House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 1993, with 51% of the vote.
Goods And Services Tax March 12th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, must we repeat again that we promised to replace the GST. The GST and the provincial sales tax, according to consumer groups, business groups and all consumer advocates is not a good system. What we need is a harmonized system. That is what we said we would do and that is what we will do.
Bank Act March 8th, 1996
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-15, an act to amend, enact and repeal certain laws relating to financial institutions.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to state that this bill is in the same form as Bill C-100 of the first session of 35th Parliament at the time of prorogation. I therefore request that it be reinstated as provided in the special order adopted on March 4, 1996.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)
The Budget March 8th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the question is simply not valid. The premise is incorrect. The answer is that is not the case.
The Budget March 8th, 1996
No, Mr. Speaker.
Goods And Services Tax March 8th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member forgets is that there are significant advantages to a harmonization program. There are significant advantages to having the GST replaced by a retail tax on an equal basis across the country. The advantages are clearly there. If the Reform Party does not want to see those advantages, fine.
It is unfortunate to have the Reform Party accuse the Atlantic provinces of taking bribes.
Goods And Services Tax March 8th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, it is very easy to answer that question. We do have every intention of keeping our promise and every intention of replacing the GST.
Securities March 5th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, in this particular instance the Canadian business community and the commission chair in Ontario for example have said that this is a positive proposal. This is a proposal that would create jobs in Canada, that would help Canadian business become competitive, that would help Canadian business raise capital.
It seems that the opposition party is not interested in creating jobs in Quebec. It is not interested in making Quebec's businesses more competitive. If that is the case, fine, but we are interested. This government is interested in allowing the provinces to come together with us to make a Canadian securities commission.
Securities March 5th, 1996
Absolutely not, Mr. Speaker. The only question that comes up is that the proposal was there to improve the efficiency of Canadian capital markets to make it easier for business to issue securities and to make it easier for Canadian companies to be competitive.
If the hon. member is not interested in those matters, fine, but maybe the rest of the Canadian provinces are interested. We are putting the proposal up. If they want to opt out, they can opt out. There is no compulsory matter here whatsoever.
Securities March 5th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should realize that there are a large number of securities regulators in this country. Let us say there are 10 and let us say that two of them got together and asked the federal government to handle the securities. That would leave eight. In my arithmetic, eight is less than ten. I do not know whether the hon. member is using some form of octal calculating but eight is less than ten, six is less than ten and anything is less than ten if the federal government gets involved.
Securities March 4th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member forgets that the provinces that do not want to follow this can opt out. Is that a compulsory system? Certainly not. Many provinces have wanted to opt in to a Canadian securities commission. It will replace the provincial securities commissions for those provinces that do want to opt in. It is an excellent measure and one that all Canadians should support.