House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 55% of the vote.
Bank Mergers October 30th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, maybe the banks are trying to short circuit the process we put in place for coming to decisions on these very important issues for the future of Canada and its financial institutions and for the insurance industry as well.
The member may want to short circuit this process. We will not. We want to hear from Canadians and we want to hear from the committees.
Bank Mergers October 30th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to respond to the member because we have set in place a process we are going to respect. It is a process whereby House of Commons and Senate committees will report on this.
We will not be able to look at the issue of bank mergers until we have heard from the office of the superintendent of financial institutions and from the Competition Bureau. After we have had that input and if we are then satisfied that we have sufficient information, we will be in a position to take decisions.
Bank Service Charges October 27th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I would like to compliment Option Consommateurs for the good work it has done on behalf of low income Canadians with respect to banking services.
The member is quite right. We have two major concerns in this area. One is access for the 650,000 Canadians who do not have bank accounts and who cannot get out of poverty unless they have access to basic bank accounts. The other concern is the service fees that would be charged for a basic bank account. These matters have been looked at by the MacKay task force and the House of Commons is looking at them. They are very serious concerns for us. I thank the member for the question.
Income Tax October 27th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, with your permission while I am on my feet I would also like to table, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), copies of legislative proposals and explanatory notes relating to income tax.
Ways And Means October 27th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), I wish to table two notices of ways of means motions. The first amends the Excise Tax Act in respect of split runs. The second amends the Budget Implementation Act of 1997 and 1998. I am also tabling explanatory notes for each. I ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of each motion.
Health Care October 23rd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I would like to accept the hon. member's suggestions but, as I just mentioned, health care for all Canadians is a priority of this government, and we will address the situation in the next budget, as is our custom.
I should point out to the hon. member that we have already increased transfers to the provinces for health care by $1.5 billion.
Health Care October 23rd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I am very glad this question was asked. Both the finance minister and the Prime Minister have made it very clear that health care in Canada is one of the priorities that will be considered at the time of the next budget. We look forward to the support of the opposition for the measures that we bring forth.
Employment Insurance October 22nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, one of the difficult choices all of us have to make is whether we are going to have a balanced approach in a time when our economic future is not entirely certain. Thank goodness that to date we have taken the steps to get us from a $42 billion deficit down to a place where last year we posted the first surplus. This was a historic achievement.
In terms of where we go in the future, yes we have to be cautiously prudent. We must not go into deficit again. This is primordial.
Employment Insurance October 22nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, in the last budget we cut $1.4 billion from payroll taxes.
We have some choices to make in terms of a global competitive economy. When we have among the lowest payroll taxes in the G-7 and yet we have the highest personal income taxes, which is going to help Canada the most on a competitive basis? These are some of the choices we have to make.
We are committed to continuing to cut these payroll taxes. That is what we have done in the past—
Employment Insurance October 22nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, this is very much a question of choice. It is incumbent upon all of us to look at the alternatives.
Are we going to cut taxes that relate only to eight million taxpayers or are we going to have a tax cut right across the board in the income tax spectrum which would benefit fourteen million taxpayers? This is one of the choices we have to make.
We have cut employment insurance taxes. It was going to $3.30 and we froze it at $3.07. We then cut it to $3. We then cut it to $2.95—