Paul Martin

[Banking, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the bulk of those jobs will be lost through attrition. That does not in any way take away from the seriousness of the situation, as the hon. member knows full well. That is why in the new financial services legislation that we are bringing in we have followed the advice of numerous consumer and community groups across the country. We have put in notice provisions which were not there. We have put in consultation provisions. We have put in the kind of structure that would allow the government and the public to deal with this kind of situation in a fair and reasonable way.

[Employment Insurance, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that we are doing exactly as recommended by the auditor general, who said in 1996 that the fund should be included in the consolidated revenue fund.

That is what we are doing. That is what the previous government did, and I believe it is consistent with the accounting principles recommended by the auditor general.

[Taxation, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party sure as heck better build its ark because it is drowning. The only thing in the country that is dropping faster than personal income taxes is Reform's share of the popular vote.

[Taxation, October 27th, 1999]

Reform members are applauding. Does the House know what they are applauding? In their election campaign they said that they would not cut personal taxes until the year 2000. That was part of their election campaign.

We cut taxes in 1997. The Reform Party would not have done it. We cut taxes in 1998. The Reform Party would not have done it. We cut taxes in 1999. The Reform Party would not have done it. We cut them three times. We are ahead of the cart and they are down in the hole.

[Taxation, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party likes to talk about its desire to cut taxes.

[Taxation, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, let us take a look at the questions that have been asked by the hon. member.

He started with his first preamble and asked why we were protecting the Canada pension plan. Why is the federal government and all the provinces protecting the Canada pension plan? We are doing it because we believe that Canadians are entitled to a decent retirement, which obviously the Reform Party does not.

The member talked about small business and why we brought in and increased the Small Business Loans Act. Why does small business have the lowest level of corporate tax of the major industrial countries? They do because of this government.

[Taxation, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talks about what the government has done for low income Canadians. Let us take a look at what we have done.

The amount of income for which taxpayers are now exempt before they have to begin paying taxes was increased by $675. Last year Reform voted against it. The Canada child tax benefit has been increased by $2 billion. Reform voted against it.

There are now 600,000 low income Canadians who were previously paying taxes who are not paying taxes, and Reform wanted them to pay taxes.

[Taxation, October 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the current rate is $2.55. That is a 15 cent reduction from the previous year. That is a 52 cent reduction from the day we took office. That is $4 billion more in Canadian pockets. That is what we have done since we have taken office.

[Taxation, October 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that on January 1 taxes are going down. Taxes went down on July 1. Next year they are going down $3.9 billion. Since we have taken office EI premiums have gone down $4 billion. That is what they are going down. A substantial increase of $1.8 billion in the child tax benefit, that is money that will be found in the pockets of middle and low income Canadians with children.

The fact of the matter is that taxes have gone down every year since we have balanced the budget and they will keep on going down.

[Taxation, October 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member simply ought to take a look at reality. The reality is that our tax cuts have taken care of bracket creep and much more.

However, he does not have to believe me. Let me simply quote that “the taxation arrow is now pointing in the right direction, down. It behoves us then to offer a polite nod of thanks in the direction of the federal finance minister”. I hate to say it, but that is what he said. He goes on to say, for all the lecturing Ralph Klein did in the mid-1990s about how Ottawa needs to get its budgetary books in order like we did at the time, Klein and Day have been left in the dust by Ottawa. That is the Calgary bunch.