Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak with regard to Bill C-205, presented by the hon. member for Medicine Hat. The member is known for his concern for the well-being of the nation's finances. Let us therefore scrutinize the bill in light of our shared concerns for the proper fiscal management of Canada's public finances in a cost effective delivery of services to Canadians.
Bill C-205 would demand separate parliamentary authorization for the establishment or increase of individual user fees. It would also require that the amount collected by the government as user fees be shown separately in the public accounts. In short, all user fees that are to be introduced, increased, widened in application must be submitted to the House of Commons and have the approval of the House before coming into effect.
This is not all. Before the House passes a resolution authorizing these new increases or widened fees, a committee of the House must have 150 days to review the proposal.
This bill, while attempting to disclose, is itself enmeshed in ambiguities, difficulties and misconceptions. The bill as currently drafted would require that a considerable amount of amendments be made to clarify its application.
For example, the bill's inclusion of departments as fee setting authorities but with the exclusion of individual ministers does not accord with the existing legal authorities for fee setting. Also, the bill's inclusion of crown corporations as fee setting authorities is perhaps much broader than the intent the member for Medicine Hat would like.
First, in the case of crown corporations producing goods and services under commercial and competitive conditions, parliamentary authorization for every price, fee or charge would make reaction to market conditions impossible. It would also be incompatible with the confidentiality a competitive firm needs to maintain an effective presence in the marketplace.
Bill C-205 will seriously encumber crown corporations that compete with private interests. Crown corporations would effectively be paralyzed vis-à-vis the private sector.
Let us consider what effects the bill would have on existing user programs within departments and agencies. There are 300 separate categories of fees listed for external user charges in a report prepared by the Treasury Board secretariat. These fees range in scale from charges for firewood at Parks Canada campgrounds to drug certification fees. There may be thousands of changes to fees implemented across government in any one year.
Bill C-205 requires that a separate parliamentary authorization for each one of them would place a large administrative and processing burden on departments, agencies and parliament itself. Delays would result from the provision that a committee would have up to 150 days to consider each fee proposal, subsequent to which the House would have to act before the fee could take effect. This would make the implementation of user programs virtually impossible.
The hon. member for Medicine Hat has taken out his trowel and is prepared to layer curious procedural mortar on the process of cost recovery through user fees. Is the member's bill consistent with cost effective delivery of public services? Does it not undermine the very ideas of a fee for services and a move toward cost recovery?
The user fee concept is not new. Canadians have paid passport fees since the 1800s. The use of user fees to finance the delivery of public sector goods and services is increasing in Canada as it is in other OECD countries. It operates on the principle that those who enjoy, profit or benefit from government services, to the exclusion of the public at large, should be the ones who pay the cost of providing them.
This promotes fairness in the use of tax dollars and discipline in the consumption of services. It also gives users a direct say in the service and how it is delivered. It is cost effective, administratively sound and a fair way to deliver government services.
We are interested in prudent management and the cost effective delivery of goods and services to Canadians. When we came into office in 1993 not only did we face a large $42.5 billion deficit, high interest rates, increased taxes and record high unemployment. We were also looking at record levels of program spending.
In 1992-93 we were spending $122.6 billion in program spending. Thanks to the program review and the commitment of ministers, program spending will fall to $103.5 billion in 1998-99. This will represent only 11.9% of our gross domestic product, the lowest ratio since 1949-50.
We have succeeded in bringing our program spending under control. The deficit at $42.5 billion in 1993 will be eliminated by 1998-99. We are now debating over what to do with the fiscal dividend we have earned through proper fiscal management, a debate that would have been ridiculous, indeed inapplicable, under the previous government.
The government has shown restraint and discipline while never forgetting the most needy and vulnerable in society. We have managed our affairs effectively while maintaining quality service to Canadians.
Bill C-205 would not contribute to that success. It would indeed threaten it. After almost a decade of mistrust during the previous government, Canadians have a new and better relationship with their federal public institutions. Our public service is working with and for Canadians for a stronger, more prosperous, more dynamic and more secure Canada.
Canadians want effective public institutions and departments that will provide good value for their dollars. We have worked through program review to make programs and agencies responsible for the needs of Canadians. Bill C-205 is blind to the progress we have made so far.
A number of departments, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Industry Canada and Environment Canada, has been contacted to get their reaction to the bill. All indicated that it would do significant harm to their ability to implement changes to their programs as scheduled under program review, leading to significant delays and compliance needs.
Under Bill C-206 fee setting would become an adversarial political process, with the House committees becoming a target for intensive lobbying from various interest groups.
I conclude by saying that I do not oppose the intent behind the hon. member's bill. I agree, for example, that public accounts should include a better breakdown of tax revenue, but the member's bill is an excessive tool to bring it about.
The intentions of Bill C-205 are unworkable. The basic principles of the bill are incompatible with the effective delivery of programs in departments, agencies and crown corporations which provide goods and services to Canadians on a full or partial cost recovery basis.
I cannot therefore support the bill.