Jim Peterson

[Taxation, March 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, when we looked at this issue earlier it became obvious to us that there was a heavy load of provincial taxes and federal taxes, and that if there were to be any meaningful relief it would have to be carried out by both levels of government. That is why we made the offer to the premiers to do so, and they turned it down.

[Sales Tax And Excise Tax Amendment Act, 2001, February 23rd, 2001]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-13, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Points Of Order, February 23rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Windsor—St. Clair asked me a question relating to U.S. social security benefits. Just so that I do not mislead him I will undertake to get back to him.

[Social Security, February 23rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I assure members this is an issue we have under consideration and we are pressing for changes.

[Ways And Means, February 20th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), I wish to table a notice of ways and means motion involving amendments to the Excise Tax Act, including explanatory notes. I ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of the motion.

These amendments to the Excise Tax Act deal with encouraging rental housing, with giving a competitive edge to our Canadian manufacturers who import and export, and with multi-employer pension funds. This is very worthwhile legislation that has come forth from members of the House acting on behalf of their constituents. We expect speedy passage of the legislation.

[Heating Fuel Rebate, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, our commitment remains the same: to help those who need it most. This is why cheques have gone out to 11 million Canadians, those of low and middle income. They were the ones who needed the help the most, and this is the way we have delivered it.

[Heating Fuel Rebate, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the problem that the gentleman speaks of is one that we anticipated when we saw fuel prices going up last year. We knew we had to act but according to two principles. First, it had to be delivered quickly for the relief to come. Next summer would just not do.

Second, the relief should not go to all Canadians, just to those who needed it most. That is why we used the only mechanism available to us, the GST tax credit rebate. That is why the cheques went out on January 29 to 11 million Canadians.

[Transfer Payments, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I assure the hon. member that Quebec has the same kind of fiscal resources as the federal government. As the minister just said, with the transfers, the provinces' revenues are now greater than those of the federal government.

What we did on September 11 was to increase health transfers. I must say that equalization payments received by Quebec remain the highest in Canada.

[The Economy, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is very simple. We are monitoring this very closely.

Let me just say what the Deputy Prime Minister just said. We got the jump on the Americans with the tax cuts in our October budget. We brought in $100 billion of tax cuts over five years, a stimulus from the federal sector alone this year of $17.3 billion. When we combine that with provincial tax cuts, it amounts to about 2.3% of gross domestic product.

That is the stimulus we have put in—

[The Economy, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we are monitoring this issue very closely and we remain on target to meet our budget projections of last October.

I can assure the hon. member that we are looking at this very closely and we are being very vigilant. Should the necessity for changes occur we will certainly come before the House.