Crucial Fact

  • Her favourite word was women.

Last in Parliament April 1997, as Liberal MP for Halifax (Nova Scotia)

Lost her last election, in 1997, with 22% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Excise Tax Act February 10th, 1997

What are you going to spend it on?

Hmcs Athabaskan February 5th, 1997

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House today to thank the captain and crew of the HMCS Athabaskan for their warm welcome during my two day stay on board this week.

The HMCS Athabaskan , captained by Commander Denis Rouleau, is a 5,120 tonne Iroquois class destroyer which serves as the Atlantic task group command ship. It has an array of anti-missile defences, including state of the art SM-2 stand missiles. It can carry two Sea King helicopters, is a completely bilingual unit and can carry a crew of up to 280 souls.

The level of excellence, the level of professionalism, the level of general quality which emanates from the captain and crew is worthy of great pride and respect by all Canadians.

It is with great appreciation and pride that, if I were wearing one, I would take off my hat to HMCS Athabaskan today for a job well done.

Status Of Women December 4th, 1996

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to address comments made by the hon. member for Port Moody-Coquitlam and her attack on Status of Women Canada.

The member said that Canadians do not want more spending on what she called status of women's extreme agenda. This extreme agenda includes: working hard to stop violence against women; working hard on women's health issues, especially breast cancer; working hard to recognize the value of women's work in the home and outside, in the fields of engineering, space technology, medicine, law, and even politics.

Status of women and this government make a difference. This difference was recognized by the UN conference in Beijing when Canada won the international award for the country that has done the most for the status of women.

I am proud of Status of Women Canada, but I am ashamed of the member for Port Moody-Coquitlam.

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

Mr. Speaker, I accept the hon. member's comments that he was not lecturing. However, I do not accept some of the things he said. Let me just make a few points in the very short time I have.

First, hanging our hat on a specific program is what government is about. In government we do not have the luxury to gadfly around a pick one policy one day and another policy the next. We pick a policy that we feel is good for our constituents and we go with it. That is what has happened here.

Again, the premiers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland realized this was a good policy and they decided to go with. If other provinces have not picked up on it, I can only say that they do not understand the situation as fully as they should.

With regard to what the hon. member said about increasing the GST rebate to the individuals, I think that betrays to some extent two things. First, that the hon. member does not quite understand what the transitional funding is. But more particularly, it betrays the fact that there are chasmic differences between the Reform Party and the Liberal Party because in the Liberal Party we do not necessarily think that the best way to deal with funding to assist a province is to put it directly in the hands of the consumer in all ways. There may be moneys that are better administered through the provincial government. In this case, this is what we have done and what we support.

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

I have one minute. The member for Wild Rose hopes I am out of time. I can only tell the hon. member that I will be here making my point long after he too has joined the pantheon of Reformers leaving this House.

In closing let me say something about books because I have to correct what the hon. member for Wild Rose said. Books will not be more expensive in the province of Nova Scotia. Indeed some books purchased by public libraries, schools, universities, public colleges, municipalities, qualifying charities and non-profit organizations, most particularly those dealing with the literacy problem, will receive a 100 per cent GST rebate. That comes about because the Minister of Finance listened to the Liberal backbench that went to him and told him how important it was to have this movement and this rebate on the GST on books.

We in the backbench of the Liberal Party are proud of what we did. We are proud of the HST. It is good for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to say so.

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

That snappy comeback from the member for Wild Rose has just made me want to sit down and burst into tears but I will try to control myself.

Businesses will have to deal with only one tax. From the first day that the GST was mentioned in this House, when you and I, Mr. Speaker, were rookie MPs in opposition, I have heard from small business people in Nova Scotia how they needed the simplification of the tax system and, again, this is what this is doing.

I will tell a little story about someone I deal with a lot in Halifax. His name is Bob Richards, a cab driver. He is probably the best cab driver in Nova Scotia. This is not to take away from other cab drivers there, but Bob has been driving me to and from the airport since I was elected. Through storm or sleet or dark of night, if I can steal a line from the American post office, he is there. He has a number of clients who know how good and reliable he is and consequently he has a good limousine business in Halifax.

Bob has complained bitterly about the kind of red tape and the bureaucratic detail he as a businessman has been hamstrung by in this tax. This tax is going to be a lot less cumbersome to business people like Bob Richards in the three Atlantic provinces that have taken this deal. That is a good thing. This is something Nova Scotians care about. Am I out of time, Mr. Speaker?

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks in this debate, may I say that I am delighted to be speaking here today, the first time since you took up your new duties as assistant deputy chairman. May I congratulate you on that appointment, a most worthy appointment. I am delighted to be here but having said that, I am afraid that I am less delighted about several things.

