RECOMMENDATION

His Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 24, 1998''.

SUMMARY

PART 1

Part 1 establishes the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation with the objects and purposes of granting scholarships to students who are in financial need and who demonstrate merit. An endowment of $2.5 billion is granted to the Foundation.

PART 2

Part 2 authorizes the Canada Development Investment Corporation to dispose of or transfer its assets and liabilities, including its principal asset, the Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation. It also authorizes the dissolution of the Canada Development Investment Corporation.

PART 3

Part 3 provides that a person who takes advantage of the Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERI) will not be entitled to a separation benefit under the Work Force Adjustment Directive during the transitional period following the expiration of the suspension of the separation benefit (June 23, 1998) and September 30, 1998, the last possible date by which a person must cease to be employed in the Public Service in order to qualify for ERI.

PART 4

Part 4 enables the Kamloops Indian Band to impose a 7% value-added tax on all sales of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and fuels on the reserves of the Kamloops Indian Band. It also amends Part IV (Westbank First Nation Tobacco Products Tax) of the Budget Implementation Act, 1997, to enable the Westbank First Nation to impose a similar tax on alcoholic beverages. Consequential amendments are also made to that Part and to Parts II and III (Cowichan Tribes Tobacco Tax and Cowichan Tribes Tobacco Products Tax) of that Act.

PART 5

Part 5 adds a new part to the Department of Human Resources Development Act that provides for the payment of grants to encourage savings under registered education savings plans.

PART 6

The amendments to the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act in Part 6 are required to implement administration agreements with aboriginal governments. In particular, the Minister of Finance or the Minister of National Revenue may enter into an administration agreement with an aboriginal government and payments can be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to an aboriginal government or a person pursuant to the agreement.

PART 7

Part 7 amends the Excise Tax Act to implement increases in the excise tax rates on cigarettes intended for retail sale in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and on tobacco sticks intended for retail sale in Canada.

PART 8

Part 8 amends the Excise Tax Act to implement reductions in the air transportation tax. The amendments reduce the ad valorem tax rate on domestic and transborder air travel, the specific rates on international travel and the flat tax amount on domestic and transborder charter flights.

PART 9

Part 9 amends the Income Tax Act to implement the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) which will come into effect in July 1998. The CCTB will provide a national benefit to all eligible families with children. The Children's Special Allowance Act is also amended to ensure that equivalent benefits are provided to provincial agencies for children in care (e.g., foster homes and group homes). Social assistance payments made by provinces and territories will be adjusted in accordance with the increase in the CCTB.

PART 10

Part 10 amends the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act to allow for debt reduction in repayment for full-time and part-time students and to allow for the repayment of principal during special interest-free and interest-reduced periods. It also amends the Act to provide authority to prescribe the circumstances in which a loan or certificate of eligibility may be denied.

It amends the Canada Student Loans Act to allow for debt reduction in repayment and for the repayment of principal during special interest-free and interest-reduced periods.

It amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to extend, from two years to ten years after a bankrupt leaves school, the period of time during which a discharge does not release the bankrupt from the reimbursement of his or her student loan.

PART 11

Part 11 amends the Employment Insurance Act to provide a premium holiday for 1999 and 2000 to employers who increase their payroll for youth (ages 18 to 24) from their 1998 level.

PART 12

Part 12 amends the Old Age Security Act to allow for a payment period from July of one year to June of the next, to revise the definition of income, to provide for a more exact calculation for determining benefit amounts for supplements and allowances, to provide for consistency between the method of determining the entitlement of widows who are sponsored and that used for determining the entitlement of pensioners and their spouses, and to allow for more consistency and responsiveness in the case of marital status changes.

Part 12 also amends the War Veterans Allowances Act to allow for the same payment period as in the Old Age Security Act - from July in one year to June of the next and makes consequential changes to the Income Tax Act.

PART 13

Part 13 amends the International Development (Financial Institutions) Assistance Act to require the Minister of Foreign Affairs to consult with the Minister of Finance before providing financial assistance under the Act. Another amendment establishes that the assistance is provided under a statutory appropriation.

Part 13 amends the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act to allow for the provision of financial assistance to countries with which the International Monetary Fund has entered into arrangements to assist them achieve financial stability. Another amendment establishes that the assistance is provided under a statutory appropriation.

That Act is also amended to provide authority to increase Canada's quota in the International Monetary Fund as part of the overall quota increase agreed under the Eleventh General Quota review and to provide authority for Canada to receive a special one time special drawing rights allocation made to International Monetary Fund through an amendment to the Fund's Articles of Agreement.