Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks in this debate, may I say that I am delighted to be speaking here today, the first time since you took up your new duties as assistant deputy chairman. May I congratulate you on that appointment, a most worthy appointment. I am delighted to be here but having said that, I am afraid that I am less delighted about several things.
First, I would like to extend my compliments to the hon. member for Wild Rose. I would let him know that the name of Canada's 10th province is Newfoundland, like "understand". If you are going to understand a province, you should also know how it is pronounced.
The hon. member for Calgary Centre spoke quite eloquently, if somewhat off the point, a little earlier. I would like to say a few things to him too. I have great respect for that hon. member. I know that his belief in public service and in doing things for Canadians is very strong and I take no exception to that.
However, I will say as a Nova Scotian to the hon. member who comes from Alberta that I do not think Nova Scotia members lectured Albertans or westerners when the grain farmers took a $1.6 billion subsidy from the federal government. They did not say that it was not good for them. On behalf of the members of the three Atlantic provinces who are accepting this deal and who think this is a good deal, I would just say: Keep your lectures at home. We think we know a little bit better what is good for Nova Scotia, what is good for Newfoundland and what is good for New Brunswick.
Does the hon. member really think that premiers such as Brian Tobin, John Savage and Frank McKenna get together and say: "Let us do something bad for our provinces"? With the greatest of respect to the hon. member, does he really think that people who have barely gotten their feet wet in the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean know better than these people who have led their provinces in good times and in bad? Does the member really think that he knows better what to do for Nova Scotians, New Brunswickers and Newfoundlanders than Frank McKenna, John Savage and Brian Tobin? I do not think so.
With the greatest of respect to members of the third party and possibly others in the official opposition who might oppose this excellent plan for Atlantic Canadians, may I say that in that region they are not even on the radar screen politically and there is a reason for that. They do not comprehend what is good for Nova Scotians. Not even being able to pronounce the name of one of the provinces is a good reason they are not on the radar screen.
Having dealt with that, let me now deal with why the harmonized sales tax is a good thing for the people of Nova Scotia and her sister provinces.
Let me quote a premier I was talking about just a few minutes ago, the hon. Frank McKenna, one of the most successful premiers in Canadian history, I might add. Frank McKenna said on Sunday: "This is a chance for Atlantic Canada to enjoy the single biggest advantage we have ever had in the last 50 years against the rest of the country. We are now the most competitive area in all of North America for doing business". That comes from Premier McKenna and from the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, a most respected organization in our region.
The GST has sucked an additional $3 billion out of our region, a bigger increase in federal sales tax payments than in any other part of Canada, so it is no wonder the three provinces opted for the new tax to replace it, along with the $1 billion in transition funding. It is only appropriate that the region that took it, Atlantic Canada, was the one that was losing the most with the GST.
What is going to happen with this transitional funding? The transitional funding will be used in part by the provinces accepting this to assist those small numbers of consumers who are going to be hurt somewhat by the broader base of the tax, those few things that
will go up in price. Will some things go up in price? Yes, some will. The transitional funding will in part be used to assist those people.
I might also add there is no loss in the low income rebate of the GST that was instituted when the GST came in. It will continue to be paid to those people who qualify in the three Atlantic provinces.
The three Atlantic provinces as of April 1997 will have a simpler, less costly and more effective sales tax system, and that is the bottom line. Clearly members from Alberta have so little knowledge about what is important in Atlantic Canada that his has not managed to penetrate. I am not sure what does manage to penetrate, but then that is another story.
The BST will be the crowning in touch in turning Atlantic Canada into the most attractive business location in all of North America. From the days of wooden ships and iron persons until today this is something that has been long overdue in Nova Scotia, in New Brunswick and in Newfoundland.
I really do think that when members opposite think they can lecture us on what is good for the Atlantic region they should at least be able to say they know something about the region that they are attempting to lecture. We do not take kindly to lectures down there. We know what is good for us and the harmonized sales tax is very good for us.
Consumers will know what the price is before they go to the cash register. How many times has every one of us in this House and the people we represent seen an item that we wanted to buy, taken it to the cash register and by the time it was all added up, whammo, we were paying considerably more than we thought we were going to? Those days are over in Nova Scotia. That will be finished come April 1.
Consumers will have lower tax rates and on many goods will pay lower prices. This message has to be repeated and repeated because when it comes to misleading, and I know the hon. member opposite does not really wish to mislead, or at least I assume he does not wish to mislead, over and over again scare tactics have been used with regard to this plan on the consumers of my province and the two neighbouring provinces, trying to suggest that people will be paying considerably more when the truth is they will be paying less.