Dennis Mills

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to deal with Canada's role on the world stage. I had the privilege of working for a prime minister who, the history of the world will show, was one of the great leaders on the world stage and helped move Canada forward on that stage with the respect of nearly everyone.

The popularity of, the current Prime Minister is even greater than my former boss'. His relationship with President Clinton is extraordinary. I am optimistic that if they get together with a few other leaders-the problems are the same for all-we can get the process started.

In response to the second point on the Tobin tax I say briefly that part of a new Bretton Woods would have to look seriously at the Tobin tax.

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I realize that I cannot flash the red book around because some people would consider it a display. I want to read from it. At page 109 it states:

New multilateral regimes are needed to address many emerging global issues: the management of global fish stocks, the protection of the world's atmosphere, the maintenance of biodiversity, the control of population growth, the resettlement of refugees, and the equitable sharing of global wealth and resources. A Liberal government will foster the development of such multilateral forums and agreements, including an improved Law of the Sea, a new agreement on global warming, an improved international code of human rights, and a new agenda for development that matches the Secretary General's Agenda for Peace .

I would like to think that when the red book talks about an equitable sharing of global wealth and resources, that deals directly with my remarks today.

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

Absolutely. One thing that the Minister of Finance stated in the budget that has not received a lot of attention is the responsibility the financial institutions in the country have toward small and medium sized business. He challenged the financial institutions to become more supportive, more compassionate and caring toward the small business community. We all agree that in that community rests the best hope for putting Canadians back to work.

In a couple of weeks we will begin meeting with the banks again and challenging them. I for one will be asking them: "How is it that you can operate private casinos, most of them in

my city of Toronto, pushing unaccountable billions and billions of dollars a day but we cannot seem to figure out a way to deal with small business". The Minister of Finance has issued that challenge.

I realize my time is up but I would appeal to all members to let us start directing our attention toward a new Bretton Woods.

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

It was only about a week and a half ago when I was actually inspired by the Reform Party's budget.

I challenged the Reform members saying they did not put enough focus and attention on the human deficit. All they want to talk about in this Chamber is the federal deficit. They do not seem to communicate their concern enough, in my judgment, about the human deficit that is being inflicted not just upon our communities and our country but all countries of the world because of the monetary system that has evolved which many sovereign countries right now do not seem to have a handle on. We are one of them.

The day I spoke in the House on that issue I received a paper from Professor Morris Miller. His paper is entitled: "Where is Global Interdependence Taking Us? Why We Need a New Improved Bretton Woods". I will read directly from the paper:

By early 1994 there was a perceptible rise in the level of concern with the focus placed on the business of derivatives that are estimated to be outstanding in the amount of about $16 trillion. The size and volatility has provoked a congressional committee hearing and prompted The Economist to devote the cover and lead editorial of the May 14-20, 1994 issue to the theme ``Your financial future'' and to ask what the fuss is all about. The reason given is that

"the industry is new, global and already very big: the telephone number figures for the supposed value of outstanding derivatives, $16 billion-plus, make the eyes spin-.Lastly, there are fears that the derivatives fuel financial market uncertainty by multiplying the leverage, debt based buying power, of hedge funds and other speculators, an uncertainty that could, if things went wrong, threaten the whole of the world financial system".

I want to quote from an article which appeared in the Sunday, March 5 Toronto Star business classified. It is the cover story ``Billion-dollar boys'':

The Royal Bank is Canada's biggest player in international currency trading, turning over $20 billion U.S. or more every working day. That translates into $325 million a year in revenues and a healthy chunk of the $150 million in profit the bank earns from its treasury operations.

It is a 24-hour a day, 365-day a year floating crap game where the players never see each other, rarely talk to each other, yet can often tell by the buying patterns on their monitors which bank in which city is offering them the business.

I started off by saying that I believe the Minister of Finance has done a masterful job in calming and appeasing the bond holders. I say that because the reaction from all of these players has been extremely positive.

However, I share the view of many in this House and even members of the opposition who ask the question: What will we do 30 months from now when the interest bill on our national debt might be $50 billion to $60 billion? What will we do when we have sold off federal assets coast to coast? What will we do when we have privatized everything that is left to be privatized? What will we do when transfers to universities and hospitals have been cut back? How will we pay the bill?

I suggest to the opposition that what we should do is not unlike what world leaders did after the second world war when they organized the United Nations conference on monetary and trade reform called Bretton Woods. Professor Morris Miller talks about that in his paper. That is the challenge for all of us in this room.

