Pierre Brien

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 29th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Finance recognize that, by taxing RRSPs, he is changing the rules of the game in mid-game and that taking actions associated with an irresponsible government, by disrupting the financial planning of seniors who depend on the income from their RRSPs to ensure a comfortable retirement for themselves?

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 29th, 1994]

All the Minister of Finance has to do, Mr. Speaker, to dispel worry is to say that he will not do it.

Does he not recognize that, by taxing RRSPs, he is changing the rules of the game in mid-game and taking actions which make his government seem to be cheating by completely changing the investment rules in planning-

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 29th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. The minister has been refusing for the past few days to rule out the possibility of taxing RRSPs in his next budget. Several analysts have come out against this retroactive tax penalizing middle-income taxpayers. Claude Picher, from La Presse, states that it would be very unwise of Ottawa to keep dipping into the taxpayers' pockets. He adds that it would be all the more objectionable since the first ones to be hit would be unorganized private sector employees.

Does the Minister of Finance not realize that, by hiding behind his pre-budget consultations to avoid undertaking not to tax RRSPs, he is the only one to blame for causing fear and worry amongst taxpayers in Quebec and Canada?

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, questions arise because there are no clear answers. Does the Minister of Finance not recognize that by taxing RRSPs, he would actually be creating inequity between those workers who have registered retirement savings plans subsidized in part by their employers and those who have none, such as self-employed workers, farmers and fishermen?

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. In spite of constant questioning on the part of the official opposition about what his plans really are regarding RRSP taxation, the Minister of Finance still refuses to rule out that possibility. His attitude gives more cause for worry to middle-class taxpayers who rely on RRSPs to prepare a decent retirement for themselves.

I give him yet another chance to put their worried minds to rest. Why does he refuse to undertake not to tax RRSPs, in order not to further increase the tax burden of the middle class?

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 27th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the simple fact that he does not automatically rule out this possibility poses an unacceptable threat to middle-income taxpayers.

Does he not agree that it is totally immoral to change the rules in the middle of the game and create a kind of retroactive tax by taxing RRSPs in his next budget?

[Registered Retirement Savings Plans, September 27th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

The Minister of Finance has intentionally not ruled out the possibility of taxing RRSPs in his next budget. This is what Alain Dubuc, an editorialist at the daily newspaper La Presse , had to say about this:

"-a tax that would affect the living conditions of present and future retirees counting on this income in good faith is immoral."

He goes on to say:

"It is the most outrageous idea conveyed by a minister of finance in a long time."

In the interest of the already overtaxed middle class, I give the Minister of Finance another chance to end the speculation about taxing RRSPs. Can he undertake today not to tax RRSPs in his next budget?

[Collection Of Unpaid Taxes, September 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the results are yet to come. The minister and his government were elected a year ago. Will the minister tell us why his government did not make as much effort to collect taxes owed to the Treasury as it does to cut social benefits through its upcoming reform of those social programs designed to protect the poorest ones in our society? Why did the government not make as much effort to collect those unpaid taxes?

[Collection Of Unpaid Taxes, September 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. The Auditor General of Canada, Mr. Denis Desautels, is understandably concerned by the problems experienced by the government in collecting unpaid taxes. In the last five years, the amount of taxes owed by Canadian taxpayers has nearly doubled, going from 3.7 to more than $6.2 billion.

Will the Minister of Finance recognize that, before targeting the poorest ones through a social reform, he should first set up a more efficient system to collect the more than six billion dollars owed in taxes?

[Committees Of The House, June 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot for his comments. I would also like to stress the excellent spirit of co-operation we had here in the Bloc Quebecois when we were working on this question and also with a number of members on the committee who belong to the Liberal Party and who disagree with their party's position but cannot do so openly because of the party line system, because they are gagged. I am also aware that my Reform Party colleagues co-operated splendidly during the entire process, and I want to thank them for doing so.

Where my colleague referred to complex systems, he drew comparisons with the situation at the international level. In fact, there is not a single country in the world that has this kind of hybrid tax, with one system for one kind of business and another system for another business. I attended all the hearings and many meetings and I travelled all through the provinces, but not a single person suggested alternatives.

Why bother holding public hearings that cost a fortune and waste a lot of taxpayers' money, if in the end, we do not listen to what is said. After only a few days, the committee was doing such a poor job that the Prime Minister had to tell officials at the Department of Finance who had spent a lot of time on the report that it was going to be put on the backburner. That is the kind of thing that is so discouraging to the public and makes people so sceptical. I am sure that the way the Liberals handled this question will not do them any good.