Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to talk about a subject that is rather dear to my heart. Probably one of the reasons I got involved in politics was a total disgust and disdain for governments over the last 30 or 40 years. They have increased taxes time and time again and have totally mismanaged the way they have run the affairs of this country.
To remind everyone, we stand up and give all kinds of reasons why we got in but most of us are here because we want this country to succeed. We want this country to stay as a number one country.
We have to work hard to do that. While we hear the Liberals stand up and talk about how great we are and we are number one, we are falling back. We do have to work hard. One of the reasons is our tax system.
Our kids are going to be faced with a tax system that is even worse than the one we are faced with if the government keeps going the way it is. I also mention, before I get into some details, the mismanagement.
In 1969 we had a zero debt. Then all of a sudden we decided that we better start spending. By 1972 we were at $18 billion in debt. From there we started that downhill slide. By 1984 we were up to about $180 billion in debt. At that time most of us said that is enough. A prime minister was elected who said we will not let that grow one more dollar, a $180 billion is a disgrace for a country like Canada to have as a debt. The rest is history.
In 1988 we found that the figure was about $300 billion, from a guy who said he would not let it grow another dollar. By 1993, $489 billion and of course today, close to $600. That is total mismanagement. That is government out of control. That is irresponsibility. That is saddling our children with something terrible over their head that they are going to pay for.
People out there say they cannot trust government. Government says it is going to get rid of the GST and it does not do it. Government says it is not going to let the debt grow and it doubles and it triples. In the meantime government brags about what a wonderful job it is doing. Government says that it was fixing the tax system. What is it doing? It is tinkering with the tax system. It changes a little bit here, it changes a little bit there, but all of it adds up to increased dollars off that pay cheque.
Whether we are talking about chickens or whether we are talking about businesses or whatever we are talking about, there is always a little more taken away. Whether it is one and a half cents on a litre of gas that affects all of us, or whether it is changing the RRSP from age 71 to age 69, every time we do something like that the government squeezes a bit more out of the people.
When the GST was there, the Liberals screamed and shouted they will get rid of it. It is terrible. In 1991, wow, this is the worst thing this government has ever done. The government did pay the price. We see what the Liberals have done in turn and we see what the people have done. The people have gone underground because of that. There is that much less tax being collected simply because that has happened.
Most recently we can talk about the CPP. That is one that is really dear to my heart. We had a promise from government that we would never let CPP premiums go beyond 5.5%. In 1966 when the plan was designed, as early as 1967 bureaucrats were saying it was not going to work and we will never be able to maintain this with the demographics of this country. We will never maintain it at 5.5% So why does the government fess up, fix the plan now? Of course we waited 30 more years. We now are tinkering again. We have now decided to raise the premiums 73%.
Now we are telling a young person who earns $38,000 as the maximum instead of contributing $945 a year, you get to contribute $1,635 a year and your employer matches it. What a great deal that is, $3,300 a year. If it is paid for 30, 35 or 40 years, $8,800 will be guaranteed at the end of that time. What a wonderful investment that is. How can we build confidence in government with that kind of an investment? If that same amount of money were invested at 6% for 30 years there would $275,000 in capital and principal alone. What kind of annuity could be bought with that?
Since I believe in young people and in giving a country worth having to my kids I conducted a lot of research. Last Christmas I visited two countries that also have pension plans. Last year I visited New Zealand which changed its pension plan and Australia which changed its pension plan. Then I thought it would be interesting to take a look at Chile and Argentina to see what kind of pension plans they had.
Fifteen years ago Chile realized it had a problem with its pension plan. It had an unfunded liability and it was going to reach a point where the plan would be bankrupt and would not be able to pay out people when they turned 65 years of age. Fifteen years ago the Chileans decided to fix that problem. They designed a private plan to replace the original plan.
Argentina followed the same principle four years ago. I thought it would be interesting to talk to businessmen and to government and opposition politicians. Then I tried a really interesting thing and went door to door in Santiago, Chile, with an interpreter. I said “I am a Canadian politician, a member of Parliament. I would like to know what you think of your pension plan because we have a pension plan that is in trouble”. What I heard was fantastic.
They said they had a pension plan. They get a stub every three months that listed the companies their pension was invested in. They bought their groceries from the company they had a stake in. There is pride in that system. Twenty-three per cent of the people had savings accounts big enough to handle their retirements, and that is only after 15 years. There is a psychological pride among the people that they are taking care of themselves which we do not have here.
We should ask our young people what they think of the CPP or what kind of confidence they have that they will get anything when they are 65 years of age. I know what the answer is. I know what my kids tell me. They will certainly take care of themselves and are not counting on anything from the government.
That is exactly what government is failing to do. When people are disgusted with government, when people do not trust government, it is because of that sort of mismanagement.
We have to simplify the tax system. We have to make it easier for people to handle. We have to flatten it out. We have to get government out of our lives. All these countries have downsized to the point where they can now manage themselves. If it is good enough for Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and Britain, it has to be good enough for Canada. Certainly the way we are going will not be good enough.