Mr. Speaker, I have listened with a great deal of interest and sympathy to the comments by the member from Calgary Centre. I believe the tax system is so broken that it cannot probably be fixed and that a new and innovative approach to the whole area of taxation has to be undertaken.
The member mentioned two very interesting points. One, a partial conversion I hope on behalf of the member of the Reform Party, was with respect to cuts. Throughout the election campaign and shortly after this Parliament was convened all we heard from the other side was to cut, cut, cut. What the member has said today, however, and it probably comes from having been in this place, understanding the complexity of some issues that we do not quite
get to understand on the campaign trail, is that cutting is not the answer.
Governments must do everything to ensure that each dollar spent is spent in a manner that is prudent, focused and that maximizes our wish to attain certain goals as a government and as a Parliament and as a people.
On the revenue side I agree with him. I am one of those individuals on this side of the House who believes the taxation system, albeit attempting to be fair, is inherently unfair to many. Each time we try to fix this monster created by dozens of amendments in this place by this and previous governments, it makes it even harder to attain our goal.
He mentioned single taxes and flat taxes. I agree that is a direction we have to go in. My colleague from Broadview-Greenwood in the last Parliament and this Parliament continues, and sometimes I know he must feel he is alone, to promote a different system of taxation. It is a system I supported in opposition. It is a system I supported during my campaign and it is a system I will continue to support on this side of the House.
The member wishes the Standing Committee on Finance would be specifically asked to review this. I do not usually wait for somebody to tell me what I can do. If there is an opportunity for me to work with other members to build a consensus across party lines, across this aisle which is only a few feet but many times feels like miles, I will rise to the challenge.
I ask the member not to wait for the mandarins at finance or for the government or for officials of his own party to say the time has come for parliamentarians to work together in a non-partisan fashion to come up with solutions. We all know what the problems are. We all try in our respective roles in opposition or government to put the best solutions forward we think can be implemented.
I throw a challenge out to him to work with me and other members on this side. I will work with him and other members on that side to look at what can be done, real tax reform, single tax, flat tax, to work together to put a challenge not just to the government but to all parliamentarians. I am prepared to put the time in. I ask the member if he would be prepared to put the time in. Canadians are looking for those types of solutions from Parliament and I think they are looking for them now.