The Economy  Mr. Speaker, this massive fiscal margin is all in the imagination of the Bloc Quebecois' finance critic. He is always talking about a surplus of $13 billion. He seems to think that he is right, and that all of the other economists are wrong. The fact is that the federal surplus is much less than what the Bloc Quebecois claims.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member sees nothing but a glass half empty. The big news today was on the employment front. The United States lost more than 400,000 jobs, which is terribly bad. Canada was expected to lose a large number of jobs, like 20,000. The point the hon. member ignores, which is the news of the day, is we did not lose any jobs; we gained 1,800 jobs.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that the NDP remains mired in the failed tax and spend permanent deficit policies of the 1970s, a morass from which thinking lefties have long ago escaped. The budget will be in December.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, the member should know that the federal government has already injected over $20 billion, in terms of tax cuts and increased spending, into the field of health care. Twenty billion dollars is the equivalent of $200 billion in the states. So, it is not just lower interest rates, but a very significant injection of funds into the economy in addition to low interest rates that will help the Canadian economy in these troubled times.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the Quebec finance minister on her budget yesterday, which added another $3 billion. Governments in Canada must all work together in these difficult times. If we include the funds injected yesterday by Quebec and the $20 billion already added by the federal government over the past year, these measures together will give the Canadian economy a considerable boost.

Prebudget Consultations  Mr. Speaker, I will be quite delicate, because as I said earlier today, my role here is to take notes and listen, not to enter into substantive debate. Nor will I respond to a couple of personal barbs. Just purely on the question of facts, my difficulty with the finance critic is that he is on many occasions somewhat loose with the facts.

Prebudget Consultation  Mr. Speaker, I must confess that notwithstanding the kind comments toward me from the hon. member I have a bit of a problem. I have been making notes on suggestions. I have a quarter to a third of a page from the Alliance, a quarter of a page from the Bloc and a third of a page from the NDP.

Prebudget Consultation  Mr. Speaker, the member for Regina--Qu'Appelle made thoughtful comments overall. I am not agreeing with every word but they were positively enlightening compared to the two speakers who preceded him. It is sometimes said that if one has 18 priorities, one has no priorities. The member listed about eight initiatives that he would like the government to focus on.

Prebudget Consultation  Mr. Speaker, I am not generally reluctant to offer my opinion on budgetary matters but today is different. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, my role is to listen, to sit here in the House and take note of the ideas hon. members have on the budget. As members know, it has been a tradition for some years to have a prebudget take note debate.

Employee Benefits  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raised some interesting ideas, but I cannot support the motion. I will give the main reason I cannot support the motion first, then give some background and come back in more detail on why I cannot support it. The basic reason is that the member's motion is a good example of what might be called the law of unintended consequences.

*Question No. 72  Mr. Speaker, with respect to (a), the daily turnover in the international gold market is approximately six to seven million ounces per day. With respect to (b), Canada has had a clear and transparent policy since 1980 to sell gold at a gradual and controlled pace to reduce the proportion of gold held in our official international reserves in order to benefit Canadian taxpayers.

Blood Samples Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to vote in favour of the bill.

Nelson Mandela  , seconded by the hon. members for Windsor West, Medicine Hat, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, Winnipeg—Transcona and Calgary Centre, moved: That this House, recognizing the great moral leadership provided by Nelson Mandela to South Africa and to all humanity, agree that he be declared an honorary citizen of Canada.

Committees Of The House  Mr. Speaker, I should like to present a resolution which I know has the support of the four opposition foreign affairs critics. If you would seek unanimous consent, I hope it will be given. The motion concerns the advisability of proclaiming Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will respond to these three points. First, the motion has nothing to do with separatism, at least not directly. This is not a referendum. What I said is that the more tax points are transferred to the provinces, the less important the federal government is in Quebec.