House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 58% of the vote.
Goods and Services Tax April 21st, 2009
No, Mr. Speaker. I have had an exchange of correspondence with the current minister of finance in Quebec who has just taken the office from the former minister of finance. We are certainly open to discussions about harmonization. The reason we are is that it will create jobs, investment and economic growth in our country, including Quebec.
The Economy April 21st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I do not know why the hon. member would ask for a second stimulus package when he voted against the first one.
Questions on the Order Paper April 20th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the response is as follows: a) The principle objective of the television commercials, which can be viewed at http://www.tfsa.gc.ca, was to provide Canadians with as much substantive information as possible about the TFSA in a relatively short period of time. Commercials were approximately 30 seconds in length. The commercials encouraged Canadians to contact their “bank, credit union or other financial service provider to open an account today or visit tfsa.gc.ca for more information”. The ‘More Information’ portion of tsfa.gc.ca, which can be viewed at http://www.tfsa.gc.ca/moreinfo-eng.html, makes explicit reference to financial advisors in the list of possible ways to open a TFSA: “Visit your bank, credit union, financial service provider, advisor or planner for more information and to open an account today”.
b) The cost of the television commercials was approximately $3 million. This included production costs and the charges for airing the commercials in both official languages across Canada.
c) The television commercials commenced airing on January 5, 2009 and ended on February 2, 2009. The frequency of the commercials being aired varied by market size and location.
d) No future television commercials to promote the TFSA are planned at present.
Taxation March 30th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, it is up to those provinces in Canada that have not harmonized their PST and GST to decide whether they wish to harmonize or not. The Government of Ontario has made that decision.
The Governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador some 10 years or so ago made the same decision. At that time they received some compensation from the federal Liberal government. The precedent was set then.
Harmonization, the creation of a VAT, is in the best interests of growth of the economy in Canada. Quebec chose not to sign a harmonization agreement. It chose to collect its own sales tax, which is not harmonized.
Automotive Industry March 30th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the credit facility is part of the extraordinary financing framework that was announced in the budget on January 27. It is very important in terms of acquiring the commercial paper that is supported by loans with respect to vehicles and equipment. Unlike the opposition, we have actually consulted to create a plan that will work for Canadians and the plan will be implemented shortly.
Employment Insurance March 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the budget that we presented only weeks ago in the House made economic assumptions that were more pessimistic than the average of the private sector forecasters. We will have a lot of opinions about the recession and about the rate of negative growth this year.
All of the economists have said that they did not see the recession coming. None of them saw the recession coming. That is why we have made assumptions below the predictions of the private sector economists.
I understand the member opposite is not familiar with that because he did not read the budget.
The Economy March 26th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, Don Drummond, the economist at the Toronto-Dominion Bank, said the other day that to its credit in January 2009 the government did not believe the average of private sector forecasts and revised the forecast down.
That is indeed what we did in the budget on January 27. We are going to get different views from different economists at different times about the economy. We are comfortable with the reality which the Liberals opposite supported, that we assumed growth at a lower rate than the average of the economists in January.
Taxation March 25th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, whether or not to harmonize provincial sales tax with GST in a non-harmonized province is up to that province, as it is for the government of the province of Ontario.
With respect to this government, we have an economic action plan. We are implementing the action plan. It is working in Canada. It is providing stimulus as we go forward. It is what Canada needs now. That is what this government is doing.
Taxation March 25th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the decision by any non-harmonized province as to whether or not to become harmonized with the GST is up to that province, as it is for the province of Ontario.
We will have to wait for its budget, which I understand is tomorrow, around 4 o'clock.
Finance March 23rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Transfers to Quebec will not be reduced. Under our government, federal funding to Quebec has increased by 37% and will continue to increase. Equalization now represents 13.4% of Quebec's provincial revenues, up from only 8.6% in 2005-06.