Debates of Dec. 11th, 1996

Taxation

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

We cannot say in this House what someone else said that we would not say ourselves. I would simply caution the hon. member for Calgary Southwest not to quote what we cannot say in the House. I ask the hon. member to please proceed to his question.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Calgary Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we accept the cautioning but we are wondering why it is okay to say in a town hall meeting that the Prime Minister did not tell the whole truth on jobs or GST but it is not okay for this House to ask that question-

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

My colleague, as you know, I have no control over what is said outside the House but inside this House my ruling would be very simple. We cannot take words said by someone else and bring them into the House when here they would be unparliamentary. That is what I am conveying to the hon. member.

Once again, without further elaboration, I would ask the hon. member to put his question directly.

[Preston Manning, Reform, Calgary Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister give a straight answer to this question. His government has failed to deliver jobs, jobs, jobs and to scrap the GST. What is his explanation, the whole truth, for breaking the number one and number two promises of his election campaign?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when we say that we work on the creation of jobs, and I reported on TV and I say to the House of Commons, in the last three years Canada has created more jobs than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan together.

It is a question of debate. He can say that he would have done much better. He can say that he would wave his magic wand and there would be no deficit tomorrow. That is a matter of debate.

The record is there. More jobs have been created in Canada than in the five nations I mentioned in the last three years. This is a fact and it is recorded clearly.

We had a program with respect to the GST. He had a program. We said that we wanted to harmonize the GST. We have harmonization in four provinces. If the other provinces want to have only one tax to make life easy for business in Canada, there will be no GST, there will be a harmonized tax. However, only four provinces have agreed to it so far.

The Minister of Finance is working to make the harmonized tax the system for Canada. No, it is not complete yet. I admit that. However, we cannot make decisions for the provinces. We respect the Constitution of Canada.

Statements By Members

[The Speaker]

My colleagues, I wish to return to a matter which occurred during Statements by Members and then I am going to hear a point of order.

I put the case squarely before the hon. member for Regina-Lumsden. During the statements you made a statement which I found to be unparliamentary. Subsequent to that I asked you to withdraw the statement and you made another statement which I also find to be unparliamentary. After that, my colleague, you were kind enough to approach the Chair and converse with me for a few seconds.

You are in your seat now and I put it squarely to you. I would ask you to withdraw what I deemed to be unparliamentary language in your statement and subsequently, I would ask you to withdraw the statement that you made after that. Will you do that?

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden, SK]

Mr. Speaker, out of respect for the institution of the House of Commons and out of respect for the Speaker, I withdraw remarks in reference to the broken promises of the Liberal Party. The remark was specifically the word "lies". I also withdraw the remark that I made subsequent to my statement which made reference to that very same word.

[The Speaker]

I thank the member for that. I consider the matter closed.

Now I will proceed to a point of order by the hon. member for Markham-Whitchurch-Stouffville.

Point Of Order

[Jag Bhaduria, Liberal, Markham—Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order concerning my statement today. According to Standing Order 31, the Speaker may among other things rule out of order any personal attacks.

[The Speaker]

My colleague, I am well aware of the citation that you are giving to the House. The reason I intervened was that in my view the statement that you were making was unparliamentary. I only heard part of it, but from my point of view while I was sitting here it was unparliamentary.

If the hon. member would like to discuss it further with me, I invite you to see me in my chambers. But when I do not know where a member is going with a statement and I feel it is in the interests of the House to intervene, I do and I will continue to intervene.

Environment

[Karen Kraft Sloan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to table in both official languages the State of the Environment Report for 1996 from Environment Canada, which for the first time in the House is presented in CD-ROM format in addition to its printed equivalent.

Inuvialuit Final Agreement

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of the annual review for 1994-95 on the implementation of the Inuvialuit final agreement.

Nunavut Implementation Commission

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Under the provisions of Standing Order 32(1), I have the honour to table in both official languages copies of the 1995-96 annual report of the Nunavut Implementation Commission.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of a report entitled Compilation of 1995 supplementary reports of the Nunavut Implementation Commission.

Government Response To Petitions

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table in both official languages the government's response to nine petitions.

Ways And Means

[Doug Peters, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), I wish to table a notice of ways and means motion to amend the Excise Tax Act. I am also tabling explanatory notes. I would ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of the motion.

Committees Of The House

[Bernie Collins, Liberal, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food which deals with Bill C-38, the Farm Debt Mediation Act. I am proud to report this bill with several amendments.

[Reg Alcock, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present in both official languages the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Transport with respect to Bill C-58, the Canada Shipping Act.

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, St. Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table in both official languages the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Finance.

I think this report is a first in the sense that the same report will be tabled by two separate committees. My colleague from the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade will be tabling the same document under a different report number. The report is the result of a joint effort by two subcommittees that each received a mandate from its respective standing committee to carry out a joint review of the Special Import Measures Act.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who took part in the hearings of the sub-committees. I would also like to emphasize the way our assistants and committee staff worked together to ensure that our efforts were successful.

In concluding, I may point out that the report contains a request for a comprehensive response from the government, pursuant to Standing Order 109.

[John English, Liberal, Kitchener, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

As the previous speaker mentioned, this represents the first report of the subcommittee on trade disputes which was conducted jointly with the subcommittee of the finance committee on the review of the Special Import Measures Act.

[Roger Simmons, Liberal, Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and pleasure to present in both official languages the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Health. Pursuant to its order of reference dated December 5, your committee has adopted Bill C-71, an act to regulate the manufacture, sale, labelling and promotion of tobacco products, to make consequential amendments to another act and to repeal certain acts with amendments.

I thank the committee and the staff for the support we had on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I also have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Health. In accordance with its order of reference of June 4, your committee has adopted Bill C-24, an act to amend the Tobacco Products Control Act, without amendments.

[Peter Milliken, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the first report of the Special Joint Committee on a Code of Conduct.

With leave of the House, I intend to move for concurrence in this report later this day.

Drinking Water Materials Safety Act

[David Dingwall, Liberal, Minister of Health]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-76, an act respecting the safety and effectiveness of materials that come into contact with or are used to treat water destined for human consumption.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

International Development (Financial Institutions) Assistance Act

[Don Boudria, Liberal, for Minister of Foreign Affairs]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-77, an act concerning an order under the International Development (Financial Institutions) Assistance Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)