Mr. Speaker, before the last election the Liberals knew full well what they would do with the GST. They knew that scrapping the goods and services tax would not be an option. They knew they would not be able to come up with an equal amount of revenue, yet true to Liberal form they said that they would abolish it.
Now members of this government are trying to say they never said scrap, abolish or kill the GST, that they said harmonize or streamline. If this government never used the words scrap, abolish or kill then why did the Deputy Prime Minister resign her seat? Why did the member for York South-Weston leave the Liberal caucus? Why did the member for Broadview-Greenwood support the member for York South-Weston for sticking to his principles? Because they all knew they were wrong. They knew full well that their constituents did not elect them to harmonize the GST.
The member for York South-Weston did the right thing by keeping his promises to his constituents. As is the true Reformer style, that member voted the wishes of those who elected him. Now it seems this independent member wants to walk back across the floor to join his Liberal colleagues.
Today it was reported in the Montreal Gazette that the same member said: ``That issue is over and done with. I've made my point and I don't intend to speak to that issue again''. I remind the member that the issue of the GST will not be over as long as the Liberals are in power. And they confirm it again today with Bill C-70.
Liberal members and all Liberal candidates will have to go into the next election and explain to all Canadians why the GST is still there.
In Ontario, Liberals are going to have to sell the electorate on harmonization when Ontario premier Mike Harris says he has no interest on harmonizing the GST with the provincial tax. Whenever Harris has been asked about the possibility of harmonizing the taxes, he firmly states that the federal harmonization plan would cost Ontario consumers between $2 billion and $3 billion a year. Ontarians are not going to buy the Liberal harmonization promises no matter how it is sugar coated.
Manitoba premier Gary Filmon says that the harmonization is "a bad deal for Manitobans". He also says what the government "cannot do is help us with the transference that takes place off the backs of businesses and on to the backs of consumers. Consumers in Manitoba would have to pick up $300 million a year of the burden. It just doesn't work. It is a bad deal".
The same words are echoed by the Governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In fact, these provinces are not even willing to discuss the proposal with the Prime Minister.
Bill C-70 is a bill that deals specifically with the provinces on the east coast. This bill is not going to change the tax in my home province of British Columbia so when and if Bill C-70 is given royal consent, my constituents are still going to be paying the GST.
This bill is not about harmonization or streamlining. It is about failing to follow through on a promise. With Bill C-70, the Liberals need the support of provincial governments. If they had proposed this plan in the last election, Canadians would have soon discovered that such a plan would not work. Had the Liberals followed through on their election promise, provincial support would not have been necessary. I guess that provincial governments would have loved seeing an abolished GST.
Canadians were cheated in the last election concerning that kind of promise. There is no other way to say it. Putting everything into practical terms, the Liberals promised that they would give back money to Canadians to alleviate a personal tax. Now, over three years later, Canadians have not received their share.
However, there is a solution and the solution is not too difficult to achieve. What Canadians need to do is get rid of the party of dead promises and elect a party that will follow through on what it says. The Reform Party is the only party that will make promises which can be kept. We are not about using hot button issues simply to attract a vote for the short term.
I really wonder if the east coast residents know what they will be getting with a harmonized tax. Do they know that they will be paying more for children's clothing, funerals, books, auto repairs, electricity, gasoline, home heating fuel and even hair cuts? Probably not. Consumers are going to be hit hard by the passage of Bill C-70.
I was told recently that the Investment Property Owner's Association tabled a report in the Nova Scotia legislature which states that renters can expect to shoulder some of the higher operating costs that will hit landlords with a harmonized GST. Again the government is going to go after those who have lesser incomes, all for the sake of some political expediency. My only hope is that the east coast media gives these people the facts about the implications of harmonization. However, my fear is that the Liberal media will say very little about it leaving the east coast residents in the dark.
The Canadian Real Estate Association says that a harmonized sales tax will push up new housing prices on average by about $4,000 in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In New Brunswick, new housing prices are expected to climb as much as $3,300. In fact, the Halifax Chamber of Commerce is predicting that municipalities are going to raise property taxes all because the eastern provinces were bribed into the harmonization deal.
The Liberals have been speaking about how they never said this and never said that during the campaign. I am not going to stand here and accuse individual members of what they said because I was not present during each of their campaigns or following them door to door as they went knocking. However, I will tell constitu-
ents in each federal riding to make their own accusations. They remember what was said.
I want to offer the House some comments by members with regard to the GST. I think Canadians will get the idea of what the majority of Liberal members meant during the 1993 election.
For example, the member for Mississauga West, referring to a reply from a Department of Finance letter which said that Canadians were getting used to the GST, said: "If anyone believed that I do not think they are in touch with reality".
The member for York South-Weston commented that: "I hope we do not try to hoodwink people into thinking our commitment was contingent on the provinces agreeing to harmonize their taxes with the GST. A good number of my colleagues feel the same way. The gun control protest will appear to be a nursery school tea party if we do not fulfil that commitment on the GST".
Bill C-70 will not be accepted by Canadians. The only bill that Canadians will accept is the one that completely gets rid of the GST. But the government does not have what it takes to follow through on its promises. The Prime Minister expelled the member for York-South Weston for voting no confidence. I hope that the Prime Minister and his party will be prepared to have the Canadian people vote no confidence in the next election and instead vote for a party that will bring integrity and honesty back into government.
The Minister of Finance has publicly admitted that the government made a mistake in promising to scrap the GST. Yet government members continue to say that no mistake was made. Government members are going in all different directions. The government is unstable and unfit to run this country. Bill C-70 is two inches thick of smoke and mirrors.
The finance minister is only fooling himself if he thinks that this bill is going to solve the GST problem. As the member from Mississauga said, if the government thinks that people have got used to the GST, then the government is out of touch with reality.