I hope all is well with you and your family today and throughout the New Year.  Personally, Linda and I are looking forward to 2008 and the expected birth of our second grandchild.

Since my last report, a new session of Parliament has started and usually that means reassignment of responsibilities.  I continue as a member of the Tactics Group which plans the daily strategy for the Official Opposition and also remain responsible for the coordination of Private Members Bills and Motions.

In addition, I have been elected as the Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.  This Committee is responsible for related legislation, departmental activities and spending, and any other investigations or studies that may be referred to it by the House of Commons.  This is one of only four Standing Committees chaired by an Opposition member and I am very honoured to have the confidence of Parliamentarians to ensure the accountability of government.

In this Householder, I have included my annual tax tips which may help you to identify opportunities to reduce your income taxes for 2007.  I have also written an article with some suggestions on how you may be able to get free banking even if you are not a senior.  This article is a must read if you are paying service fees.  Please advise me of further suggestions or if you reduced your costs or increased your income.   I will share your experience in my report.

Many of you have expressed your concern about poverty.  I share that concern and have provided some information on the global campaign called “Make Poverty History.”  On the cover I am pictured with many other MPs at their October 17th rally on Parliament Hill to raise awareness on how we can reduce poverty.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for your thoughtful and constructive feedback over the past year. Your input has helped me to do the best job possible on your behalf and I am very grateful for the opportunity to represent you in the Parliament of Canada.

Sincerely,

Paul Szabo

On November 15, 2007, I was elected by members from all political parties as the Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.  This is commonly referred to as the Ethics Committee because much of its work relates to keeping the Government accountable.

Mandate

The Committee studies and reports on matters referred to it by the House of Commons, or on topics the Committee itself chooses to examine. It is a permanent committee established by the Standing Orders of the House. Legislation, departmental activities and spending, and other matters related to the general subject matter of the Committee may be referred to it from time to time.

Powers

Under Standing Order 108(1), standing committees can examine any matters referred to them by the House of Commons or as required in legislation. They can report to the House, send for persons or records, and may delegate their powers to any of its subcommittees.  For example, we can subpoena documents or witnesses for hearings.  We can sit whether the House is sitting or adjourned and may sit jointly with other standing committees.

The Committee studies matters related to annual and other reports of the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Commissioners.  The Ethics Commissioner also has responsibilities under the Parliament of Canada Act relating to public office holders and reports tabled pursuant to the Lobbyists Registration Act.

The Committee is currently engaged in the Mulroney / Schreiber Hearings and has scheduled its future business to include updating the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act as well as to completing its work on Identity Theft and the investigation on human rights issues related to Afghanistan.  The workload is very substantial but it is very gratifying to be the Chair and to guide the Committee in effectively discharging its responsibilities.

In my last Householder, I included two articles which I thought might be of interest to you.  Based on the feedback, there are a large number of constituents who have identified opportunities to save substantial amounts of money on their taxes and banking.

The first was called “Income Tax Tips” which laid out some ideas on matters such as medical expenses, charitable donations, sales tax credits, income splitting and a variety of other deductions and credits available to you in certain circumstances.

As a Chartered Accountant for over 30 years, I cannot over emphasize how important it is to look at your taxes as a family including your children.  I know many people rely on tax preparers to do their tax returns, but some of those service providers simply follow your prior year’s return and do not explore savings possibilities in the event that there have been changes in the income situation of your other family members.  The best advice I can give you is to have all your family tax returns done together to ensure that the tax preparer can identify savings opportunities.

The second article was called “Free Banking – Seniors and Others”.  This identified a number of possibilities for you to save on your bank charges and to get the best interest rate on savings and loans.  By far, the most helpful point to constituents was to let them know that most banks have free banking for customers who are 59 years old or even less at one institution.  If you are paying lots of service charges and are 55 years of age or over, you probably can arrange your banking to save hundreds of dollars.

Banks do not tell you when you are eligible for free banking etc.  You need to ask for it.  The best advice I can give you is to visit your bank and maybe others to see who has the best deal for you.  If you would like a copy of my last householder, please contact me.

