Mr. Speaker, it is my responsibility to speak on these amendments because for seven years in the House I have been trying to generate debate on behalf of my constituents and
others across Canada who believe the current tax system is not fair, not efficient and complex.
For years we have been amending the tax act of Canada. We have made amendments to amendments that have generated a complexity. Most tax lawyers and most tax accountants when speaking privately say that the current tax act is an unmitigated disaster.
After the last election when the Reform Party came to the House I was hopeful we could generate real solid debate on comprehensive tax reform. Granted it takes a couple of years to get our feet wet in this place. Most Reform Party members would admit that governance of a country like ours is complex. We cannot come here on day one and expect our ideas to be totally understood. There are all kinds of variables and difficulties that make implementing legislation difficult in comparison with the view we had in the private sector. I have certainly learned the hard way that it is difficult. I respect the fact that the Reform Party took a couple of years before it began the debate on total tax reform.
I will support my government on the bill. I would never vote against a money bill because it is a confidence bill. The hon. member for Gander-Grand Falls and I are not saying that we want an election over the bill. However we are trying to illustrate what I have been saying in the House for seven years. The bill is another example of how amendments to amendments of the tax act can be brought forward.
I do not mean to be disrespectful but probably 85 per cent to 90 per cent of the members of the House do not know the full ramifications of the bill. We expect the opposition to challenge bills like this one. If I were in opposition right now, quite frankly as I forced debate on the bill, I probably would have put a lot more heat on the government and asked when we would move the debate forward on total tax reform. But no, they wanted to let it go through.
The difficulty I have with the bill is that we are giving tax reform. We are harmonizing with the United States. The bill harmonizes Canada with certain aspects of U.S. tax law. The one great feature about the bill is that when the United States of America wants to amend its tax act we move quickly to be in harmony with it.
We can reflect on the ongoing debate in the United States in terms of single tax, flat tax and all the various democrats, republicans and independents who are talking about total tax reform. If it gets to the front burner of their agenda hopefully Canada will not be far behind. Obviously we will move in a micro second. Part of the reason we are moving in the bill is that the Americans want it to be done quickly.
One positive feature is that we move quickly to harmonize, but the difficulty is that it only gives tax reform to the elite in Canada. I have immense respect for my colleague from Winnipeg, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, and I will support him in the bill. However I would not call people who have residences in Florida ordinary Canadians. They are wealthy. I consider someone who has $600,000 worth of property in Florida or in some other place in the United States to be fairly wealthy.
I also have great concerns about article XI. Essentially once the bill is passed, and it will be passed, it will affect Canadians who want to send their children to an ivy league school such as Harvard, Yale, Cornell or Rice. I have nothing against ivy league schools in the United States. I am proud of Canadian universities but I would have liked to have gone to UCLA or one of those big ivy league universities. It costs $25,000 or $30,000 a year for four or five years. Under the bill Canadians who can afford to send their children to the ivy league schools will get a tax credit. I have great difficulty when essentially the bill will create a market for wealthy Canadians.
If I were the president of Notre Dame or one of those places I would take out an ad in all Canadian universities. I would go to Upper Canada College in my community in Toronto, go to Bishop Strachan or take out a flyer telling parents about the tax credit they would get for all the money they spend sending their son or daughter there.
We listened to the member for Yukon last night give her closing remarks. I have had immense respect for the member for Yukon since I came here seven years ago. She said that we were here for people who cannot always speak for themselves. It is obvious the people who can afford to speak for themselves certainly have the ability to get the bill through the agenda in the first two years of our mandate. Quite frankly I think it is a question of priorities, but in this bill we are forgetting a bit of our Liberal tradition.