Speech From The Throne  In conclusion, I have a question for my hon. colleague who worked in the field of education for more than 22 years. My question is this: What does the government intend to do to restore hope for our young people who are finishing school and have no job prospects?

Speech From The Throne  The federal government, I should add, may well recoup much of its $2 billion investment from additional tax revenues which will fall into the federal treasury as a result of increased construction activity. For every dollar spent on the proposed construction projects, federal government revenues in the form of taxes, unemployment insurance premiums and Canada pension plan contributions will increase.

Income Tax  Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. It was reported in the Gazette on January 22, 1994 that a government member for Newfoundland had approached the minister to ask him to change the Income Tax Act in order to have the Governor General pay income tax. I have received a number of angry phone calls in North Vancouver concerning this report, in particular one from Mrs.

Speech From The Throne  It was interesting that in a recent news article in the Kimberley Bulletin a headline read: Cominco irked at city tax rate''. The complaint of the mining company was that the major industrial tax rate in Kimberley is 69 per cent higher than the tax rate in Cranbrook. In justifying the position of the city, the mayor of Kimberley agreed that Cominco taxes are high but said the tax rate is justified.

Social Security System  The last decade has undoubtedly been a lot more beneficial to the rich than to the general population. Individual purchasing power has fallen and the middle class, caught between tax increases and runaway inflation, has been hit hard. Food banks, which were the exception and only existed in the big cities 10 or 15 years ago, have now become a familiar sight and that is sad.

Pre-Budget Consultations  In 1987, as the economist Léo-Paul Lauzon reminds us, 90,000 companies made profits without paying a cent in taxes. According to the Auditor General, Canadian companies invested $90 billion abroad of which $16.1 billion went to tax havens. In such cases the revenues are only taxed abroad at the accommodating rates prevailing in those countries.

Pre-Budget Consultations  Let other MPs from other provinces give the finance minister their frank and honest assessment of the prospects of a tax revolt among their own constituents if his budget imposes a higher tax load upon those constituents. On Vancouver Island, for example, there are probably more retired Canadians and more RRSP participants per capita than anywhere else in Canada.

Pre-Budget Consultations  The Department of Finance has been compiling data since 1987, but according to Léopold Lauzon, another well-known Quebec tax accountant, 90,000 companies made $27 billion in profits that same year without paying any taxes. A minimum tax of say 10 per cent on these profits would have allowed us to collect almost $3 billion more in new tax revenues.

Pre-Budget Consultations  Let us look at some figures on the arts and culture industry to realize how much they contribute to the Canadian and Quebec economy. In 1990-91, this industry injected into the economy a total of $22 billion or 3.7 per cent of the GDP. The Canada Council made the following statement: "Recent comparisons with other industries show that arts and culture contribute more to the GDP than agriculture, mining and forestry".

Department Of National Revenue Act  For example, among the department's client groups are 150,000 large importers and exporters, 131 million travellers, and 22 million individual tax filers. This interaction and scope has Revenue Canada in a unique position to understand what Canadians want; to know as well that Canadians want Revenue Canada to find new and better ways of doing business.

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements And Federal Post-Secondary Education And Health Contributions Act  It has been very difficult. It has not come without a great deal of sacrifice, an increase in taxes and reducing some of the benefits. Our options were very limited. Bill C-3 in my view is a good move. I do not think it is going far enough for the province of Saskatchewan, but I am satisfied that it is a step in the right direction.

Income Tax Act  Last weekend, I read an article by Yves Séguin, who is certainly not uninformed about taxation whether in Quebec or in Canada, and he estimated that in Canada, tax loopholes alone-I am talking here about grand-scale tax evasion by Canadian corporations-represent a loss of revenue of approximately 2.5 billion dollars. When the government presents its budget, when it evaluates all tax measures and when it modifies or reviews the whole Canadian taxation system, we hope that the Minister of Finance will keep in mind that there are blatant tax inequities in our system and, most of all, that he will not touch middle-class income, social programs or those people who have been carrying an ever-increasing tax burden since 1984, that he will not copy the previous government which, need I remind you, was erased from the federal map.

Income Tax Act  It is time the average Canadian had a chance to understand not just the principle behind taxation but the mechanics of it as well. The last attempt by the Conservative government to introduce tax reform led to an income surtax, an alternate minimum tax, tax deductions, tax credits and the complicated GST, all of which have further confused matters. It does not have to be this complicated.

Supply  Speaker, but I will close on this. True economic recovery will result in less unemployment and more tax revenues.

Income Tax Act  The tax or contribution collection costs should include the true cost of the bureaucracy needed to collect this tax, as well as the cost of all these relief measures, tax credits, tax deductions and program extensions such as those proposed in the bill before us today.