Jean Chrétien

[The Economy, September 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what the Minister of Finance is doing.

[Health Care, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, there will be a meeting later this fall on this question of medicare. We are committed to maintaining the system that we have where medicare is free and portable for everybody.

We have said many times that we do not want medicare to be good for the rich and bad for the poor. The laws of Canada have to be respected. I hope that Mr. Klein will respect the laws of Canada.

[Government Appointments, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, when we hire professionals on a contract like this one on a short term we look for very competent people who can do the job. If we had to wait for the tendering process, asking tens of thousands of lawyers to apply and to pass an examination, we would never get results.

If the member had any guts she would try to prove that the person is not competent. Of course she will not. We are not afraid to get up in the House and say that this man was elected president of the Canadian Bar Association by lawyers in Canada. Yes, at one time in his career he had the good judgment of a Liberal. That is not a handicap.

[Taxation, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is very funny. We are in September, at the beginning of this session and the leader of the Reform Party cannot find anything more to do than create fear among the public. He should relax. There will be a budget in February and he will have his answer that day. In the meantime we will carry on with running the business of this country and will try to have the best figures possible, like the one this morning on trade: a $2.3 billion surplus in the month of July.

[Translation]

[Taxation, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think that the leader of the Reform Party will be more successful with this trial balloon that he is trying to scare people with than with the so-called carbon tax that he invented, something we were not even talking about. Having nothing else to do, not being able to criticize anything we are doing, he is trying to invent problems.

Do not worry, we have enough problems like that. We do not want you to feel that you help the credibility and the confidence of this nation when you invent canards like this one.

[Taxation, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I will have a budget in the month of February. We had a budget some months ago and there were no tax increases. We do not plan to have any tax increases. We want to give very good administration to the country and the Minister of Finance looks at all aspects of all problems all the time.

Speaking about how long I will be Prime Minister, to promise that I will never increase taxes in the many, many years I will be Prime Minister makes it difficult for me to give a very categorical answer.

[The Economy, September 19th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we have to consult with the provinces in order to achieve reform. The son of a former premier who, I might say in passing, accepted a seat in the Senate says that we should not consult with the provinces. What kind of country does he want Canada to be?

We will have to consult with the provinces. We will do that. There will be measures in the House and reform will be achieved, but we prefer to do it with the collaboration of the provinces. The minister has spent a lot of time with ministers so far. The document will be tabled in the first week of October.

We will have other discussions with the public through the House of Commons. Legislation will come next year and you will be satisfied.

[The Economy, September 19th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, we were very prudent when we ran in the last election. We put everything in writing in the red book. So far it is working very well and we do not intend to change our goals.

Three per cent of GDP for the level of deficit in relation to GDP is a very ambitious goal. It is the one selected by all countries in Europe as the normal goal for European countries and none of them at the moment has achieved that.

We will achieve it. As we said and as promised, at the end of the third year of our mandate we will be at 3 per cent of GDP. It is written in the red book; it will be done.

[The Economy, September 19th, 1994]

I am very glad the member for Calgary West had the humility to change seats with the member for Calgary Southwest.

The member is right. The best way to keep the unity of the country is to have a good economy. That is exactly what we are working on at this time. When he looks at the results he will see that 265,000 new jobs were created since we have been in government and we have known a 6.4 per cent growth in the last quarter.

If we were to follow the Reform Party economic recipe we would immediately create a huge recession in Canada. If we were to take $40 billion out of the economy in one shot there would be twice as many unemployed as at this time. We do not want to go to the right wing doctrinaire solution or to the left wing doctrinaire solution. We will go the proper Liberal way, the balanced way.

[The Economy, September 19th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to congratulate the Leader of the Reform Party on his promotion to the front row.