Mr. Speaker, with respect to the ninth report of the Standing Committee on Finance regarding replacing the GST and options for Canada, there are two issues I would like to address and I will also present the Reform Party's plan for tax reform.
The two issues I would like to address on this motion are the Liberal red book promise and the Liberal campaign election promise. There is a distinct difference between the two and this government is now attempting to confuse the Canadian public by putting the two together.
First, with respect to the red book campaign promise, the Liberals promised in that book, and it is there for everybody to read, to replace the GST with a simplified tax, more fair to small business and harmonized with the provinces.
The government is going to call this the new national value added tax but it is nothing more than a Christmas wish list. The government has made no hard proposals, only various options for provinces to consider, for Canadians to consider. It shirks its responsibilities by coming out one way or another on anything that is within the proposal. All decisions are left for the provincial governments to make. It is trying to sell the perfect tax world. If the provinces do not go along they will be the ones blamed and the federal government will claim that it has done the proper thing based on a report from a committee.
I have two colleagues who will address this issue as well and I will leave it to them to point out our concerns with this new national value added tax. I predict in short order, probably before Christmas, it will be referred to as the very awful tax and Canadians will be encouraging the government not to implement it.
My two colleagues will also point out the basic fundamental flaws that value added taxes are unable to resolve.
I would like to go on to the second aspect of-