Mac Harb

[Heart Institute, May 12th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker I rise in the House today to congratulate the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, a health care organization dedicated to the promotion of cardiovascular health.

In Canada, the number one cause of death is cardiovascular disease. Forty-three per cent occur in patients less than 65 years of age.

Treatments for heart disease are continually being developed and the Heart Institute is a leader in this area. The team at the Heart Institute has developed a fully implantable artificial heart, the most advanced in the world.

To Dr. Keon, Dr. Mussivand and everyone at the Ottawa Heart Institute, on behalf of my colleagues, I congratulate and thank you for your commitment to the prevention and treatment of heart disease. Your research, your skills and your ability to innovate, give us reason to be proud Canadians.

[Literacy, May 5th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, last week we celebrated the fight against illiteracy in Canada. As someone who has been involved in this issue for a number of years, I want to take the opportunity to congratulate all the non-profit organizations, school boards and people involved in the issue of illiteracy from coast to coast.

Members will know that illiteracy costs Canada about $10 billion a year in lost productivity. To business alone it costs about $4 billion a year. That is quite appalling.

The initiative the government has taken on the issue is commendable. I take this opportunity to congratulate the minister responsible for literacy in the other place as well as the minister of human resources for their initiatives.

I hope that by the year 2002, we will have a literacy perfect society, whereby everybody will have a chance to read and write as they should be doing.

[Funding For Cultural Organizations, May 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, as currently drafted these bills would clearly adversely affect Canadian trade and economic interests if they were passed into law.

Not only do their provisions violate U.S. obligations under NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, but they are also inconsistent with generally recognized principles of international law. The proposed import prohibitions on sugar and sugar containing products are a particular concern. If enacted, they could affect Canadian exports to the tune of $500 million a year.

The Government of Canada is strongly opposed to the measures in these bills and we are vigorously conveying Canadian concerns to both the administration and Congress. The Minister for International Trade has repeatedly raised our concerns with the U.S. trade representative, Mr. Kantor.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs has also made it clear that, while Canada and the United States may share similar long term goals of democracy and economic reform in Cuba, Canada has no intention of agreeing with U.S. attempts to impose its Cuban embargo through secondary boycotts on third countries.

Ambassador Chrétien has written to members of Congress urging them to oppose the bill. Other governments also share our concerns and we are maintaining close contact with them in order to co-ordinate responsive efforts.

Earlier this week, the U.S. administration's response to Congress on this bill was released. We were pleased to see that the administration has taken into account Canada's concerns. In particular, the U.S. administration opposes the provisions in the bill that would impose an import prohibition on sugar and sugar-containing products.

Finally, we expect the administration will put strong pressure on the U.S. Congress to ensure that the legislation is modified.

[Funding For Cultural Organizations, May 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the introduction of an inheritance tax would be a very complex way of raising a relatively small amount of additional tax revenue. In fact, based on OECD experience, an inheritance tax would contribute less than 1 per cent of federal tax revenues.

This revenue potential is small compared to the high administrative and compliance costs that it would entail since another tax collection operation would have to be established. This would require measures to obtain and verify information on wealth transfers at death, as well as complex rules to capture tax planning in order to avoid paying taxes.

Moreover, Canada already has a tax system which derives considerable revenue from wealth holders through the taxation of capital gains at death, property taxes and certain taxes on transfers of property. Revenues from property taxes in Canada are higher than the combined revenues from property and wealth taxes in all other OECD countries with the exception of the United States.

Rather than introducing a new tax that would be very complex and add a significant tax compliance burden, the budget introduced a number of tax measures which affect high income Canadians. An example of such a change on the personal income tax side is the elimination of tax advantages that flow from the establishment of family trusts.

[Lobbyists Registration Act, May 3rd, 1995]

If only our Reform colleagues would have the decency to listen to a voice of reason, but they do not want to listen with how they are going on.

