Supply  Mr. Speaker, I have two questions for the hon. member. He mentioned in his speech that the entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well, that they were fostering it and all that sort of thing. When the minister asked the Competition Bureau to investigate the restructuring of the aviation industry, could the member explain why the minister did not restrict it to one narrow vision, the minister's narrow vision of a dominant carrier?

Supply  Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Competition Bureau was sidelined from its legislative responsibilities by section 47. That is what it is all about. Then the minister asked the Competition Bureau, in a strange way, to address a very narrow parameter of proposals. The minister did not say “Competition Bureau, go find the best proposal for restructuring the industry that addresses competition for consumers and the industry”.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, absolutely, Mr. von Finckenstein made a very impressive presentation and his report was excellent. However, on the first page of his presentation there was a letter from him to the minister. I do not have the letter here with me, but it said something like “Further to your instructions, I am making all my studies or my presentations on the assumption that there will be one dominant carrier”.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question. The problem is, if we change the 10% rule, under the NAFTA agreement there is a very specific exemption to the regulations and it lists specifically the 10% rule for the Air Canada Public Participation Act. If we change that rule it changes the whole agreement.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in support of the motion to prevent the government from changing the 10% Air Canada Public Participation Act to increase the available participation by any single entity. This is all being done in the middle of one of the most controversial issues we have going on in Canada and we should not be discussing this.

Airline Industry  Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry. Obviously there is now a power struggle between the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Transport. The Minister of Transport is proposing legislation to let him have a final say in all Competition Bureau tribunal reports.

Airline Industry  Mr. Speaker, the minister has only one answer for every question and it is the wrong one. I want to read to the House a tribunal report dated 1993. If the minister has the final say in future reports, we will never hear words like these. The tribunal report states that if Canadian Airlines is forced to merge with Air Canada, the tribunal finds that competition in domestic airline markets will likely be substantially lessened.

Competition Bureau  Mr. Speaker, I have a nice simple question for the Minister of Transport. In order to protect all consumers, will all the proposals for the restructuring of the aviation industry be required to go through the Competition Bureau merger review process?

Competition Bureau  Mr. Speaker, I need a little clarification from the Minister of Industry responsible for the Competition Bureau. Yesterday, the Minister of Transport said that the Competition Bureau does not deal with levels of service and price gouging, but the minister's website regarding the Competition Bureau states exactly the opposite and in fact deals with these issues when there is a merger involved.

Airline Industry  Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport. Air Canada today announced its proposal for a restructuring of the Canadian airline industry and in that proposal it requested a full merger review process by the Competition Bureau. Will the minister require that all proposals, either present or future, go through the same process so that they are all treated the same?

Airline Industry  Mr. Speaker, in fact the Competition Bureau is there to protect consumers. The Competition Bureau is there to protect consumers for a good reason and it serves a good purpose for the country. My question is simple. One proposal will accept a full review by the Competition Bureau.

Standing Committee On Transport  Mr. Speaker, a week before the first meeting of the transport committee, the National Post and the the Globe and Mail reported that the Minister of Transport had selected the member for Hamilton West to be elected as the new chair of the committee, even though there had not been a meeting.

Standing Committee On Transport  Mr. Speaker, you are probably right, it is out of order because the minister is supposed to stay out of committee affairs. Committees are supposed to answer to parliament but the minister preordained the vote in a committee meeting. I am asking the minister to commit to never doing that again, allow the committee to do its work—

Parliamentary Committees  Mr. Speaker, although parliamentary Standing Order 106(2) states that the chair of all parliamentary committees will be selected by the members of that committee, the Globe and Mail reports that the transport minister has already chosen the MP from Hamilton West to chair the new transport committee.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today on behalf of the residents of Wynn Park in Truro, Nova Scotia. These residents wish to draw to the attention of the House that the people of Wynn Park are opposed to the use of community mailboxes, the current method of mail delivery in their area.