Finance Committee on Oct. 16th, 2006

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

So you still like it.

[Sharon Chisholm]

Do I still like the trust funds?

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I mean the general thrust of this budget and all the money we've given to this area.

[Sharon Chisholm]

One can't complain about $1.4 billion. It was well regarded and well accepted, and we're looking forward to seeing those funds roll out.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Thank you.

Valerie Bell, you mentioned the GST on natural health products. Do you have evidence that people don't buy those products because there's GST on them?

[Valerie Bell]

We have not done research on that.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Why do you say in your brief that the health care savings realized will far outstrip the tax revenue generated? If people are buying them anyway and you have no evidence they're not buying them, how could the tax savings outstrip the revenue we're collecting?

[Valerie Bell]

Our consumers are indicating to us that if the GST is removed they will buy more of these products, and low-income Canadians will also buy more of these products. All of these people require the products.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

But you just said you don't have evidence of that.

[Valerie Bell]

I don't have evidence of the exact amount of savings, but we do have evidence from Ipsos-Reid studies that Canadians are interested in having the GST removed from these products.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

You made a fairly categoric statement, and I wonder if you can back that up by tabling with the committee evidence showing that if we removed the GST from these products, sales would go up.

[Valerie Bell]

We have done work to show that the health care savings realized by stimulating the sale of self-care products would far outstrip the tax revenue that these products would generate--

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I saw that, but I'm looking for backup for that.

[Valerie Bell]

--and save billions of dollars.

I can provide you with that separately. I do not have that with me today.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I'd be interested in seeing that. Thank you.

Mr. Wayne, why does BPIDP not relate to non-fiction titles?

[Jack Wayne]

It does relate to non-fiction titles.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Is that all non-fiction titles?

[Jack Wayne]

It relates to non-fiction titles that meet the criterion authored and/or edited by Canadians. I think that's the chief criterion.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I remember my publisher crying into her beer about my business books not qualifying for BPIDP.

[Jack Wayne]

Workbooks don't qualify. I don't know the nature of your book, sir, but my company, Canadian Scholars' Press, is a publisher of academic works. Almost all of them are non-fiction--we hope they're non-fiction--and we get a reasonable subsidy from BPIDP.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Do you feel the program is providing adequate support now to publishers?

[Jack Wayne]

Yes, we find that the program, in the way it's designed and administered, is providing us with adequate support.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Thank you.

I have a comment on volunteer firefighters. As a guy who has lived most of his life in rural areas and has had his can rescued a couple of times by volunteer firefighters, I can say that these people are to be considered heroes in our society. Giving some tax incentives to them, and to their employers who allow them to dash off at all hours and very often using company vehicles, is a very worthwhile proposal that you've made. I thank you for bringing it forward.

That's it, Mr. Chairman.

[Chief Donald Warden]

Thank you very much for your comment. I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you, sir.

We continue now with Madam Wasylycia-Leis, for seven minutes.