Thank you very much.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 56% of the vote.
The Referendum November 2nd, 1995
Thank you very much.
Transfer Payments October 31st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my question was clear, yet, as usual, I did not get an answer. When questions are put to the Minister of Finance, they never get answered anyway.
When does the Minister of Finance intend to announce the extent of the cuts he is about to make in Quebec and to disclose the actual figures that he has been deliberately hiding from the people of Quebec during the referendum campaign?
Transfer Payments October 31st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
Cuts in transfer payments to the provinces announced in the last federal budget will mean a $650 million shortfall for Quebec next year. By 1997-98, the shortfall in Quebec caused by federal cutbacks will range anywhere from $1.2 to $1.9 billion, depending on the distribution method.
Now that the referendum is over, can the Minister of Finance tell us on what basis he plans to distribute the Canada social transfer among the provinces and if he still intends, as suggested in his budget speech, to use population as a criterion, which would mean that more than 40 per cent of all cuts made in Canada would be made in Quebec alone?
Canadian Dollar October 24th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has a short memory. Two weeks after he tabled his budget, the Bank of Canada rate reached a high of 8.6 per cent, which was higher than the current 7.65 per cent rate, because that budget was poorly received and because government finances were in bad shape. That is the main factor, as Moody's recognized in January.
How can the Minister of Finance give such answers when the Governor of the Bank of Canada himself declared on October 12, 1994: "It is only because of the high debt and deficit levels that political uncertainty has become another concern"?
Canadian Dollar October 24th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
The Canadian dollar and the stock market are now on a roller-coaster ride as a result of various national and international factors.
Will the Minister of Finance admit that the financial markets' first source of uncertainty and concern about Canada is the enormous size of its deficit and its growing debt, which will exceed $600 billion next year?
Stabilization Program October 18th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, does the fact there were a number of agreements before the arrival of the Parti Quebecois not mean that the principal supporters of a no vote, with Mr. Johnson as a fine representative in Quebec, accepted any old thing from the federal government? This is why there were agreements. We, however, stand firm-that is the difference.
How does the minister explain Quebec's receiving only 8 per cent to date of the funds from this federal stabilization program, when Ontario has received six times as much, that is, 44 per cent?
Stabilization Program October 18th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
After trying in vain for a reimbursement of $127 million for fiscal year 1991-92 under the stabilization program, Quebec is forced to appeal to the Federal Court in order to win its claim. Unperturbed, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs responded cynically and arrogantly that it was perfectly normal for Quebec to apply to the courts. Are we to understand that the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs considers it normal for Quebec to have to apply to the courts to obtain what Ottawa has owed it for the past four years? Is this what they call flexible federalism?
Canada-Quebec Economic Union September 27th, 1995
It is obvious, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister of Finance does not know what he is talking about.
My question to him is this: How can the Minister of Finance claim that Quebec will have to take a number to join the WTO, when he knows-and I hope he knows it-that the reason these 32 countries are waiting for admission is because they do not have a market economy; that Quebec already meets WTO requirements; that Quebec is not too small, and that we are not incompetents either since Quebec is the Americans' eighth largest trading partner? Does he at least know this, Mr. Speaker?
Canada-Quebec Economic Union September 27th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, in his speech yesterday in Montreal, the Minister of Finance asserted that a sovereign Quebec would have difficulty joining the World Trade Organization or WTO, which recently replaced GATT. The Minister of Finance stated that Quebec would have to stand in line behind the 32 countries that have applied to become members of the WTO.
Does the Minister of Finance admit that, under the WTO accession clause, Quebec's admission will be all the faster and easier because Quebec already meets membership requirements?
Quebec Referendum September 20th, 1995
Yes, they know you.