Mr. Speaker, I want to just add my two bits worth to this debate.
Being an educator all my life, I of course know the value of books. I think it is unconscionable that students who, for the most part these days, are having a great deal of trouble making ends meet, are taxed to death by a government that has this insatiable hunger for tax revenue.
With respect to what the hon. member from the Liberal Party opposite said just a few moments ago, I have a tendency to agree that there would be a loss of tax revenue obviously from some printed materials that many would value not worthy of that exemption from the GST. On the other hand we find that taxpayers' money is being used via Heritage Canada to subsidize equally offensive publications and equally offensive productions. I have seen and heard them myself. That is using taxpayers' money.
Perhaps we should strike a deal. Let us say that we will not take the tax away from books if at the same time we will stop using that tax revenue for things which come into exactly the same category.
To be very honest I feel that we need to reduce government expenditures so that we can reduce the amount of debt and reduce the amount of interest payable. Then we could reduce in total the amount that Canadians have to pay in taxes.
If we get on to that and reduce the GST, say in stages to zero on everything, in the end all Canadians will benefit, especially those who are interested in promoting literacy in the country which is the motive of this bill, but in other areas as well. It would be a great boon to our economy if the government got its cotton pickin' GST fingers out of our lives.