Speech From The Throne  Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank my fellow citizens in Markham for electing me. I also want to thank my family, which has accepted wholeheartedly the family and financial costs of political life. Often many things have a silver lining. For my two teenage sons, the greater ava

Markham  Mr. Speaker, I would thank the citizens of Markham for according me such a splendid electoral victory over the Canadian Alliance on November 27 and for giving me the opportunity to work on their behalf in years to come. I will work with others to preserve and promote Markham's p

Presence In Gallery  Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Contrary to repeated assertions by the Canadian Alliance in the House today and elsewhere, I never at any time said that the Liberal program would lead the country back into deficits. The contrary impression arose from media spin during t

Presence In Gallery  Mr. Speaker, without going into further detail, then, let me register the point that their claims that I said there would be a deficit under the Liberal program are untrue.

Volunteers  Mr. Speaker, the United Nations has declared 2001 the Year of International Volunteers. As we know, many Canadians benefit from the tremendous efforts of volunteers across the country. My question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue. Could she

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, one thing that drives me moderately up the wall is declarations on the Canadian dollar by that well known economic guru, the Leader of the Opposition. The quickest way to get a 50 cent dollar would be a return to the huge deficits the Alliance was calling for during

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, with the exception of a few Quebec separatists, never have I met an individual so loose with his facts as the finance critic of the Canadian Alliance. According to him, our foreign debt and our government debt rank second among OECD countries. Again, this is false.

Income Tax Act  Madam Speaker, I will begin by congratulating the hon. member for Jonquière on her bill. I think that the government fully supports her bill's objective, what she seeks to accomplish. It is just the method that is a problem. We think that there are alternative ways of accomplish

Income Tax Amendments Act, 2000  Madam Speaker, I rushed over here to ask a question because I cannot agree with very much that the hon. member has just said. In fact, I have a triple-barrelled question. First, what I cannot understand is what one might call opposition ingratitude in the face of what the whole

Income Tax Amendments Act, 2000  Over five years, but in the first year there is a big chunk of tax cuts. If we add up the federal contribution and the provincial contribution, it comes to 1.5% of GDP, which is an extremely large number, among the largest in the G-7. No other country's timing is as good. It is

Foreign Aid  Mr. Speaker, those of us who think that Canada should increase foreign aid to less developed countries were dismayed to read in the press that in fact we seem to be going the other way. Our overseas development assistance which was 0.28% of gross domestic product in 1999 fell to

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition signed by approximately 800 individuals regarding a plant closure announced in January of this year. Visteon Corporation will be closed down and the plant will be transferred to another lower wage country. Somewhere in the order of

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, I have a word or two about the Canadian Alliance's call for an early budget. At least when we get off Parliament Hill people care more about actions than words. In terms of actions, it is abundantly clear that the measures taken last October, including the largest ta

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, I was using that word in the generic, uncapitalized version. In any event, my point is that words do not matter. The only thing that really matters is that these budget actions were maxi actions that will carry us through for another year.

Committees Of The House  Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on Bill C-11, an act respecting immigration to Canada and the granting of refugee protection to persons who are displaced, persecuted o