House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 45% of the vote.
Quebec Sovereignty March 16th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, it is surprising, to say the least, that the Prime Minister, who claims not to be interested in constitutional issues, allocated an additional $7 million or so to his own office so it could set up an operational unit to talk about the constitution during the Quebec referendum.
Quebec Sovereignty March 16th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, yesterday at a forum in Toronto hosted by the C.D. Howe Institute and attended by the chairman of Quebec's No committee, Michel Bélanger, one of the Prime Minister's constitutional advisors, Stéphane Dion, said that the worse the economic situation gets, the more Quebecers will change their minds and reject sovereignty.
My question is for the Prime Minister. How can the Prime Minister let one of his constitutional advisors, namely Stéphane Dion, say that the more it hurts, the less support there will be for sovereignty?
Business Of The House March 2nd, 1995
Mr. Speaker, this is a difficult question to ask but I will ask my colleague, the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, to tell us about the business planned not only for the coming days but also for the week following the recess.
The Budget March 2nd, 1995
Will the Prime Minister admit at least that the reduction in transfer payments is not decentralization, since, as the Minister of Finance said yesterday, the federal government is refusing to transfer the corresponding tax points, because it does not want to give up any of its leverage in post-secondary education, health care and welfare? Will he acknowledge this?
The Budget March 2nd, 1995
I prefer to believe the Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker.
The Budget March 2nd, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the more we ask, the more we learn. Yesterday the Minister of Finance admitted that the cuts to the provinces represented 4 per cent. Today it is 14 per cent. Tomorrow, maybe-
The Budget March 2nd, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the government wanted to make the $7 billion reduction in transfer payments to the provinces for post-secondary education, health and welfare look like a decentralization measure to demonstrate the flexibility of federalism. In a case of real decentralization a transfer of additional responsibilities is accompanied by the means to assume them, that is, tax points.
How can the Prime Minister have the gall to ask the provinces, as the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs did yesterday, to clean up their finances? He dumps an additional $7 billion charge on them and asks them to do for him the clean up job that he is incapable of doing in federal spending.
The Budget March 1st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question is as follows. In his budget, the Minister of Finance announced that he will change the bases, the criteria for allocating money under the Canada assistance plan. He said himself that the transfer will be on the same basis as for the other programs, that population will be the criterion for allocation.
If the Minister of Finance is using population as the Canada assistance plan allocation criterion in order to transfer to Quebec the money involved as a lump sum, will he acknowledge that this approach will take hundreds of millions of dollars away from Quebec in favour of a province like Ontario? If he will not acknowledge this, will he tell us what basis he is using?
The Budget March 1st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, in the budget speech, the Minister of Finance proposed that transfers under the Canada assistance plan for social assistance now be allocated among provinces in the same way as established program financing transfers for health and post-secondary education-by combining, in 1997, all transfers into a single one: the Canadian social transfer.
Will the Minister of Finance acknowledge that his government's intention to pay the amounts involved in the Canada assistance plan according to the criteria for the established programs will deprive Quebec, in 1997, of several hundreds of millions of dollars in social assistance, in favour of Ontario?
The Budget March 1st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, is the Minister of Transport having problems? I think this is my question and not his. If the Minister of Transport misses being in the opposition, he will be back here soon enough. In the budget speech, the Minister of Finance proposed that the funds paid into the Canada Assistance-