June 5 2006

Hon. Albina Guarnieri (Mississauga East-Cooksville, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister appears committed to waffling on whether resources are in or out of his fiscal formula. What is absolutely certain is that the cities and communities are not on the map after 2010 and now are being told to fill tax room vacated by the federal government.

I ask the Prime Minister, why has he put the vacancy sign on the federal commitment to Canada's cities?

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):
It is just the opposite, Mr. Speaker. In the paper that we put out with the budget dealing with the issues of fiscal balance, we referred repeatedly to the three orders of government and consulting the three orders of government in this country, something the party opposite never did.

Hon. Albina Guarnieri (Mississauga East-Cooksville, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, it is a shame that the federal commitment to cities is about to leave town.

There can be no doubt that Canada's cities and communities need the annual transfer of $2 billion, the part of the Liberal new deal.

Will the Prime Minister put forward legislation making this transfer permanent after 2009, or will he simply admit that he is going to force cities to raise property taxes by filling the funding void left by the current government?

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, the reason the party opposite when it was the government did not consult with municipalities concerning fiscal imbalance was that it did not even recognize that there was a fiscal imbalance.

Now we have this confusion on the other side where some of them say there is a fiscal imbalance and some of them say there is not.

Our government is clear. There is an issue to be addressed. We are going to move toward fiscal balance in the federation.

For Further information contact:
Robert Cline
(905) 566-0009
guarna@parl.gc.ca