saskatchewan case, they sent auditors to Flin Flon, which is seven hours away from Saskatoon. They spent days on end. They've hounded all these teams and auditors.

Even with Mr. Short saying it might cost $5 million for the government, I think a compliance and audit with the department to harass these teams probably costs the government $5 million. To me, the thing's almost neutral.