Ralph Goodale

[Taxation, October 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. gentleman that our fiscal forecasting is not done in-house. It is not done on the basis of a single economist that we just pick because he might agree with our point of view. It is based on the independent professional judgment of 19 professional economists selected from across the country.

While I am interested in the proposal that the hon. gentleman makes for some kind of independent review, I would caution against following the American example too closely because the Americans have an annual budget deficit of very nearly the total.

[Taxation, October 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in terms of where the money was dedicated at the end of the last fiscal year, I am pleased to tell the hon. gentleman that to the extent that we could measure the available flexibility at the time of the budget on March 23, that money went to health care, SARS, BSE and municipalities.

The amount of the surplus that became known in the statistics in September was dedicated to reducing the debt, which saves interest payments for all Canadians.

[Taxation, October 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, contrary to the tone of the official opposition, when all the first ministers were around the table here a couple of weeks ago, they had a very positive discussion. Obviously they were candid and pointed with each other but the end result was that they took major steps to solve an important problem to improve the health care of Canadians. I have no doubt that they will do the same on October 26.

However it should be noted on fiscal imbalance that both orders of government have access to the same major tax bases. The provinces have some bases that the federal government does not, in lotteries and royalties, and each government has total fiscal autonomy.

[Taxation, October 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to health care and equalization, the Government of Canada assists provinces in many other ways. We have indicated in the throne speech, for example, that we will be helping with child care, communities and senior citizens.

We have ongoing support for post-secondary education, social services, infrastructure, the environment, agriculture, natural resources, immigration, regional development, housing, the alleviation of homelessness, innovation and research. In all these ways we work in close partnership with provincial governments.

[Taxation, October 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the first ministers will have a very useful conversation on October 26. They intend to deal with serious matters in a serious way, just as they did a couple of weeks ago when they met here in Ottawa to deal with health care.

On health care we now have a long term plan that will shorten waiting lists, improve primary care and lead to better services and care for all Canadians everywhere in the country. The Government of Canada is contributing $41 billion more to make that happen.

When we meet on October 26 we will confirm $33 billion more for equalization.

[Taxation, October 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is not hidden. Indeed, it is very good news for all Canadians.

The federal government's fiscal strength is an advantage to all Canadians. Our triple A credit rating keeps everyone's interest rates low, including those of citizens and the government of Quebec. Our average Canadian standard of living is constantly on the rise. Our fiscal performance helps to stimulate investment and employment, and it makes it possible for us to help our partners in the provinces with things like $41 billion more for health care and $33 billion more for--

[Finance, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let me remind the hon. member where the additional revenue at the end of the last fiscal year went, as reported at the time of my budget. It went to help with SARS, it went to help with BSE, it went to help with our health care system and it went to help with municipalities. The rest of it went to reduce debt.

[Taxation, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman is mistaken. The Government of Canada does not use just one in-house advisor. We do not just pick our favourite economist to tell us what we want to hear. In fact, we consult with 19 economists from every region of the country, from a broad spectrum of economic and political points of view to make sure we get the very best advice from all of those who have something useful to contribute.

[Taxation, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the hon. gentleman because I did not quite get the gist of his question.

However I can assure him that the Government of Canada always looks carefully at all requests from those who have ideas and suggestions to make about the programming of the Government of Canada, most especially the provinces.

I have indicated very clearly that we transfer literally tens of billions of dollars per year to the provinces to assist them within their jurisdictions.

[Taxation, October 12th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that the provinces have significant financial pressures to deal with in their jurisdiction.

The Government of Canada has significant financial pressures to deal with within its jurisdiction. We have a number of agreements back and forth to assist each other: health care is one; equalization is another; early childhood development is another; housing is another; infrastructure is another.

The Government of Canada contributes enormously to the well-being of all Canadians in all provinces.