First, I would like to extend my compliments to the hon. member for Wild Rose. I would let him know that the name of Canada's 10th province is Newfoundland, like "understand". If you are going to understand a province, you should also know how it is pronounced.

The hon. member for Calgary Centre spoke quite eloquently, if somewhat off the point, a little earlier. I would like to say a few things to him too. I have great respect for that hon. member. I know that his belief in public service and in doing things for Canadians is very strong and I take no exception to that.

However, I will say as a Nova Scotian to the hon. member who comes from Alberta that I do not think Nova Scotia members lectured Albertans or westerners when the grain farmers took a $1.6 billion subsidy from the federal government. They did not say that it was not good for them. On behalf of the members of the three Atlantic provinces who are accepting this deal and who think this is a good deal, I would just say: Keep your lectures at home. We think we know a little bit better what is good for Nova Scotia, what is good for Newfoundland and what is good for New Brunswick.

Does the hon. member really think that premiers such as Brian Tobin, John Savage and Frank McKenna get together and say: "Let us do something bad for our provinces"? With the greatest of respect to the hon. member, does he really think that people who have barely gotten their feet wet in the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean know better than these people who have led their provinces in good times and in bad? Does the member really think that he knows better what to do for Nova Scotians, New Brunswickers and Newfoundlanders than Frank McKenna, John Savage and Brian Tobin? I do not think so.

With the greatest of respect to members of the third party and possibly others in the official opposition who might oppose this excellent plan for Atlantic Canadians, may I say that in that region they are not even on the radar screen politically and there is a reason for that. They do not comprehend what is good for Nova Scotians. Not even being able to pronounce the name of one of the provinces is a good reason they are not on the radar screen.

Having dealt with that, let me now deal with why the harmonized sales tax is a good thing for the people of Nova Scotia and her sister provinces.

Let me quote a premier I was talking about just a few minutes ago, the hon. Frank McKenna, one of the most successful premiers in Canadian history, I might add. Frank McKenna said on Sunday: "This is a chance for Atlantic Canada to enjoy the single biggest advantage we have ever had in the last 50 years against the rest of the country. We are now the most competitive area in all of North America for doing business". That comes from Premier McKenna and from the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, a most respected organization in our region.

The GST has sucked an additional $3 billion out of our region, a bigger increase in federal sales tax payments than in any other part of Canada, so it is no wonder the three provinces opted for the new tax to replace it, along with the $1 billion in transition funding. It is only appropriate that the region that took it, Atlantic Canada, was the one that was losing the most with the GST.

What is going to happen with this transitional funding? The transitional funding will be used in part by the provinces accepting this to assist those small numbers of consumers who are going to be hurt somewhat by the broader base of the tax, those few things that

will go up in price. Will some things go up in price? Yes, some will. The transitional funding will in part be used to assist those people.

I might also add there is no loss in the low income rebate of the GST that was instituted when the GST came in. It will continue to be paid to those people who qualify in the three Atlantic provinces.

The three Atlantic provinces as of April 1997 will have a simpler, less costly and more effective sales tax system, and that is the bottom line. Clearly members from Alberta have so little knowledge about what is important in Atlantic Canada that his has not managed to penetrate. I am not sure what does manage to penetrate, but then that is another story.

The BST will be the crowning in touch in turning Atlantic Canada into the most attractive business location in all of North America. From the days of wooden ships and iron persons until today this is something that has been long overdue in Nova Scotia, in New Brunswick and in Newfoundland.

I really do think that when members opposite think they can lecture us on what is good for the Atlantic region they should at least be able to say they know something about the region that they are attempting to lecture. We do not take kindly to lectures down there. We know what is good for us and the harmonized sales tax is very good for us.

Consumers will know what the price is before they go to the cash register. How many times has every one of us in this House and the people we represent seen an item that we wanted to buy, taken it to the cash register and by the time it was all added up, whammo, we were paying considerably more than we thought we were going to? Those days are over in Nova Scotia. That will be finished come April 1.

Consumers will have lower tax rates and on many goods will pay lower prices. This message has to be repeated and repeated because when it comes to misleading, and I know the hon. member opposite does not really wish to mislead, or at least I assume he does not wish to mislead, over and over again scare tactics have been used with regard to this plan on the consumers of my province and the two neighbouring provinces, trying to suggest that people will be paying considerably more when the truth is they will be paying less.

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

High-fluential.

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

High-fluential, high-fluential, whoa.

Excise Tax Act December 3rd, 1996

Gobbledegook.