Rodger Cuzner

[2010 Winter Olympics, November 4th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of Bras d'Or—Cape Breton I would like to congratulate the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Bid Corporation for making it onto the short list.

Vancouver and Whistler were selected by the international Olympic committee to take the bid to the next stage of competition at the end of August. Canada is now competing against Austria and South Korea to win the rights to host the world in 2010. We all know that in this Olympic competition there is only one medal.

The team, led by Canada's gold medallist, Mr. Jack Poole, includes volunteers and governments, first nations and athletes, the Canadian Olympic Committee, and leaders of business and finance from right across the country. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic bid is a true team Canada project.

Please join me in congratulating the Vancouver Bid Corporation for its success to date and wish it the very best in bringing the Olympics and Paralympics home in 2010.

[Celtic Colours International Festival, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the beauty of the Cape Breton Island coastline enriched by the brilliant colours of its fall foliage has for some time drawn tourists to our area. Our traditional Celtic music, as shared through the artistry of Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, the Rankin Family and others, has continued to grow and appeal to many beyond our shores.

For the past six years these two great assets have been packaged and presented as one of the country's great cultural festivals, the Celtic Colours International Festival. The festival draws not only from the great wealth of Cape Breton talent, but has also become a must-make week for some of the top international Celtic performers including The Chieftains and Sharon Shannon.

This year's event, which just wrapped up with Sunday's largest square dance in the world, has drawn record crowds and has made a huge contribution both socially and economically to the entire island. To organizers Joella Folds and Max MacDonald, the board of directors and the army of dedicated volunteers who have delivered another exceptional festival, on behalf of all the people of Cape Breton, congratulations.

[Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to acknowledge the recent announcement by the Government of Canada to provide $2.4 million for the fiscal year 2002-03 in support of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

The centre is Canada's independent anti-doping organization mandated to deliver the Canadian anti-doping campaign which includes programs of education, testing, research and international compliance.

Canada continues to be a world leader in the fight against doping in sport. Such leadership is essential to ensure that sport for our children is built on a foundation of fair play and ethical values.

I commend the Government of Canada on its recent funding announcement and the leadership it continues to show in the area of anti-doping.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, October 11th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Dartmouth has invested a great deal of effort, as has my colleague from Halifax West, with regard to the cleanup of Halifax harbour and the federal government playing its role.

Was she as astounded as the members on this side were when the Halifax harbour project was not identified as a priority in correspondence from the premier of that province? Certainly, it came as a great shock to the Nova Scotia members of the government. I would like her comments on that.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, October 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, to continue on with the health care theme, I think we all recognize the investment that was made in September 2000 by the government, in particular, the envelope of money that was made available for the acquisition of major medical equipment. I know it certainly had an impact across the country. We have seen the number of MRIs grow from around 52 to 106.

I know that my home constituency of Bras d'Or--Cape Breton is in the process of obtaining an MRI in our regional health facility. As well, we have been able to acquire digital X-ray equipment in some of the rural hospitals. We have had great success with that. Again, it reduces the lineups.

My question for the member is this. Does he believe that there is merit in the strategy outlined by the Prime Minister that we wait for the Romanow commission and then meet with the first ministers?

[The Environment, October 3rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage on today's announcement of an action plan to create 10 new national parks and 5 national marine conservation areas and to restore the ecological health of Canada's existing national parks.

This action plan will ensure the protection of some of our nation's most spectacular wilderness and marine areas and ensure that they will passed on unimpaired to future generations. It is a bold agenda that will be achieved with the cooperation of provincial and territorial governments, aboriginal people, northern and rural communities, and Canadians in general.

It will result in the government taking measures to ensure the long-term health of our 360,000 square kilometres of Canada's rich natural heritage, protected by Parks Canada. To protect the global environment we must act locally. Today's announcement will ensure that through the participation of local people our nation will protect areas critical to national and global ecosystems.

I wish to congratulate the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage for their global leadership on the creation and protection of national parks, an important symbol of our national identity.

[Committees of the House, June 19th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, sometimes when decisions are made in Ottawa that impact on the everyday life of people, whether it be through HRDC programs or, in this case, the fishery, the people back in my riding of Cape Breton often ask whether the people of Ottawa reach out to the regions of the country and try to understand what is actually happening on the ground.

I want to reiterate what my colleague from Delta--South Richmond stated concerning the study the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans embarked on. Committee members travelled to the east coast and listened to a broad collection of opinions. People were passionate in expressing their opinions. The fishermen, the processors, the buyers and the community leaders all shared those same opinions. When we returned we put the report together and came forward with the recommendations. It was unanimous. There were no dissenting reports offered. We thought it was a great piece of work.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for my colleague. He is a gentleman who has earned a living in the fishery. He has a great understanding of the industry. I have a question for the member. With a revision of the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, will that give us the stick that we need? Will that enable us to move forward toward custodial management? Will it give us some teeth in order to win back control of the resource off the nose and tail of the Grand Banks?

[Supply, June 6th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Newfoundland has intimated to me on several occasions that he would like to have been from Cape Breton.

