Mr. Speaker, I am very glad to be able to get in on the latter part of this debate, having just come from a constituency where another problem related to agriculture is very, very important.
In the area where I come from taxes rank third. For some dry land farmers it is freight, fuel and then taxes.
I want to show how this government, by a reversal of form, is killing rural government in Saskatchewan.
Rural government in Saskatchewan is maintained by rural municipalities. Generally it has an elected reeve and six councillors. We recognize and my friends in the rural government recognize that some of the land that is under their taxation jurisdiction, as part of the municipality, now comes under Indian land claims.
This argument is not about rural municipalities versus native claims. It is a direct concern of the little rural municipality out there with 400 or 500 people. This humongous government has reversed a policy and is forcing the rural municipalities to raise their taxes. It is not just one rural municipality. Many will follow.
This is a federal issue. What this government is doing is trying to pass on a debt that is owed by this government to the rural government of Saskatchewan.
Under the previous government there was a treaty land entitlement. I want hon. members opposite to listen carefully to this. That government agreed that the rural municipality from which the land would be taken would receive compensation based on 22.5 times the previous year's taxes.
After 10 years this was agreed upon. Harry Swain, deputy minister of Indian and northern affairs, wrote to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and said “The mechanism agreed with Saskatchewan in the September 13 cost-sharing agreement on treaty land entitlement appears to be appropriate”. That is when they agreed to pay 22.5 times the previous year's taxes. He was referring to the specific land claims.
Just one year later, in 1992, deputy minister of Indian and northern affairs Dan Goodleaf wrote “The federal government recognizes that the recent TLE framework agreement has created a level of expectation by RMs that a standard of 22.5 times the previous year's tax revenue will be paid in all cases of reserve creation”.
My time does not allow me to read all of it, but I want to point out that one year after that promise there was a change in government.
This government was elected. By the way, five Liberals from Saskatchewan were elected.
What happened? This government unilaterally, after a commitment was made to the RMs of Saskatchewan, changed the 22.5 times to a lousy five times.
One has to ask the question: Where were the Liberals who were elected from Saskatchewan to support the RMs during that time? Where were those Liberals?
It means this. People who owned a piece of land with a tax rate of $1,000 were promised that they would receive $22,500 and the RM would maintain the roads. This government has now said that it will give them $5,000 and they can maintain the roads forever.
The RMs have been slapped in the face. As a result they have to raise taxes in the balance of the RMs because of the lost revenue.
The real problem is in the fact that no one in Saskatchewan can understand why the previous minister of Indian affairs and northern development refused to meet with SARM, the Saskatchewan school trustees and the provincial government.
The economy of Saskatchewan is in dire straits. Would this minister meet with the groups which are so drastically affected by this reversal?
A former Prime Minister of Canada from Saskatchewan finally erected a dam across the Saskatchewan River. Up until that time this hon. gentleman said that the federal government said Saskatchewan was not worth a damn. That is exactly what this government is saying to the rural municipalities.
This government is saying that it will give people $5,000 instead of $22,500 and they can maintain the roads. These people cannot do it.
Here is the situation. The government negotiates a treaty with an Indian band. The RM knows it is going to get 22.5 times the last assessment or the taxes on that piece of land. It does not happen. What happens? Revenue goes down. There is no money available for the schools. People are moving out.
Six or seven more land claims are imminent. This government sits here, smacks us in the face and says that it unilaterally decided it is going to be five times the assessment.
Where have the members of the NDP been? Where have the NDP members been in protesting this in rural Saskatchewan?
We are supposed to believe that the premier of Saskatchewan can pick up the phone to call the Prime Minister. All the premier would have to say is “back off and give Saskatchewan what it deserves. Give rural Saskatchewan what was originally promised”. Or do they really agree and continue to knock it away? More farmers are being affected very quickly.
This is a debt which is owed by the people of Canada. This government is saying to those 300 or 400 people in the rural municipality: “Who are you? You are not going to get the 22.5 times the previous year's taxes. You are going to get five times and you people can bloody well get your change out of your pockets and pay more tax dollars”. This is just one RM, but it is gaining momentum throughout Saskatchewan.
I can assure members that this local government, as well as the trustees, as well as the villages and towns, want to know if the government is going to continue this robbery. These people want to know if this government is going to continue smacking us in the face with five times the assessment and making the RMs responsible for maintaining the roads forever. This is an utter disgrace. It is a smack in the face to agriculture. It is a smack in the face to the people who have built the roads and everything else. Let us show a little concern. Let us reverse this and go back to the original agreement and do not slap Saskatchewan in the face again and again with every land treaty that is settled.