Taxation  Mr. Speaker, we need to address this problem. Almost every member of the House has rural communities that are dealing with this issue. It is a problem that crosses party lines. The Liberal government chose to extend benefits to urban firefighters without considering the deduction for their rural cousins.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, this year's budget announced an increase in the emergency services volunteer tax free allowance. The difficulty is that unless they receive remuneration for their services, volunteers cannot claim any tax deduction. Typically urban volunteer firefighters receive some form of remuneration while rural firefighters do not.

Lantz Elementary School  Mr. Speaker, the trickle down effect of the finance minister's financial agenda is being felt by students and parents in Hants county in my riding. After making education and the millennium scholarship fund the central issue of this year's budget, the finance minister has cut transfers to Nova Scotia by $25 million.

Banking  Mr. Speaker, the finance minister feels personally slighted that the banks made a business decision without consulting him first and that is why he is stalling. He is stalling while hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs lie in uncertainty. The minister has the opportunity now to do the right thing and involve Canadians in this debate.

Banking  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance said “the decision on the bank mergers will be made by this government, by this Parliament and by the Canadian people”. It seems to the Canadian people that the Liberal lobbyists and the Liberal sheep over there will decide this issue. If the minister is truly sincere, will he ask the finance committee to begin immediate hearings right now to give Canadians the access they deserve?

Banking  Mr. Speaker, the PC caucus believes that all members in this House deserve access, that all Canadians deserve access and that it should not be discussed in the back rooms of the Liberal caucus behind closed doors. Why will the Liberal Minister of Finance not bring this bank merger issue out of the Liberal back rooms and into the open?

Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985  Madam Speaker, the hon. member would seek to deny Canadians the benefit of the expertise of the Senate on this type of legislation. As a parliamentarian I am quite proud of the spirit of co-operation and the level of expertise that benefited Canadians through the work of the Senate on the legislation.

Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985  Madam Speaker, Bill S-3 proposes to update the Pension Benefits Standards Act, a law through which the federal government supervises private pension plans. Canada's system of retirement income has three pillars. The first pillar is the basic old age security paid to all seniors together with the various supplements paid to low income seniors.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his unusually succinct answer. The national roundtable also recommended that private woodlot owners be provided with the same capital gains tax exemption currently available to farmers. At present if an owner wishes to pass on their woodlot to an heir it is more advantageous to clearcut the woodlot and pay less capital gains tax than manage the woodlot in an environmentally sound manner.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, small private woodlot owners are being penalized by the federal tax code for following environmentally responsible standards. The national round table on the environment and the economy report tabled last October recommended that private woodlot owners be treated as small business owners.

The Late Rob Thompson  Mr. Speaker, last month Nova Scotia lost one of its favourite sons, Rob Thompson. Rob was 23 years old when he died of cystic fibrosis in a North Carolina hospital on March 17. I first met Rob when I was a student at Dalhousie University, working as a lunch monitor at LaMarchant School where he was a student.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, as we welcome in the spring season I think it is time we join the government in celebrating this golden economic age. Our unemployment figures are half those of the United States. Our youth unemployment rate is at its lowest in years. Young Americans are lining up at our borders to seek greater opportunities in Canada.

Budget Implementation Act, 1998  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on Bill C-36, the budget implementation act. The budget of 1998 represented a major shift in the fiscal fortunes of the Government of Canada. It has taken 15 years of fiscal planning to achieve this balanced budget as the Leader of the Opposition mentioned previously in the House.

Millennium Scholarship Fund  Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance said that if the auditor general would like to have access to the millennium fund books it would be arranged. Yet the Budget Implementation Act does not give the auditor general any right of access to the books of the foundation. In fact the legislation calls for the millennium fund to have its own auditor.

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for a very good question. There is a tremendous amount of duplication of efforts between provincial and federal governments in Canada. If we look at the education system and training in Canada, we see that part of the problem is that there are so many programs which are not tied together that we do need a more cohesive approach to training, education and more research into apprenticeship programs.