Debates of March 14th, 1995

National Debt

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, the $100 million tax is in addition to the large corporations tax, which we raised in our last budget. There is also the corporate tax that the banks are paying. I must point out to the hon. member that, if we look at government revenues, the fastest growing source of revenue is the taxes collected from large corporations.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister tells us that he has asked the banks to make an effort, so I would remind him that the effort he requires from the unemployed is 120 times bigger than for the banks.

[An hon. member]

Shame!

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

One hundred and twenty times bigger! That is his definition of fairness. So the question I am asking him is this: How does the minister explain his refusal to honour his election commitment, as reported in the Globe and Mail , to establish a real minimum tax on corporate profits, when CP, with profits of $422 million, did not pay a single cent in tax?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, there is a minimum corporate tax, which, incidentally, we increased in our last budget. I must, however, tell you that we did not raise personal taxes in our last budget, and I would ask the hon. member to tell the chief of the head office in Quebec City, Mr. Parizeau, not to raise personal taxes, as he threatened to do a couple of days ago.

Labour

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Labour.

The current railway labour dispute is now a national lockout. West coast ports are also shut down due to a longshoremen's strike. Every few years we go through this fiasco where both sides know back to work legislation is inevitable. Unfortunately Canadian jobs and other industries are at stake.

Will the minister put an end to this charade and legislate everyone back to work now?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, we must look at each work situation from a different perspective and not lump airports, harbours and railways all together. They are different companies and labour relations vary from one to the other.

We are keeping abreast of these situations. As you know, Mr. Speaker, regarding railways, even CP was able to reach an agreement in principle with some workers. The situation which is of most concern to me now is that of the port of Vancouver, which we are following on an hourly basis, and I hope that the parties will go back to the negotiating table.

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Labour may have time to wait to sort this out but Canadian farmers do not.

Present shipments are in danger. They must plan for future crops now and should not have to worry about whether the rail system will be there when they need it.

I ask the minister again. When will the government introduce back to work legislation? When?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Reform member to remain calm and to refrain from spreading panic among the parties concerned. As we speak, grain is moving in the west, in Vancouver this very day.

We should keep in contact with the parties and keep in mind that it is always better to negotiate an agreement than to envision legislating these people back to work.

[Ed Harper, Reform, Simcoe Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have been calm far too long. When is the time to get nervous? It is right now. To date there have been 13 work stoppages in 29 years. Our western grain growers cannot afford to bear the brunt of another strike. Canada's transportation system must be reliable or our customers will go elsewhere.

Once the back to work legislation is passed, will the government take steps to ensure the threat of future rail strikes is removed once and for all?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, as usual, the hon. member is going a bit too fast. At this stage, legislation is out of the question, so I will not answer hypothetical questions.

Fisheries

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The stalemate persists in the dispute over turbot fishing opposing Canada and the European Union. Yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs

listed a number of diplomatic avenues to reopen discussions with EU officials.

Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs inform us of the outcome of the diplomatic initiatives mentioned yesterday and whether these initiatives will get things moving again, so that the dispute can be settled?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly intend to pursue as far as possible the diplomatic initiatives under way. The Canadian government's commitment to protect fishery resources threatened by overfishing could not be clearer. I can assure the hon. member that the Government of Canada will not go back on this commitment.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as part of these diplomatic initiatives, is the Minister of Foreign Affairs contemplating travelling himself to Brussels to defend Canada's position and try to reopen discussions with EU countries?

[André Ouellet, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am flattered by the hon. member's suggestion. Obviously, should my presence be required to achieve a negotiated settlement in this dispute, I will gladly do so. But for the time being, I think that the government officials responsible for that sort of thing are doing a fine job and will succeed in coming to an agreement with our European Union friends.

Canada Post

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Recently some very serious allegations concerning possible conflict of interest in the post office have come to our attention. It seems that a Liberal senator and the chairman and president of Canada Post are closely linked to the Ottawa developer who built the new Canada Post building.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister whether he will instruct the ethics counsellor to investigate this very serious issue.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the question relates to something which occurred before this government took office.

I would also like to say that the CBC, which made the allegation, apologized to the person concerned.

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious allegation. It calls for immediate action. Within weeks of winning this lucrative Canada Post contract, the developer, Mr. José Perez, was billed $59,000 to finance the racing career of the son of the Canada Post chairman. At the same time, the Liberal senator was billing Mr. Perez $60,000 per year for business advice.

I ask again. Will the Prime Minister undertake to ask the ethics counsellor to investigate, give a full accounting to the House and open up these allegations?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I just said that the problem was a problem of management of the previous administration. It is not a problem that occurred before we formed the government. At that time there were no ethics counsellors. I do not know if it is my job to get the ethics counsellor to look into the file.

If the member has accusations to make, he can make them outside the House and face the consequences. The CBC apologized because it had a reason to apologize. I do not think it was a well founded accusation, but if the member wants to make an accusation he can make an accusation and face the responsibility of making such accusations.

Referendum On Quebec Sovereignty

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Témiscouata, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Mr. Jacques Michaud, the acting spokesperson for the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, asked Quebecers to vote "no" in the referendum, arguing that they can thrive more fully by remaining within Canada.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Témiscouata, QC]

Will the Minister of Canadian Heritage confirm that his government has just granted a special, additional $500,000 subsidy to defend the federalist cause during the referendum campaign in Quebec?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, not so long ago, the hon. member accused the heritage minister of not supporting the French-speaking and Acadian communities adequately. But we are doing that. We are doing it to preserve the French language, in compliance with the Official Languages Act, and also the culture of these communities, and we will continue to do so.

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Témiscouata, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a good thing that I have taken the floor, otherwise I wonder what the minister would tell me.

Will the heritage minister admit that the only purpose of this specific $500,000 subsidy granted to the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne is to convince certain spokespersons of these communities to serve the federalist cause, by using public funds?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member would be well advised to refrain from making accusations in this House. She is saying that these communities are selling their support and she is condemning them for doing so. This is shameful.