Herb Gray

[Intergovernmental Affairs, February 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is not our intention to exclude Albertans. In fact, we have great sympathy with Ralph Klein when he said “I would hope the Alliance Party would return some of that money”, that is the $70,000, “on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition to the Alberta treasury to help offset the atrocious cost of that lawsuit”.

The member for Calgary—Nose Hill happened to say when she heard of it “$70,000, whoo-ee, we need to get to the bottom of it”. Those were real western sentiments.

[Ethics Counsellor, February 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the shares in question, as I understand it, did not have to be in a blind trust because at the relevant time we are talking about the Prime Minister did not own them.

Even though the transaction in question did not result in immediate payment, the shares did not revert to the physical possession or the ownership of the Prime Minister. Those are the facts. In effect those were confirmed also by the RCMP release today stating that on the facts of the matter there is no criminal—

[Ethics Counsellor, February 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear. The Prime Minister did not own the shares in question in the 1996 period.

This has been stated over and over again. This has been confirmed by the ethics counsellor. Insofar as there are any allegations of criminal wrongdoing, the RCMP has found on the facts that these allegations are totally unfounded.

[Free Trade Area Of The Americas, February 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the Prime Minister speaks on behalf of the government.

[Coast Guard, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member again has asked an important question. When these types of specific questions are of interest to members, if they would give us notice ahead of time we would have the answer in the House. Under our system we have questions without notice. I just point that out as a matter of fact.

I again thank my hon. friend for the question. We will get back to him in writing before the end of the day, or we can respond to the question again on Monday. We do treat the matter seriously.

[Coast Guard, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has raised an important question and I thank him for it. I will take the question as notice and will get back to him with a full response as quickly as possible.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health is carrying on a special audit into this matter. I understand that the AMA agency is co-operating.

We look forward to the results of the audit, and in the light of those results the department and government will take any and all necessary action.

[Transfer Payments, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that the Bloc Quebecois member is confirming the value of living in a federal system, and receiving, in Quebec as in all of Canada, cash transfers and tax points.

I thank the hon. member for praising our federal system.

[The Economy, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, from what I have read and seen in the news reports about the U.S. economy, the tax cut that it is talking about will not be legislated or come into effect for months or years from the time it will be first proposed.

On the other hand, the tax cuts announced by the Minister of Finance in his budget update are in play now and are already having a positive effect in offsetting a possible slowdown, in my view. This will continue to be the case. The Americans in my view are just catching up with what we are already doing.

[The Economy, February 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, certainly experts say that the Canadian and U.S. economies are headed for a slowdown. However, there are no indications that there will be a recession. The experts all say that we are well positioned to offset the slowdown.

The budget update of the Minister of Finance last fall confirming $100 billion in tax cuts I think will be very useful in helping us offset any possible slowdown.