Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak again to Bill C-5, the Canada Co-operatives Act.
As has been mentioned by the hon. member across the way, I concur there was a great deal of co-operation both in committee and with the co-operatives in preparing the bill. The legislation was prompted by a request from the Canadian Co-Operatives Association to the government to consider specific recommendations which would update current legislative provisions for co-operatives.
What has been an encouraging note for me in this whole process, being relatively a new member of the House, is that I was able to observe an amount of responsiveness on the part of the government to the requests of those involved in the co-operatives industry. Certainly the co-operatives themselves demonstrated some responsiveness with regard to the bill.
What I witnessed there was that the co-operative structure is built around a membership which holds the management of the co-operatives accountable. It was instructive to me and perhaps it will be to this House. The system they use there, where membership puts in place the management and then in turn holds them accountable, is something I would like to speak to a little bit here this afternoon.
The co-operative management and its members realized that their livelihood was at risk if they did not make some changes to how they raise capital and how they are able to compete against other entities in the markets in which they are involved.
Therefore, they moved ahead to seek this change to the legislation which would allow them access to capital, would allow them to change their corporate structure through amalgamation and restructuring for greater efficiencies and for the long term investment community to get involved in co-operatives as well.
It was this foresight that was driven basically by the membership and through the management that opened the door to this legislation.
The encouraging part in all of this is that the change was really driven through accountability back to the membership of the co-ops.
I think what is instructive here for us today is that in many ways there is a parallel that can be drawn between this process and what is going on in Canada today. The people of Canada are in a sense the membership that we report to.
It is interesting that the membership has been calling out for some changes here in this House and in the legislative structure that Canadians have to live within so that they too can survive for the long term and plan effectively for their future.
I am not sure that our management team here, particularly on the other side, is hearing Canadians on some of these critical issues. What I want to refer to briefly, and it ties back to the co-operators bill throughout this talk, is the fact that right now we are facing 16% youth unemployment in Canada. This creates challenges for our young people. As well the current increases to the CPP seem to almost add to the challenge that our young people have in obtaining jobs with these high payroll taxes.
We are already taxed, as we have heard in this House many times, at the highest level in the G-7 countries. Even with all of this tax, the increases in tax, the new payroll taxes and high unemployment, we still have a debt of $600 billion. We have heard that the interest is $43 billion a year.
Just taking more taxes has not kept us out of debt. In fact, we have gone into debt even as taxes have increased. It is not surprising that the membership, the people of Canada, is saying that it is time to make some management changes and change the way that the legislation allows them to plan for their future.
We have had a lengthy discussion about some of the proposals we put on the plate for changes to CPP which to date have not been heard by the party on the other side.
We listened intently to the throne speech, hoping to see what Canadians have been calling for, that is paying down the debt and tax relief.
What we saw primarily was 29 new spending initiatives on the part of this government. No, that is not what the people of Canada are asking for.
I recently commissioned a survey in my riding so that I could stay in touch with my membership or my constituents. It is consistent with what we are finding in some national polling that has been done. I will refer to it briefly.
Less than 1% of the respondents to a survey in my constituency felt that the government should embark on any kind of increased spending program. It was a very small amount. However, 78% of the respondents surveyed want debt retirement as a priority of the government that finds itself in a surplus situation.
Debt retirement was very much number one. We see this in some of the other national surveys that have come out. The remaining respondents, about 22%, wanted tax relief after debt retirement. My constituents do not feel that allowing the government to spend, spend, spend is the choice that should be made at this time. I encourage the finance minister to resist any pressures from within his caucus and party to move to an increased spending program.
My call is consistent with what we have recently heard from the premiers who came to Ottawa, to strongly encourage him to resist the Liberal temptation to fix all our problems with more government expenditure. We have had enough of that. It is not the way to solve many of these problems.
In fact, my constituents told me in the recent survey that they are diametrically opposed to the path which this government is intent on following. Eighty-two percent of my respondents, and I think this is consistent with many Canadians across the nation, felt perfectly confident that they can manage and invest their retirement funds better than the CPP investment board and supported the idea of a super RRSP which they would own and which is insulated from government manipulation.
The people in my riding are making the connection that big government results in big tax bills. Given that connection, they do not want big government.
Consistent with this we are finding that Canadians are coming to the realization, as did the members of the co-op, that in order to survive and be strong for the long term, in order to have the best possible opportunities for all Canadians as they enter into the 21st century, there has been enough of the tax and spend approach of the previous two governments. They are saying that taking more from Canadians and giving it to the government and the government taking its administrative overhead portion and then deciding who should get back the revenue is not the way to solve many of the issues facing Canada today.
They are saying that it is time for changes. The priority is, first, pay down the debt and get it under control because our interest charges on that debt are $43 billion a year. Some studies we have done tell us that interest for one year alone would pay for 4 million young people to go through a four year university degree program.
Another idea that helps us to understand how much the debt is costing at $43 billion a year is that it is enough money to fund the operation of every hospital in Canada for two years. However, at this time we are trying to sustain a health care system that is at risk.
This tax and spend approach that the co-op membership realized is the same as Canadians are realizing, that it is putting at risk our social programs. It is putting at risk the care and social security programs that we could have for less fortunate Canadians. It is putting at risk much of what we hold dear as Canadians.
In summary, there is a hopeful note in all of this, particularly with this bill. I admit that the updated Canada Cooperatives Act is a good example of how government can respond to the requirements of the private sector. It gives me some hope that it is still possible for government to respond to the voices of individual Canadians who are calling for some common sense in regard to the fiscal management issues of this nation. The Canada Cooperatives Act succeeds in modernizing Canada's co-operative movement by providing it with the financial tools it requires to compete effectively in the marketplace and remain a vital component of the Canadian economy; in many ways exactly what Canadians are asking for. At the same time, the legislation respects and retains the traditions and the integrity of the co-operative movement in Canada.
I think it is significant that the hon. member across the way gave some of the accolades to the members of the industry who participated so fully in the formulation of this legislation. I believe that is the key.
It is when we hear the people who are going to be affected by the legislation when we shape it, the likelihood of us hitting the target is much more enhanced. On that note I feel that this particular bill is one that I will remember as a positive illustration of how our Canadian government can work for the benefit of both industry and hopefully one day for the citizens of Canada.