Madam Speaker, I would like to comment on both issues raised by the hon. member. First, with regard to the deficit reduction surtax, it says in the report that a single rate levy would be made on all businesses and personal income. That means all Canadians regardless of income or circumstances would have a single levy. It does not mean 1 per cent. It could mean 5 per cent, 4 per cent or 3 per cent.
The chairman of our committee, the hon. member for Willowdale, indicated that a 1 per cent surtax collected across Canada would bring in about 700 million in tax dollars. I would think the minimum the government would charge as a surtax would be 2 per cent to bring in about $1.4 billion, because that is the amount of tax money it has looked at in this report.
Regarding the second question of the Public Utilities Income Tax Transfer Act, I think it would be very unfortunate if the government tried to take $249 million from the private utility companies of this country. The problem is that it focuses that source of income on two or three provinces and mainly Alberta. Alberta has some major private resource electrical companies. That is $249 million that would be sucked out of the industry. In addition, it would raise the cost of utilities in those respective provinces. That would be like a targeted tax. I do not think that is fair as a tax principle as well.
In Alberta the farmers who now use electricity to pump for their irrigation systems would be significantly affected by the implementation of this tax, or changing the current circumstances with regard to the public utilities income tax transfer at the present time.