moved:
That, in the opinion of this House, the GST should be "killed, scrapped, abolished".
Madam Speaker, Canadians have been waiting a long time to hear this debate in this place. After all, the promise to scrap, axe and abolish the GST was one that the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the finance minister made at various times over the last several years and of course during the election campaign.
After over two years into the mandate of the government, it is more than past time to have this debate. Sadly it is a debate that has to come from the opposition rather than the government which was proposing it during the election campaign.
It was a major campaign promise. In fact, I would argue that it was probably the most important promise that the government made during the 1993 election campaign. Some members across the way who were on doorsteps throughout this country told Canadians face to face that should the Liberals assume power the GST would be history, that it would be gone.
I am not going to make an elaborate argument against the GST. I do not think I have to. Government members have already made the argument for me. They made the argument during the election campaign and even since then.
I would like to run through a chronology of the different quotes that have been dug up from various members opposite to demonstrate there is a huge weight of evidence that the government did promise to abolish, to axe, to scrap, to get rid of, the GST. Today it is fudging on that promise.
By the way, Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Capilano-Howe Sound.
I would like to go back into the public record and point out to the House what was said by hon. members on the Liberal side in the lead-up to the last election campaign and let Canadians judge for themselves and hopefully remind the Liberals and perhaps tweak consciences a bit so that when it comes time to vote they will vote for their constituents instead of voting for the party whip.
Let us go back to 1990. This was in the wake of the GST being brought in by the previous Tory government which had its own undemocratic ways about jamming bills through. I will go back to the Edmonton Journal of March 6, 1990 for the first in a long series of quotes that I am going to use this afternoon.
The Liberal Party would scrap the GST, the current Minister of Human Resources Development pledged in a nationally televised debate with former finance minister Michael Wilson in March, 1990: "The goods and services tax is a regressive tax. It has to be scrapped and we will scrap it".
Let us go to the Windsor Star of November 9, 1990. This is a quote by the current Liberal House leader: ``Not only do the Liberals oppose the GST now, that opposition will continue even if the bill is passed. We are not interested in tinkering with the GST. We do not want it at all''.
From an April 4, 1990 article in the Montreal Gazette : I would abolish the GST''. That was stated by the current finance minister. The current Prime Minister of Canada said in the Montreal <em>Gazette</em> of September 27, 1990:I want the tax dead''.
Let us look at the chronology to see how things change over the course of years. Let us go to the Ottawa Citizen , February 11, 1991: ``I say we will replace the tax. This is a commitment. You judge me by that''. These are the words of the Prime Minister. The words are starting to change.
From the Toronto Star , November 7, 1991:
`Some senators are confused and upset by [the Prime Minister's] inability to consistently say that a Liberal government will scrap the GST', a senior Liberal source said yesterday.
[The current Prime Minister] was accused of flip-flopping after he backed away from a promise to abolish the GST on Monday, saying the tax would be `fundamentally changed' under a Liberal government. On Tuesday [the Prime Minister] was back saying he would scrap the tax after the 88,000 member Canadian Federation of Independent Business released a critical report on the GST.
I have dozens and dozens of quotes. I will obviously have to abbreviate them to get through my entire presentation. Let us skip ahead to the 1993 election year. Here is an interesting quote from the Toronto Star , February 12, 1993: ``The Liberal leader says it could be 1995 before he decides how to keep his promise to scrap and replace the goods and services tax''. We certainly wish it would have happened in 1995 but 1995 has come and gone.
I think a lot of people will remember this quote from 1993, one week before the election. I know the member across the way will remember this one because these are words that live in infamy in the world of the Liberals. This is from the current Deputy Prime Minister appearing on a CBC electronic town hall meeting one week before the election: "If the GST is not abolished under a Liberal government I will resign".
She said "abolished". As the hon. member for York South-Weston has been fond of pointing out about his own government, abolish is not synonymous with harmonize, which is what the Liberals are trying to convince Canadians they were saying during the election campaign. However, that is not the case and Canadians know better.
I want to fast forward a little now to 1994 and then ultimately to 1995 and 1996. Here is what the Victoria Times Colonist said on May 18, 1994:
The federal government will replace the hated GST within two years [the current Prime Minister] pledged Thursday.
Revenue minister-predicts that voters will punish any provincial government that fails to merge its sales tax with a revamped goods and services tax.
"Revamped"? That sounds suspiciously like tinkering with the worst tax ever imposed on Canadians instead of trashing it. If the voters are going to punish any government, it will be the federal Liberals for failing to deliver on a clear, specific election promise.
In fact, when [the current Prime Minister] was trying to entice Canadians into making him prime minister, he said it was the only specific promise he was making.
The weight of evidence is overwhelming and in the court of public opinion Canadians are not only trying this government, they are convicting it. I think they will mete out a very harsh penalty at the next election.
Let us go to the Ottawa Citizen , August 10, 1995: ``The hated GST will be replaced with a new national sales tax in next year's federal budget, the Prime Minister promised Wednesday''.
From the same day, an interesting quote from the hon. member for Mississauga West: "I think the GST is going to become a hot point. I think if we do not do something about it our credibility is gone. People in my riding hate the GST. It is not like one of those mild we do not like it, they hate it. If the GST is merged with provincial sales taxes voters will not be satisfied unless the overall tax take is simultaneously reduced. You cannot just do a little paper switch or move the shell and hide the peanut".
I think that is a wonderful quote and I think it is a perfect analysis of the situation.
Here is an interesting quote from the Ottawa Sun : ``In 1993 the Liberals promised to scrap the Tories' hated GST but so far have not kept their word. That broken promise, stressed the member for Broadwood-Greenwood, is going to come back to haunt them in an election expected next year. It is one word. It is trust''.
The hon. member for York South-Weston said: "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". That came from a Liberal member, a member who went to doorsteps along with all the other members across the way trying to convince Canadians that if they voted Liberal they would get rid of the GST.
Now we have some members who are feeling their conscience. They are coming forward to the media and urging their party that the GST must be scrapped, abolished, axed, as they said it should be during the election campaign. Now we are starting finally to get some debate about that in the House thanks to the Reform Party because obviously the Liberals have not brought this forward to this point and it is not in their interest to do it.
This vote is a chance for Liberal members across the way to throw off the fetters of party discipline, to vote with their constituents and to finally fulfil their promise to get rid of the GST.