Mr. Speaker, I rise to address Bill C-43, an act to establish the Canada customs and revenue agency and to amend and repeal other acts as a consequence.
A brand new revenue agency, that is what Canadians have been clamouring for. I dare say it was one of the most mentioned issues for all candidates as we went door to door during last year's federal election campaign.
The minister probably still recalls that many people told him what they want is tax reform but not lower taxes, not a simpler system. No, what they want is a new agency, one with wider powers, a new agency with less accountability to parliament, a new agency that runs outside the government with access to their most personal information.
I think the minister is confused. This is the Hallowe'en season and while he is very effectively scaring the Canadian public with this bill the time for pranks is still April 1. All levity aside, I do not want to ensure that the Liberal Party is fully aware of the fact that this bill in no way addresses tax reform. In the interest of accuracy I am sure it would not want to see some overzealous campaigner insert Bill C-43 in the 2001 red book as an example of the Liberal's commitment to reform.
This whole bill is predicated on the level of trust between the provinces and the Liberal government, a level of trust that simply does not exist.
Just to be certain I will spell out why this situation exists. It concerns unilateral cuts to transfer payments, outrageous levels of unemployment insurance, overtaxation and ridiculous postering statements by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health against the most respected premiers in Canada, including the premier of my province, Mike Harris. These are just some of the reasons why there is no level of trust at the first ministers level.
My hon. colleague from Kings—Hants has outlined the many shortcomings of this bill. However, we do not have to have a Ph.D. in economics to understand why this national agency is destined to fail.
The government offloads responsibility to the provinces by making draconian cuts to health care, for instance $7 billion in the last term. The minister has said there is only one taxpayer. The provinces and municipalities have been faced with an ever increasing tax burden as a result of the government's failure to lead and to take responsibility for national matters, including such issues as health care funding.
The minister speaks of the provinces having greater opportunities to effect control and have control over the levers of this important agency than they now have with Revenue Canada. I suggest the provinces' lack of approval and their concern with this new agency is an indication that they do not believe in this. The provinces will not have greater powers and authority with this new agency.
I ask the Liberal government to take a short walk back to a time when it still pretended that keeping red book commitments was important. After the Prime Minister's ridiculous claim during the 1993 election that he would get rid of the GST, there was an attempt to create a renamed and more pervasive tax known as the BST, the blended sales tax. This little attempt at massaging the red book promises was only adopted in three provinces, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick.
Coincidentally there are only three provinces in Canada with Liberal governments. I am sure many will be shocked to learn that these governments exist in the same three provinces, proving that the tentacles of this government run very long and that the tendency of elected Liberals to imitate the nodding heads drinking birds is not limited to our federal parliament.
Unless Prime Minister Bo Peep intends to elect a few more Liberal sheep in provincial legislatures across the land, he may as well stick a fork in Bill C-43. As I do not see anybody rising on a point of order to withdraw this bill, allow me to provide the minister with a course of action that would give him a fighting chance at actually implementing this new agency with a certain degree of success.
The first course of action would be put an end to the war against the public service in this country. We are all friends in the House and I understand that the public service was probably a bit too trusting when it took the Liberal Party at its word on pay equity. However, this government made a commitment and those people are filled with righteous anger. Therefore I suggest the minister rethink the likelihood that these public servants are going to be very interested in assisting in the privatization of their jobs.
Why should they be helpful? Bill C-43 is going to result in new people being paid higher salaries to do the exact same jobs which are being done now. Of course Canadians will be thrilled to learn that along with this new agency comes a whole new level of bureaucracy.
We see current employees who will lose existing rights, including job security and the right to bargain on staffing matters. Keep in mind that there will only be a two year job guarantee and we are effectively dealing with about 25% of the public service. We have to take a look at whether this agency would not be more flexible than Revenue Canada but less flexible in working with other government departments, including the finance department, and the provinces.
At various times of the year Revenue Canada has between 40,000 and 46,000 employees. Revenue Canada has many responsibilities, primarily the collecting of federal taxes and various fees, harmonized sales taxes in three provinces, personal income taxes on behalf of nine provinces and corporate taxes on behalf of seven provinces. The new agency is to assume all these responsibilities. The new agency is supposed to be as efficient as the department was without any increased cost to the taxpayer.
I suggest that unless the provinces buy in and support this direction and this new agency, any claims by the government that this agency will lead to greater efficiencies and save the taxpayer money are suspicious at best. The only efficiencies that can be achieved will be those realized through a slower transfer rate of funds to provinces. As a former town councillor I can assure this House that in turn the municipalities will see foot dragging when it comes to receiving funds.
In essence this government is trying to implement a law that will cause greater discourse between voters and all levels of government. The government is saying we could save between $97 million and $162 million per year if all the provinces participated. That is a very big if. At this juncture currently the provinces have not demonstrated a significance interest in having Ottawa collect and have more authority in effect over taxes beyond what Revenue Canada does currently.