As the Chair of the Ethics Committee, one of my most important responsibilities is to also chair its Steering Committee.  This sub-committee has representation from each political party plus myself and its key role is to consider proposals for the work of the Committee.  Their recommendations are presented to the full committee and votes are taken to adopt work plans.

In addition to this process, any member may give 48 hours notice to the Chair and may present to the committee their proposal for a special or urgent study not addressed by the Steering Committee.  One such motion was to look into new allegations related to the 1996 Mulroney Airbus Settlement because it may have implications to the ethical guidelines, laws and conflict of interest rules applicable to public office holders.

Some felt it was too old an issue, others thought it was a witch hunt to discredit the former Conservative Prime Minister and still others questioned whether it was relevant under our mandate.  There were some new allegations and information and it was my job to rule on whether such a study was admissible under the mandate of the Committee.

In the context of determining whether the current ethical rules, laws and guidelines for public office holders were robust enough to deal with the kinds of activities that were alleged to have been going on, I ruled that the study was relevant to our mandate. After a very heated debate, the Committee agreed to take on the study.

Here is a little background:

• In 1988, Air Canada was a Crown Corporation (owned by the Government of Canada) and it purchased $1.8 billion of airplanes from Airbus, a company in France.
  
  
• Thyssen Industries of France was also a partner of Airbus.
  
  
• In 1994, the RCMP conducted an investigation into the allegations of kickbacks or payoffs to certain people including Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
  
  
• A letter was sent to the Swiss Government from the RCMP which included the allegations that Swiss bank accounts may have been set up by persons using bribe money provided by Thyssen Industries.  A Canadian citizen, Mr. Karlheinz Schreiber was a lobbyist working in Canada for Thyssen.
  
  
• Mr. Mulroney was mentioned in the letter which strangely was leaked by someone who has yet to be identified.
  
  
• As a consequence, in 1996, Mr. Mulroney, sued the Government of Canada for $50 million and ultimately settled for about $2.1 million and an apology from the Government of Canada because the RCMP could not prove its case.

At this point, most observers were satisfied that the matter was closed.  However, Mr. Schreiber has subsequently filed a lawsuit against Mr. Mulroney to recover the $300,000 he allegedly paid to Mr. Mulroney.  The reason for the case was that Mr. Mulroney had done nothing to earn the money according to Mr. Schreiber.  The RCMP reopened its investigation but before they completed their work, the new investigation was closed down by the present government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In November 2007 in an interview with the Globe and Mail, former Prime Minister Mulroney admitted to having received money from Karlheinz Schreiber and the rest of the story is still being played out.  Here are just a few samples of testimony from the Airbus Settlement case or the Ethics Committee hearings:

• Mr. Mulroney testified in 1996 under oath that he barely knew Mr. Schreiber but before the Ethics Committee, he testified that he received envelopes of cash from Mr. Schreiber in 1993 and 1994 and that he had met with Mr. Schreiber many times.
  
  
• Mr. Schreiber also testified that he had meetings with Brian Mulroney in the 1980’s before Mr. Mulroney entered politics and had met with Mr. Mulroney while he was Prime Minister in the PM’s office in Parliament, at 24 Sussex Dr., the PM’s home and at the Prime Ministers’ Harrington Lake residence.
  
• Mr. Schreiber testified that he paid Mr. Mulroney $100,000 in one thousand dollar bills in August 1993, and again in December 1993 and again in December 1994 for a total of $300,000.  Although Mr. Mulroney stepped down as Prime Minister on June 25, 1993, he remained a Member of Parliament until October 25, 1993.  As such, an MP received money while in office which is not permitted if it has to do with the business of the Government of Canada.
  
  
• Mr. Mulroney testified that it was only $75,000 each time for a total of $225,000.  He also admitted that he did not declare any of the income until he filed his 1999 income tax return and said that he did not claim any expenses for the work done.
  
  
• The envelopes of cash were given to Mr. Mulroney firstly at the Mirabel Airport Hotel in Quebec, secondly at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal and finally at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.
  
