Debates of Dec. 4th, 1998

Taxation

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

The hon. Deputy Prime Minister.

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should have stood up and praised the government for the fact that our policies have brought about the lowest unemployment rate in almost 10 years.

He is missing the fact that this means money in the pockets of millions of Canadians who are working rather than being unemployed if conditions had remained the same as they were before we took office.

The hon. member talks about tax hikes. He is wrong. He should remember the tax cuts in the budget of February 1998. Millions of dollars of tax cuts—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

The hon. member for Prince George—Bulkley Valley.

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, if they want to talk about tax cuts, they should talk to Ralph Klein and Mike Harris. Over 60% of all the jobs created in Canada over the last two years were created by Klein and Harris.

If the government does not get the message that tax hikes kill jobs, why does it not simply follow the lead of Mike Harris and Ralph Klein and what they did in those provinces?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know about creating jobs. One and a half million jobs have been created in Canada since this government took office.

If jobs increased in Alberta, certainly the praise for that has to come to the federal government as much as any other level of government. Furthermore, contrary to what the Reform Party says, those provinces are still integral parts of the government and the country of Canada. We deserve praise as much as—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

The hon. member for Prince George—Bulkley Valley.

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the figures do not lie. Let us do it slowly. Tax cuts in Alberta, increase in employment. Tax cuts in Ontario, increase in jobs. Those are the facts. The C.D. Howe Institute says the CPP increase of 73% will cost $13 billion in GDP and 200,000 jobs by 2003.

How on earth can the government's high tax policies contribute to the Canadian economy? How can they create jobs? They can only lose jobs for Canadian workers.

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is my impression that the adjustments in Canada pension plan premiums were agreed to by the very premiers, Klein and Harris, he is citing. Is that not correct?

If that is the case, he should go back to Klein and Harris if he disagrees with them but I know that would hurt his strange efforts to unite the right. It is a strange way to do, attacking Klein and Harris for a program they agreed to.

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, for this government to say it has increased employment is like me saying I lost 25 pounds at Christmas and not telling anybody that I gained 30. This is ridiculous.

The fact is that after January 1 every employer and every employee will be sending more money to Ottawa. Money sent to Ottawa means money not at home to create jobs.

Why will the government not admit this and start dealing honestly with people?

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member wants honesty he should talk honestly about his weight. He is certainly not a heavyweight when it comes to asking his question.

[Ken Epp, Reform, Elk Island, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this is supposed to be the highest court in the land. In any other court if the minister answered a question like that he would be in contempt of court. I want an answer to this question, not flippant responses. I want to know when the government will start reducing the total payroll tax load on employers and employees so we can get people working again.

[Herb Gray, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there was just an announcement of a substantial decrease in employment insurance premiums. That is a tax cut by their standards. In the last budget we announced cuts for lower and middle income Canadians worth billions of dollars. That is a fact. It is also a fact that the Reform Party voted against these tax cuts. So much for sincerity.

Professional Sports

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

Mr. Speaker, as we know, the report on sports was released yesterday. It contains many recommendations for the provision of financial assistance to professional sports. According to our calculations, if the government acted on all these recommendations, sports tycoons would be reaping more than $600 million in hidden subsidies over the next two years.

Will the minister who, yesterday, considered this report to be an excellent report admit today that the measures in support of professional sports proposed by the committee really do not make any sense?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, as usual the hon. member does not know what she is talking about. She should have known, having sat on this committee, that 68 of the 69 recommendations pertained to amateur sport. Now, with the help of all parties who take an interest in amateur sport, we will be addressing these recommendations.

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

Mr. Speaker, for once the minister should be more on the ball. If she had read the recommendations, she would have realized that all 69 recommendations, not 68, deal with amateur sport. Once again, her incompetence is showing.

The message this report is sending to sports tycoons is “Wait, do not leave just now; the Canadian taxpayers are prepared to stuff your pockets before you move to the United States”, is it not?

That is the real message.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, we have students from the Terre-des-Jeunes school of Bonaventure with us today. If we take them as an example, a 10% increase in the level of physical activity of Canadians—

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

Answer the question.

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Hamilton East, ON]

—would translate into a $5 billion saving in the health system.

So, why does the hon. member not want to invest in Canada's youth? What does she have against the 200,000 Canadian soccer players? Why does she not want—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are already helping professional sports teams. Corporate boxes and tickets are 50% deductible. Sports facilities can be written off, and so forth. Sports millionaires receive special treatment and then turn around and squeeze hundreds of millions more out of the public, and people are already fed up.

Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage really think that increasing the tax write-off to 100% for corporate boxes, lowering the taxes sports millionaires pay to American levels, and writing off professional sports facilities in one year, which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenues, will fly with Canadian taxpayers?

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, there were 69 recommendations in the report. Sixty-eight of those recommendations spoke to the importance of amateur sport and fitness for young Canadians. All Canadians know how important health is, particularly for young people. I would like to underscore the findings of the committee that if all Canadians were active, annual savings to health care for heart disease alone would be $776 million.

I want to invest in young Canadians. I want to invest in amateur sport and I want to keep Canadians happy, healthy—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

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

Mr. Speaker, that really takes the cake. We are talking about sports millionaires, not amateur sport. Once again, she is lying.

For three years now, the government has been telling us it has nothing to offer unemployed workers, nothing to offer those who are ill, nothing to offer hepatitis C victims, nothing in the way of pay equity, nothing for the poor and the middle class. It has nothing for—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

Order. It has been confirmed that the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot accused the minister of heritage of lying. I would ask the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot to withdraw that statement forthwith.