Mr. Speaker, as we have heard a couple of times today, we are debating Bill C-102, an act to amend the Customs Act and customs tariff and make related amendments to other acts.
This is a very important bill. As the trade critic for our party I say that it is vitally important to reduce tariffs as quickly as we can. The Reform Party fully supports the bill.
The bill reduces well over 1,500 tariffs and since we are a pro free trade party we are in favour of all of them. The tariffs being reduced are on a broad range of goods used as inputs into Canadian manufacturing operations on certain finished products. By reducing these tariffs our costs of manufacturing will be reduced. The result is that manufacturers will be able to invest more money into plants and equipment.
This type of tariff reduction, I would submit, is a stimulant to our economy. It will create more jobs than the old-fashioned job creation programs we have seen in the past. I urge the government to go further down the road and establish as many cuts to existing tariffs as possible to move this along as quickly as possible.
The cost incurred by Canadian manufacturers are already high enough by virtue of our climate and our great distance from markets. Let us give our manufacturers a break and eliminate these tariffs wherever possible.
We will also be eliminating a lot of paperwork and red tape. Working through all the red tape is a big cost of doing business. I would not be surprised if many of these tariffs actually cost the government more to collect than what it gets from them.
Not long ago I recall reading a story about the so-called Asian tigers of the South Pacific that have enjoyed spectacular growth because they have slashed tariffs more quickly than their competing nations. That demonstrates open competition is very good. We have seen growth rates in some of those areas of 10 per cent per year.
We in Canada have been too cautious in this regard and too concerned about protecting industries and companies that do not really deserve that protection. I would much rather see real competition in the marketplace rather than protectionism.
Bill C-102 also increases the value of goods that travellers returning to Canada can bring back. Returning residents now have a $50 exemption after the absence of 24 hours, an increase of $30. The exemption for 48 hours goes to $200 from $100 and the seven day exemption increases from $300 to $500, all good moves I think.
These changes bring Canadian travellers' exemptions into line with those of our major trading partners and eliminates some of the petty hassles we have heard addressed in the House earlier today that travellers face at our border. I would rather see customs officials concentrating on drug and gun smugglers and other types of smugglers than have them preoccupied with what amounts to a pair of Adidas runners.
Another measure the bill streamlines is customs clearance procedures by treating goods imported by travellers as basket tariff items. My understanding is there is a proposal presently under consideration to replace the thousands of existing customs categories to just 12. That would be welcome as well.
When these changes are implemented at a later date they should speed up our collection of duties by more than 50 per cent. The time savings will allow Revenue Canada to focus on processing commercial imports and spend more time for enforcing the laws against smuggling.
The final major change the bill brings about is streamlining and consolidating the duty deferral programs, making them more accessible to the manufacturing community. Canada has three programs which defer or relieve duties on goods for export or goods awaiting formal entry into Canada. These are duty drawback, inward processing and bonded warehouse programs. By eliminating certain administration restrictions that currently exist these programs will be now more accessible to small and medium size companies.
The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade is currently studying ways to make small and medium size companies more able to take advantage of trade pacts we have introduced in the House such as NAFTA and the GATT agreement. Anything we can do to relieve the pressure they have in doing business in this country is welcome.
Because these free trade zones will now be set up and funded under the auspices of local government rather than the federal, cities and other regions will have greater incentives to set up these free trade zones. I believe more natural trade corridors will develop as a result of this.
Such a free trade zone was set up at the Vancouver airport in March 1994. More recently a similar free trade zone was established at an Edmonton airport. I believe Atlantic Canada is a natural one that should take advantage of this as well.
These free trade zones allow businesses to bring in goods from abroad without paying the federal GST, provincial sales tax or import duties until the goods actually leave the free trade zones. Companies are free to repackage, test or make value added modifications to these imported goods. No taxes or duties are payable until the goods are shipped off again. The companies get to use their working capital for a longer period of time and save a lot of unnecessary paperwork.
Here is another example of how the government can stimulate by getting out of the way; free the hands of business, cut the bureaucracy, the red tape, and watch this great country get back on track. It is something we certainly need.
We support all of these measures and we welcome additional measures to make further cuts in tariffs even if we do it unilaterally.