Mr. Speaker, it is odd to hear the Liberals singing the praises of the GST. I have been listening to them since this morning. These are the folks who, back in 1993, were carrying on so, promising to scrap the GST, you will recall. Even an influential minister of that party saw fit to tender her resignation over it, and to get re-elected shortly after on it.
The minister has just accused us of partisan politics. This morning, I heard a western MP accusing the government of having bribed, bought off the people of the maritimes with this $920 million supposedly given to the maritimes to harmonize their tax with the GST, because the shortfall was over 5%.
When a government, which alone knows the date the next election is to be called, goes around waving $960 million for fishers hard hit by the employment insurance reform, might we not assume that it is trying to bribe the public? Fortunately, this sort of tactic does not work particularly well. I would ask the members of the party in power who come from the maritimes to rise and speak to the topic of the day. I invite them to do so. We would like to hear what they have to say on the subject.
When the minister responsible for regional development tells us that this subsidy was awarded totally fairly, I would to know where he is getting his information from. What is this 5% based on, if it is not arbitrary? How can the Minister of Finance justify this 5%? Why not 8% or 2% or 1% or 14%. Where does the figure 5 come from and how can he justify it?
The minister makes me think of this. Suppose his car hit mine the day my employer announced I was going to get a raise. I ask him for compensation and he says “Well, no. You just got a raise, you can pay for the repairs”. This is his sort of reasoning. I would like him to tell us what justification there is for 5%.