Paul Martin

[Infrastructure Program, February 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, that question was answered in an answer to the opposition leader.

The fact is that discussions were held on a national level with a number of potential participants. Discussions were held and a number of proposals were put forth by people, municipal governments and provincial governments. It became very clear that in both cases the complexity of those negotiations really meant there had to be government to government negotiations and therefore, an independent foundation could not function.

[Infrastructure Program, February 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, since December 10, a number of discussions have been held with international financial institutions on an international basis. It was found that the details for the Africa fund would not be worked out until after Kananaskis.

In terms of the infrastructure fund, a number of interesting propositions and proposals have come in from the municipalities and the provinces. I have begun to take a look at those. It was deemed that they would be of such complexity that a government-to-government action would be required.

[Infrastructure, February 5th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly confirm that the goals, objectives and financial commitment for the foundation also apply to the funding.

I can also assure the hon. member that the government intends to proceed with the negotiations as promptly as possible, and with the successful implementation of our infrastructure program, which will certainly include those initiatives in the province of Quebec.

[The Economy, February 4th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, a Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey of small businesses concluded that business confidence is rising. It said that there are going to be 250,000 net jobs created this year, 81% of the jobs effectively full time. It expects growth in all of the provinces. The fact is that if small business has confidence in the Canadian economy, why can the Alliance not have it?

[The Economy, February 4th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the economist in question was surely giving his opinion. He is entitled to his opinion.

What I just said, and I am repeating what the Prime Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Canada have said repeatedly, is that the direction taken by the loonie does not really reflect the strength of the Canadian economy.

In New York, when we gave participants the facts, namely our competitive position, exports, growth and job creation, they were very impressed.

[Transportation, January 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that this is an air security charge to be paid for by the users of the airlines. That is where the bulk of the $2.2 billion will be required. The Canadian taxpayer is generally absorbing the bulk of the security package that we put forth.

This has been generally very well received. It is an understandable and fair approach to the security package.

[Airline Security, January 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that September 11 changed a number of things. As a result of that, the government brought down a national security package totalling $7.5 billion. It is understandable that the vast majority of that should be paid for by the general taxpaying public in the country.

However, in the case of the air security charge, it should be borne by those who are the primary users of that service, and that is what we have in fact done.

[Airline Security, January 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of Transport, and myself, I would first like to congratulate the member for Nunavut and the entire northern caucus for their very hard work on this issue.

In that context, I am very pleased to confirm that the charge will not be applied to direct flights to or from the smaller and remote airports that make up the vast majority of the airports in the north.

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, January 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, what I did yesterday was to simply point out the linking between certain transfers to the provinces.

The Minister of National Revenue has spoken exactly the way that the situation should develop. She is in the process of ascertaining the facts, as is the auditor general. When we have those facts we will make the decisions that are required. We will do so in conjunction with discussions with the provinces.

[The Economy, January 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have here the published numbers. Since it is obvious that the Alliance research department does not know where to find them, I would be quite happy to table these numbers which show since January 1 of this year, or if we want to go back five years, that the Canadian dollar has been stronger than the British pound, the euro, the Australian dollar and the Swedish krona; in fact the basket of currencies to which the hon. member referred.