House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 48% of the vote.
Taxation May 1st, 2000
Mr. Speaker, three and a half months after the budget I would like to congratulate the hon. member for his first question.
I would point out to him, three months later, that in the budget the government brought down $58 billion worth of tax reductions over the course of the next five years. We have reintroduced indexation of the tax system to protect low and middle income Canadians. We have cut the middle tax rate from 26% to 24%, and it is on its way to 23%. I shall continue.
Canada Development Corporation April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the ethnics counsellor has released a report which is about this thick. There are pages after pages of documentation which are available to the hon. member if indeed he wants to go through them.
At the same time the ethics counsellor conducted interviews with a number of the people who were involved, all of whom confirmed the fact that there were no discussions of tainted blood at the CDC board. If the hon. member wants to talk to the ethnics counsellor he certainly can feel free to do so.
Banking April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, when the legislation will be tabled it will deal with those issues exactly.
Canada Development Corporation April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question simply makes no sense whatsoever. The fact is that the ethics counsellor has released all pertinent documents in this particular case. The hon. member has all pertinent documents.
Canada Development Corporation April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, those minutes belong to the private sector, but those minutes also dealt with everything about the subject in hand.
If the hon. member has any other questions, he could easily ask them of the ethics counsellor. He should see the ethics counsellor. That is the long answer.
Canada Development Corporation April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that the ethics counsellor, following a very thorough investigation, has reported fully on this and confirmed what I have said, that there was no discussion on tainted blood at the CDC board.
All the pertinent documents were part of the ethics counsellor's report, including the ones to which the hon. member is referring. At the same time he knows that a thorough investigation is being carried out by the information commissioner to look into this whole matter. All of that will also be revealed in due course.
Banking Services April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member across the way had studied the policy set out by the government back in early June, he would have seen we are in the process of creating not only an ombudsman position but also a consumer protection agency, which would have answered his question exactly.
Banking Services April 13th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, as you know, bank service charges are set by the private sector.
That said, in our new fiscal policy, we are in the process of putting in place measures aimed at consumer protection.
Taxation April 12th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, what the finance department study showed was that there is a net benefit to the R and D tax credit substantially over and above the amount of tax revenue that is lost. It is a very positive program, as indeed is the entire support for research and development in the country.
When we first took office we substantially tightened up the program. However, the hon. member's question is nonetheless valid to the point that what it says is that there is a balance which has to be determined, and we will continue to make sure we monitor that very closely.
Canada Pension Plan April 11th, 2000
This particular suggestion was made previously. We have undertaken to put it on the agenda for the next federal and provincial finance ministers' meeting where this kind of thing would be discussed.