Lost his last election, in 2004, with 41% of the vote.
Members Of Parliament Retiringallowances Act June 22nd, 1995
Madam Speaker, I listened attentively to the member's remarks. I point out a couple of items that I believe the member did not include in his speech.
I think all members would agree that serving in the House of Commons is a real privilege and a real honour. If we could afford to be here and work for nothing, I am sure 99 per cent of us would do that. The fact of the matter remains that most of us
need an income to sustain two homes. Most Canadians do not realize that what we make as MPs-
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
An hon. member opposite asked if the bill will work. I do not know the answer to that question. Are we to stay with the status quo?
This work was the result of members of the Reform Party, members of the Bloc and our members listening to dozens of small business men and women. We listened to bankers. This was not the government's idea. This was not an idea conjured up in the Langevin Block. This was a bill designed by all parties for the small business men and women of Canada.
With the deepest respect to my friend whom I have enjoyed working with from the Bloc Quebecois, please reflect between now and the vote tonight. I ask him to reconsider his position and get behind the government bill in the interests of putting the unemployed people of Quebec back to work. That kind of spirit will have a ripple effect throughout Canada.
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Madam Speaker, this is the last grouping. The government will not be supporting these Bloc amendments.
I listened carefully to the member for Trois-Rivières. I was surprised he would suggest that the business development bank would be perceived as an anti-Quebec initiative.
The member referred to the Langevin Block. He indicated that the bill was some scheme for the pre-referendum exercise. Being a former assistant to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and having worked in the Langevin Block, I say that he is giving them too much credit. The bill was really the work of all members of the industry committee.
The member for Trois-Rivières does not believe in Government of Canada presence in the province of Quebec. That is fair ball; he is entitled to that opinion. That is the hon. member's ideology. However, the member knows that all the other members on the committee are not anti-Quebec. The member cannot stand in the House and say I am anti-Quebec.
I cannot imagine that a Quebecer listening tonight to the critic for the Reform Party or to the hon. member for Simcoe Centre would say this debate was anti-Quebec.
This debate is about assisting and supporting small business men and women who represent the greatest hope for putting Canadians back to work. That is what this bill is about.
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Madam Speaker, I would just like to take some of my personal notes off it before we append it to Hansard .
I would like to deal with the remarks I put on this note to the member for Trois-Rivières. We can see what the concerns are of the Bloc Quebecois. Make no mistake about the fact that the Bloc Quebecois does not in any way, shape, or form support the Government of Canada presence in the province of Quebec. They object to this instrument. As the Bloc Canadien on this side of the House, we believe this instrument is there to help small business.
The Bloc Quebecois does not want this instrument in the province because it is going to show Quebecers, small business men and women, that the people and the Government of Canada play a vital role, a central role, an integral role in their development as a part of Canada.
Make no mistake about it, we intend to use this bank to make sure that the Government of Canada presence is alive and well in the province of Quebec.
I cannot speak for the cabinet here, but as a committee and for those of us who believe in Canada, we would be encouraging the new Business Development Bank of Canada to have many locations in the province of Quebec, just as many as we hope to have in all the other provinces across Canada.
Quite frankly, I would find it very hard to imagine that the small business men and women in the province of Quebec would reject that kind of financial support, and not just financial support but counselling assistance. We must make sure that we understand that this Federal Business Development Bank of Canada now has another unique feature attached to it. It supplies counselling assistance for small enterprise and for entrepreneurs, both men and women. What better way to show the new and emerging entrepreneurs in the province of Quebec that the counselling assistance provided by the Government of Canada is alive and well?
This Business Development Bank of Canada I believe will play an integral role in helping to galvanize this spirit of Canada from coast to coast, including the province of Quebec. I would encourage members to support the government's amendments on this section of motions.
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Madam Speaker, I will deal with the motions and then with some of the comments members of the opposition parties have put forward.
We will be supporting Motion No. 20 put forward by the member from Trois-Rivières. We will also be supporting Motions Nos. 24 and 25. Motion No. 24 is ours and Motion No. 25 is put forward by the Reform Party. All other motions in this section we will be opposing.
I will deal with some of the concerns the member for Trois-Rivières put forward and some of the concerns expressed by our colleague from Simcoe Centre. Before I do, I will deal with some of the comments made by the hon. member for Kamloops.
The member said earlier the government has missed a tremendous opportunity to move this bank forward with a very specific mandate to help small business.
We will not miss that opportunity. Even though in the committee we felt strongly about the name that was on the bill-it was changed today-there is one thing we will make sure the Business Development Bank of Canada does: we will make sure that its marketing thrust will be centred around the small business sector.
Make absolutely no mistake that as sure as I am standing here, if there is one issue this Prime Minister continues to be committed to with all the energy and passion he has-and I say that straight out-it is the small business sector.
