Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his good question. It is not something to which I have an immediate answer. If governments back away from these addictions, these sources of revenue, other problems will spin out. The classic example is that of mafia activity in these areas bec

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the speech of the hon. member. It had precious little to do with Bill C-51. He seemed not to be interested in addressing the issues raised by Bill C-51. In particular he did not address the two issues I raised. He did not address some of the m

Transit Passes  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for the motion. The government should consider making employer provided transit passes a tax exempt benefit. I must admit that when this initiative came across my desk I thought it was a provocative thought, so I enter into the debate wit

Organized Crime  Mr. Speaker, last week federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice met in Regina. Recognizing that organized crime is a serious and growing problem in Canada, the ministers unanimously endorsed a joint statement on organized crime. The statement undersc

Supply  Madam Speaker, I will read the motion which I thank the hon. member opposite for bringing. It states: That this House endorses the provincial consensus reached in Saskatoon on August 7, 1998, that the federal government must restore, via the existing provisions of the Canada Hea

Supply  Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question. Ontario had its CHST cash moneys reduced something in the order of 4% vis-à-vis the overall budget. What the hon. member needs to know is that in 1995 the federal government provided 19% of the budget for Ontario. In 1996 it provided 19%

Child Poverty  Mr. Speaker, today is national child day. The government has taken a number of steps to ensure that children in Canada do not live in poverty. Surely the best way to ensure that children do not live in poverty is for Canadians to have jobs so they can provide for their own childr

Canada Small Business Financing Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the enthusiastic support of certain members of the House on this important matter. There is quite a number of very enthusiastic members in the House, at least on this side. I wanted to speak to this bill from the perspective of a member of the national

Canada Small Business Financing Act  Mr. Speaker, as far as I am aware no other caucus has undertaken any review of the financial services sector and has tried to piggy-back on some of the work of our caucus. This was a very extensive consultation. As I indicated in my main speech, we did it through 7 different cit

Canada Small Business Financing Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his questions. My reference was to a Canadian financial services ombudsman which is a differently mandated concept from OSFI. The office of the superintendent is directly responsible for the soundness of financial institutions. It does no

Agriculture  Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey, also known as the minister of feathers. Anything we want to know about feathers, that is the hon. member to speak to. I am only the second urban member to speak on this. I want to acknowl

Violence Against Women  Mr. Speaker, this week Canadians are holding vigils and public education campaigns to raise awareness about the horror of domestic violence and violence against women. It has now been nine years since the massacre at l'École polytechnique. Could the justice minister tell the Hou

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member opposite on his initiative. I congratulate any member who has enough fortitude to put his thoughts in writing and to reduce them to a bill so that they can be debated in the House. While many members opposite might evaluate the bill on a va

Boys And Girls Club Of Ontario  Mr. Speaker, in 1992 the Boys and Girls Club of Ontario started a scholarship program to help pay for the rising costs of post-secondary education for its youth members, many of whom face financial challenges. From an initial $4,800 and 6 awards, the program has grown to over $37

Finance  Mr. Speaker, if no one else will pick up the cudgel then certainly I will. I will speak about three things this evening, tax cuts, debt reduction and transfers on the CHST. First is the issue of debt reduction which in my submission has been ably done by the finance minister. We