Subcommittee on Fiscal Imbalance of the Standing Committee on Finance

HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6

Sous-comité sur le déséquilibre fiscal du comité permanent des finances

For immediate release

Ottawa, April 08, 2005 -

On 11 April, the Subcommittee on Fiscal Imbalance of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance will hold public hearings in Québec City, Québec. The hearings will be held in Room Duquesne/Jonquiere of the Hotel Delta Quebec beginning at 8 a.m. Academics, and representatives of university students, organized labour, employers and agricultural producers will make presentations to the Subcommittee, as will representatives from the Government of Quebec and the Quebec National Assembly.

Witnesses will include Mr. Michel Audet, Minister of Finance, Mr. Benoit Pelletier, Minister for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. Bernard Landry, Leader of the Official Opposition (Parti Quebecois), Mr. Francois Legault, Critic for Economic Development and Finance for the Official Opposition (Parti Quebecois), Mr. Mario Dumont, Leader of the Action démocratique du Québec and Mr. Marc Picard, Finance Critic for the Action démocratique du Québec.

Additional cross-Canada public hearings will be held in Winnipeg on 18 April and in Edmonton on 2 May. Public hearings in Ottawa began on April 6.

On 18 February, public hearings were held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At that time, The Hon. Mitchell Murphy, Treasurer for the Province of Prince Edward Island, was among the Subcommittee’s witnesses. The Hon. Greg Sobara, Minister of Finance for the Province of Ontario, Mr. John Tory, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and Mr. Michael Prue, Finance Critic for the New Democratic Party of Ontario appeared before the Subcommittee during its public hearings in Toronto, Ontario on 11 March. The Hon. Lorne Calvert, Premier of Saskatchewan, and Mr. Brad Wall MLA and Leader of the Official Opposition (Saskatchewan Party) met with the Subcommittee in Regina on 21 March. At public hearings in Victoria on 4 April, a presentation was made by Mr. Dan Doyle, Deputy Minister of Transport for the Province of British Columbia. A variety of other witnesses have also appeared at these public hearings. Presentations made by the Subcommittee’s witnesses are available on the Subcommittee’s website.