House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 1993, with 51% of the vote.
Ways And Means March 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), I wish to table a notice of ways and means motion to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act, the Old Age Security Act and the Canada Shipping Act, and I ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of the motion.
Bank Act March 28th, 1996
moved:
Motion No. 4
That Clause 70 of Bill C-15 be amended by adding, immediately after line 6 on page 62, the following:
"(5) Subsections (2) to (4) do not apply with respect to a person or entity that was carrying on business in Canada under a reserved name on the day immediately preceding the day on which those subsections come into force."
Motion No. 8
That Clause 115 of Bill C-15 be amended by adding, immediately after line 43 on page 88, the following:
"(5) Subsections (2) to (4) do not apply with respect to a person or entity that was carrying on business in Canada under a reserved name on the day immediately preceding the day on which those subsections come into force."
Bank Act March 28th, 1996
moved:
Motion No. 1
That the French version of Clause 41 of Bill C-15 be amended by a ) striking out lines 28 and 29 on page 39 and subsituting the following:
"une fusion de celle-ci, ou l'a forcée à le faire, à la protion de la". b ) by striking out line 2 on page 40 and substituting the following:
"dans les circonstances, à".
Motion No. 2
That the French version of Clause 45.1 of Bill C-15 be amended a ) by striking out lines 23 and 24 on page 47 and substituting the following:
"reçues ou détenues, la date déterminée est prise en compte, que le droit ait"; b ) by striking out lines 30 to 33 on page 47 and substituting the following:
"sant de prolonger la durée du dépôt aux taux d'intérêts fixés au moment où les sommes ont été sollicitées ou reçues, la date ultérieure est prise en compte,"; and c ) by striking out line 37 on page 47 and substituting the following:
"veler ou de réinvestir les sommes aux".
Motion No. 3
That the French version of Clause 70 of Bill C-15 be amended by striking out line 38 on page 61 and line 1 on page 62 and substituting the following:
"qui suit soit la prise de contrôle de la société soit l'entrée en vigueur du présent article, la der-".
Motion No. 5
That the French version of Clause 76 of Bill C-15 be amended by striking out lines 8 to 10 on page 64 and substituting the following:
"que les fonctions des deux postes seront bien exercées et que les fonctions du poste d'actuaire seront exercées de façon".
Motion No. 6
That the French version of Clause 95 of Bill C-15 be amended by striking out line 39 on page 72 and substituting the following:
"l'ordonnance permettant à la société de".
Motion No. 7
That the French version of Clause 115 of Bill C-15 be amended by striking out lines 31 and 32 on page 88 and substituting the following:
"qui suit soit la prise de contrôle de la société soit l'entrée en vigueur du présent article, la der-"
Motion No. 9
That the English version of Clause 157 of Bill C-15 be amended by striking out lines 13 to 22 on page 108 and substituting the following:
"this section, the onus of proving a ) that the company was not insolvent lies on the directors and the shareholders of the company; and b ) in the case of the directors, that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the company was not insolvent when a dividend was paid or shares were redeemed or purchased for cancellation or that the payment of a dividend or a redemption of shares did not render the company insolvent lies on the directors.''
Motion No. 10
That Clause 165 of Bill C-15 be amended by striking out line 2l on page 120 and substituting the following:
"-ing the 2nd Session of the 35th Parliament,".
Goods And Services Tax March 22nd, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I hate to read page 22 of the red book again for the hon. member and so I will not do so.
I will, however, quote from a minority report of the Reform Party: "While the replacement goes part of the way in responding to concerns presented to the committee, many of the concerns will only be addressed by future negotiations with the provinces".
That is what we are doing. We are negotiating with the provinces and we will harmonize the GST. I know the Reform Party will be disappointed.
Goods And Services Tax March 22nd, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I am really not very interested in the speculation in the press reports. We are interested, however, in negotiations with the provinces to harmonize the GST.
I know members across the way will be very disappointed when we are successful in harmonizing the GST because they will not have any questions to ask any more.
The report the hon. member refers to is pure speculation.
Borrowing Authority Act, 1996-97 March 21st, 1996
The hon. member suggested that I do not have the guts. I certainly do not have his anyway.
I will try to raise the level of discussion and ask the hon. member if he is in favour of paying interest on borrowed funds. Is he really telling us that we should not be paying interest? Is there some problem in his mind about paying interest to people who have loaned the Government of Canada money? Is the hon. member old enough to remember Alberta was a province that reneged on its debts and paid the penalty for years?
We do not do that in this government. We are trying to work our way through the deficit reduction program to get at our level of debt. We do not think it is an impossible situation to handle it the way we have been. In fact, the financial markets have said again and again that it is the right way to do it. The government is doing it in the correct manner. It is handling its finances in the right way, better than anyone.
The finance minister has met every target which he has set. Is there another party in the House which can say that it set a deficit target and met it? There is not a party in the House that can say that. Until there is, I would say this is the party that is believable, not them.
Borrowing Authority Act, 1996-97 March 21st, 1996
Madam Chairman, the hon. member has discovered we have a borrowing bill before us. He should also discover what a remarkable job the government has done in reducing its borrowing requirements. If he looks at those numbers he will see the projections are down from $30 billion to $6 billion in borrowing requirements which is a remarkable achievement. We have cut government spending. We have removed the waste.
The hon. member should bring forward those items at the appropriate committee level. He can go through it in committee line by line. Those are the things they should be doing in their appropriate committees. That is what the hon. member is there for,
to be part of a committee and look at those expenditures line by line.
This is a borrowing bill. Look at the larger picture.
Borrowing Authority Act, 1996-97 March 21st, 1996
Madam Chairman, I know how interested the hon. member and the Reform Party are in the prison population. They did not quite make it to Singapore to check out caning. However, instead of condoms they would probably bring back the paddle from there.
This is Neanderthal talk. The items the hon. member brings up are very interesting. I am sure he will bring them up in the appropriate committee but this is not the appropriate committee.
Borrowing Authority Act, 1996-97 March 21st, 1996
Madam Chair, the numbers the hon. member gave are quite correct. When we first looked at the budget of the government, in 1993-94 the revenues were $116 billion. The program spending was $120 billion with an operating deficit of $4 billion. In our first year in office we turned that around to $4.6 billion surplus and we did it by cutting program spending. Program spending fell again in 1995-96 and there was an operating surplus of $16.8 billion.
As the hon. member said, in 1996-97 the projection is a $26 billion operating surplus and in 1997-98 a $35 billion operating surplus. The financial requirements for the coming fiscal year are only $13.7 billion. Next year when I bring these numbers to the House the amount will drop to $6 billion. Down from $30 billion to $6 billion in that length time is a remarkable achievement.
Borrowing Authority Act, 1996-97 March 21st, 1996
Madam Chairman, I know the Reform Party does not want me to talk about the social programs because the Liberals have achieved this great budget situation not by savaging the social programs but by maintaining them and by maintaining the transfers to the provinces.
We have taken the infrastructure program which was strongly felt by the municipalities and the provinces and backed by this government and that created jobs. We have our job creation program in our youth employment program. We have a technology training program and all are the kinds of things that Canadians want. That is why the Reform Party is at 12 per cent in the polls and we are at 58 per cent.