The Environment  The idea for the gasoline tax comes from the same Liberal government that has repeatedly promised there would be no carbon tax to implement Kyoto. Will this broken promise be just another on the long Liberal list of broken promises?

The Environment  Speaker, we have repeated in the House, not only myself but many other ministers, that we would never consider a carbon tax in the past, or the present or in the future. The hon. member and his party do not hear very well. There is a process set up. The first ministers have asked for a joint meeting of federal-provincial-territorial ministers.

The Environment  The government has kept Canadians in the dark with respect to how good its intentions are in putting forward the Kyoto accord. It has sent up a trial balloon on a carbon tax. Would the Minister of Natural Resources please tell the House and Canadians today what it is that he has planned for the Kyoto accord, how he will pick the pockets of Canadians and what kind of taxes will be involved in that pocket picking?

The Environment  If such a meeting is convened, would the agenda include the discussion of any federal proposal for a carbon tax?

The Environment  They are meeting at the end of May. Once again the hon. member knows this government has never looked at a carbon tax in the past, nor will it now or in the future. He should not continue to raise this issue again and again. He should look at what work has been done. He should congratulate and commend the good work that has been done by the federal and provincial governments jointly on a very important issue for Canadians.

Goods And Services Tax  It we fully apply the McKenna formula to Quebec, Ottawa owes Quebec $2 billion, which the Quebec government has been asking for, as was demonstrated in black and white in the last provincial budget. Why is the government persisting in not treating Quebec the same way as it is treating the maritimes?

Goods And Services Tax  The Minister of Finance has nothing better than unconvincing sophistries to offer in response to the Quebec Minister of Finance, who reviewed his calculations and was able to provide evidence, in black and white, that Quebec is indeed entitled to $2 billion, and not to zilch, as maintained by the minister. Since it has been established that the minister's McKenna formula, when used properly, provides for $2 billion in compensation for Quebec, why is the minister not paying this $2 billion to Quebec?

Michèle Lemieux  The book is intended for readers between the ages of 9 and 15. It is 240 pages long in black and white and will be published this fall in French with Éditions du Seuil. It is always refreshing to be able to give our children something besides Disney publications. We are therefore awaiting impatiently the French version of this book for our children.

Excise Tax Act  Clearly, however, he prepared his question yesterday or last week and he decided to put it anyway, even though I had just showed him in black and white that they were wrong in this. Yes, indeed. I repeat, you are in the process of buying the maritimes' vote. That is what you are doing. At least have the courage to say so.

The Budget  I heard many members of the House take credit for the low interest rate, jobs and breaking the back of the deficit. It is all a myth. They are spinning a myth. The reality faces them in black and white. Yet they brag and congratulate a finance minister who has failed to address the real problem of the debt and the high interest costs to service it. We will all pay for that in the long run.

Tobacco Act  However, there were no sponsorships on television. This was at the beginning of television. We had black and white screens only, and there were just a few programs. But did we ever smoke. Therefore, there must be other factors that lead young people to smoke. In fact, if the health minister is so convinced that sponsorships are one of the important factors that lead young people to start smoking, why then does he not provide a transition period in order to help sponsored events to find other sponsors?

Tobacco Act  We did not attack him, but they cannot accept any debate. They cannot accept it because, according to them, something is either black or white. You are either for or against it. There is nothing in between. They cannot accept another view. This is why, whenever we speak, they feel the urge to interrupt us. Well, let them.

Tobacco Act  I would like to have an intelligent person on the other side who is in favour of this bill tell the Canadian public why the government cannot make a law which is black and white: Here it is, baby; you either follow it or you do not. Then if there are objections, it either stands the test of legality or it does not. Why can we not do that? I have had conversations with members of the health department.

Excise Tax Act  Canadians were probably not watching the right television channel when the Prime Minister said: "We want to scrap the GST; we want to abolish it; we want to eliminate it". Canadians were probably not reading the right newspapers when they read, written in black and white, during the election campaign, statements made by the Prime Minister and his Liberal colleagues saying: "Yes, we will scrap the GST". Canadians were probably not tuning to the right radio stations when the Prime Minister, his ministers and other members opposite said: "We will abolish the GST; we will scrap it".

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act  It states further, at clause 13, that "the president has the authority to appoint the employees of the agency". It is there in black and white. So, it is obvious that the president, as several members said-and the hon. member for Frontenac just did-who is appointed by the governor in Council, in other words by cabinet, with all the risks attached to such appointments, such as appointing partisan individuals whose only qualifications would be their membership in the Liberal Party, once this president has been appointed, carefully chosen because he is one of their own-so he will do exactly as told-, this president will be totally free to appoint whomever he wants as an employee of the agency.