Mr. Speaker, we are faced with a monumental farce. If being ridiculous were fatal, all of the members of the government would be dead. Why?
I would like to begin by reminding my listeners what our debate is about at this time. Bill C-70, which sets out the mechanisms for harmonizing the GST with the provincial sales taxes in three maritime provinces, was reviewed by the other House.
The other House proposes, contrary to what is set out in the bill, which provides for the inclusion of the new harmonized 15 per cent tax in the price in three maritime provinces, to postpone implementation of this provision, or in other words to continue the status quo. This means that a consumer's receipt, and the price label on the item, will show the price, with the new tax rate beside it. The senators are asking that tax-inclusive pricing be postponed until 51 per cent of Canadians, and therefore a certain number of provinces, accept this inclusion in the price.
How does the government respond to this proposed amendment by the Senate? As follows:
That this House, while disapproving of any infraction of its privileges or rights by the other House, in this case waives its claim to insist upon such rights and privileges, but the waiver of such rights and privileges is not be drawn into a precedent; and
That a Message be sent to the Senate to acquaint Their Honours therewith.
What this means is that the government is bowing to the other House, whose members are unelected, and part of an archaic, outmoded system that absolutely must be abolished. They accept the arguments of the other House, provided that this does not create a precedent.
It is shameful to see them bowing to an unelected House with an archaic system, and moreover to arguments which were presented by elected members throughout the entire debate on Bill C-70.
Allow me to explain. One of the major points made throughout the entire debate-three readings and the report stage as well-by the official opposition, the Bloc Quebecois, which is made up of elected members, was precisely the fact that the new harmonized tax was being included in the price.
In January, the finance committee heard witnesses representing maritime businesses and consumers tell us that including the new harmonized tax in the price made no sense, and would create chaos, total turmoil in the maritimes, particularly for companies doing business across Canada.
We in the Bloc and the Reform Party as well-both of which are made up of duly elected members-hit the nail on the head. Yet, every time, the response was: "You are wrong, the new harmonized tax must be included in the price right away, otherwise there will be total chaos in the maritimes, the system will be inefficient, and there will be chaos at the fiscal level".
Now, when the other House, which is made up of unelected, illegitimate members, proposes a similar amendment to the one we debated, the one to which the government turned a deaf ear, it gets presented and accepted, of course. We trust this will not serve as a precedent, that it will not reduce the rights and privileges of the House of Commons, of the duly elected members of the House of Commons. It makes no sense whatsoever to present things in this way.
It does not make any sense either to make us debate and work for weeks on the finance committee to try to come up with something worthwhile, to try to listen to criticism and opinions from people from the maritimes even, to end up wasting time and taxpayers' money in this exercise, when we arrived at the very same conclusion as is being proposed today by the outmoded and outdated other House. We went through the entire process: lost time, wasted energy, overspent taxpayers' money so that the government could accept today, for purely partisan and election purposes, the amendment of the other House.
Democracy has never been so badly served. The rights and privileges of the elected members of the House of Commons have never been so badly served as in this matter, which has been a disaster since the start.
If that were the only issue, but there is also the one of 104 individuals, whose appointments were totally partisan, who were appointed by the office of the Prime Minister. There is worse yet. The entire bill should be dumped.
It is still around and it should be dumped, because it is not right, after the government's capitulation before unelected officials on the point of not including the new harmonized sales tax in the cost price, that we find ourselves back at the start- in other words, with the GST not harmonized with the provincial sales taxes. What is this situation? The GST remains, the problem remains in its entirety, politically. This government lied about its intentions and it is presenting this legislation to us as the bill of the century.
Democracy is being very badly served, when, even before we passed Bill C-70, a few weeks ago, $961 million was paid out to the maritimes. Even before the bill was passed, even before democratic process was applied to this bill, the government had decided that democracy was of no importance.
They do not care about the rights and privileges of members of the House. They released the funds they are already paying out to the maritimes. Under what pretext? Under the pretext of avoiding chaos, a chaos they created in the first place with this flawed and partisan bill to buy the maritimes with nearly $1 billion in compensation. This chaos is their doing. They would not listen to us, in the official opposition, when we told them that including the new harmonized sales tax in the price made no sense. Now, the same suggestion, coming from the 104 dinosaurs in the other place, is looked upon favourably.
Sometimes, there is no logic in politics. What we have before us is a motion totally devoid of logic. Indeed, after going through the democratic process of debating a bill, where is the logic in the government going along with whatever nonsense the other place may have come up with? The government is overlooking the privileges of members of Parliament and forgetting the importance of the House of Commons. It has reached a point where the sovereignists have more respect for this institution, its rights and privileges, than the federalists, who claim to be 100 per cent behind the federal system, including its greatest manifestation: the House of Commons.