Through you, Madam Speaker, to the opposition members and especially to the member for Kamloops, who, like myself, has campaigned vigorously in this House in opposition and in government, we have not let go and we will not let go. And we will not let the executive of this government forget that we were given the trust 20 months ago due in large part to the Prime Minister's commitment and the Minister of Finance's commitment even before the red book that we were going to be the government that championed small business and we were going to be the government that took on the financial institutions of this country, the chartered banks.
There is not a member on this side of the House who will stand up and defend the chartered banks of Canada and say that they are doing a great job for small business. If anyone can find a member on the government side of the House who will stand up and say that the banks of Canada are doing a great job for small business, name them. I certainly could not find one. We talk about this among ourselves and in our ridings. We are committed to that sector.
Getting back to this bill, this Business Development Bank will be committed to small business. I want to read into the record a note from the newly appointed chairman of the board of this bank, which I just received. He has been listening to this debate. I was summoned to the phone by him and I received a letter. We are going to make him accountable for this letter by reading it into Hansard . It is from Patrick J. Lavelle, the chairman of the board of the Business Development Bank of Canada:
In passing this legislation, the House is giving the bank expanded powers and greater responsibilities. The implementation of which will test the mettle of the banks directors and its management.
This House isn't giving the bank a blank check. The mandate calls for the bank to increase its activities in the new economy of Canada, in telecommunications, biotechnology and other technologies of the future. We must not abandon the declining sectors but we must see change and progress in the new ones.
The determination of the banks portfolio should reflect the country in that all regions: the Atlantic, Ontario, as well as Quebec and the West see increases in the availability of capital; after all that is what the bank is supposed to do.
The new bank with its new name should be visible and accountable. And we are going to bring the banks management before the committee to gauge what actions they are taking to fulfil their new mandate as quickly as possible.
Make no mistake the expectations for the bank are high and it will take extra efforts on the part of the management and its directors to achieve the promised results.
I want to deal specifically with the concerns the Bloc Quebecois has. They talk-
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Madam Speaker, on a point of clarification. Do I understand correctly that the government has only one opportunity to respond to the opposition's motions?. The member for Trois-Rivières spoke on basically half of the motions in group 2?
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Oh, oh.
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If I understood the Chair correctly, you said we would resume debate on the second set of motions. That suits the government quite well, but is it the second set or are we going back to Group No. 1?
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
You cannot win them all.
Business Development Bank Of Canada Act June 21st, 1995
Madam Speaker, I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to this motion put to the House by the government wherein we name the Federal Business Development Bank the Business Development Bank of Canada.
I think it is only fair to give a little background on this issue, because it was quite a contentious issue in the industry committee. It is important for Canadians to realize that the industry committee over the last year has been seized with one issue primarily. That one issue has been access to capital for small business.
Most members of the committee would agree that we did not let a day go by when we did not explore and examine opportunities and ways in which we could put the small business community on the front burner in the House of Commons. Having worked in this city for many years, I must say that I have found the industry committee to be a united force on this issue.
There were times when we felt we were not the industry committee but really the small business committee. I think it would be fair to suggest that we all wanted to put the small business stamp on every issue we touched. Lo and behold, when the reform of the Federal Business Development Bank came along we decided as a committee to rename it the Small Business Bank of Canada. We became emotionally attached to the issue of small business, to the point where we would probably have wanted to name this institution the Small Business Institution. But reason prevailed and a number of people took the committee's recommendation and did a more thorough analysis of exactly how Canadians felt about that name in all regions of the country. A number of important facts came back to us.
By naming the Federal Business Development Bank the Small Business Bank of Canada we would be creating an expectation for that institution which in fairness it could not fulfil. We would have been suggesting that the bank had powers way beyond the powers this bill is giving it. Most Canadians probably do not even realize that the Federal Business Development Bank is not a deposit taking institution. Right off the bat that is an important thing for Canadians to realize.
Another thing we have discovered is that even though the bank is committed to the traditional sectors of our economy, we also want to give it a new type of energy and a new focus on the innovative economies, the knowledge based industries, et cetera. The small business categorization seemed to limit that group. These are new and emerging businesses but it does not take long before they become large businesses. To restrict the bank to the small business name would, in the long run, have created an adverse image and adverse impact on the bank. All committee members did not in any way, shape or form want to do anything other than make sure that this re-tooled, renewed bank with expanded powers got off on the right foot.
I realize that emotionally many of us, including myself, were attached to the name Small Business Bank of Canada. In light of the fact that all of this other information has been brought to our attention, I would ask members to support the government amendment with respect to the new name, the Business Development Bank of Canada, which better reflects the mandate of the bank.