Mr. Speaker, I would like to address the amendments put forward by the member for Gander-Grand Falls. Before I comment on them, he took a heck of a long time during his 20-minute oration to point out in a very partisan and grandstanding fashion how the Reform Party and the Bloc Quebecois support this bill. However, he conveniently ignored the fact that his very own government supports this bill. In every comment the member made about the opposition parties supporting this bill, he conveniently and purposely left out mentioning that his government is in favour of this bill.
I respect the member's right to disagree with his own party. We believe in that on this side of the House. We believe it is an advantage to allow members of a party to speak out on the negatives of a bill, especially if members so passionately feel there is something wrong with it. However, to carry the game to the degree the hon. member has in terms of giving the general impression that his party was not a part of it disappoints me. I respect the hon. member, but I must put on the record that in this
case the way he presented his comments is taking political partisanship one dramatic step too far.
Let us get to the crux of the matter which are two amendments to the bill. I agree with the member for Témiscamingue. He is right. These two amendments are poorly written and poorly thought out. They have been served up to circumvent the bill itself so that this gentleman could have one more opportunity, one more platform to give his speech and to hear himself talk.
What the member accomplished in the process was to show us the typical Liberal attitude that where there are tax breaks available for Canadians, where there are advantages for Canadian citizens in the form of reduced taxes or where it eliminates double taxation to help solve a problem in our tax system, the Liberal government is against it. The Liberal government and this member are against it.
The hon. member wants to generate as much revenue for the government as possible on the backs of what he calls the so-called rich. The mythology that the rich somehow or other get a disproportionate share of the advantages and benefits of infrastructure is crap. That kind of philosophy and attitude has to stop, which is why Liberalism is slowly coming to an end as well.
For the member to give a speech one way and to ignore the benefits of the bill, never once addressing the advantages and the good aspects of the bill, is terribly one sided. It is the Liberal way of arguing. I believe the only way government members can defend themselves is by presenting a biased and prejudicial point of view without looking at it from both sides.
The reality and the weaknesses of these two amendments to Bill S-9 are that by trying to strike the bill down, the member is not accepting the realities of today's economic climate. The global economy requires that everybody, as closely and as much as possible, deals under the same rules and rates of taxation so that there is no unfair competition and the flow of capital is not more advantageous in one country or another. If Canada does not keep in step with globalization and with the same rates of taxation by convention with all other countries, we are at a great and serious disadvantage.
In light of the personal crusade of the member for Gander-Grand Falls to strike down Bill S-9 on technical grounds, that it did not originate in the House, he is ignoring the wonderful advantages and benefits of the bill.
I was being taunted by the other side to say what those advantages were. It offers relief for Canadians residents from the application of U.S. estate taxes. It has tremendous advantages for all people in eastern Canada who have residences in Florida. If they happened to sell them they would have to pay estate taxes on anything over $60,000. It raises the limit to $600,000. Is that not an advantage to Canadian residents?
Yet when we listened to this member's speech he made it sound like it is a tax expenditure we are giving up that will cost Canadian taxpayers. It is not costing Canadian taxpayers. It is costing U.S. taxpayers. That is the other side of the story the member failed to point out.
That is what I mean by balanced and representative argument and presentation when we are discussing bills. We will be discussing complete fundamental tax reform in the country very shortly. It is a burning issue; it is an issue that will come up. It includes issues like taxation and rates across borders nation to nation. We will have debate on various forms of flat tax. The member for Broadview-Greenwood has a proposal for a flat tax that his party members conveniently choose to ignore, which is typically Liberal. It offers a wonderful solution to our complicated system but they ignore the member. I do not know why but they do.
When the debate takes place we will have people speaking for it and against it. No tax reform and no taxation system, no matter how much it is simplified, has all the answers and has all the solutions. It requires debate; it requires looking at both sides of the story. That is what I would like to see happen when we discuss taxation bills especially and bills that affect our pocketbooks as this bill does.
As critic of this topic and this bill on behalf of our party I will be making a recommendation to our caucus. We on this side of the House have the right to accept my recommendation or not. We will see what happens on that side of the House when the amendments are voted on. I will recommend to our party that we oppose the two amendments because they are strictly for grandstanding purpose. They are very poorly written. They are extremely hard to understand except for Motion No. 1 which I can understand.
As the Bloc member said, how can they be for it for a few years and then against it after? As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance pointed out very well, the member probably does not understand the implications of his motion. As soon as I heard that, it verified the fact even the Liberal government felt it was very poorly written.
Therefore on those two grounds I will be recommending that we oppose them. However, when it comes to Bill S-9 itself, I will be recommending to our party that we support the bill. That is where my comments end on the matter.