It is a sad day for democracy when funds are released before the appropriate legislation is passed. At this rate, what will be the use of the House of Commons, of elected representatives, of debates on issues as fundamental as this one? One billion dollars is taken out of the pockets of taxpayers and literally thrown out the window. The GST problem remains unresolved. Nothing has been resolved. Even innovations like tax included pricing were no use, since the other place rejected the idea. Where does that leave us?
We are back to square one. It is the provincial sales tax in three maritime provinces, three Atlantic provinces, that is being harmonized with the GST. The GST remains, but the new harmonized tax rate will drop to 15 per cent, at a cost of $1 billion to Canadian taxpayers. The initial situation was strangely similar to that prevailing in Quebec in 1993.
We in Quebec harmonized our provincial sales tax with the GST, and not the other way around as provided for in the initial plan. We did not include the tax in the price. The situation in the maritimes is exactly the same as Quebec's situation since 1991. If that is the case, it means the people across the way owe us $2 billion. That amount was calculated based on specific criteria, on readily identifiable costs incurred in harmonizing Quebec's sales tax with the GST. The federal government owes us $2 billion.
This morning, we have an opportunity to demand that the government treat Quebec fairly. If our province were the only one making that claim, if it had no ally in this great federation, one might say "Quebec is always complaining", but three Canadian premiers support Quebec's claim. The British Columbia premier even said that if, based on the calculation method and the transition costs used, the maritimes were entitled to $961 million in compensation, then Quebec also deserved a compensation, estimated at $2 billion. There is basically a Canada-wide consensus that Quebec must be compensated for its harmonization efforts.
If there is a matter in which the government is acting like a clown, in which government members, including the finance minister, are acting like clowns, it is definitely the GST. The Liberals made an issue of the GST during the last election campaign. Promises were made by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. These commitments were not fulfilled. Not only did the Liberals not fulfil their commitments, they also created total chaos in the maritimes.
Earlier, the hon. member talked about uncertainty. He said that business people need certainty.
Business people need certainty. Big deal. The Liberals themselves created situations filled with uncertainty. So much so in fact that, just a few weeks ago, eminent representatives of business people from the maritimes no longer knew what to expect. They were told all sorts of things, such as: "You could, perhaps, in the first three months, not include the new harmonized sales tax in the price. However, after three months, you should include that tax". People no longer knew what to do. National companies no longer knew what to do, because they were now required to have a dual labelling system. They were now required to have a dual storage system for the goods they sell in the maritimes and those they sell elsewhere.
Then the Senate came up with an amendment saying: "Until such time as 51 per cent of Canadians agree to include the new harmonized sales tax in the price, we will not force them to do so". What do business people think now? They are saying to themselves: "We set up a system that allowed us to implement the main provisions of Bill C-70. Now the government is changing its mind because of the 104 anachronisms in the other place". If that is not uncertainty, if that does leave businesses wondering where to head next, I do not know what it is.
It was such an unsatisfactory bill that, the very day it was introduced in the House, the government decided it had better table over a dozen amendments along with it, right at the outset. For a government that knows where it is headed, when you introduce a bill and a dozen amendments to it at the same time, it is pretty hard to take. And then, at the end of the line, they accept to set aside one of its a provisions.
So I continue to say that this bill makes no sense. It solves nothing. It is costing us almost $1 billion, outside the maritimes, in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The taxpayers in these provinces are the ones who will be footing the bill for this compensation that is still unjustified and unjustifiable when we look at the treatment received by Quebec with respect to the harmonization process.
And now, on top of that, the members opposite now say that they do not care about the rights and privileges of elected members. They are handing over part of the rights and privileges of the House of Commons to the 104 anachronisms in the other place, in a completely outdated institution which most Quebecers and Canadians would like to see abolished at the earliest opportunity.
Therefore, in light of all this, and we will have some explaining to do during the upcoming election, we can only reject this motion because it comes from an institution we condemn, an institution that is costing taxpayers $43 million annually and does nothing more than add additional layers of uncertainty that the government bows to in agreeing to waive the rights and privileges of this House.
We will also oppose this motion because overall this bill makes no sense to us. It is a bill that is costing Canadian taxpayers $1 billion, and $1 billion in compensation to the maritimes should in the normal course of events lead to $2 billion in compensation to Quebec. But the government is turning a deaf ear to that.
We are not about to congratulate this government, nor am I about to congratulate my colleague, because caving in like this in the face of a real process to reform overall taxation-something it defended when in opposition-and caving in as well before such an outmoded institution is unbelievable. We reject this motion, as we rejected Bill C-70.