Paul Martin

[Gasoline Taxes, September 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it very clear that we are going to cut taxes, that cutting personal income taxes is our priority. We have dealt with the issue of gas taxes.

Let me be very clear. There is a lot of pain out there for people who are paying for home heating fuel, for people who are paying for gas at the pump. The real problem is that oil prices are too high and it is going to take international concentration to make sure that we get those taxes down.

That is one of the things we will be discussing at the G-7 meeting in Prague. It is one of the reasons all of the finance ministers will be coming together to make sure that we have two things: lower oil prices but at the same time sustainable energy prices so that the oil companies and those—

[Gasoline Taxes, September 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for pointing out that we have eliminated the deficit. That has certainly changed a great deal of the particular debate.

I would also like to point out for the hon. member that we have cut taxes substantially. If you take a look, Mr. Speaker, we as the federal government have cut taxes more for Albertans than has the Alberta government.

[Gasoline Taxes, September 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the member from Pickering who raised this subject a lot sooner than any member of the Alliance or Reform.

We have made it very clear that if there is going to be a cut in gas taxes it must go into the pockets of Canadians, not into the pockets of oil companies. That means the size of that cut must be substantial which will require federal-provincial co-operation.

I have said that we are quite prepared to sit down with the provinces at any time to see if this is where their priority lies.

[Banking, June 14th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, first I must point out that I am a Quebecer.

I would simply like to quote what another Quebecer, Bernard Landry, Quebec's finance minister, said: “I recognize that, with respect to the objectives pursued, the interest of Quebec, Ottawa's Minister of Finance and I are on the same wavelength”.

[Banking, June 14th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have said that, in any decisions having to do with Canadian banks, the public interest will be the determining factor. In the case of banks heavily concentrated in Quebec, the criteria will be the public interest and Quebec's economy.

[Banks, June 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, on the one hand we have brought in legislation that will make it eminently possible for a number of new banks, including credit unions, to provide smaller communities with a great deal more access to banking.

We have also brought in guaranteed access to bank accounts. We have now provided a guaranteed low cost account for Canadians.

In terms of closure, as the hon. member said, we are already finding that mandatory delays on closure so that the communities and the banks can come together are bearing great fruit.

[Banks, June 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case.

First of all, the Minister of Finance is accountable to parliament.

Second, the bulk of the areas in which his discretion lies has to do with the holding companies that are permitted investments in that area as opposed to other places.

In terms of parliament, the hon. member will know that under the previous legislation the Minister of Finance had total discretion. Under the new legislation parliamentary hearings will be mandatory.

[Banking, June 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, Jacques Parizeau's puppet has to know that the Canadian government will decide.

[Banking, June 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, if the member would care to look at clause 396, he will find there a list, which, following another determination, will tell him what is included in the public interest. As I have said to Mr. Landry, the public interest involves really all the issues he raised in his letter.

[Banking, June 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I just said that the criteria in the case of an acquisition are exactly the same as in the case of major bank mergers.

Now, if the hon. member thinks that we should have more elaborate criteria for major bank mergers, his colleagues are certainly free to make that suggestion in committee.

But I am telling the House that, in the case of an acquisition and of the criteria, if not the process, things would be exactly the same as in the case of a bank merger.