Debates of Oct. 2nd, 1998

Royal Canadian Mint

[The Deputy Speaker]

If the hon. member for Elk Island speaks now, I must advise the House that he will close the debate.

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what I am going to do. I am going to thank all members of the House for their kind consideration of this very important private member's bill. I appreciate the tone in which the debate was held.

I would like to respond by saying two things.

First, in a quick response to the letter that was quoted, I do not want to do what I think we are finding others guilty of, so I would like to simply ask two questions with respect to the letter. I am talking about the statement that is repeated over and over by the minister that Westaim gave an intention to go out of business.

I would like to ask whether the government, in quoting this letter, would at some time totally and accurately describe the actual circumstances under which the letter of intent was signed. Second, is the government prepared to disclose the date on which that letter of intent expired and became null and void?

The fact of the matter is that Westaim is in the business. It was in the business at the time the mint announced its intentions to build the plant. It is a strong company. It is not a question of whether it is intending to vacate that field.

I would like to emphasize that and to indicate to the government that the continued use of that statement is really quite inappropriate.

The last statement I would like to make is that I hope as a result of this discussion we can get into a wider discussion on a basic philosophical question. That is, should the government be in the business of competing with business?

One person in my riding, not specifically on the Westaim question but on another one, asked whether the government should be in the business of competing with business thereby driving out the business. It is a fundamental principle which we recognize that where the taxpayers are behind the government, it gives the government funded operation a huge and unfair advantage. There is another case which I did not mention because I ran out of time.

Who buys coinage products? Everyone probably knows there are two main buyers. There are those who buy some types of coins and medals or coins commemorating sovereigns or whatever, and the big market is governments. When any government around the world is looking for a supply of coinage products, we have little old Westaim, and I say little old strictly and only in comparison to Government of Canada.

To many foreign governments, dealing with another government is very important. They have a huge advantage without even talking about the actual price at which they bid. It could happen that Westaim in future international bidding contracts could have the lower bid and a superior or at least equal product, but would lose the bid because other countries want to deal with the government instead of a private enterprise. Government has absolutely no business being there.

I hope that this debate today will be enlarged so that we can carry on with that larger debate. I think this is so crucial to our whole situation.

In conclusion, I thank the members of the House. Let us move forward to see if we can bring the facts to the table and get a resolution to this deeply philosophical problem.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is the House ready for the question?

[Some hon. members]

Question.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

On division.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Deputy Speaker]

That concludes Private Members' Business for today. Although it is not 2.30 yet, we will call it that. The House will accordingly stand adjourned until Monday next at 11 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 2.12 p.m.)