Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind members that we are talking about a group of amendments presented by the Bloc Quebecois, the purpose of which is to obtain a complete exemption from the GST on the sale or purchase of books.
It must be recalled that, even before the 1993 election, the delegation of Bloc Quebecois members here in the House had asked that books be exempted from the GST, in order to make culture as accessible as possible.
We can point to their partial victory in the fact that the GST will no longer apply to books purchased by institutions concerned with literacy. But there is still a vast array of books citizens can buy to which it continues to apply.
A government is entitled on occasion to make choices, to decide that it will pay particular attention to culture, that it will give a particular opportunity to those who write books, which are what make up a country's cultural life, which develop knowledge in our population. This is a wonderful opportunity, in the context of this debate on the GST, for the government to make this kind of decision, to give a boost to culture, to give an opportunity to those who, through reading, broaden their culture.
We are not just talking about people who are members of the establishment, but about all citizens, those who go to the bookstore on Saturday mornings with their children, and who could buy one or two more books, if there was no GST on them. This could be a way of broadening the culture of young people, while getting them
interested in reading in a much more acceptable and meaningful way.
The government would make a great contribution if it were to listen to an amendment such as this. Tenacity is perhaps one of the things which characterizes Bloc members. When something strikes us as appropriate, we stick to our guns until we get the government to listen to our arguments.
In the case at hand, I would not hesitate for a moment before choosing between giving $2 billion in geographical compensation to the maritimes and evaluating the costs of eliminating the GST on books for all Quebecers and all Canadians. I would offer Quebec culture and Canadian culture the opportunity for further development by making books more accessible.
It was natural for this message to come from the Bloc Quebecois. You know we represent the only francophone people in North America and we have always had a particular interest in defending our culture with a view to our development. Canadian society as a whole can benefit from this notion, moreover. We trust that the government will develop an interest in it and will evaluate whether it is worthwhile following up on.
Today, when we look at what will be important to our society in future, we realize that this is no longer a generation where brawn counts most. Employability no longer depends on muscular strength. What is important now is to make our younger generation well-informed, to awaken its interest in finding out things, to make it capable of mastering knowledge. Reading is one of the routes toward this.
It might be considered that GST exemption for books would be more of an investment than a cost for our society. I think it would be in the government's interest to consider the amendment proposed by the Bloc Quebecois when examining this bill at the report stage. This amendment ought to be the government's choice.
You will certainly counter by saying that if the decision is made to exempt books, we will come up with some other thing that will have to be exempted as well. Essentially, it is a question of political courage. It is a question of making the choice to provide a competitive edge to a sector that is of vital importance to Quebec culture, and to Canadian culture.
Will the government have the courage to make that choice? Will it in its wisdom conclude that exempting books from the GST is a significant and important decision that will have an impact on the development of our culture? I think there is a direct connection with the amount of tax we pay.
As you know, a 15 per cent tax may often be a factor in deciding whether or not to buy a product. People say this book would cost $40, but if you add the taxes, it is $45 or $46. If we are talking about a children's book worth $10, this means an additional $2. The parent or person who buys the book may decide not to or may not be able to afford it.
The House would do well to act on the proposal by the official opposition that would exempt all citizens from paying GST on the books they buy. This would certainly be an incentive to buy books and increase the sales of books by Quebec and Canadian authors. The direct impact of such a decision would be, in the case of authors who, often for many years, write more for the sake of writing than with any guarantee of making a living, an opportunity for the Canadian government to show that it recognizes the importance of these authors and the work they do, the importance of this literary production for the future of our society.
This change in the tax exemption for books is in the GST legislation. This is a typical example of the double standard that exists in this country.
The government decides to compensate the maritime provinces to a very significant extent for harmonization, while Quebec, where harmonization took place a few years ago, gets no compensation at all.
In a way this is an incentive for inefficiency, but above all, it creates a double standard regarding the development of the regions concerned. In fact, those two billion dollars will be distributed throughout the maritimes, for instance in the Madawaska ridings in New Brunswick, near the Quebec border. I think this may lead to unfair competition.
The federal government has decided to make changes in the GST. Let us take the opportunity at least, even if we may not entirely agree on the issue of compensating the maritimes, to make some significant changes. The Bloc Quebecois has contributed significantly in the consideration of the bill. It is proposing a number of amendments to improve the bill. The one exempting books from tax seems to me to appeal especially to the nobility of this House and to the respect for Quebec's and Canada's culture of each member of this House.
I hope the Liberal majority has the courage to listen to us and acknowledge the relevance of this idea. Everyone buying books in Quebec and Canada and everyone in the book industry, particularly authors, will take this to be positive recognition of their work. I hope, when the bill is passed, that people will remember the contribution made by the Bloc Quebecois over a number of years, from the time we sought a tax exemption for books. There will now be one for books sold to institutions.
We hope to continue this work until it is universal, until all books are exempt. Our culture certainly deserves to be exempt from this tax.