John Manley

[Member for LaSalle--Émard, October 31st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I recognize that for political reasons the member for Medicine Hat wants to continue to his smear campaign against the member for LaSalle—Émard, who for 10 years has complied entirely with the requirements of the ethics code. In fact, as member of Parliament before coming into cabinet, he complied with rules that did not even apply to him.

The ethics counsellor has cleared the former minister of any conflict on this issue, and I wonder why the hon. member is not prepared to admit that he was wrong.

[Infrastructure, October 31st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, talking about infrastructure falling apart, look at the Progressive Conservative Party.

Let me tell the hon. member that in this province the credibility of that party, which left a province with a deficit in excess of $5 billion, is totally shattered. It is almost as bad as the credibility of the leader of his federal rump.

Since 1993, we have been investing in infrastructure in the country year after year, including in the last federal budget with an investment in strategic and municipal infrastructure, an increased investment of $3 billion.

[Finance, October 31st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, both on our website and in document form, the hon. member may want to look at this year's budget where we increased funding for health care over the next five years by $35 billion. The single largest increase in spending this year is transfers to the elderly. He might want to rephrase his question.

[Finance, October 31st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I looked at its forecasts. I hope they are right, but we do not rely on forecasts that we make up ourselves. We take 20 private sector forecasters, we take the average of their recommendations and we ask four private sector modelling firms to run those forecasts through their computers to come with the estimates, which I will present next Monday in the annual fiscal and economic update.

[Health, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the fact that we have signed an agreement with the provinces and added $35 billion to health care is very important. I would, however, very much like to see the health council promised by the provinces materialize as well.

[Health, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I will be providing an explanation of all the figures next week.

I would like to again stress the fact that the forecasts in question do not come from Finance. They come from independent economists in the private sector, and are prepared by computers belonging to the private sector. They are not, therefore, our forecasts.

[Taxation, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I would recommend that the member not give tax advice to too many clients. A person cannot get a tax deduction for breaking the law.

In certain cases the courts have determined that some fines may be deductible, but that is not the case for any situation where a fine is imposed for breaking the law. It is something that the courts will determine on a case by case basis.

[Microbreweries, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Morrison is a friend. Unfortunately for the hon. member, who may enjoy fishing expeditions, I paid my own way.

During our trip, Mr. Morrison did not discuss the situation with the breweries with me. Prior to that time, he had made representations in support of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Finance.

[Microbreweries, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, first, we agreed to approximately two-thirds of the recommendations by the Standing Committee on Finance for last year.

Second, at the time I made decisions about the February 18 budget, I was not a leadership candidate. I did not receive one red cent in contributions from the breweries.

[Finance, October 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken extraordinary measures to ensure that consumers have full information about rates, about how they are calculated and can make comparisons among cards.

The effect of limiting the amount that could be charged on cards is that many Canadians would not be able to access cards at all. I think it would not be in the interests of Canadians, and I would have thought the NDP would agree with this, to leave large portions of the population without any access to credit.