There we go, two agreements in one afternoon, in one speech. That is absolutely tremendous. I commend the member because he is learning quickly.
The third area we need to be sure about, in which the government creates security, is the conditions under which we can conduct our business, namely the availability of capital.
We have had all kinds of talk here within the last four or five years about access to capital, particularly for small business.
If there is not availability of capital, it is very difficult if not impossible to do business, to get involved in a business, to develop a business, to grow a business. The availability of capital is the next issue the government needs to make sure is there.
There needs to be as well a provision for fair and just labour laws that work. The operative word here is work, labour laws that work, that do not create strikes, that create an environment in which both labour and management can work together, where the organization can achieve its goals and where labour and management can work together as a team to get this to work. We need good, solid, fair and just labour laws to make that happen.
We need more than that. We need reasonable government regulations as well, not regulations that become overburdening so that businesses spend more time figuring out how to fill in all the forms than doing business.
There has to be confidentiality and protection of intellectual property. In this new age of knowledge based industry that is particularly significant. Individuals need their intellectual property protected.
We need to deal with the protection of privacy. The privacy of persons, business and government needs to be protected. I am sure members are aware of what happened in July. A company that was to shred documents did not shred them but instead sold them at a profit. There were some very serious documents and some very significant breaches of privacy and violations of privacy provisions in that operation that did not meet the objective for which it was set up to work. Our laws are there but there was a failure somewhere with someone not doing what was necessary to monitor and ensure the laws were observed. Not only good laws and good regulations but the enforcement of those laws has to take place.
Jobs need to be available. In order to provide jobs we know now from a variety of cases that the first issue here has to do with reduced taxes. We have the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, large businesses and we have had individuals who create jobs say the number one stimulus for creating jobs is lower taxes. If we increase taxes, we reduce jobs. There is substantial evidence that is the case.
The Canadian taxation structure has been rising. The taxes we pay have been rising. There is excise taxes, GST, provincial taxes, income taxes, property taxes and on and on it goes.
There is another issue. People will say we need good safety nets. The best possible safety net is to have good, well paying jobs for people. That is the safety net that really works. With whatever safety nets we have for those people who are unfortunate enough to need them we have to make sure the benefits of the safety nets are not greater than the benefits that come from profitable employment.
If people are gainfully employed and make less on their gainful employment than they would from the benefits of a social program, that is a disincentive to seek gainful employment.
I believe the government is responsible to make sure the conditions within which businesses operate are supportive of entrepreneurship for gainful employment, creating jobs and things of this sort.
We need to move on to what I consider the shallowness of government thinking in the preparation and presentation of this bill. We heard the hon. parliamentary secretary say the mint was incorporated about 10 years ago. In the last 10 years there has been no review of the legislation, so we had better look at it. That has to be one of the most profound reasons for doing anything that I have ever heard.
We have legislation. It is working. The hon. parliamentary secretary recognized the master of the mint is doing a very fine job and I agree the job is well done. The mint is doing its work. It is making money. We have to review to make sure we know what it operates under. It is operating well. That is the reason, though, for presenting this legislation. We have not done it for 10 years so we had better do something.
We need to increase the borrowing power of the mint. It currently has the right to borrow up to $50 million. The legislation proposes that be increased to $75 million. Why? To take advantage of any possible business opportunities that might come about.
I was absolutely flabbergasted in committee when I watched members opposite listen to the argument that was presented. Guess what it was? The presentation indicated that during the last 10 year period an opportunity came along for the Canadian mint to buy a mint in another country. But it could not buy the mint in the other country because it would have had to borrow more than $50 million.
At no point was there any question about whether the Canadian mint was in the business of acquiring mints in other countries. That might be a useful discussion.
Why does the Canadian mint need to buy a mint in another country? That fundamental question was not addressed.
Let me look at another aspect of the analysis. This has to do with the number of directors on the board. The proposed bill suggests that the number of directors on the board be flexible, ranging from 9 to 11. The current legislation provides for 11 directors. Why the change to 9 to 11? It is to create some flexibility and to save costs.
If the real reason is to save costs, then I think we should fix it at 9. Why go to 11? If it is good sometimes to have 9 and sometimes to have 11, why would we not go with 9, especially if the reason is to save money?