John McCallum

[Microbreweries, April 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the bill that is currently before the committee has nothing to do with this issue.

However, the Minister of Finance is continuing his discussions with microbreweries, and we will soon have an answer.

[Auditor General's Report, April 19th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as was said in the House by the minister yesterday, all of these foundations, including the one to which the hon. member makes reference, were approved by parliament. All of them are audited. All of them have their leaders or other members who have visited parliamentary committees many times and are willing to do that again.

The foundations provide billions of dollars for innovation, for Canada to grow in the new economy and to be a leader in research and development. Am I to assume the opposition is opposed to those measures?

[Airport Security, April 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, first, it is not a tax, it is a charge. As we have pointed out many times in the House, the charge was brought in soon after September 11 when we were afraid traffic volumes would be low. The matter will be re-examined in the fall. Should the situation change, the government has said many times in the House that we will lower the charge.

[Airline Industry, April 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have just given a very serious answer, which is that the Canadian economy, including that of Quebec, is doing extremely well. The number of jobs in Quebec has increased even more than the average for the country as a whole.

As we have repeatedly said, the total cost of security for $7.7 billion. It is therefore very reasonable to have users pay $2.2 billion out of $7.7 billion.

[Airline Industry, April 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult for me to understand the opposition's complaints about the economy. It is a fact that last month saw an increase of 88,000 in the number of jobs, the highest increase since such statistics have been kept. The increase in the first quarter was the highest in the country in 14 years.

And not only that, but Canada had an increase of over 100,000 jobs, while the United States lost one million. So things are looking good.

[Airport Security, April 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as I have explained on several occasions, we decided to implement a $2.2 billion tax. However, in the budget, the total cost of security was $7.7 billion.

As the minister has said repeatedly in the House, if we find in the fall that revenues are higher than required, we will reduce the tax.

[Steel Industry, March 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank the hon. member for Stoney Creek and other caucus colleagues for their valuable work on this important issue.

While the Government of Canada remains fully committed to multilateral trade liberalization, we will not stand idly by and watch as our market gets flooded with the world's diverted steel. Therefore I am pleased to inform the House that the government has launched a safeguard investigation into imports of steel products.

[Employment Insurance, March 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, this $40 billion surplus is not real money. It is not real.

What is real, is that over the last nine years, the government has reduced premiums substantially, giving contributors more than $6 billion. And the government announced its intention to continue these decreases in the future.

[Airport Security, March 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have answered this same question many times. I do not think I will try to do it again.

[Airport Security, March 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in answer to the question, the idea that we will take in $1 billion--