Income Tax Act  Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest the remarks of our colleague of the Reform Party. It is obvious that Quebecers and Canadians as a whole have to deal with a level of taxation which is definitely very hard to support for the population, those who have a job and even those who do not have a job, given all the consumption taxes.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Madam Speaker, I listened closely to the speech by the hon. member for Matapédia-Matane. If I understood correctly, he was speaking not only about the treatment of Quebec in Canada, but also about the way his region is treated by the province of Quebec. We find that to be a very interesting point.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  I am speaking against Bill C-3 because it extends the ceiling on equalization payments. On the contrary, we need a complete reform of all transfer payments to the provinces. The cuts made by the federal government in established programs financing reduced the federal share of funding of health and post-secondary education programs in Quebec from 45 per cent in 1984 to 32 per cent in 1993.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  I am not saying that New Democratic governments always work super well everywhere, just like I do not think anybody here would say the Tories or Liberals-Reform has a short record so far-essentially work everywhere. I am saying that we have to look around for models of excellence in which people actually have done the job well. I am saying that British Columbia is doing it well, just like the New Democratic and CCF governments in Saskatchewan have done well over the years.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  I simply want to say in closing that I appreciate having the chance to participate in this debate. However I do not want to get into the Reform Party schtick of saying: "Mary Bloggs from this town asked me to raise this question". I have been asked to at least raise the question on behalf of the city of Vancouver in terms of what it perceives to be an unfairness.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  I said that with my tongue in my cheek. What Mr. Klein is doing is a typical Conservative or perhaps Reform approach to the world. We will see how that works out in the next few months. We tried a different approach in British Columbia. We tried what I would call the real New Democrat approach of can we bring that deficit under control without emasculating the social programs.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Alberta.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Madam Speaker, we have heard much about the transfer of wealth of Canada to the provinces. If we look at our debt and our deficit and the borrowing we have to do we are not transferring the wealth of Canada, one might say, we are transferring the wealth of other countries we borrow from and the people of Canada from whom we have borrowed.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  These are programs that fund our health care system in Canada and fund post-secondary education. I told one of my colleagues from the Reform Party who called me a socialist Liberal, the other day-I thank you for the compliment by the way-that if it was not for EPF to the provinces across Canada that as the son of a coal miner from Cape Breton who not through any fault of his own but because of the working conditions of the day saw more pay days than he saw pay cheques, I would not have been able to afford to go to university.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to hear probably for the 15th time now that hon. members from the Bloc are insisting that we hear repeatedly the story that Quebec is getting a raw deal in the extent to which it is sending money to Ottawa and the extent to which it is receiving money.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Thus Quebec wants to break free from this system. Many times we proposed the way to do it. Perhaps that could satisfy our member of the Reform Party. Does he have an opinion on that?

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to respond to some of the points the hon. member has made. I do not obviously know all the reasoning behind the statements made by my colleagues, but I can attempt to give an answer. The people of my riding are reacting to the fact that a province like Manitoba which according to Statistics Canada has a higher per capita income than Saskatchewan receives more per capita in transfers than Saskatchewan.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Winnipeg St. James for his comments. The hon. member made a terrible mistake. He discussed hockey in the middle of a political speech. Whenever we do that we run the risk that the conversation will quickly turn away from politics and stay strictly with hockey.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  That is why I am a very strong supporter of equalization and of this equalization program. It was pointed out by one of the Reform speakers yesterday, and I appreciated his comments, that the proposal put forward in the bill by the finance minister gives the program an element of certainty. We are going to know for the next five years what this program is all about.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House to present a petition from the residents of Horsefly, British Columbia. My constituents are firmly opposed to any reduction in postal service and postal personnel in rural communities as well as to the closure of rural post offices.