James Moore

[Member for LaSalle--Émard, March 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, when there are projects that are in a clear conflict of interest perhaps the Prime Minister could put the interests of Canadians first and maybe pay attention when there are these absolute conflicts of interest.

From 1994 to 1997 three Canada Steamship Lines ships were involved in Hibernia's construction. At the same time the former minister of finance was in charge of the federal interest in Hibernia.

Could the Prime Minister tell Canadians whether this conflict of interest was ever investigated at all and, if it were not, why not? Do Canadian taxpayers not deserve better?

[Member for LaSalle--Émard, March 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the former finance minister's company, Canada Steamship Lines, received at least one multi-million dollar contract relating to Hibernia at the same time as the former finance minister was the cabinet's point person on the project; a clear conflict of interest.

Could the Prime Minister tell Canadians how many times the former finance minister excused himself from the cabinet table to avoid these kinds of clear conflicts of interest?

[Transportation, February 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on transportation, Canadians are getting ripped off: gas taxes, air taxes, no rail strategy and no infrastructure strategy. The transport minister's blueprint offered nothing but fluff. After failing in federal politics, he now wants to dictate to cities on what they should do. He likes what the city of London, England is doing. It is imposing a $12 toll to get into the city and now he wants Canadian cities to do the same thing.

Why is it that the transport minister has nothing to offer on transportation infrastructure except for the one, two punch of raising taxes and bullying cities?

[Transportation, February 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Transport raised the idea of tolls, meaning a new tax. I see that the only thing the Minister of Transport knows how to do is introduce new taxes. The chair of the Société des transports de Montréal said that he had reservations about a new tax to access the downtown core. The mayor of Toronto said that this idea is, and I quote, “stupid”.

Why does the Minister of Transport not contribute anything new to the debate on transportation, except to suggest new taxes?

[The Budget, February 25th, 2003]

As my colleague is saying, the government keeps cutting them off from health care, cutting them off on transportation infrastructure, and cutting them off on the things that they need to provide because this government is tax happy, spend happy and driving Canadians into the ground.

[The Budget, February 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the provinces probably did not twin that tax cut because provinces need to pay for health care that the government is gutting from them. They need to pay for other things in the provinces that the government is cutting them off from.

[The Budget, February 25th, 2003]

Sure, put more money into them. We can put more money into the RCMP, but part of the problem with it is that not all cities in Canada have the RCMP, including the City of Port Moody, which is the third largest of the five in my riding. It is a local municipal force so they have to raise money locally, so give them more tax room. Stop ripping off Canadians at the pump and let them raise the gas taxes for the needs that they want.

The federal Liberal government finds virtue in taking gas tax dollars and using them for resources that are not infrastructure related. Why does it not apply the same principle and let municipalities put gas taxes in place to finance what they need? The first responsibility of the state is always to protect citizens. The government is ripping off citizens and is doing nothing to protect Canadians. It has failed young Canadians and is going to stack my generation with debt and taxes that are going to bury young Canadians in the future.

[The Budget, February 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I do not have much time left, but he asked specifically about what the government could do with regard to police services.

[The Budget, February 25th, 2003]

This can be done. The member from Simcoe says there are no guarantees of that, that it could happen but there are no guarantees. The fact is that there is zero chance of this becoming a reality under this Liberal government. We know that. Its track record is there. It has not been giving this money to provinces.

Here are some facts for the member from Simcoe. Of the 100% of the cost of a litre of gasoline, half of it is taxation. Half of the taxation is federal and half is provincial. Some 97% of the gas tax revenue collected by Ottawa goes into general revenue. It does not go to roads. Also, 91% of the gas tax revenue collected by the provinces does go to roads.

So what the Alliance has been arguing is that rather than continue the current status quo, which is intolerable in terms of transportation infrastructure, we say let the federal government choose one of three alternatives. We have our preference, but it should choose one of three alternatives to the status quo, which is not tolerable. The three alternatives are: first, dedicate gas taxes to roads; second, work hand in hand with the provinces in a clear way, listing how much money is being collected for roads and work on projects; or third, eliminate gas taxes and give the gas tax room to the provinces so the provinces can then delegate gas tax dollars to the municipalities and the municipalities can put the money toward police services. That is precisely what should happen.

I see that the member from Simcoe is scoffing. His annual cameo appearance in the House is a rather energetic one, but what he does not seem to understand is that what the federal Liberal government can do is fund the RCMP properly--

[The Budget, February 25th, 2003]

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, the easy way that the government could do it constitutionally is to do what the Canadian Alliance has been proposing for a long time, which is to return gas tax dollars to provinces. Provinces can then in turn return gas tax dollars to municipalities.