  
• Mr. Schreiber testified that the money was not because of Airbus but rather because Mr. Mulroney was supposed to help get the Government of Canada to support a business to be set up in Nova Scotia to build Thyssen light armoured vehicles (LAVs) for our military.  Mr. Mulroney testified that the money was for international consulting whereby he would lobby Russia, China, France and the UN to buy LAVs from Thyssen.
  
  
• Mr. Mulroney has testified that he disposed of all his records and related papers after he declared the income in 1999.
  

At the time of writing this article, the committee has heard from Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney and we are getting ready to hear from 10 other witnesses followed at the end by Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney which is currently scheduled for February 28th.

One of the witnesses, who is a former chief of staff of Mr. Mulroney, has told the media that he has evidence that Mr. Mulroney received other large sums of money while he was Prime Minister.  This proposed testimony has become a major issue with Mr. Mulroney’s lawyers who suggest that such testimony is beyond our mandate.

Before our hearings began, the public was calling for a full Public Inquiry.  Prime Minister Harper was initially opposed, however, when Mr. Mulroney himself called for a Public Inquiry, the Prime Minister agreed.  He then engaged Professor David Johnston, an independent advisor, to recommend the terms of reference and scope.  On January 11th, Dr. Johnston recommended a limited inquiry which would build on the work of the Ethics Committee.

If you would like to know more about the details of this case, there have been a number of books written about it.  The most famous is “On the Take” written by Ms. Stevie Cameron who also appeared before the Committee as a witness.

In addition, the CBC did a very good feature documentary and story on case.  If you visit www.cbc.ca under the Fifth Estate, you can view the 45 minute documentary and read many of the documents they uncovered in their investigation.

There has also been a number of letters to me from Mr. Mulroney’s lawyer. You can view these letters and other editorial postings at www.mulroneymediaroom.com.  Finally, if you would like to read the testimony that was given before my committee you can find everything at www.parl.gc.ca and follow the links to Committee Business; Committee List; Access to Information; Meetings; and select evidence for the hearing date you want to look at.  If you are having difficultly finding it, the one step link is to type in:

http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteeList.aspx?Lang=1&PARLSES
=392&JNT=0&SELID=e21_&COM=13184 .

Each year, Government departments and agencies prepare research and progress reports on numerous subjects.  I cannot read them all but if it has to do with health, seniors or children, I want to know what they have to say.

In December 2007, The Canada Health Council issued a report on a major study concerning the health outcomes of Canadians and I found it to be an important wake up call for all of us.  They reported that more than 9 million Canadians, or one third of youth and adults in Canada, have one or more chronic health conditions.  These include long-term problems such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer and heart disease.  Furthermore, these conditions affect well-being and quality of life and represent a significant and growing health care and economic burden for Canada.

Preventing and managing chronic health conditions is everybody’s business.  To a great extent, chronic health conditions are rooted in the way we live.  A number of avoidable risk factors – things that we can change, such as overweight, physical inactivity, poor eating habits and smoking – feed our current epidemic.

Sustained programs and supportive policies that enable people to reduce these and other risk factors are smart investments in Canada’s future.  For those who already have chronic illness, access to high quality health care can help patients prevent complications, reduce the future need for expensive health services and secure a better quality of life.

Ultimately, the nature and pace of efforts to provide better health promotion, disease prevention and chronic illness care will be determined by Canadians and their influence with elected officials at all levels of government.  I fully agree and if you would like more information, visit www.healthcouncilcanada.ca .

Periodically, polling firms will ask Canadians to rank the priorities they feel we should address.  The last poll was done in January by a firm called Pollara and here are the scores they found:

• 35  Climate Change and the Environment
• 31  Health care
• 21  The Economy
• 16  Afghanistan
• 11  Education
• 11  Taxes
•   9  Foreign Policy
•   8  Poverty
•   7  Employment
•   6  National Unity
•   5  Seniors Issues
•   5  Social Issues
•   4  Crime and the Justice System
•   4  Vision for Canada / Leadership
•   4  Fiscal Responsibility

Since the poll was done, the US has experienced substantial financial pressures and business confidence levels have dropped to a nine year low.  As such, I would expect that concerns about the economy may very well have moved much higher today.

