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Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was billion.

Last in Parliament September 2008, as Liberal MP for Etobicoke North (Ontario)

Won his last election, in 2006, with 62% of the vote.

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Statements in the House

Committees Of The House December 15th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, in a way, I thank the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot for launching this very important debate on the direction we want to give to the year 2000 budget.

I would not necessarily agree with the points he made in his opening comments and there was some digression later in terms of the clarity bill. But on the question of transfers, Canadians are clear that Quebec gets its share of the federal transfers, in fact more than 50% of the equalization payments. That is what this House is about. That is what this debate is all about. That is how democracy works.

It is my privilege and pleasure to lead off today's debate, a debate addressing what will likely be one of the most important budgets in modern Canadian history. This happy chore has been given to me by the finance minister.

The finance minister is in Berlin chairing the inaugural meeting of the G-20, a body dedicated to strengthening and stabilizing the world's financial architecture. The minister has asked me to express his thanks and appreciation to the hon. members of the finance committee for their committed efforts in what was truly a national odyssey to hear the views of Canadians and for the quality of that work in synthesizing and reporting those views.

Today's debate is another important stage in the process of prebudget consultation introduced by this government. It is a process that many today take for granted. Let us remember what a dramatic change it represents compared to earlier decades when budgets seemed to be prepared in not so splendid isolation from the public and the emphasis seemed to be on backroom bartering rather than on public discussion and debate.

Many members of the House have had prebudget consultations and town hall meetings in their ridings across Canada. I hosted a prebudget consultation in my riding of Etobicoke North on October 21. A large number of my constituents came forward to present their views on this very important budget. They told me that they wanted a balanced approach. That was the opinion of the constituents in my riding and I look forward to the debate on the budget 2000 by members in the House of Commons.

To help set the stage for this debate, I remind all hon. members of some of the important elements of our current economic and fiscal performance. It is these elements that set the context in terms of opportunities and also real limits for the 2000 budget.

As the minister reported to the committee in his fall economic and fiscal update last month, our national economy is strong with one of the best growth rates among the G-7 major industrialized nations and a number one record for creating jobs.

These results are due in great part to the fact that we were able to put our federal fiscal house in order. The time when we ended up with a deficit and an increase in our public debt year after year is over. For two years in a row now, we have had a surplus, something we had not seen since 1951-1952, almost 50 years.

The government is committed to maintaining this record of fiscal responsibility as the unyielding foundation for all policy initiatives.

Looking ahead based on the average of forecasts by a group of Canada's leading private sector economists, this record of annual fiscal surpluses should grow from $5.5 billion in 2000-01 to $23 billion in 2004-05. This is a well deserved dividend that Canadians have earned through their support of the tough fiscal choices we had to make in bringing Canada's books back into balance. Of course those are impressive numbers but we must never let them tempt us into losing sight of the need for continued financial probity and prudence.

As the minister said to our committee, we live in a volatile global economy. Offshore events can buffet us overnight, sharply reducing future revenues from today's planning basis. That is why the government is sticking with the advice of the leading economists we consulted with and using real caution in our planning projections. This includes deducting our yearly $3 billion contingency reserve and a significant prudence factor before we arrived at those surplus estimates.

While the update does offer a five year forecast for discussion and planning purposes, we should and we will continue to take budget decisions only within a rolling two year time horizon. This is something I hope hon. members will address in the debate to come.

It was through near term and real term targets that we made a reality of deficit elimination. That is how we can ensure that the government does not commit long term financial resources today for tax cuts for important national investments, popular as these may be, at the risk of a return to punishing deficits in years to come.

Taxation December 3rd, 1999

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for the compliment about the unemployment rate and the creation of jobs.

There were 16,000 new jobs created in British Columbia in the month of November and this is the lowest unemployment rate in a generation. The government is continuing to cut taxes. A family of four with an income of $50,000 has had their federal tax bill cut by 16% in the last two or three budgets.

Globalization Of Economies November 29th, 1999

What are they?

Globalization Of Economies November 29th, 1999

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Lac-Saint-Jean for raising this issue, which is of the utmost importance to all Canadians. Increasingly, the world's economy is becoming a global one. International trade is increasing in a phenomenal manner.

