Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government's Revenue Canada has opted to change the employment status of fishermen in West Nova.
Those owning fishing vessels, whether large corporations or individual fishermen, will now be required to make CPP contributions on behalf of their employees. These changes will mean significant increases in costs for these vessel owners of several hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.
In December 1997, despite ongoing negotiations with the fishing industry, Revenue Canada unilaterally set the start up date for these changes as January 1, 1997, followed by a demand for retroactive payments plus interest from the vessel owners to cover CPP contributions for this past year.
This request is very damaging to an industry that has already been decimated by quota cuts over the last few years.
On behalf of the people of West Nova I urge the government to cancel the request for retroactive payments on CPP contributions, return to the negotiating table with representatives of the fishing industry and help devise a more reasonable timetable for implementing these changes.