| Flaherty "fundamentally misleading" the Canadian people |
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| Monday, 10 August 2009 15:12 |
 Newmarket, Ontario - Finance Minister Flaherty in refusing “to countenance the idea of splitting up the budget bill” and indeed in saying “there’s no possible way to split out measures” that are of a non-budgetary nature is not only being “pushy”, to use his word but as Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell said “lying to Canadians, saying it’s ‘fundamentally misleading’ “.It is the duty of the Senate to provide the forum the House of Commons did not. That is to afford the public the opportunity of offering their views on the many non-budgetary items tacked on to the stimulus measures. “I do not want the bill divided,” Mr. Flaherty responded. “You’re making an assumption that the stimulus package is severable. It is not.” he said. His opinion is not constitutional nor parliamentary reality. It is unconscionable that Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Competition Act, the Investment Canada Act, Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act, Canada Transportation Act and others become law without due consideration in either House. The Investment Canada Act is a clear example of why discussion is necessary. I, as Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion, introduced the first “Investment Canada Act” in December 1984. At that time, I pointed out that the then former Liberal government created in 1974. “The Foreign Investment Review Agency” which had become an obstacle to legitimate investment by non-Canadians in Canada. That Act required every foreign investment to be reviewed by Cabinet. We changed that with respect to acquisitions by saying if they involved $5 Million or more there will be a review that would catch 90 per cent in dollar terms but 80 per cent of what the previous Government was reviewing in number would not be reviewed any longer. The previous Liberal government used up over 20 per cent of its cabinet agenda reviewing these kinds of cases. Under our P.C. government those purchases over $5 Million were reviewed and we were able to hammer out conditions that a foreign buyer had to meet before his deal could close. The Government continued to monitor the operation and could bring the new buyer into line if any conditions were broken. The current closure by U.S. Steel of the former Stelco plant in Hamilton is an example of where Canada likely has prohibitions against a foreign company unilaterally taking such actions without approval from Ottawa. Time will tell if the present government will act. The provisions in Mr. Flaherty’s budget bill propose to raise the review levels in the Investment Canada Act so that only something over One Billion Dollars will be reviewed. That would mean practically any foreign purchase of a business in Canada would not be reviewable. It is unbelievable that the Government would smuggle such a change into their budget bill to avoid meaningful debate. It is even more unbelievable that the Liberal opposition would acquiesce in such a move when 30 years ago they reviewed virtually every foreign purchase of a Canadian business including for example, hair stylist shops, hamburg stands and popcorn vendors. Have our elected representatives no national pride to ensure now that the world is in a financial crisis, our businesses will not be allowed to be picked up for cents on the dollar and then closed down by non-Canadian concerns? To sum it up Statistics Canada states in a recent communiqué that Foreign acquisitions of Canadian-controlled firms, particularly in mining, manufacturing, retail and accommodation and food services industries, drove the 13.7% increase in assets under foreign control in 2006, the fastest rate of growth since 1999. Not the Senate but the Finance Minister is the hold up for the stimulus package being put into law for as Senator Murray, a member of the Senate Finance Committee has said “the committee could pass the urgent part of the budget bill ‘this morning’ if Flaherty would split the legislation to allow for more examination of the non-stimulus items.” Flaherty insisted the entire budget package needs to be approved. Unfortunately that means the Government will have virtually lost control of Canadian business being sold to foreigners. For more information call Hon. Sinclair Stevens at 1-888-666-3821 or e-Mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Click here to become a member of the PC Party. |