Never in the history of the world has foreign investment been so important, nor has it ever moved as quickly as during the 1990s. Canada being a small country with an open economy, a significant percentage of which is trade-related, it is obviously affected by this economic and financial change.

Globalization poses many challenges, one of which the hon. member rightly knows, and that is the government's capacity to promote social cohesion. Social cohesion has been a research priority of the government for some time, consistent with the need to understand well the changing world around us.

A great deal of research on this issue has already been published by the policy research initiative, PRI, a network of government departments and Canadian academics established by the government in 1996 to identify and address issues likely to affect Canadian society in the near future.

Globalization offers great opportunities for growth and prosperity for smaller economies like Canada's. They will be given access to domestic markets much larger than their own, providing a level of prosperity through export that is not attainable without trade. At the same time consumers gain access to goods and services from around the world at a lower cost than would otherwise be possible. Canada is a leader in international trade and prospers because of it. Our outward orientation as measured by two way trade and investment flows has risen dramatically.

In addition, Canada exports as well as imports large amounts of capital. For instance, in 1998 the inward and outward foreign direct investment stocks accounted for 24.2% and 26.8% of Canadian GDP respectively, a significant increase from levels only 10 years earlier. Canadians benefit from this increased capital movement as capital exports allow Canadians to get the highest returns on their investments while capital imports provide employment and fuller use of our resources.

In particular, our trade and economic integration with the United States, our largest trading partner by far, has increased dramatically. Net exports to the United States have made a very important contribution to the near 3% average annual real output growth and the over 1.3 million jobs created in Canada in the last five years. Furthermore, our continued strong trade performance is one reason the International Monetary Fund expects Canada to lead in employment growth and to have the second fastest output growth in the G-7 in 1999 and 2000.

Yet at the same time the rapidity of technological change is bringing people from all parts of the globe closer together, so much so that the competition for markets, for material and human resources and for activities relating to innovation and technology will be more and more keen.

Consequently, in order to reap the potential benefits of these new technologies and of trade in general, businesses and governments will need to be extremely competitive and to handle the challenges of the intense international competition and the pressures in favour of structural adjustment in the right way.

International harmonization of trade related policies is a key element in facilitating fair competition and promoting highly competitive and well managed firms. It underpins economic integration and helps to establish the framework needed for expanding economic relations and increased commercial opportunities.

Harmonization of policies that affect trade can be of great benefit to Canada as it promotes fairer competition and contributes to increased competitiveness in industry and greater access to foreign markets. However, pressure to harmonize policies in these areas also raises concerns about government autonomy in areas of social policy. Or, stated another way, there are some who fear that the only way we can remain competitive with countries such as the U.S. is to accept U.S. style social policies and inequalities.

Canada has continued to maintain social policies that are substantially different from those of our largest trading partner. Canada has invested more than a century in building a social infrastructure that today is considered among the best in the world. The system of social support includes universal medicare, more generous safety nets and job training support than those available in the U.S.

By protecting and improving our social programs we may attract foreign investment, not drive it away. The relatively lower cost of the Canadian medicare system in particular and features of the unemployment insurance system, together with Canada's supportive system of social services and well run cities and municipalities, have historically been a locational competitive advantage for Canada. Thus, if pressure to harmonize social policies exist, it may be on other countries to match those of Canada.

This is not to say that Canada does not face some serious structural challenges. However, it does suggest that if we approach these challenges with imagination and vision we can ensure that global economic integration does not mean sacrificing what it means to be Canadian. Developing this vision is a responsibility that the government takes very seriously.

That is why the policy research initiative, PRI, was launched in 1996 by the government. The initiative brings together over 30 federal departments and agencies, as well as a number of leading Canadian academics.

As a result, the PRI has provided parliament and Canadians in general with informed advice on a large number of multi-faceted questions, in detailed reports, public reports and minutes of meetings, all of which are available to the public via the Internet, as well as to all hon. members of this House.