I have always thought that the measure of success of a country is not an economic measure but rather a measure of the health and well-being of its people.  I see Canada as a proud, prosperous, generous and tolerant country that protects the rights and freedoms of its people and seeks to help first, those in most need.  To meet that ideal, we need to acknowledge that good fiscal policy makes good social policy and good social policy makes good fiscal policy.  We need a balanced approach which improves our overall health and well-being while remaining fiscally responsible.

Many of our daily activities leave a trail on the earth by producing greenhouse gases. Heating or cooling our homes, lighting them, using computers and household appliances, driving the car, all contribute to global warming. The use of gasoline, natural gas and even electricity (since some of it is produced by burning coal and natural gas) emits greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which contribute to climate change.

The amount every person or household produces is called their "carbon footprint." The good news is that it's easy to measure how big your own carbon footprint is, and even easier to make it smaller! The average Canadian produces 5.3 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year through household activities. Is your carbon footprint above or below average? Here are some things you can do to make your footprint smaller which also shows the estimated monthly reduction in CO2:
                                                           
Action Taken                                                  Monthly Reduction

Do car check-ups every 8,000km                             .038t
Use alternative fuel in your car                                   .015t
Reduce your average driving speed by 5 km/hr          .008t
Limit car idle time to 10 seconds                               .021t
Take transit once per week instead of the car            .015t
Wash your clothes with cold water                            .029t
Turn down hot water heater gauge to 52 celsius         .007t
Weatherize all windows and doors                            .016t
Program your thermostat to cut back at 5 celsius
            at night and when not home                           .061t
Hang clothes to dry instead of using dryer                 .020t
Use energy efficient light bulbs                                  .018t
Use fans instead of air conditioning                           .420t
Change to low flow shower heads and toilets            .010t
Turn off all electrical items when not in use                .040t

For more information visit www.carbonbudget.ca

Szabo named
'hardest-working' Member of Parliament

By: John Stewart

November 22, 2007 09:45 AM - Mississauga South Liberal Paul Szabo has been named the hardest-working MP in Ottawa for the second consecutive year.

Szabo's named was called when Maclean's Magazine celebrated the second annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards last night at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel.

The veteran Liberal MP is currently the Chair of the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee.

The selection, done by the polling firm Ipsos-Reid, is conducted by secret ballot among the nation's 304 MPs.

"To have your work recognized by your peers is very special," said Szabo, who was first elected in 1993. "I still look forward to going to work every day."

The honour came after a tough week on the job for Szabo chairing the Commons Ethics Committee. Szabo had to hastily adjourn Tuesday's session when MPs became embroiled in the midst of a chaotic discussion about whether former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber, his chief accuser in the Airbus issue, should be called before the committee to testify.

Special personal messages of congratulations may be requested for those Birthdays and Anniversaries listed below.  As these events are very important occasions, you may want to request a message, when applicable, from Her Majesty The Queen, the Governor General and the Prime Minister of Canada.

Greetings from Her Majesty the Queen are available for 100th Birthdays and every 5th year thereafter, and 60th Wedding Anniversaries and every 5th year thereafter.  Please note that copies of birth certificates and marriage certificates are required by Government House for messages from The Queen.

Birthdays

75th and over   - message from the Prime Minister

90th - 99th         - message from the Governor General

100th and over - message from Her Majesty The Queen
                          (copy of birth certificate required)

Wedding Anniversaries

25th and over    - message from the Prime Minister

50th - 59th         - message from the Governor General

60th and over   - message from Her Majesty The Queen
                         (copy of marriage certificate required)

Visit us on the Internet: www.paulszabo.com

Mississauga Office Hours: Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can be scheduled during office hours or other arrangements can be made by calling the office.

Constituents may write to any Member of Parliament or Cabinet Minister postage free. Simply address your envelope to the particular Member, c/o House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6. Your views and suggestions are important.

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