I will finish on this. In keeping with the spirit of increased powers for members of Parliament, the lobbyists' code of conduct will have to be reviewed by a parliamentary committee before it comes into effect. I want to ask the member-

[Lobbyists Registration Act, May 3rd, 1995]

The ethics counsellor will now develop a code of conduct for lobbyists. The committee has ensured that lobbyists will have a legal obligation to comply with the code.

[Lobbyists Registration Act, May 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, at first I thought the member would stand to congratulate the government on its initiative after waiting a number of years for legislation that deals with the whole question of lobbyists. I was somewhat disappointed to see her turning in circles, repeating herself about 365 times to come back to the beginning and say that she is not happy. I do not know what will make the hon. member happy.

I will share this with the member in case she is not aware of what the committee has done so far. There were a number of amendments, a number of good suggestions that were brought forward by members of the committee and they were adopted by the committee.

The bill, along with all of the other good things in it, will now capture grassroots lobbying. In other words, any registered lobbyist who is involved in grassroots lobbying such as letter writing campaigns must disclose this as a communication technique.

Also, the committee felt very strongly that lobbyists should disclose when they are working on a contingency fee basis. This is not in fact prohibited by contracting policy. As well, from now on informational lobbying will be made easily available to Canadians. Industry Canada will put a registry online across Canada through a 1-800 number and on Internet.

I want also to bring to the attention of my colleague that the committee recognized that organization lobbyists and their goals are different. Most, if not all of them, will be subject to semi-annual update. Also, any organization that lobbies government will have to reveal the sources and the amount of any government funding it receives.

I do not know what the beef is in the hon. member's whole question. Since the government came into power the Prime Minister has appointed an ethics counsellor.

[Firefighters, May 2nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, this week the International Association of Firefighters is holding its fourth annual conference in Ottawa.

Professional firefighters risk their lives daily in an effort to save the lives and property of their fellow citizens. They are the largest providers of field emergency medical care. In the course of saving lives firefighters and emergency medical personnel are exposed to danger, disease and hazardous materials.

The International Association of Firefighters is committed to ensuring that all firefighters are provided with the most accurate, updated information regarding the emergency situation to which they must respond.

Along with my colleagues in the House, I congratulate and thank all firefighters across Canada and around the world on a job very well done.

[Supply, May 2nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with a representative of a community group on Somerset West in my riding of Ottawa Centre. The subject of discussion was the Canada assistance plan.

Groups have called on the federal government to enter into discussions with the provincial government in order to ensure that there are standards, objectives and goals and that the priorities are set straight. Also, they have called on the federal government to ensure that community groups such as the organization I mentioned are involved in the process when it comes to the delivery of programs or the setting up of principles. I support their demands.

I bring to the attention of my colleagues section 36(1) of the Canadian Constitution. It permits the federal government as well as the provincial government jointly to promote equal opportunities for the well-being of Canadians to further economic development and to reduce disparities.

In fact, the federal government has a significant responsibility to ensure vertical equity among Canadians as well as horizontal equity among the country's regions. That is exactly what the government set out to do in the 1995 budget. I refer to page 53 of the budget.

The Minister of Finance stated that the federal government under the leadership of the Minister of Human Resources Development will invite all provincial governments to work together on developing through mutual consent a set of shared principles and objectives that could underlie the new transfer. In this way, all governments could reaffirm their commitment to the social well-being of Canadians. In other words, the government is committed to building consensus among the provinces and not imposing it on the provinces.

The submissions of both opposition parties seem to be clashing with one another. They are flying in different directions and missing the point of what this government is trying to do. What this government has tried to do is to consult with the provinces.

Did the hon. member have any representation from his constituency, as I did in mine, on the need for consultation and the need for setting minimum standards and goals and objectives when it comes to CAP transfers or block transfers to the provinces?

[Supply, May 2nd, 1995]

I am sorry, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to ask my colleague of the opposition if he agrees completely with what the Leader of the Opposition said in 1989.

I would like my colleague to tell me if he agrees with what his leader said in 1989.