House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 54% of the vote.
Poverty December 12th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, there are measures to that effect. For instance, the changes we have proposed concerning employment legislation. We have guaranteed a 25 per cent minimum to families, which is a far better guarantee than the one in place before, because we are concerned about their situation.
Poverty December 12th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, in January 1994, the rate of unemployment was 11.5 per cent and it was brought down to 9.4 per cent last year. Unfortunately, it has now gone back up to 10 per cent, but if OECD and IMF forecasts are any indication, we will have the best economic growth of all G-7 countries in 1997.
We believe that the unemployment rate is going to drop. But we have set up programs. For example, despite the financial difficul-
ties faced by the government, we introduced an infrastructure program in our first few months in office. You will recall that Mrs. Campbell said at the time that it was a ridiculous program, and members of this House used the opportunity to-
Poverty December 12th, 1996
Yes we did, and we sorted out the problem of the deficit better than people thought we would.
What we are seeing today is that, in order to be able to create jobs so that people in difficulty can provide their families with the necessities of life, we must contend with the lowest interest rates in 40 years. We have an economy with the lowest rate of inflation in many years. The conditions are there for the economy to create the jobs that will make it possible for the most disadvantaged members of society to provide for their families, in particular their children, as they would like, in so far as possible.
Poverty December 12th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, what we said when we formed the government was that we had a terrible situation on our hands.
The government found itself facing an annual deficit of $42 billion. If we had not taken steps to correct this situation, there was a danger that the social programs that exist for the protection of the poorest members of Canadian society might disappear.
We took the bull by the horns-
Taxation December 11th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, when we say that we work on the creation of jobs, and I reported on TV and I say to the House of Commons, in the last three years Canada has created more jobs than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan together.
It is a question of debate. He can say that he would have done much better. He can say that he would wave his magic wand and there would be no deficit tomorrow. That is a matter of debate.
The record is there. More jobs have been created in Canada than in the five nations I mentioned in the last three years. This is a fact and it is recorded clearly.
We had a program with respect to the GST. He had a program. We said that we wanted to harmonize the GST. We have harmonization in four provinces. If the other provinces want to have only one tax to make life easy for business in Canada, there will be no GST, there will be a harmonized tax. However, only four provinces have agreed to it so far.
The Minister of Finance is working to make the harmonized tax the system for Canada. No, it is not complete yet. I admit that. However, we cannot make decisions for the provinces. We respect the Constitution of Canada.
Taxation December 11th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is not very well informed. I was elected to Parliament and represented a rural riding of Quebec all my career. I am very proud of that. My career has been based on coming to Parliament in order to serve my constituents and all the people of Canada.
A little snipe like the one from the hon. member will not take anything away from my record as a servant of this country.
Taxation December 11th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I was just commenting that in the report made by the Reform Party on the harmonization of tax on page 118 it said: "We commend the government on its attempt to harmonize the tax with the provinces. While we support the much needed harmonization of the tax, this will be a very difficult political objective to achieve".
Let us not forget that at its party convention in 1992 it promised to eliminate the GST only after the budget is balanced. It changed its position about six or seven times. We put it in the program and we are in the process of harmonization right now.
Taxation December 11th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, we wrote in the red book that we were going to modify the GST. For a while the Reform Party had the GST in its program. After it did not have-
Taxation December 11th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, contrary to the Reform Party, we put in writing what we were going to do. We said that we were going to modify the GST, that we would harmonize it with the provinces so there would be only one form of taxation.
Not long ago the Reform Party said that was the solution. Reformers applauded the actions of the Minister of Finance. They agreed that it was the proper solution to put provincial tax with the federal tax to make a new tax, a harmonized tax. The GST is not a harmonized tax.
Employment December 11th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, in the last budget the government put $350 million new dollars toward helping young people in their search for work. Not long ago for example the Minister of Finance reduced the contributions for employers who are employing new employees, exemptions for EI contributions so that it would be easier to create jobs. Jobs are created by the private sector because the government has decided to put the nation's fiscal house in order, and that is what we have done so far. That is why we are praised around the world. We have been the best in bringing down our deficit and creating the proper conditions for job growth.