Mr. Speaker, I would like for a few moments to add a few thoughts to the debate.
Much of what I would add has been said in the previous readings of the bill. However I would like to illustrate something that has been brought to my attention by a number of very interested parties and that is the desire of the federal government to begin to compete with private enterprise at the very time it is ostensibly getting out of business or privatizing.
The illustrations that I would use today will probably deal most directly with the post office but I would also like to bring in the example of Canada Mortgage and Housing and its appraisal process. I would also like to speak briefly about the impact of the bill and the ability that it gives the minister to compete in the private sector with the engineering fraternity.
Ostensibly the bill is a routine housekeeping bill that has the effect of consolidating the department. When we are considering the intrusion of the federal government into private enterprise or into areas that could be better served by private enterprise, we have to keep in mind that the government brings an enormous weight and an enormous amount of sway to the table whenever it decides it is going to get into a business.
Before I entered the political realm I was in the photo finishing business. I can remember being absolutely appalled when some years ago the post office was trying desperately to recoup some of its losses. The thought perhaps never occurred to the post office that one of the ways it could increase the use of its product was to provide a faster, better and more efficient service. It decided it was going to expand its product line. I believe it was Consumers Distributing products that were going to become available in post offices.
There I was, a small businessman, paying taxes to support the post office and finding myself in a position where I would be competing with the post office. Fortunately this did not come to pass.
Recently it was brought to my attention, and I am sure to the attention of other hon. members present, that the post office once again, as it was privatizing and becoming a crown corporation, was trying to increase its revenue rather than trying to decrease its expenses. It had announced a 2 cent price increase in the cost of a stamp. The post office had made, I think, a $26 million profit that year.
The post office was increasing the price of a stamp because it had to have more money. However, there were many sceptics who thought that perhaps the reason it was going to increase the first class postage rate was because it wanted to cross-subsidize and get into other businesses.
The post office started with a tremendous advantage as a crown corporation. It had a distribution network coast to coast. Imagine the situation, if you will, of someone being in the instant printing business, as has happened right here in Ottawa. They wake up one day, open their mail delivered to them through the post office, because of course the post office has a monopoly on the delivery of first class mail, and it is a survey from Canada
Post saying that it wants to be in a position to better serve its customers.
What is it going to do, folks? It is going to offer services such as typesetting, small run instant printing, the kinds of things that as one comes to the post office it would be kind of convenient to have right there. The trouble is the world does not need another instant printer. Instant printers are all over the place and they have, by and large, got themselves into business at their own expense.
Now they find themselves in a situation where they are competing directly with a crown corporation that has a monopoly on first class postage and can raise prices so it can compete with the private sector.
Another instance that has come to my attention concerning the post office has to do with it purchasing a courier company, I believe it was Purolator, and then going into competition with other people in the courier business. If the post office feels that it has the right, the purview and the privilege of going into competition with existing businesses, then should not existing businesses and other courier companies have the same right to go into competition with Canada Post? If Canada Post can compete with small business why then can business not compete with Canada Post?
It would be absolutely reasonable and fair that if Canada Post intends to continue down this path, it should find itself competing for the first class postage delivery.
If the post office finds itself in competition when delivering first class mail, what will happen? I bet the mail will be delivered faster. I bet it will be delivered on Saturday and I wager it will be delivered for less. Usually when there is competition the consumer benefits.
Now we have the reverse situation where a crown corporation with a monopoly on the delivery of first class mail is able to use the profit generated by the monopoly situation to cross-subsidize its ambit into other areas of business.
I submit to hon. members this is not right. It is not fair and it is counterproductive to the notion of free enterprise and privatization which is absolutely essential as our country moves down the path toward becoming self-sufficient and not becoming a sinkhole for taxpayers' money.
The third example I would like to raise is the question-this is part of the broader, more general intrusion of government into business-of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the practice of agents who work for Canada Mortgage and Housing to do appraisals on real estate in competition with the many competent people in private business who are licensed to provide that service.
Does this not have the potential for conflict of interest? An employee of Canada Mortgage and Housing is going out and doing an appraisal on a property that would be financed by Canada Mortgage and Housing. Is that not the same kind of one hand feeding the other dealsmanship that got us into a problem in some of the other financial institutions? Would it not be better if Canada Mortgage and Housing were required to have third party appraisals?
I suggest this kind of creeping intrusion of crown corporations into the sphere of private enterprise is not only counterproductive, but it is unhealthy for our economy because it does not bring in the discipline of the marketplace.
The last and final example I would like to bring to the attention of the House is that Bill C-52, at least according to the Canadian Association of Professional Engineers, would give the public service the mandate, the free rein, to set up in competition with professional engineers. As a matter of fact "the bill's loose wording gives complete power to bureaucrats. The sections read that the minister may incur expenditures or perform or have performed services or work in relation to any federal real property, or any other non-crown property with the consent of its owners".
As the government devolves from the sphere of private enterprise as we are wont and forced to do, in my opinion it would be a very good precedent for this Parliament to set to say that if private enterprise has the ability and the desire to compete in any sphere, then the government through a crown corporation or directly will not compete as a matter of principle.
I would ask that hon. members present give thought to these concerns and whenever the opportunity arises, to give private enterprise the advantage over public enterprise.