Paul Martin

[National Unity, December 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, this law is not against Quebec. This law is in favour of giving people of Quebec the right to make their own decisions.

This law is in favour of the people of Quebec and I support this law unequivocally.

[Canada Pension Plan, December 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, we are prepared to discuss the possibility of having those kinds of limitations, but we do not in any way, shape or form want to interfere with the independence of those who will be making investments on behalf of Canadian pensioners. That is very important.

As far as the issue of smoking is concerned, we have made it very clear as a government that we will take whatever measures are required in terms of education and in terms of demonstrating to young Canadians that they should not smoke.

[Canada Pension Plan, December 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, that question is simply nonsense. The fact is that when the CPP was set up all provincial finance ministers agreed with the federal government that it should invest in the indexes.

Having had the experience and seeing the quality of the administration, all provincial finance ministers along with the federal government have decided that 50% of its funds could well be invested in equities providing a greater return and in fact supporting Canadian endeavours.

That is what is happening. There is no support of big tobacco. The government has made very clear that smoking is wrong, that smoking creates tremendous health problems and that the government is prepared to—

[Financial Institutions Reform, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the answer to the first question is yes, with respect to chartered banks, and to the second, as soon as possible.

[Employment Insurance, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, we are following the recommendations of the auditor general.

In 1986, the auditor general asked the previous government to put these funds in the government's consolidated revenue fund, and that is exactly what we are doing.

[Employment Insurance, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the method used is totally transparent. In fact, this year, like last year, the commission has made recommendations, which the Minister of Human Resources Development and myself have followed to the letter.

[Taxation, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, members of the Reform Party just cannot live with good news. The fact is that taxes are going down. The national debt is going down. Taxes are going down and the national unemployment rate is at its lowest level in the last 18 or 19 years. The real problem is they just cannot stand good news. And there is a lot more of it coming.

[Taxation, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party knows that not only did we eliminate the deficit two years before Reform said it would, but we cut taxes three years before the Reform Party said it would cut taxes. Those are the facts. I understand why Reform members want to quote pay stubs. The reason is after the next election there will be a lot less of them collecting paycheques.

[Taxation, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, it is ridiculous for the Reform Party to quote pensioners because the fact is at the time that we were cutting the deficit, the Reform Party said we were not cutting it early enough. The Reform Party recommended that Canadian pensions be cut. For the member to stand up now and talk about that is simply nonsense.

We did not cut pensions. We will not cut pensions. That is the basic difference between us and the Reform Party.

[Taxation, December 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the reason the leader of the Reform Party quotes Canadian taxpayers is because last month 60,000 new taxpayers were created. In the last three months over 200,000 new taxpayers were created. Since this government has taken office close to two million new taxpayers have been created. That is what is happening in this economy and we are going to keep on doing it because they have jobs.