Millennium Scholarship Fund  Mr. Speaker, the auditor general is the Canadian taxpayer's watchdog in Ottawa. The millennium scholarship fund is to be funded with $2.5 billion worth of Canadian taxpayer money, yet the budget implementation legislation does not give the auditor general any right of access to t

Millennium Scholarship Fund  Mr. Speaker, the budget implementation legislation does not guarantee access for the auditor general and it is well known that there has been a public dispute between the Minister of Finance and the auditor general. Is the minister's fight with the auditor general the real reason

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-28 which offers a wide range of tax related measures, most of which have been discussed at great length in the House by myself and other members. The bill demonstrates the Liberal philosophy to

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. When he quoted me, in fact, I was quoting Brenda Robertson who writes for Investor's Digest . I urge the member to pick up a copy. It comes out tomorrow.

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  Yes, I do agree with her when she says that what is going to happen when we head into the next recession with 9% unemployment, crippling taxes, a massive debt and a weak dollar is that we are going to have to spend and, after having spent the fiscal dividend, we will have little

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  An hon. member opposite said it was two years too late. It was a heck of a lot faster than the previous government. We deregulated financial services, energy and transportation. Those policies helped this government. They helped lay the groundwork for this government to continue

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  Madam Speaker, obviously the hon. member was not so disenchanted in 1988 with the Conservative government's policies that it prevented her from running as a candidate. Obviously she felt quite comfortable in the Conservative Party's policies between—

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  Madam Speaker, I seem to have struck a chord. In any case, the economic policies and the mess the government of Brian Mulroney inherited dictated that we had to reduce by 15% per year program spending growth. We reduced it to zero by the time we left office. Beyond that we were

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

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

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 Oppositi

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 a

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

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

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