Randy White

[National Revenue, May 6th, 1994]

Amend the law, change the law.

[Employment, May 6th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister has no idea what a vicious attack is.

Quite frankly the government has talked about infrastructure programs, about red book programs. What it has delivered in the House of Commons, to the country, is an unemployment rate that is increasing.

What is the Deputy Prime Minister's forecast for next month? Perhaps in June she will know what an attack is if those numbers go up again.

[Employment, May 6th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister who said in the House just a few minutes ago that 115,000 new jobs were created since February. She also indicated that 74,000 of these jobs were created in Quebec. That is about 64 per cent of these jobs.

Now that unemployment is up to 11 per cent from 10.6 per cent, what has the government done with its infrastructure programs? What has the red book done? What has the sunny sky scenario done for Newfoundland, for P.E.I., for British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan?

[Mother's Day, May 6th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, Sunday is Mother's Day and I would like to give my best wishes to all mothers across Canada.

All of my colleagues I am sure have a special lady in their lives. The special lady in my life disciplined me for lighting matches in the woods many years ago in Lakeside, Nova Scotia. What she did not know is that I put comic books down the back of my pants and I did not feel that stern hand upon my backside. I even acted out a five minute crying spree, a skill I am finding quite useful in the House of Commons today. While trying to keep one step ahead of my mother was exciting, I now know she was three steps ahead of me.

Whatever we are in Canada today is a reflection of what our mothers taught us to be. It is Mother's Day this Sunday but let us not wait until then to tell our mothers how proud we are of them.

Happy Mother's Day, mom.

[Contracting, May 5th, 1994]

I thank the hon. minister for a decent answer, Mr. Speaker.

More than 36,000 of these contracts were issued in 1992-93 alone. Some suspect that the contracts were given to friends of government rather than being issued on the basis of merit. This report also indicates that contracts were granted without public scrutiny and almost half were issued without a tender process.

Will the President of the Treasury Board agree that all future government contracts must be subject to public tender process?

[Contracting, May 5th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board. I certainly expect an answer, not like that last outrage that my colleague got.

A recently released Treasury Board report indicated that the federal government spent $5.2 billion last year contracting out services. Talk about a place to cut in this budget. That report did not indicate who received the contracts, on what basis the contracts were issued, and how values for these contracts were established.

To clarify this situation I would like to ask the President of the Treasury Board to immediately table all information that his department has currently. Also, will he indicate from 1990 on what those contracts were?

[Supply, May 3rd, 1994]

Madam Speaker, good comments from the hon. member. I assure her it is not easy getting a laugh out of a tax revolt or a tax system in this country but one has to try once in awhile.

There is such a thing as government trying to assist business. I guess it is the perspective one has on how it is done. I can name time after time where government has put money into business and it has just gone out the back door. It has been a waste.

I spent some time down in Halifax not too long ago. Many people I talked to down there said: "Get rid of ACOA. It is just another tax bonus for those who can get into the trough".

I was in Anglemont up in the Shuswap in British Columbia this weekend. A fellow there said: "A friend of mine is going to start a business. He just got a $17,000 grant to start a business". I know the name of the business but I will not say it here.

The fact is that perhaps his friend should have borrowed the money from a bank or a business somewhere. You cannot just go around this country handing out tax dollars from the people of British Columbia or Alberta to somebody in the territories who wants to start a business. That is what is ticking people off today. Their money is being given away to some businesses that are totally unproductive.

Westray mines in Nova Scotia is a good example. That mine kept a lot of people working but it was tax dollars being transferred right across this country. What was the end result? There never was money earned in that place and many people died in a very unfortunate accident.

I received a letter not too long ago from the Canadian Kennel Club after my criticism of its receiving a $5,000 bilingualism grant. The club told me it had an income of $4 million to $5 million, yet it was getting a $5,000 grant. What for? Let it spend its own money.

[Supply, May 3rd, 1994]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak today about reforming the tax system. I want to talk today about the tax revolt which has started across the country. It has been going on for some years but it is becoming more predominant. I am going to cover why and how that is.

I want to talk a bit about why people are angry today about taxes, how we got here in the first place, what the government is doing about it, and the result which is the tax revolt itself.

We often hear people asking: "How do we own a small business in Canada today?" A lot of people respond by saying: "If you want to own a small business in Canada today, buy a large one and wait two tax years". While some find those words humorous they are quite discouraging. In fact they are very true in most cases.

Why are we angry? There are three fundamental reasons. First, there is little value in the tax dollar people are getting today. They see smaller disposable incomes and increasing costs. That is one of the reasons we are angry.

Second, people across the country see governments as fat cats spending inappropriately, spending well beyond their means. Quite frankly that is at all levels of government.

The third reason we are angry is that there is only one taxpayer. The trouble is that all three levels of government see only their perspective in raising taxes. It is like the infrastructure program of the federal government. It says it is spending only $2 billion, but it is spending $6 billion of taxpayers' money. It is $2 billion provincial, $2 billion municipal, and $2 billion federal.

Taxpayers do not really give two hoots about who is sharing in the small packages of dollars. They care about the big package and how much it is costing us.

