Jean Chrétien

[Ethics, October 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, what the minister did was to advise the press that he was going to make a speech somewhere. It is exactly what the Reform leader, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois and others do every week. The press gallery is informed of where we are going. Sometimes they are happy to come, sometimes they are not happy to come, but at least they want to be informed.

It was not a letter asking people for contributions. It was to say to our friends in the press that the minister was making a speech that night. If they accepted the invitation, I am sure they would have listened to a nice speech and they would have learned a lot.

[Taxation, October 21st, 1996]

Fine, I do not disagree with that.

We said that the goal of this government is to stay the course and to go to zero cash requirements and zero deficit as quickly as possible. We are not there yet and already the Reform Party is trying to spend the money we are saving.

I said that when we are at zero there are problems in our society that have to be managed where the federal government has to play a role. We are not there just to have an across the board tax cut; that when a person pays $100,000 of tax he will receive $10,000 of benefits is not the way we will do things. We will target our tax cuts and spending to make sure that those in society who have less can have the chance that they deserve.

[Taxation, October 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I could not believe it when I read somewhere last week that the Reform Party is going to spend money. Remember they said they were to spend more money for-

[Poverty, October 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, to answer the first part of his question, I would like to say that even people who do not pay income tax receive tax credits. In other words, if they do not have to pay taxes and they are entitled to tax credits, the government sends them the money to which they are entitled. If I am not mistaken, the same applies to the GST. These are amounts that are paid directly to them by the government.

I repeat that we have tried to put our finances in order, and today, we enjoy the benefits of this policy because interest rates are at their lowest levels since 1958. Last week, a political leader said that reducing interest rates was a priority. I am referring to the Premier of Quebec, Mr. Bouchard.

[Poverty, October 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, despite the cuts we had to make, in his February budget the Minister of Finance directed $250 million more towards helping the poor through a system of tax rebates for their benefit.

I agree we have made cuts, but clearly, if the hon. member looks into this he will realize that when you take federal transfers to provincial governments-in his case, to the Government of Quebec-since we came to power we have not reduced our transfer payments. Some transfers have gone down, but equalization payments have gone up, so that today Quebec receives about the same amount it received when we came to power.

[Poverty, October 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, in the speeches I made last week, I made it clear to Canadians that there are social problems that remain to be dealt with in this country and that as soon as we have achieved our objectives-and I am glad to see that the Minister of Finance is well ahead of the forecasts he made a few years ago and that we will have a balanced budget a few years from now-and I told the business people I met that before concentrating exclusively on tax cuts like the Reform Party is doing, we had to remember that we still had problems to deal with, that there were poor people in our society. That is what I told business people in Toronto and Winnipeg, and I told them that was our priority.

In the course of my life I have met people who live on the street. I met some of them and talked to them, and that is why we want Canadian society to function properly and why we want a government that is in good shape, so that we can really look after their problems. That is our abiding concern.

[Ethics, October 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing to hide. The actions of ministers become public and the Prime Minister takes responsibility. It is a very public process.

When a Prime Minister deals with members of his cabinet, he has the right and obligation to have some private conversations with them. Otherwise, there would be no government. The government is the Prime Minister assuming his responsibilities. Everybody knows I never run away when I have responsibilities to face.

[Ethics, October 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the conduct of ministers is always the responsibility of the Prime Minister. It is for him to pass judgment and take all the consequences of his judgment. This is the way the system has operated for years.

Regarding communications within a government, it is very important that between the Prime Minister and the ministers there be some confidentiality. Of course members of the third party do not care much because they know they will never form a government. They are not preoccupied with the responsibility of a government that we are.

[Ethics, October 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the leader of the third party is arguing that the minister should not have resigned. He gave me his letter of resignation and I accepted it. I presume from the line of questioning by the hon. member that it was not a sufficient reason to resign, but with the standards that we have, it was enough.

[Ethics, October 9th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, these guidelines are instructions from the Prime Minister to his ministers and they are obliged to follow them. There is an officer who advises them and when ministers feel they have a problem, they receive guidance.

These are instructions that the Prime Minister gives to his ministers. As I said, at the end of the day, in the British tradition, it is the Prime Minister who is responsible for the conduct and I have always accepted full responsibility in those matters. The guidelines are instructions for my ministers. Communications between the Prime Minister and the ministers by the nature of our system are confidential.