Randy White

[Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, November 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is spending your money just like the Conservatives did. For example, let us take the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency grant for $22,300 to study blueberry jelly.

In a simple inexpensive effort to look at this grant I contacted an expert inventor in the field of jelly making, my mom. At no cost to the taxpayer my mom says: "Wash those blueberries thoroughly, son. Add water and cook slowly until tender. Drain through a cheesecloth. Boil rapidly for five minutes. Measure juice and add an equal amount of sugar. Boil rapidly until mixture gels".

Somehow allowing the Liberals to spend $22,300 on nonsense like this has to stop. Where is the idea going to gel in the mind of the government that throwing away money like this is a recipe for disaster?

Our debt is growing faster than blueberries on a bush at $538,307,766,417.60.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

Yes, I think it has more than eight characters in it, Mr. Speaker.

The comment was that Gordon Slade is selective in the grants that come out of ACOA. I would suggest that is very likely the truth of the matter. That is the problem.

It does not take a brain surgeon to go through any list to see that the selection of the grants in ACOA are made on an inequitable basis. There are all kinds of similar industries in Atlantic Canada. And not just in Atlantic Canada, but in Ontario, in western Canada. They do not get money although taxpayers right across the country pays into it.

Where does the government get the right to select the taxpayers' money and pay it to whomever it wants on its basis? It is selective all right. It is a selective procedure but it is unfair to all those who do not get it. The answer is to get out of regional development grants, get out of ACOA.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

I just love it when they sanctimoniously get up on the other side, Mr. Speaker. They do not like to hear the truth.

The comment was that Gordon Slade is selective-

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

The suggestion is to check the party to which they donated. I am sure there are a lot of political hacks because we know this party likes their patronage so that would be obvious.

Let's skip Newfoundland then and go to P.E.I. In P.E.I. Broadview Properties Incorporated got to modernize their motel by upgrading furniture and equipment, et cetera, for $74,000.

Members opposite do not like what they hear. They do not like the fact that we are talking about taking care of business. The way the government takes care of business and creates equality in business is to give tax free money to some and not to others. The government's problem is that it has no idea how to be competitive. Competition to this government means giving to some and not to others. It is who you know.

In Nova Scotia 559 contracts were issued since November 4, 1993 for $27,721,000 to some and not to others. In New Brunswick, 617 contracts for $35 million were issued.

How is equity created between competing small businesses by giving to some and not to others? Your book may say a lot. It does say a lot. There are positive things in the book but you do not have what it takes to be capitalists.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

The question was: why am I picking on Newfoundland. I am not. I am going to go through all of the provinces of Atlantic Canada. I am going to go through all of them.

Why would we upgrade hotel rooms and housekeeping units for one person and not all the others?

Let's talk about some bigger bucks, about Maynard Limited in Newfoundland. They received $363,000 to expand existing facilities by adding a dining room. Is that the right thing to do? Is it fair to all the other organizations in the province, in the country for that matter, who want to expand their dining rooms? What kind of mentality is this? How much money did we give to Newfoundlanders? There were 344 contracts in Newfoundland. We gave $19,906,166 taxpayer dollars to some and not to others. Justify to me the logic in that.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

Again, one of the Liberal members asks: "What is wrong?" What is wrong is this. In my community one of these home brew small businesses just started up as a matter of fact. The fellow saved his money, he was telling me, for something like 10 years in another business. He sold that one off. Now he is trying to establish another one. He did not get Lotto 649-type grants from the government. He did not get money from the taxpayer. He saved his money and he borrowed some more money. What is wrong with that?

Let's go to some more. Gerald's Machine Shop Limited, to purchase a computerized milling machine received $70,552. What about the other machine shops? What will be done for the other machine shops? How does small business get competitive in this world when one machine shop gets a grant, not repayable, and not the other? How does small business survive doing that? How does it stay competitive? The government has to get out of the business of handing those cash cows out to some and not others.

Let's talk about some other folks who want to establish a restaurant and bakery that got $48,000. Another person in Newfoundland got $63,560 to upgrade hotel rooms and housekeeping units

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

Let's talk about Ducky's Homebrew in Newfoundland that got $15,816 tax free, I might add with no pay back, risk free, to establish a facility to produce home brew beer kits.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at a couple more. I invite the Liberal members here and all the people watching and listening to see if they would spend their tax money this way.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

The question I am asked by one of the Liberal members is: did I ask him. I really do not have to ask him. He is not going to complain. This individual is not going to complain. He got $5,000 tax free from this generous Liberal government.

What about the people in similar industries down the street who did not get any of that money? They went to the bank and borrowed money, or saved money to produce a similar exercise. Is it the idea of this Liberal government to perhaps try to cover everybody in Atlantic Canada that is in business and try to get everybody at the trough all the way along the line.

[Standing Committee On Industry, November 14th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to talk about taking care of small business.

One of the things I want to concentrate on here in my 10 minutes in speaking about what I think small business needs in this country is government involvement in small business. I am going to select for my example ACOA, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, which the government is up to its arm pits in donations, grants and subsidies on.

We all know there has been a shift in political ideals in recent years. The government now talks about a fiscally responsible way of operating business, how to cut dollars and how to operate efficiently which is a good change for this government. However, I think when you look at where this government has come from from a sociological point of view, you only have to look at what Michael Thomas once said, just because you have been bad at socialism doesn't mean you will be good at capitalism. That fits well in my mind with this particular government because I do not think this government has a real good idea of what capitalism really is. I am going to demonstrate that by talking about ACOA.

The Business Council of British Columbia has recently issued a report on cutting the deficit. The business council gave all kinds of suggestions on how the government might be able to do that. One of the suggestions it made was to phase out all three regional development agencies.

I know there was some talk here earlier about regional economic development programs but it is relative today to talk about that in the line with small business. The relevance is we have our hands into small business in two ways. We tax them to death and we create a terrible inequity between small business. Why do we do that? On the one hand we give some grants and subsidies. Note that it is non-taxable, just a gift. It is like winning the Lotto 6/49. The competitor down the street has to borrow money to try to get some kind of capital back into his business or if they want expansion they have to borrow money. ACOA comes along in many cases in Atlantic Canada and just issues a cheque.

I have done a lot of talking to some of the recipients of ACOA grants in Atlantic Canada. We have also had some discussions with ACOA. I want to give members an idea of some of the grants that come out of this operation, not to mention the fact that the management of ACOA is well known for its spending habits. I really do not have to get into that because that is known all across Canada.

Let us just take a look at some of the grants that are given to small business in Atlantic Canada. For instance, Cynthia Billard in Newfoundland received $37,105 to construct two housekeeping units. That is a gift from the taxpayers of this country. I somehow think that if somebody came knocking at my door in Fraser Valley West, British Columbia and asked if I would like to give Cynthia Billard some money toward building two housekeeping units out of my taxes, my answer would be no. You do what the other people do when they want to expand on their housekeeping units. They borrow money or they save their money through profits from using their other units and they allow the expansion that way. We do not give money to some and not to others. It creates a terrible imbalance in small business.

I will run through a lot more of these grants. This government is quite well known for giving grants around the country.

Let's take Mr. Stedman Brophy. He advertised in hunting magazines and attended trade shows. He was given $5,000. Congratulations. They have given $5,000 of taxpayers' money away. How did that benefit the other people in the same line of business? It does not.