Paul Martin

[Budget Surpluses, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Quebecois leader is well aware that we are going to have meetings with economists. In fact, we are going to start meeting with the country's top economists next week. Following these meetings, we will examine their projections and tell Canadians about them. I will personally do it in the financial statement that will be presented in November.

[Fuel Taxes, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition says he is prepared to discuss it tomorrow at his caucus. Why will he not discuss it today before the Canadian people?

The Liberal amendment can be accepted with unanimous consent of the House. I challenge the Leader of the Opposition to accept the Liberal amendment.

[Fuel Taxes, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has just said that the government is considering many options. Among those options is the one that was put forward by members on the Liberal side of the House today, an option which said that any help the government should give should go into the pockets of Canadians, especially those with lower incomes.

The fact is that by using procedure the official opposition rejected that amendment. The question is: Why does the official opposition object to Canadians getting the benefits of any such reductions? Why does it want to give it to the oil companies?

[Budgetary Surplus, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, let me simply explain the balanced approach to the hon. member.

He may well remember that in the budget we put $900 million more into the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. At the year end we put more money into western and eastern agriculture. In that same budget we put $2.5 billion into transfers to the provinces for health care. It is that surplus which will allow us to finance the very large funding of $21 billion to $23 billion in transfers to the provinces in the agreement signed by the Prime Minister and the premiers two weeks ago.

[Fuel Taxes, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I said in and outside the House that the government is examining various options. The government will certainly take action in that area.

I also said when I was looking at excise taxes, and according to most provincial governments, that it would be far better to act together if one is to have a price cut which will be of sufficient size to take effect at the pump, be visible and not end up in the pockets of oil companies.

[Budget Surplus, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly why three-quarters of our spending has been on health care, education, the environment and innovation.

At the same time we have brought in massive tax cuts that will benefit low and modest income Canadians. At the same time we are reducing the debt so that the next generation of Canadians will not have to bear the huge cost our generation has incurred. This is a question of generational equity.

[Budget Surplus, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, once again, thanks to our budget, there are now 900,000 Canadians who have an income but do not pay any taxes. Four years from now, there will be 1.5 million. All I can say to the hon. member is that the department can provide him with the figures, but he must know how to read them.

[Budget Surplus, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should review his figures. Following our last budget, a family with two children and an income of $30,000 will not pay any net federal income tax.

[Budget Surplus, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, what we will say is that when we took power unemployment stood at 11.5% and it is now down to 7%.

We have created more than 2 million new jobs since we took power. Real disposable income per capita is on the increase. So is growth.

What we will say is that Canada is doing just fine, and Quebecers know it.

[Budget Surplus, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois seems to be having a little trouble accepting the good news. A reduction of $12.3 billion is good news. It will lower the debt.

This is $1 billion we will save on debt servicing. It is $1 billion we will be able to use for health, education, innovation and tax cuts. It is good news.