The world monetary system is not working. It is broke. We are in a canoe going down the river and all of a sudden we are in the rapids. We all want to be responsible. We do not want to tip the canoe. That is why I think the Minister of Finance has done a masterful job in cooling out these croupiers, these international casino operators that move capital and control our currency. Exchange rates and interest rates are up and down with no public accountability. They are not just doing it to us, they are doing it to all sovereign states.

Who are the losers? A certain group in our community is getting a whole lot richer and another group is getting a whole lot poorer. We all know this. How are we going to challenge these casino operators? How are we going to get at them? Canada cannot do it alone. Canada must have the support, not just of the G-7 countries but of all countries, even the new countries since Bretton Woods, that got together and said: "Hey, we have a mess on our hands".

I see lots of things in the budget that are very tough for people who will lose their jobs. The Minister of Finance has stated that. What could he do? This is the best he could do with the situation that has evolved.

[The Budget, March 14th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I will be speaking for 10 minutes and will be sharing my time. Thank you very much for recognizing my opportunity to speak.

I believe that the Minister of Finance has done a masterful job of calming and appeasing the the bond holders, the people who move capital around the world, Wall Street, all the currency speculators. He has done a masterful job because it was only-

[Borrowing Authority Act, 1995-96, March 2nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, last night I had the opportunity to review the base closures on television. The Chilliwack base is being closed which I understand is part of the member's riding.

There is not a member of Parliament on this side of the House who did not feel the pain that was expressed on that show last night. That is why many of us on this side of the House for the last few months have been trying to communicate to the opposition, to the Reform Party that we should not just be talking about the federal deficit. We should be talking about the human deficit.

What bothers me is that the debate has not expanded beyond the deficit in traditional terms. We have to figure out what we are going to do in the long term. Not only our country but other countries around the world have been faced with fluctuating interest rates. Capital is being pushed around by people who are shorting their own currencies and playing with derivatives and everything else. We as one nation in the G-7 are almost victims of this international game which is being played.

I wish that with the Reform Party members we could expand this debate. Let us not just think about the budget and the tough decisions we have had to make on this side. Make no mistake, we feel the cuts on this side as much as they do. I would venture to say many of us feel them even more. As Liberals it goes against the very grain and soul that brought us to this place, whereas the Reformers seem to be much more conditioned to deep cuts regardless of the human side of it.

Would the member be willing when we return after question period, along with his other colleagues, to maybe enter into a debate on a new and improved Bretton Woods agreement? We should start looking at what we can do to change interest rates, not just for Canada but for all the world. At the rate we are going it is not just Canada that is in trouble. It is the whole world.

[Borrowing Authority Act, 1995-96, March 2nd, 1995]

Where are the cuts coming from?

[The Budget, March 1st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for South Shore for his question and also his keen interest in a sector of our economy that has been sadly neglected over the last 10 to 15 years.

The tourism industry is a sector of our economy which, after automotive, employs more Canadians than any other sector. This government has made a serious commitment to not only maintaining but virtually quadrupling the tourism budget.

We did not just quadruple the budget, we also gave guidelines and said to the Canadian tourism commission that we wanted this money to be levered, joint ventured. In other words, it is not Industry Canada and the tourism team going out and doing work on their own. It is this commission which is made up of private sector experts from the tourism industry from all over Canada. The Minister of Industry appointed these people on February 1.

I have to say to the member for South Shore that this is a new commission and no doubt there will be some glitches until we get it operating perfectly. If the member, in his community of South Shore, is having difficulty in partnering or accessing his tourism operators with the commission, I would invite him to come to the House of Commons industry committee. About two weeks from now the executive of the Canadian Tourism Commission will appear before the committee. We will deal with the overall plan and objectives but, more important, we will deal with the specific concerns and the specific challenges the member for South Shore raised this evening.

I do not want to suggest that at the moment the commission has all of the answers. It is a new commission. It is a new experiment where we are partnering with the private sector.

However I invite the member to the committee. His specific concerns will be addressed. There is great hope for this sector putting Canadians back to work, which is the number one responsibility of the government.

[The Budget, March 1st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, have we gone through 10 minutes with one question and answer? Did I misunderstand you?

[The Budget, February 28th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the greatest hope we have for putting Canadians back to work rests with small and medium size businessmen and women in the one million enterprises that employ close to 70 per cent of the nation.

In the budget the Minister of Finance did three very specific things for small business. First, the small business corporate tax rate was not touched. Second, the $500,000 capital exemption was not touched. Third and most important, the Minister of Finance announced last night that the chartered banks of the country would be brought to task for their relationship with small and medium size business.

Today the chairman of the Standing Committee on Industry announced that within the next two and a half weeks the presidents of all the financial institutions in this country will come to the committee to report on what they are doing for small business.

That is how we will create jobs.