My friend from Calgary says 1 per cent. I doubt it is one per cent. We should not be giving priority to tax policy that addresses the concerns of less than 1 per cent of the Canadian population.
My hon. friend from Calgary Centre made a point that was well taken. He said that most times when we are trying to change the Income Tax Act we use the normal process through the finance committee and various other subcommittees to look at tax exemptions and ask whether they are of benefit to Canada. My friend from Toronto will know about this; he has been working on them for many years. Do they result in some benefit? Often when we have done a cost benefit analysis we have found that they have not. From time to time the government has eliminated tax exemptions or what some of us call tax loopholes. Even the Minister of Finance is using the term tax loophole more frequently.
We ask ourselves how we got into this debt problem. I know it seems to be a jump from Bill S-9 to the debt problem. Let us recognize that Statistics Canada did us a great favour back in 1991 when it identified that 44 per cent of our accumulated federal debt was the result of tax exemptions over the years, the drainage of billions and billions of dollars through tax loopholes.
We might say that some of the tax breaks, tax loopholes or tax exemptions are beneficial. Some are absolute boondoggles and some are debatable. Do Parliament and government give priority to a process that would see the elimination of some tax exemptions and as a result take a major step toward reducing the accumulated debt and deficit? Is that where we devote our attention, energy and time? No. Time is given to Bill S-9 that will benefit a handful of the wealthiest families of Canada. We will send this off to the finance committee now for thorough study where its advantages and problems will be identified.
In summary let us acknowledge what we are doing today. We are taking up valuable House of Commons time at a crucial time in our economic history, when we have 1.4 million Canadians who are jobless, another two million Canadians who are underemployed, probably many more than that who are working in low paying jobs and are barely getting by. We are seeing that a priority for this government is to assist a handful of wealthy families with their tax problems.
What about the tax problems of every other Canadian? What about the tax problems that every small business person in this country is struggling with today? My friend from Calgary Centre indicated that people are struggling through their tax returns and so on and need a tax accountant, a tax adviser, a tax lawyer for the simplest type of taxation situation.
It is with regret that we have this debate today, because of all the priorities facing this country this has to be almost at the bottom of
the bloody list. However, the government says this is a priority, so to them it is and we have to deal with it.
Let me say that on the principle of this bill we in the New Democratic Party will be voting against it.