Mr. Speaker, I was enjoying the speeches of the hon. member and the hon. member for Kamloops.
One certainly has to agree and be thankful and glad for individuals being successful in the member's riding on these new enterprises. The help they got is great.
The difficulty was mentioned by the speaker from Kamloops when he talked about a survey he did in his riding. He talked about what we can do to help enlighten the ideas of new enterprises and help them begin and grow; not just for new entrepreneurs but for older ones who may change careers from time to time.
All of that is very important. It is especially important when one hears his response when they say get out of the way, get out of the way.
In the early part of the 1990s in my area of Wild Rose, which is likewise rural and small towns, many small businesses through the first two or three years following the GST went into receivership. In many of the cases they declared the GST was the straw that broke the camel's back.
They were struggling. They were having a tough time. Along came the GST and that really brought the final crunch. That was not the case in all of these. I am sure every member would be able to find some enterprise that flopped specifically because of the GST.
People say to the governments get out of their way, stay off their backs, stay out of their pockets and they will make it. Give them that initial boost they need. I certainly support that idea.
I carry with me in my briefcase the red ink book, the book of broken promises. It says the Liberal government will replace the GST with a system that generates equivalent revenues-I worry where that equivalency will come from-is fair to consumers and to small business and minimizes disruption to small business, all very key statements and very important.
I also read of the mandate of 12 months for this to happen. We are now in the 25th month and nothing has happened with the GST. It would not be fair of me to ask the hon. member why the deputy minister has not resigned with the promise of doing so within this 12-month period.
I wonder if the member could enlighten the House in any way as to what small business has to look forward to beyond being able to get started. That is the first step. Will we achieve things to help them continue and get out of the way and not be disruptive?
Will we see the GST replaced? How long will it take? Obviously it will take longer than this book says.