Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to first congratulate the member for bringing this issue forward. I have brought my own private members' bills forward in the past and I know how difficult these things sometimes are. I regret to say, however, that I will not be supporting his bill. The bill proposes to amend the Income Tax Act and provide a tax deduction for automobile expenses for forestry workers.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, we would have another health care need if the hon. member fell off his chair. I would not want to have to carry him out of here. I would not want to see his health impaired by this debate. I am not quite sure where he gets this business of an $8 billion surplus. I hope it is true, but it is what I call The Globe and Mail surplus, because the numbers that are available in the public domain project a much smaller surplus.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am sure those who have been watching the debate thus far have been somewhat overwhelmed by the flurry of numbers that have been going back and forth in this debate. As you rightly point out, Mr. Speaker, this is an important issue to Canadians, but it is important that Canadians also have the facts in front of them in order to adequately assess this issue.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for participating in this important debate. It is somewhat difficult to participate in a partnership when one of the partners refuses to recognize the contributions that the federal government makes. One of the obvious points of disagreement in this debate is whether a $17 billion transfer in tax points is actually real money.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his speech, probably best described as fun with facts and figures. The hon. member is an economics professor and seems to have some incapacity to deal with the actual moneys that get transferred to the provinces. Possibly that is why he is seeking a political appointment as opposed to professorial employment.

Equalization  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raises a valid question. As members know, the equalization formula is an extraordinarily complicated formula involving 33 sources of revenue. Among those revenues, the formula necessarily kicks up anomalies. The hon. member has pointed out one of the anomalies.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will recollect that in the course of these tax cuts we have had something in the order of 25% corporate tax cuts and 75% personal tax cuts. We have to bear in mind that we do need to keep a competitive tax environment, which really is a notion that is lost on my friend in the corner.

Volunteerism  Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to congratulate Mr. André Rousseau, one of the members of my constituency, on his exemplary voluntary service in Lithuania. Mr. Rousseau was sent to Lithuania on assignment with the Canadian Executive Service Organization, CESO, to assist with the marketing and management of a local hotel.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act  Mr. Speaker, it is hard to know how to deal with the underlying thesis of the hon. member's speech. It seems to indicate that fiscal imbalance should be redressed, regardless of economic circumstances, and that it does not matter what formula is used, the federal government should only pay out one way on a formula .

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member's speech, which I thought was quite a good speech. He was wrong, but it was a good speech. He indicated that he was mystified by this bill. Then he went on to demonstrate that he was far from mystified by this bill. He thought it was for election purposes.

International Trade  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member asked a very good question on which I do not have a brief. I will take that question under advisement and report to him shortly.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act  Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to enter into this debate. I would like to start by thanking my colleagues on the finance committee for their cooperation on the bill. As hon. members know, the bill is of great significance to the provinces and to those of us in the House who want to see that the legislative timelines are met.

Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the hon. member for his efforts in presenting Bill C-246. It puts us all in a bit of a conflict as a result of a natural response to this deduction. What the bill actually asks for is $7,000 for child adoption expenses. I must confess to a personal conflict here.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure today to rise on Bill C-18, an act respecting equalization and to authorize the Minister of Finance to make certain payments with respect to health, and to support the motion that the legislation be referred to committee. The bill is designed to achieve two goals.

Canada Steamship Lines  Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that the hon. member has the cart before the horse. The entire industrialized world, all of the G-7 nations and all of the G-20 nations, cannot at this stage agree on the terms of a consensus, so how Canada is somehow or another going to retroactively apply this kind of legislation is again a rich fantasy on the part of the Bloc