That being said, I would have to remind the member that equalization is a function of the federal-provincial agreement. In this past year, 2001-02, the transfer to Newfoundland will exceed $1.5 billion, which constitutes almost 39% of the total revenues for the province of Newfoundland. I would think that--

[Supply, June 6th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from the NDP, my fellow Nova Scotian, for her question. Certainly I do share the concerns of my colleague.

Let us look at the first issue, that being health care. Back in September 2000 a reinvestment was made after years of cutbacks. We know that tough decisions were made through the mid-1990s and all Canadians paid the price. There were cutbacks in various sectors but specifically in health care. The reinvestment has been made through transfer payments to the provinces as well as additional direct spending by the federal government.

Part of the reinvestment in September 2000 was a fund specifically identified for hospital equipment. Two hospitals in my constituency, one in Sydney and one in Inverness, have purchased major pieces of equipment, which they feel will help reduce lineups and waiting lists for particular services. I am looking forward to being at the ceremonies to recognize the purchases made with those dollars.

With regard to equalization, I as well recognize that our province carries a higher debt load than any other province in Canada. Per capita it is probably close to 50% greater than that of any other province. This does pose additional problems and concerns. I am not quite sure that equalization is the answer. If we had access to dollars there are many national programs that we could get into. Sometimes we are challenged just to get into the national programs because we do not have the entry level dollars to get in.

I know that right now the province of Nova Scotia is receiving its highest share of CHST on record. It is at record numbers right now. Again I think that a major portion of the problem rests with the province of Nova Scotia. We know it has the same taxing powers as the federal government, plus more. It is incumbent that those processes are pursued whether it is through equalization or through another portion of money.

[Supply, June 6th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, it is certainly a great opportunity to speak on the motion tabled by the hon. member for Peace River. To fully understand the situation that we find ourselves in now, it is imperative that we look at a little background on these overpayments and an explanation of the tax collection agreement would prove valuable.

Under these agreements, the collection of personal income taxes from all provinces and territories is the responsibility of Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, with the exception of the province of Quebec. In turn the federal government issues payments to the provinces of the appropriate share of taxes collected based on the accounts provided by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

Because of a tax accounting problem at Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta received overpayments. Specifically, the problem relates to the accounting of capital gain refunds by mutual fund trusts. Both federal and provincial income taxes on capital gains are paid by the mutual fund trusts. In some specific cases the trusts may receive refunds from both the federal and provincial portions of this tax paid.

As in life, mistakes can be made and a significant one was made. The result was the non-deduction of the provincial portion of the capital gains refund claimed by the mutual fund. Because of this problem with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and its accounting processes, the deduction did not factor into the computation of the provincial tax revenues. Instead this was deducted from the federal revenues.

To put it in other terms, when mutual fund trusts paid income tax to the provinces on capital gains, that money was added to the payment to the provinces. However when the mutual fund trust received a refund of provincial taxes paid, the refund was not deducted from the payments to the provinces. In no way were the taxes paid by businesses or individual citizens affected as the issue was strictly between governments.

The amounts of money we are talking about are not small. In fact they are fairly significant. Over $3 billion were paid out over a six year period. As previously stated, the provinces most significantly affected include Ontario, Manitoba, B.C. and Alberta. The province of Alberta was paid $4 million; $120 million was paid to the province of B.C.; $400 million was paid to the province of Manitoba; and $2.8 billion was paid to the province of Ontario.

It was during a major retrofit of the computer systems used for tax accounting at CCRA that the problem was first identified and an indepth review was then undertaken. Once the extent of the problem was identified, CCRA officials informed finance and the auditor general.

The government acted quickly and deliberately. Actions taken were open and transparent. It was imperative to move and to prevent further overpayments and that was done. Discussions with those provinces impacted began immediately. To determine the entire scope of the problem, the CCRA and the auditor general were asked for confirmation of the amounts involved.

Reports from the office of the auditor general on the overpayments were presented to the new Minister of Finance this past week. As stated earlier in the debate by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, the auditor general presented four reports all together. There was an auditor's report for the years 1997 to 1999. There was an accountant's report for 1993 to 1996 and another for years prior to 1993.

For the 1993 to 1996 period, the procedures carried out were the same as those used to conduct an audit. However, because some documentation was not available the auditor general cannot express an audit level verification on the amount of the overpayments for these periods. For the period prior to 1993, the auditor general found that the necessary financial information to determine the amount of overpayments relating to this period just does not exist.

Finally, the fourth report deals with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency's accounting practices. This report verifies that the CCRA has taken the necessary steps to address these problems. Essentially I would think we could agree that these problems are being addressed.

The reports have been made available to the provinces and indeed to all Canadians by the Minister of Finance. We are now in the process of identifying, in concert with the provinces and territories, the impact of these findings. To further complicate this issue, these overpayments have impacted on the calculation of equalization, so in essence they have impacted on all provinces.

I am certainly not an accountant and, as a matter of fact, on matters of finance I considered myself somewhat challenged, but I think most Canadians recognize it is normal that if an overpayment is made, retribution is sought.

I recognize the complexity of this issue, and the solution is not obvious at this point. I assure the House that the government is committed to the resolution of this problem, to a solution that reflects fiscal responsibility and fairness. We will continue to co-operate with the auditor general, the provinces and the territories on this issue and do what is right for Canadians.