Yvan Loubier

[Bill C-28, February 10th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, besides public officials, the only person the government has given us access to is its ethics counsellor.

But, with all due respect, an ethics counsellor is neither an expert in international income tax planning nor a shipper.

In this context, is the Prime Minister in fact asking us to close our eyes and to blindly trust him?

[Bill C-28, February 10th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, since the start of the debate regarding Bill C-28 and a possible conflict of interest involving the Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister has been maintaining that the Bloc Quebecois is mistaken.

At the same time, the government systematically refuses to let us call upon people who could shed some light on this issue.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister realize that, far from dispelling any suspicions surrounding his minister, he is actually making him look worse by taking an attitude so lacking in transparency?

[Bill C-28, February 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, any malice there may be comes from having buried a page and a half of amendments to legislation governing international shipping in a bill 464 pages long. This is a malicious act on the part of the Minister of Finance.

I have a supplementary. Would the minister not agree that, to date, he has been unable to prove once and for all that there is no conflict or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest between the legislation he introduced in this House and his own interests as a shipowner?

[Bill C-28, February 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the government ethics commissioner last week said, with respect to Bill C-28: “Canada Steamship Lines has indicated clearly to me that it has no intention of utilizing this provision”.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Does the minister realize that this statement by the ethics commissioner clearly confirms that Canada Steamship Lines, fully owned by the Minister of Finance, could benefit from Bill C-28 if it so wished?

[Bill C-28, February 6th, 1998]

He is sponsoring the bill.

[Bill C-28, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister has just told us that the Minister of Finance is not involved in shipping issues.

Yet the Minister of Finance is sponsoring a bill that concerns this sector and making frequent comments outside the House, in front of the cameras.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Why does he refuse to respond to our specific questions in this House, as is his duty as shipowner and legislator?

[Bill C-28, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, if the minister has been refusing since Monday to answer our questions on a bill he is sponsoring, is it because the scandal is so huge that he is afraid, or ashamed, to explain to us that Bill C-28 will make into law taxation practices which will save shipping companies millions of dollars, and from which he himself could benefit?

[Bill C-28, February 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance stated that his shipping companies, being Canadian, could not take advantage of the tax savings offered under Bill C-28.

On the other hand, the Vice-President of Canada Steamship Lines stated that his companies could not take advantage of the tax changes because they are foreign-operated, and the ethics adviser stated that he had been assured that Canada Steamship Lines does not intend to take advantage of the terms of the act, thus implying that it was entitled to do so.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. If it is as clear as can be, as the minister said it was yesterday, how can he explain these three different and contradictory interpretations?

[Bill C-28, February 5th, 1998]

No, it is not on our shoulders.

[Bill C-28, February 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, at the suggestion of the finance minister himself, I met, about an hour and a half ago, Len Farber, who is responsible for tax issues at the Department of Finance.

Mr. Farber could neither deny nor confirm that the new provisions might benefit the finance minister and his businesses.

So, I ask the Minister of Finance: Can he tell us why the provisions of Bill C-28 dealing with international shipping could apply to all Canadian companies that have subsidiaries abroad, but not to his own companies operating in Canada, Bermuda, Barbados and Liberia?