Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join in this discussion today on Bill C-102, an act to amend the Customs Act and the customs tariff and to make related and consequential amendments to other acts.
I know there are many in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, the business and industry community, the manufacturers, the exporters, the trading companies, and those who travel either as tourists or in business, who are very interested in these amendments.
I thought I would have to debate some of the issues in the bill and call for support from the opposition. I was pleased to hear the support of my hon. colleague from the Bloc and also support from the Reform member who spoke just before me.
It seems as though there is general agreement among all members that the amendments in Bill C-102 would do a number of things. They would increase the capability of transferring goods to export market, enable us to be competitive, and encourage and improve the capacity for people doing business in Canada and across our borders.
I want to draw attention to some of the concepts of good government as we see them in Bill C-102. A number of measures provided for in this bill build on the government's review of Canada's tariff regime.
I want to take the opportunity to compliment not only the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Revenue, whose work and whose departments have brought forward these amendments, but also the committee on finance that worked on so many of the pieces of legislation, such as S-9, C-105, C-90, C-103, and these present amendments before us.
This bill introduces tariff reductions on a broad range of goods used as inputs in Canadian manufacturing operations. The bill also introduces changes. I believe there was general agreement on these changes to enhance, streamline, and consolidate Canada's duty deferral programs and also to make them more accessible to all manufacturers. These changes exist not only to enhance but also to reduce input costs. These changes allow for regions to more effectively market the programs in competition with the U.S. free trade zones to attract and keep investment in Canada.
There are several amendments to Bill C-102. In the context of good government, these amendments are designed to lower business input costs and maintain and enhance our competitiveness and therefore create more jobs and opportunities, as we promised in our red book.
Bill C-102 provides for a number of technical changes to simplify, clarify, modernize and bring up to date the customs tariff and its administration, to make it easier and less costly for business to access tariff relief programs. We heard earlier some examples of individuals in the business community who work with rules that are bureaucratic, out of sync with the way of doing business in today's world.
Several amendments to Bill C-102 resulted from broad consultations with the private sector and at the request of those sectors. We heard earlier from the parliamentary secretary about the changes that were made as a result of the input from consultations and presentations that were made to the committee in the drafting stage.
The measures adopted in the bill will do a number of things. They will provide $60 million in import tariff relief to Canadian manufacturers to level the playing field with NAFTA trading partners. I can say that in Etobicoke-Lakeshore business people are very concerned about this area and I am sure will be quite pleased with the tariff relief section.
These amendments will also position Canadian businesses with a duty deferral program to more easily attract investment and compete in expanding world markets with a minimum of customs overhead. Again, I think every member in the House who is in touch with export business people knows the issue is an important one for them.
The amendments will also assist and provide opportunities for provincial and municipal governments to enrich the duty deferral program with local incentives. It is always the way in which we on this side of the House work to ensure that the municipal, regional, and other levels of government work in accordance with policies and with what we are attempting to do in the House.
The improvement of services to travellers through simplification of customs procedures will allow customs to focus on smuggling and commercial importation. Those who have been out of the country recently and have come back into the country with goods would already know the implication of this change.
Enacting this bill will not only ensure competitiveness and make all of the housekeeping amendments, but it will also increase the value of goods travellers can bring back to Canada after absences abroad. As someone who has travelled in the last few months, I had to fill out forms and state what I was bringing back into the country. I also became aware of exemptions Canadian travellers are allowed versus the U.S. exemptions, as we cross from the U.S. into Canada. It is a positive step toward the accord we recently signed on our shared border.
There are several other technical things within the bill. I want to stress a few that I am sure my constituents in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, who are watching very closely the passage of this and who are awaiting its full implementation, would like me to emphasize.
I would like to draw attention to specifically the amendments to allow for possible future improvements to preferential tariff treatment for the world's poorest developing countries to improve their export opportunities. This is very important for a number of people within the communities attempting to do business in this area.
The protection of all goods and jobs and the withdrawal of the British preferential tariff, or the BPT rate as it is called, on certain rubber footwear ensure that all manufacturers and producers are on an even playing field. I mentioned earlier travellers' exemptions and the basket tariff items to facilitate the processing of travellers.
In the context of good government I stress that the amendments will facilitate smooth business across our borders. They will encourage competitiveness. They will respond to our manufacturers, small business people and exporters. They will provide opportunities to provincial and municipal governments to come up with local initiatives to deal with free trade arrangements. All the amendments in Bill C-102 will give Canada the climate to ensure that we have the facility to trade across our borders on an equal footing. The Access to Information Act will protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information provided by importers pursuant to
the Customs Act and the customs tariff. Those changes would be greatly appreciated by business people.
The housekeeping and technical amendments contained in Bill C-102 ensure that competitiveness will be increased. They will also ensure that the exemptions for Canadian travellers will be in line with those of our major trading partners. The amendments will ensure that related and consequential amendments will be made to all acts that impinge upon the Customs Act and the customs tariff.
These amendments are needed and desirable. I join with my colleagues in saying that the amendments are excellent. Therefore I ask members to ensure that Bill C-102 receives swift passage.