House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 55% of the vote.
Acoa May 9th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, on the write-off question, which the hon. member says is 34%, the actual write-offs contained in the public accounts show that since 1995 the write-off of loans by the Government of Canada is 0.4%. Since 1987 the write-off has been 4.2%.
If the opposition party does not start doing its homework it will be written off in the next election.
Acoa May 9th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate to the hon. member that when the Liberals took over the first thing we did, on the suggestion of the auditor general, was to change all grants and all forgivable loans to simply loans.
For the last five years we have been giving only loans which have to be paid back. That has been the case for every business, every commercial enterprise. The grants were given under the Tories.
Acoa May 9th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, here they go again. They want to cut out all regional development agencies in rural Canada. They are opposed to any assistance at all to our fishermen. They are opposed to assistance to our farmers in western Canada, not one penny.
This Liberal Party will fight this anti-rural Canada attitude on the part of the Canadian Alliance Party.
Acoa May 9th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member listed off a group of large businesses that received grants under ACOA. This is absolutely correct but it was under the Tory administration when all those grants were given to all the companies listed. I wonder if the Leader of the Reform-Alliance today still wants to unite with the Tory Party when it has a record like that.
Acoa May 9th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the federation's report today looks somewhat similar to the Reform-Alliance agenda. It wants to cut all regional funding agencies. It agrees with the flat tax. It says that medicare is too expensive. It says that EI should be done away with. In fact, if we asked the federation or the Reform-Alliance to pass judgment on ACOA it would be like asking Count Dracula to manage the blood bank.
Atlantic Canada May 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, regarding the so-called blip that the official opposition refers to and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation I think refers to which goes up in 1996 and 1997, the figures for ACOA core funding actually went down. The blip was caused by the TAGS program from the previous year.
The alliance party should align itself with some chartered accountants.
Atlantic Canada May 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, when the Liberals took over we changed the grants to loans. That was the first thing we did. Why? Because the auditor general had pointed out that was exactly what we should do. The second thing we did was we put a limit on those loans. The limit today is $500,000. That is why ACOA has a better record in Atlantic Canada in its program than the chartered banks.
Atlantic Canada May 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, in fact, that was an exact quote from what I did say when I was in the opposition and the Tories ran the ship. When the Liberals took over, the program was completely revised.
There is a byelection going on in Newfoundland. That is why there are these questions today. Imagine running being opposed to ACOA, being opposed to direct transfers, being opposed to everything and wanting to cut money from senior citizens grants. What planks in a platform; in Newfoundland they are just plain rotten.
Atlantic Canada May 8th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, again the official opposition does not understand exactly what ACOA does. Since the Liberals took over in 1993, ACOA only gives out loans and not grants in its core funding. It is not the same.
This is what the official opposition said last time I mentioned this. It said that a grant is like a loan. It is not. If it were then we would have no national debt. We could just say all those loans were grants. Maybe that is why they call themselves the alliance party, the al-li-ance party.
Acoa May 2nd, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the reason I am asking the official opposition to examine the facts is because for years there have been no grants, as the hon. member calls them, available under ACOA.
When the Liberals took over the first thing we did was to cancel all of the grants and bring in a system of loans for business. If the hon. member would ask me a supplementary question, I would continue to explain the changes we made.