Mr. Speaker, about the $3.3 billion budget for subsidies to business, during the year we have been here, we have asked the Minister of Finance to put everything on the table and allow a parliamentary committee to look at federal government spending in a very thorough and specific way. We have always included the $3.3 billion in subsidies to business, in order to scrutinize what type of subsidies were involved and who the beneficiaries were. Did they really have a structural impact on the economy enabling us to face the challenges of internationalization and international competition?
We never received a reply from the minister in this regard. But, as you said, logic dictates that a normally competitive business should not need subsidies. However, we are now faced with radical economic changes.
The mere fact that the latest GATT agreement signed last December will bring about tariff reductions of about 75 per cent over the next six years is already a lot to deal with.
Although tariffs between the most industrialized countries already averaged five or six per cent, it still makes a difference, especially when, according to most experts, the value of the Canadian dollar remains very high despite some drops in recent months.
We are again in a situation where the slightest tariff protection can compensate for the fact that Canadian businesses are not as competitive, probably in part because of the Canadian dollar.
I submit to you that a normal, competitive business should not be subsidized. Often, all these subsidies to business do is generate competition between Quebec or Canadian firms because one received a subsidy while the other did not. I think that this system must be totally revised. I would say to you that most of this $3.3 billion should go.