Debates of Feb. 28th, 1996

Speech From The Throne

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

Mr. Speaker, if I am to understand the Minister of Finance correctly, he has just informed us that he will continue to go after the least well-off in order to reduce his deficit.

I would like to know just when he intends to table his new budget.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

At last, Mr. Speaker. It is my intention to bring down the next budget on Wednesday, March 6 at 4.30 p.m.

I will be bringing down the government's budget on Wednesday, March 6, at 4.30 in the afternoon.

Mining

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the throne speech the government talked about how it hoped there will be jobs for Canadians.

In the upcoming budget the minister may be putting at risk the viability of the mining industry by discussing tax increases, changes to the resource allowance, that will have the effect of raising that industry's tax rate by up to 10 per cent.

Will the minister promise the House that any changes to the resource allowance will be revenue neutral, thereby assuring the mining industry that it will be able to provide the jobs Canadians are demanding?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, having just announced the date of the budget I am sure the hon. member understands that I will wait until the budget is brought down before giving any indication of whatever kind of measures the government intends to bring in.

On the other hand, I can assure the hon. member the Minister of Natural Resources takes her job very seriously. She has certainly made her views known to the Minister of Finance.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if that is reassuring or not. What we need assurance of from the government is that its idea of tax fairness is not to tax and gouge everyone equally.

Since he took power, this minister has increased taxes in each of his budgets. The resource industries need to know that this resource allowance will be revenue neutral.

Can the minister assure the industry today that whatever changes he makes will be revenue neutral, and that the industry can go ahead and create the jobs Canadians want?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered the hon. member's question. He knows that I am not going to reveal the budget piecemeal, that I am not going to answer his question today.

I really wonder why he finds it so necessary to create strawmen, to create fears. Is he playing politics? I would find that absolutely unspeakable behaviour.

The Budget

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I hope we never see politics in the House of Commons ever again.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance indicated that he is going to introduce his budget next Wednesday. Since he has been consistent in setting targets for deficit reduction and for the rate of inflation, would the minister give some consideration in the upcoming budget to setting targets for job creation for the first time so that we could have a goal to work toward?

Also, would he call on the corporate sector now to begin playing its role in becoming more responsible in creating jobs and getting Canadians back to work?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if you look at the record of job creation since the government took office, it is close to 600,000 jobs. It really demonstrates that the government would prefer to be judged by its actions rather than by predictions at some far flung date.

In terms of challenging the private sector I believe the member's point is very very well taken. In the throne speech yesterday, the government indicated very clearly that as the Canadian people are in the process of cleaning up the national balance sheet and as a number of provinces are doing the same, there is no doubt the hon. member is right. The time has come for the Canadian corporate sector to do its share.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I am sure hon. members will agree with me that the last few months have been very eventful not only for us as members of the House of Commons but across Canada. I want to introduce today a former colleague of ours who has returned for a very short visit. I refer of course to the Hon. Brian Tobin, premier of the province of Newfoundland.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

My colleagues, before we proceed to the business of the day I have received notice of two questions of privilege. The first one is from the hon. member for Beaver River.

Privilege

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Beaver River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to point out something which happened today that violated my rights and privileges as a member of Parliament.

Joseph Maingot's Parliamentary Privilege in Canada states:

When any of these rights and immunities, which are known under the general name of privileges, are disregarded or attacked by any individual or authority, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under the law of Parliament.

Yesterday I was handed a copy of a document entitled "SFT Communications Briefing Book". There was no author. There was no copyright, no confidential wording on it at all.

As caucus chairman, I sent my staff to Printing this morning and ordered 60 copies of it for our caucus, for our research staff and for the press. I got a call later in the day saying that a Mr. Simpson in the Prime Minister's office told Printing not to reproduce or release copies to anyone except Liberal MPs.

After caucus, I immediately called Mr. Simpson in the PMO and asked the reason for this ridiculous action. He said that someone in the Prime Minister's office had told Printing not to go ahead with my request and not to release the 48 copies that had already been run off. Mr. Simpson said that he did not know who gave the edict to deny my rightful request, but someone would get back to me.

At 1.10 p.m., just before question period, I received a call from Printing saying that there was a mix-up and my job would be delivered to my office. And it was.

I had also been requested some time during the morning to provide a copy of my "With compliments of Deborah Grey" slip to be reproduced with the document. Had I wanted that on there, I certainly would have sent it on to Printing. I did not send it down and it went ahead.

When I make a request of Printing, I make the request hoping it will-

[The Speaker]

I must tell the hon. member that I was briefed on this matter before question period by my staff. The error that occurred was the fault of the House staff, therefore my staff.

