Stephen Harper

[Ethics, February 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, earlier in question period the Prime Minister received an important question about the operation of blind trusts which he did not answer.

I want to ask the government this question again. Is it true that the blind trust rules of the government allow ministers, while in cabinet, to receive regular private briefings about the business of companies they own?

[Taxation, February 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, the former finance minister and the heritage minister used to say that they would kill, scrap and abolish the GST. Now they brag about it.

Mr. Speaker, this government took power on its promise to abolish the GST. The GST is bad for low and middle income families. It is a bad tax for Canadians in general.

When is this government going to give Canadian families and workers a reduction in the GST?

[Taxation, February 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, with CPP increases, air taxes, gas taxes and record GST revenue, Canadians could be forgiven for not noticing those tax cuts.

At a time when we have revelation of undisclosed GST fraud that has gone on for years, why will the government not commit to offer real tax relief, reduction of the GST to Canadian families and workers?

[Taxation, February 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow once again the government will reveal that it is hiding away surpluses by overtaxing Canadians. One way it does this is through the GST which is bringing in now a record $30 billion. It is still a regressive tax. It is still costly for the government and business to administer.

When will this government finally bring Canadians some real tax relief by lowering the rate of the GST?

[Iraq, February 14th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, every other member of the United Nations in the past few months has been able to tell its population where it stands on some of these issues. We are a sovereign country. Canadians have as much right to expect that from their government as any other nation in the world.

I know the real problem is that the Prime Minister faces a clash of civilizations within his own caucus. I will say to the Deputy Prime Minister, the government has been hearing, as have the rest of us, what Hans Blix has been saying today. Does it have any reaction at all to what Dr. Blix is saying on Iraq's--

[Iraq, February 14th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, for months the Prime Minister has been telling the House that the government would tell us where it stands when the Blix report was presented. Today is the day. The Prime Minister has heard the report.

I will ask this in as parliamentary a manner as I can. On this issue today, where is the Prime Minister?

[Iraq, February 14th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, last night in his speech in the United States, the Prime Minister was careful to endorse every single side of the international dispute over Iraq. This exercise in confusion rather than clarity was another step in our increasing slide to irrelevance on this issue.

Now that the Blix report has been delivered, can the government be clear, will it stand unequivocally with our allies, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and others, in stating that they have the right to act and that Saddam Hussein will be disarmed?

[Firearms Registry, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we do not believe in fairy tales or the Easter bunny.

Earlier in question period the Minister of Justice was up bragging about his unfinished, error prone, and billion dollar gun registry. How could he justify quietly funneling millions of dollars more into this system when his own colleagues say it is a contempt of this House?

[Iraq, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I guess our fear is that this government would be the last to find out.

As this crisis worsens, there is anxiety in financial markets worldwide. Here in North America we are already seeing delays at the border.

Only now, after months of disengagement, our Prime Minister travels today to the United States. Given that Canada and the government has not been part of the allied coalition, what assurance can the government give the House that war or security activities will, in no way, affect or disrupt Canadian trade, or lose Canadians their jobs?

[Iraq, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I think what the minister is really saying is that they are reading polls and doing focus groups.

A worldwide terrorist alert is also escalating. Tanks are positioned at Heathrow airport in London. The United States of America is on a nationwide orange alert. We are told that prominent North Americans may face assassination. In response, the government tells us that it is finally banning groups that have long been illegal elsewhere.

Does the government get it on this? Is it putting Canada on some kind of security alert and, if so, at what level?