Two key issues the PRI is currently looking at relating to globalization and social cohesion are what will be the effects of pressures toward regulatory convergence over time, specifically how will this affect such issues as tax and environmental policy, health care and pensions, and how the FTA and NAFTA has affected Canadian autonomy and sovereignty in particular with respect to policy making capacity.

The analysis of the impact of globalization on social cohesion has been further strengthened by the work of the social cohesion network, one of four networks established under the PRI umbrella. This virtual network of electronically linked researchers was set up to assess the state of social cohesion in Canada. This social cohesion network has found that a certain measure of social cohesion is conducive to investment, both foreign and domestic. It has also found that social cohesion can increase productivity.

The PRI has therefore established that the combined effects of globalization and our social cohesion might have a somewhat positive impact on Canada.

The PRI work is shedding light on how government can support social cohesion. In the context of the global knowledge based economy, government increasingly must make a strong effort to explain its new role as facilitator and as an enabling partner with other sectors of society and to act as a non-financial broker of ideas and unifying national projects.

Based on the evidence to date and with the continuing work, I do not believe that a standing committee on globalization, government autonomy and social cohesion is required at this time. The all party parliamentary business committee, the subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Procedures and House Affairs, determined that this motion should be non-votable.

I applaud the member for Lac-Saint-Jean.

He was elected at the same time I was. I congratulate him on his motion.

It is because of the reasons I have stated. Although this initiative is very important and I congratulate him, I would ask that the House not support this motion being votable.

National Highway System November 19th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak today to the motion put forward by the hon. member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands.

The motion proposes that the government dedicate a minimum of 20% of federal gasoline excise tax revenues to joint federal and provincial programs to update or renew substandard sections of the national highway system.

The government appreciates the hon. member's concern for the national highway system and commends him for bringing this matter to the attention of the House. I had the opportunity to work closely with the member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands as co-vice chairs of the Standing Committee on Transport for the House of Commons. I know he has a keen interest in this topic as do many of us on this side as well.

Before discussing the motion, however, I want to take a moment to set the issue in context. Since the beginning of its first mandate back in 1993, two of the government's ongoing priority areas continue to be sound financial management and fairness in the tax system. Balancing these two equally demanding commitments has been a challenge for the government.

With order now restored to the nation's finances and targeted tax relief provided in each budget since 1994, together with broad based tax relief starting in 1998, the government will continue to meet these commitments as resources become available.

Faced with these challenges, the government unfortunately cannot agree to direct part of the revenues from the federal excise tax on gasoline to upgrade or renew highways. Let me explain.

The earmarking of tax revenues, which is the focus of the motion before us today, is a concern shared by many hon. members. The government has several reasons not to direct tax revenues to specific programs.

Earmarking tax revenues for a specific item would limit the government's capacity to redirect federal expenditures according to its changing priorities.

When the hon. member says that the Minister of Finance has sanctioned dedicated taxes, he knows full well that this finance minister has never been in favour of dedicated taxes. In fact, it was our finance minister who appeared before the Standing Committee on Transport and encouraged the committee to look at public-private partnerships.

Revenues from federal taxes, including the excise tax on fuel products, go into the consolidated revenue fund which is used to support a broad range of federal programs that are enjoyed and valued by all Canadians, programs such as health care, post secondary education, seniors' benefits and national defence.

Another reason the government has avoided dedicating tax revenues to specific programs is because earmarking can result in some programs being overfunded while others suffer from shortfalls. Making budgetary and long term investment decisions under a program funded by earmarked taxes is difficult as revenues from taxes fluctuate from year to year.

A third reason for avoiding earmarking revenues for certain activities is that the government believes that potential spending initiatives, including highways, should be evaluated independently of tax sources and examined as competing priorities.

As hon. members know, there are many demands today on the government's scarce resources. Because of this, it is important that the government remains firmly committed to sound financial management. What the government intends to do is to continue to follow a balanced approach to managing the wide range of priorities.

I would like to remind the hon. members of something else because it is important. Highways fall under provincial jurisdiction. I know that provincial governments are pressuring the federal government to invest in highways.