This has been corrected. We regret any inconvenience. We are glad that this matter has been cleared up. I assure the hon. member that we do not take our direction from anyone else. It was an error on the part of the House staff.

As the spokesperson for the House staff, I apologize for it. I am glad that it has been cleared up. I do not believe that there is any need for a question of privilege to pursue this matter. I believe that I have been fully briefed. I believe this is the answer. I have looked into it. I wish to assure the member of that.

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege of considerable importance. As members well know, a prime facie question of privilege arises when the rights of this House are transgressed, breached or usurped. What I raise is clearly a prime facie question of privilege.

I refer the Chair to Standing Order 8:

At the commencement of every session, or from time to time as necessity may arise, the House may appoint a Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole and also an Assistant Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole-

The phrase relevant to privilege and rights of the House is "the House may appoint".

A press release dated February 26 on the letterhead of the Prime Minister's office reads: "Prime Minister appoints"-and then the name of the member for Madawaska-Victoria-"as Assistant Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole".

Standing Order 8 is clear. This appointment is the right of the House as a whole, yet the Prime Minister has claimed the appointment as a power of his office. I contend that the Prime Minister has usurped and interfered with a vote of the House on this appointment, making and declaring the appointment as a fait accompli.

Mr. Speaker, if you find this to be a prima facie question of privilege I will move the appropriate motion to have it referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for deliberation.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, first, I think you will have recognized that this is not a question of privilege. Perhaps the member could argue that it is a breach of the standing orders but it would not be that either, although it would be the relevant thing for him to have raised.

Second, this issue is presently awaiting a vote of the House. Deliberation on it by the House has concluded and the vote will take place later this day. Therefore I would argue that the Chair cannot even entertain the point in question had it been raised as a point of order which it was not. It was raised as a question of privilege.

Finally, I am sure the House knows that when the Prime Minister proposes the name of a candidate he does so on behalf of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons, those MPs being the supporters of the Prime Minister and the government. In any case, the point will become moot by the end of this day once the issue is voted on.

[The Speaker]

My colleagues, I understand that after this announcement was put out there was a clarification within 24 hours. We would hope this type of thing would not cause any inconvenience. I would rule that this is, in this case, not a question of privilege.

Points Of Order

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Beaver River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like clarification from the Chair. I am not trying to challenge the ruling here. However, I want to ask a very definite question of you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to know about censorship of individual members and I want to know about a breach of confidentiality. When I send something to Printing why in heaven's name is someone from the PMO or the Speaker's office even wondering what is in that document?

[The Speaker]

I well understand that the member raises this as a point of clarification. However, I thought I had explained the issue. I believe it was a series of compounded errors. It is the responsibility of the staff who answer to me. This type of thing will not happen again. I take full responsibility. No one is going to be able to censor what members of Parliament get or what they ask for if that is the clarification the member wants.

Board Of Internal Economy

[The Speaker]

Dear colleagues, it is my duty to inform the House that, pursuant to the provisions of the Parliament of Canada Act, Chapter 42 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, 1st Supplement, the Board of Internal Economy is now made up of the following members: Mr. Gray, Windsor West, and Mr. Gagliano, members of the Queen's Privy Council; Mr. Boudria and Mr. Hopkins, representing the government caucus; Mr. Duceppe and Mrs. Dalphond-Guiral, representing the Bloc Quebecois caucus; and Mr. Ringma, representing the Reform Party caucus.

Standing Orders Of The House Of Commons

[The Speaker]

I have the honour to lay upon the table a reprinted copy of the Standing Orders of this House dated December 1995, which encompasses all the changes made to the Standing Orders since September 1994 as well as a revised index.

Committees Of The House

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find consent for the following motion. I move:

That the membership of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs be as follows:

Bélanger, Mauril; Boudria, Don; Catterall, Marlene; Dalphond-Guiral, Madeleine; Frazer, Jack; Harb, Mac; Langlois, Francois; Laurin, René; Loney, John; Milliken, Peter; Parrish, Carolyn; Ringma, Bob; Speaker, Ray; Zed, Paul.

That the associate members of the said committee be as follows:

Bertrand, Robert; Brushett, Dianne; Cummins, John; Epp, Ken; Fewchuk, Ron; Grey, Deborah; Guimond, Michel; Hanrahan, Hugh; Harper, Stephen; Harris, Dick; Jordan, Jim; Solomon, John; Stinson, Darrel; Tremblay, Suzanne; Wayne, Elsie; White, Ted; Williams, John.

[The Speaker]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to.)