Ralph Goodale

[Taxation, October 18th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have not yet had the opportunity to read the full report that the hon. gentleman is referring to, but I certainly will do that.

In a preliminary way it appears that the report relates to a period of time when first of all, a limitation was placed on the payments under the Canada assistance plan to certain provinces, most especially Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia under Mr. Mulroney's government. Later on that limitation was taken off. Again, the effect was largely felt in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. It did not affect the flow of revenue to Quebec.

[Guaranteed Income Supplement, October 15th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons why it is important to deal with issues like debt reduction is to ensure that when we face that big retirement of the baby boomer generation, just five or six years from now, those senior citizens, together with today's senior citizens, will have medicare and pensions and will not see 30¢ or 40¢ out of every dollar going to pay interest rates. That is the advantage of debt reduction.

I am very pleased to tell the hon. gentleman, we are going to increase the GIS.

[Taxation, October 15th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, we have passed a number of bills in previous parliaments and I have no doubt that we will pass bills in this Parliament which will make major transfers from the Government of Canada to assist the provinces. We are doing so in health and in equalization. We have done the same with respect to infrastructure, housing and immigration.

There are many examples of that very kind of thing. Obviously, we want to provide the greatest possible certainty, both for this Parliament and for the provinces before the end of the fiscal year.

[Taxation, October 15th, 2004]

No, Mr. Speaker, absolutely not. What the hon. gentleman is referring to is a document called The Fiscal Monitor , which is published on a regular, monthly basis by the Department of Finance to tell parliamentarians and all Canadians the exact ebb and flow of expenses going out and revenues coming in so that everyone can know the status of the books as the year unfolds. I would point out that it is a snapshot in time. There will be another Fiscal Monitor next month, and the month after that. One has to see the whole year to see the full picture for the fiscal year.

[Taxation, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am certainly determined to address all Canadians and to say to them that we have a strong, balanced approach that is working for Canada.

Yes, we have applied some money on the debt, $9 billion last year. We are also applying $41 billion to health care and $33 billion to equalization. We will deliver on child care. We will deliver on communities and municipalities in which I know the hon. gentleman is very interested. We have a broad, balanced objective to serve this entire country.

[Taxation, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, there are a variety of very strong objectives that this government has already articulated.

In respect of clean air and climate change, for example, over the last number of budgets we have set aside $2.7 billion to address those issues. With respect to the proceeds from Petro-Canada, for example, I have already indicated that a significant portion of those proceeds will go toward environmental sustainability.

I accept the hon. gentleman's point about the importance of these things. I can assure him they are indeed on the government's agenda with--

[Taxation, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, all the money that was reported yesterday has gone to the benefit of Canadians.

The hon. gentleman seems to deny the fact that debt paydown has any benefit. So far that pattern over the last seven years has saved the Government of Canada $3 billion per year in money that is now available every year going forward for health, education, social programs and so forth.

Also, I hope the hon. gentleman is not suggesting that we should leave that horrendous mortgage on the future of our children and grandchildren.

[Taxation, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, we are participating with the provinces in a whole variety of ways. We participate with them in health care. We have just added $41 billion. We participate with them through equalization. We have added $33 billion. We participate in immigration, infrastructure, housing and post-secondary education. In all those ways we participate with the provinces.

It is interesting to know that every provincial government that has to date in this year filed its own annual financial report shows exactly the same phenomenon as we reported yesterday.

[Taxation, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the answer to the hon. gentleman's question is buried in the question itself, and that is that one has to know the surplus exists, which we did not.

[Taxation, October 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. gentleman to check the Financial Administration Act. It clearly indicates that if an expenditure is made and attributed to a certain fiscal year, it indeed has to be done in that fiscal year. One cannot use money from a previous fiscal year after that fiscal year has closed.