Mr. Speaker, I do not know if I am supposed to thank the people in Saint John for my being here or not. Anyway I am here.
Recently it was brought to the attention of the House that the federal government plans to switch admission fees on entrances to Canada's national parks from vehicles to individuals. That means if there are five individuals in a car each one will have to pay to enter the national park. The fact is that these new user fees can actually be viewed as nothing more than a deceptive tax increase.
The Liberal government should change course from proposed fee hikes and adopt a straight shooting approach to cutting the deficit, not the sneaky little approach of back door tax increases.
The premier of the province of New Brunswick has quietly increased over 1,000 different fees and taxes since 1987. The people of New Brunswick have caught on. I urge the government to learn from others and reverse this new tax on admissions to our national parks.