How did we get to where we are? This all started with a temporary tax measure to support the war spending in 1917. Since then all levels of government have the feeling that even though there is no war they can get into the pockets of the average citizen on virtually everything they can name.

Also, we got here because of incompetence and mismanagement. We do not have to go very far to see the mismanagement and incompetent spending. I refer to a couple of items from "The Tales of the Tax Trough" by the National Citizens Coalition. It found that we spent $37,363 to study the effects of colour in advertising. We also spent $58,000 for an examination of what it is like to work for the Dominion grocery stores. We

spent $21,566 to examine experimental studies of interactive gestures.

Those kinds of costs go on year after year after year and in the same year after year after year governments say they are going to make a change. However the taxpayers do not see that; they only see more government rhetoric.

Another way we got here is because Canadians are passive people. We tend to think that governments are going to pull us out of this crazy spending, but it never seems to happen.

The tax revolt is going to go on. It is going to get larger and larger. There are several formal tax revolt structures in place in this country. I am going to speak about those in just a second.

What has this government done? We have already seen that this government has tacked on about $3 billion more in expenditures, but it has said that revenues should increase to offset that. Governments have played that trick on Canadian taxpayers for two generations now.

The government promised to spend about $1.5 billion on child care, if the economy should rise about 3 per cent. But it says: "No, it is not $1.5 billion. It is only $750 million because the provinces have to contribute $750 million". Well, their $750 million and the federal government's $750 million is $1.5 billion to the taxpayer. That is what we have to get into our minds.

The government has closed some bases which was a little premature because they are into a one year study. I have said before it is like bailing out a sinking ship with a thimble. We owe $40 billion. Getting $750 million here and there or $2 million and saving a few on perks and so on is not enough. We have to go deeper.

What is the result? We are into an underground economy the size of which nobody can estimate but we know it is big. The last election was part of the result. We saw a party virtually disappear off the face of the political map.

Then we have the revolt. A number of organizations are springing up across this country and I have talked to two of them. One is the Tax Revolt Network News run by Gerry Rogers in Halifax. He prints a monthly document and I will be quoting from it. There is also a gentleman by the name of Gebert from my home riding of Fraser Valley West who is well aware of Mr. Rogers' activities. By no means is this a limited list. There are all kinds of people out there.

I did get a call from a fellow by the name of George MacDonald in Calgary who is on a fixed income. He basically said: "Why not add the museum in the Prime Minister's riding to the cost of the inordinate expenditures, or the $100,000 grant to study riddles", and so on and so forth. That just came from Mr. MacDonald a few minutes ago. People out there are sick and tired of this.

Let me quote the Tax Revolt Network News: "Today nobody trusts governments will do what they say they will do, or say what they are planning to do without deceit". Gerry Rogers is a small businessman. He is not a politician. He is just ticked right off.

Other things in the Tax Revolt Network News: "The system is too complicated. A small business should be able to run and be accounted for by a person of average intelligence with a basic high school education. Please, governments, do not lend us money and do not give us grants. We are capable of governing ourselves. We need a more participatory form of government for the 21st century".

Another quote: "Taxes can be lowered without law breaking. The secret in the control of politicians and their pathological need to tax and spend: Control the money. Take away their privilege of taxation and borrowing and they will become more reasonable to deal with". This is all over the place in this country.

Another fellow has formed a citizens tax coalition. One hon. member talked about banding together from time to time. These people are not just banding together; this is big stuff in this country. I quote: "The thing Mr. Rogers and I have in common is the contempt for the political system that ignores common sense in taxation. It is bound to result in chaos in our economy. The first casualty will be our system of government followed by the politicians who failed to represent the wishes of the people who elected them".

I have one more quote which is interesting. It goes back a little bit. The quote is this: "The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced. The arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced if the nation does not want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance". This is not my quote; it came from a senator of ancient Rome, Marcus Tullius Cicero speaking in 55 B.C. What has changed since 55 B.C. you ask. Not much in this country.

The Romans misread the mood of the people and the civilization went up in flames. We are in danger of that happening too and I think this Liberal government should take heed.

[Financial Administration Act, May 3rd, 1994]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-245, an act to amend the Financial Administration Act and the Auditor General Act (review of budget speech).

Madam Speaker, I am most pleased to rise and table this document with the House. It amends the Financial Administration Act and the Auditor General Act. Its intent is to review the revenue estimates provided to the people of this country and my colleagues through the budget process. In years gone by revenues have been largely inflated and we feel a more accurate assessment of whether they should be is necessary. This bill will take care of that.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Dna Testing, April 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to the attention of this House a terrible injustice in my home province of British Columbia.

A 78-year old woman was raped and brutally beaten by a ruthless criminal. Although the judge conceded the DNA match was conclusive, he ruled the evidence inadmissible because it infringed on the rights of the criminal under the charter. The criminal left this poor woman naked and battered yet he is the one being shielded.

Police use breathalyser tests in drinking and driving cases and yet we deny them the right to use this important tool to put violent criminals behind bars.

DNA testing must be permitted when necessary. We have run out of patience with ineffective political parties. The rights of the victim must take priority over the rights of the criminal.