Debates of March 10th, 1999

Banking

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, acting in the best interest of Canadians this decision was made, and he was very strongly encouraged in his decision by the Prime Minister, by the cabinet and by the caucus.

The government has been applauded by most Canadians, but obviously not by the Conservative Party of Canada.

Taxation

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Secretary of State for the Status of Women has some pretty outrageous things to say about taxing families. She said that anyone who wants to end this discrimination in the tax system just wants to keep women in the kitchen. What a ridiculous thing to say. Her government's policies pit family against family.

Why does this minister use these negative, prejudiced stereotypes to slur stay at home parents?

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism)(Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, I am not jumping to any conclusions at all. The hon. member, Reform member, was quoted as saying “we should try to keep mothers in the home. That is where the whole Reform Party hangs together”.

What am I supposed to believe when I read that and when it was also said that today the word is still in essence, the quotation is still true? I must believe that when we try to pit mothers who stay at home against mothers in the workforce and when we take all these divisive statements that are being made by the Reform Party what we are trying to do is keep women barefoot and pregnant.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, let me say as a Reform woman I am not in favour of being in the kitchen necessarily, unless I have that choice. When I am at home I am not in the kitchen; I am at Swiss Chalet. So there.

This minister continues to say that men do not stay home with their kids. She continues to insult—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. member for Edmonton North.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this minister has the gall to say that she will not help single income families until double income families get more help first. This is nonsense.

Does the Prime Minister agree with these intolerant views or not?

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism)(Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, this caucus and ministers within the cabinet of this government have been working for the last two years on the issue of unpaid work.

This is not something that we just dragged up a week ago and brought to the House. It is something that we think is important. We are not pitting parents against each other. We certainly want to see that the work the mother who stays at home does is valued.

Canada-Quebec Agreement On Manpower

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President of the Treasury Board wondered whether the federal government was perhaps wrong not to require enforcement of the Official Languages Act as part of the manpower agreement.

Does the Minister of Human Resources Development agree with the remarks made by his colleague, the President of the Treasury Board, who feels it was a mistake to have signed the manpower agreement with Quebec?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, the government has always attached great importance to the protection of minority official language communities in this country.

In the agreement we signed with the Government of Quebec, English speaking citizens can, on request, obtain full access to active measures, while all the agreements we have signed across Canada have required that French speaking citizens be able to obtain service in French where numbers warrant. This is clear proof that the agreement signed with the Government of Quebec meets the objectives we had during negotiations.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, by throwing oil on the fire like this, is the President of the Treasury Board not building a case for renewal of the agreement at a future date, contrary to what the Minister of Human Resources Development has just said?

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, I reviewed carefully with the Minister of Human Resources Development the agreement signed and the accompanying letters and I must say that the explanation given by the Minister of Human Resources Development is perfectly correct, and that I was mistaken.

Taxation

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister thinks that cutting taxes for stay at home parents is too complicated.

It is not a problem in Alberta. In Alberta they value parenting. In its budget tomorrow it will announce that it will double and equalize the benefits, the basic exemptions. That will completely eliminate tax discrimination in its system against stay at home families. It will also give all families a tax break.

If Alberta can do it, why can this minister not do it?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite interesting that the hon. member stands up here and announces the Alberta budget. I am sure the Alberta treasurer would be very interested in finding his budget scooped by the hon. member.

The simple fact is that the Alberta government set up a fair taxation commission that went around the province. Precisely, the Reform Party objects to an all party House of Commons committee looking into the same thing.

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we know what the minister thinks of committees. His Liberal committee went to him and said please end tax discrimination. What did he do? He ignored the report. He threw it in the garbage.

Last night he forced his MPs to vote against ending tax discrimination. That is what he thinks of the—

[The Speaker]

I do not know where the member is going in his question about forcing votes. I ask the hon. member to go to his question.

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Alberta ended tax discrimination. It acted. Why does the minister not do exactly the same thing?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I am really delighted the hon. member raised the issue of the work that has been done by the member for Mississauga South and a number of other members on this side of the House.

It recognizes that the Liberal Party has been on this issue a lot longer and in a lot greater depth than the Reform Party ever could.

I only ask the Reform Party now to play a bit of catch-up, participate in the all Commons finance committee and take a look at this issue with the great deal of responsibility that it requires.

Mirabel Region

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, history will bear witness to the total and absolute disaster the federal Liberal government wrought at Mirabel for Quebeckers.

Given that the fiasco at Mirabel is the result of this government's errors, does the Prime Minister intend to seize the opportunity offered him by Bernard Landry to save the Mirabel region and turn it into an international free trade zone?

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear that the Quebec government is working on economic issues that are important for Quebecers.

The government passed a duty deferral program back in 1996 to ensure that tax free zones and international free trade zones could be built. My department has been working for one year with the airport in Montreal to see how a free trade zone could be set up in that area. I met on January 17 to see what we could do to streamline the process to help build an international free trade zone area.

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what they want at Mirabel is for the federal government to do its part. They want a clear answer. Quebeckers are waiting for the federal government to clean up the mess it made.

Will the federal government harmonize its taxes with those of Quebec so Mirabel may become an international free trade zone?

[Martin Cauchon, Liberal, Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, we are already working with the people at Mirabel to see what we can do about a free trade zone.

I can say, however, that while the other side was busy with the Tardif commission, we in the Government of Canada were working flat out with Aéroports de Montréal to decide the functions of the two airports.

We worked hard to make sure we could find a function for the Mirabel airport. I can say that, at the moment, we will support the functions developed by Mirabel as well as the conclusions and recommendations of the Tardif commission.

Taxation

[Eric C. Lowther, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, for six years in a row the finance committee has been asked to end this tax discrimination. It has never listened. Is it not obvious that Liberals support discrimination? No free votes. They defend it at the UN.

Will the finance minister ever stop trying to engineer the Canadian family and leave the money and the choices with the parents?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let us understand the real agenda of members of the Reform Party. It is in fact to go from individual taxation to taxing family income as a whole.

What that would mean is that low income spouses would be taxed at the rate of the higher income spouse. What it would discourage is people getting married. It would also discourage lower income spouses going into the workforce.

Is that their motive? If that is what they want to do then why do they not stand up and admit their agenda?

[Eric C. Lowther, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the agenda that is so evident to all Canadians is that the government across the way is committed to a discriminatory family tax policy.

The Alberta government has moved ahead in this regard. We have put forward proposals on it. Why does that Liberal government continue to ignore the voices of Canadian families?