The Budget  Mr. Speaker, this budget is a disappointment. It raises ire and promises the worst. This budget is a disappointment because, once again, the unemployed are footing the bill. They will be paying for federal generosity, because the employment insurance fund will remain the government's cash cow, and the Minister of Human Resources Development will continue to be the valet to the Minister of Finance.

Division No. 298  An independent ombudsman is a must. We certainly do not want to create an agency that appears to be similar in power to the IRS in the United States. That has created a lot of problems by false or improper taxation. It has also led to people serving jail sentences that should never have been imposed. Why am I worried about this organization being accountable and responding to the taxpayer as well as to government?

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  We have to recognize that and ensure that we have a system which encourages excellence, both in terms of attracting the best and the brightest, and also keeping them. My colleague from the Reform Party referred to the potential of this agency becoming an IRS type of agency and I concur with that risk. The issues raised by the member from the New Democratic Party are relative to the agency and the risks to workers and their job security. Keep in mind 25% of the public service is in this.

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  I appeal to some of these members to show courage and to tell us whether they are concerned about the lack of accountability, whether they are concerned that the provinces have not signed on and whether they are concerned about the establishment of an IRS type tax agency in this country like they have in the United States. I am sure they are and I invite them to speak in this debate.

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  Unless and until the government gets the message that Canadians are not satisfied with the level of fairness and due process in the tax collection system and takes some concrete steps to further entrench and protect taxpayers rights, there is no way we could support a bill which has even a slight potential for spinning out of control into an IRS tax style agency. Our party opposes put forward by my colleague the Bloc Quebecois in Group No. 1 because they are dilatory motions which seek to delete each clause of the bill. We do not think thee are constructive amendments.

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  It is a power that must be exercised with utmost discretion in ensuring in every instance that the democratic representatives of Canadian taxpayers who sit in this Chamber are ultimately able to answer for the practices of our tax collection department. The last thing Canadians want is an IRS style tax collection agency. The last thing Canadians want is an agency which is a law unto itself, which allows its tax auditors, collectors and agents to enforce the law without regard for the milk of human kindness but with the most rapacious kind of attitude of squeezing money out of taxpayers to the best of their ability.

Jacques Parizeau  The old rascal wanted to talk about independence, but behind closed doors. His approach raised the ire of the media, and the doors were opened immediately. Mr. Parizeau finally spoke the truth about the separatists' strategy. Both he and the PQ say they are interested only in federal government money.

Taxation  Speaker, this government's planned proposal to replace Revenue Canada with a mega tax agency is unnecessary, expensive and could become an unaccountable mess like the IRS in the United States. I have a question for the revenue minister. If the public service hates it, if the provinces do not want it, if Canadians do not want it, why is the government imposing an American style tax collection agency on this country?

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  There is certainly a concern that a lot of people have, whether they be in business or ordinary citizens or whomever, that we might see down the line this new Canada customs and revenue agency becoming out of control, becoming something like the IRS in the United States which has a history of working according to quotas, of intimidating and harassing taxpayers in order to get a certain return on its investment one might say. We do not want to have this kind of system in our country.

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  My specific concern is that I do not see anything in this legislation that gives me any feeling of comfort that we are going to end up with a fairer jurisdiction. I realize that to a certain extent the United States IRS has been mythologized. The problem is the agency has the probability of becoming a fierce tiger, as fierce a tiger as the United States Internal Revenue Service which is one of the most feared bureaucracies in the country south of the 49th parallel.

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  I believe she used the word service about eight times while she was speaking. Service has a connotation of servant. The IRS in the United States had to look at its whole department and say it has to become more humane in dealing with people. If there is one lesson that human resources needs, even if this bill goes through, it is to treat the taxpayers of this country with a great deal more respect than it does at the present time.

Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act  I believe it is fair to state that tax collection policies in the United States, notably through the actions of the IRS, have always been regarded as significantly more aggressive than they are in Canada, perhaps due to national differences in perspective as much as to the benevolence of government. In the United States the government and its citizenry often assume adversarial roles whereas in Canada the consensus appears to be that citizens are less inclined to regard government as the enemy.

Court Challenges Program  Would it not be useful then for us as a community and a society together to provide some support for that case? The case which seems to have raised the member for Wanuskewin's ire most of all is that which is being brought and supported by the Court Challenges Program by Dr. Ailsa Warkinson from Saskatoon regarding section 43 of the Criminal Code. That provision provides a defence to a charge of assault against a child victim, that is child abuse, to a parent or a teacher who uses reasonable force for the purposes of correction.

Access To Information Act  We have numerous examples to prove this fact. However, as my time is limited, I will use the most recent case which has raised the ire of Canadians across the country. On January 26 of this year, a Quebec court judge granted 24-year old Patrick Lucien and 23-year old Evans Shannon conditional sentencing for sexual assault.

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1997  The underlying principle, to assist people who are watching to have a better understanding of the debate, is taxes. There is nothing that raises the ire of the Canadian citizen more than the issue of taxes. Having recently gone through an election campaign and all of us in this place having participated in all-candidates forums leading up to the June 2 election we are well aware of how important this issue is to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.