Madam Speaker, congratulations to you on your appointment as Acting Speaker.
I thank the hon. member for North Vancouver for his comments. I find it somewhat ironic that the member opposite often stands in the House to talk about the very excellent public policies of New Zealand. I gather the member is originally from New Zealand. I find it somewhat ironic in the sense that in New Zealand it was a labour government which was elected a number of years ago to clean up the fiscal mess which the previous conservative government had created. It was the labour government which introduced a number of privatization measures and caused the New Zealand economy to revive and avoid the country going into bankruptcy.
I do not know what the member's affiliation was when he was living in New Zealand. It is rather irrelevant. However, I think it is ironic that he stands in the House ad nauseam to rave about the excellent public policies in New Zealand when we know that country has experienced some of its own challenges.
I want to turn to the subject of the GST. The GST was introduced by the Conservative government in the eighties. When it was introduced, my understanding is that the government consulted widely with New Zealand to learn better from the mistakes of that country particularly in terms of the rate, how the rate was set, what kind of coverage the GST had and what kind of exemptions were made. It was a Conservative government which looked very closely at the New Zealand model in order to learn from that experience.
I wonder if the member could comment on the New Zealand experience with its GST, or whatever it is called in New Zealand. He might have some wisdom to share with the House.