However, hon. members will recall that the federal government has assisted provinces in the past with provincial highway construction projects through a series of federal-provincial cost shared agreements. In addition, about one-third of the $2.425 billion federal contribution under the Canada infrastructure works program went toward municipal roads and bridges.

Although many of these agreements are winding down, the federal government intends to continue working with the provinces and municipalities. In the October 12, 1999 Speech from the Throne, the government announced its intention to implement a new physical infrastructure program to invest in and improve our nation's physical infrastructure.

The federal government stated in the throne speech that it will work with other levels of government and the private sector to reach agreement on a five year plan for improving physical infrastructure in urban and rural regions across the country by the end of the year 2000. This agreement will set out shared principles, objectives and fiscal parameters for all partners to increase their resources directed toward infrastructure. It will focus on such areas as transportation, as well as tourism, telecommunications, culture, health and safety, and the environment.

The answer for highways does not reside solely in seeking more federal funding. In searching for solutions we need to be creative.

As noted in the Speech from the Throne, one of the partners in addressing the infrastructure challenges is the private sector. While not a panacea, public-private partnerships warrant more encouragement. When properly structured, they may provide roads at a lower cost and more quickly than traditional procurement methods.

In conclusion, I cannot support this motion for the reasons I have stated. However, I want to thank the hon. member for raising this important issue in the House. I also hope that the hon. member will find some positive elements in some of the ideas set out in the throne speech.

Banking Industry November 19th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, half of the Toronto-Dominion Bank's profit is fueled by the sale of the subsidiary in the United States, so its profit is about normal. In fact, banks contributed last year about $5 billion in tax revenue to governments.

The government has been on the record as saying that the job situation in the proposed merger of Canada Trust by the Toronto-Dominion Bank will be of paramount interest to the government. We are going to be watching that very carefully.

Banking Industry November 19th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, the record profits for the Toronto-Dominion Bank that were announced are fueled by an extraordinary gain by the sale of a subsidiary. That really accounts for half of the $3 billion profit.

I should say that the 5,000 jobs the member refers to are having to do with the Toronto-Dominion Bank's proposed acquisition of Canada Trust. That would be over a three year period. That proposal is right now being considered by the Competition Bureau and by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, and that merger will not be approved without the Minister of Finance's approval, and job losses are a very important part of that equation.

Transfer Payments November 19th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, it is a tragedy that Quebec is now among the have not provinces. All this because of the BQ and PQ policy.

It is a tragedy that in this day and age the province of Quebec takes more than 50% of the equalization payments. In the last two or three budgets transfers to Quebec have increased substantially with the CHST, with the equalization payments and with the other transfers to Quebec.

I think the province of Quebec should look at its revenues, which have been growing, and distribute some of its surpluses.

Taxation November 19th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, the government continues to cut taxes. In the last budget it cut $16.5 billion. For a typical family of four with a $65,000 income that is a 10% reduction in federal taxes.

The government is committed to cutting taxes. In the economic update the Minister of Finance invited comments on where Canada will go in the future with our surpluses. Canadians will participate in that debate. Our government is committed to more tax reductions.

Division No. 53 November 17th, 1999

Mr. Speaker, the government is concerned about smoking by young people. That is in fact the key reason why it has continued to increase tobacco taxes on a regular basis.

Since the implementation of the government's anti-smuggling initiative, in 1994, the federal government and the participating provinces—Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island—have been working together to jointly increase taxes on tobacco.

The tobacco tax increase announced in the House on November 5 was the fourth such increase since 1994. In total, taxes on cigarettes have been increased by $4.40 per carton in Ontario, $5.00 per carton in Quebec, $3.40 in New Brunswick, $3.80 in Nova Scotia, and $5.80 in Prince Edward Island.

We will continue to work with the provinces and enforcement agencies to implement increases in tobacco taxes in a manner that will minimize the risk of renewed contraband activity.

In addition to these tobacco tax increases, the Minister of Health has indicated that the government will intensify its efforts to reduce smoking, particularly by younger Canadians, through tough anti-tobacco advertising and upcoming labelling and information reporting regulations.

These initiatives demonstrate the government's concern with smoking and its resolve to take steps to discourage smoking by young Canadians.