Mr. Speaker, at the outset I would like to remind the House that, pursuant to unanimous consent, I will be splitting the official opposition's 40 minute allocation between myself, the hon. member for Langley—Abbotsford, the member for Medicine Hat and the member for New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby, in that order.
The official opposition supports Bill S-16, an act to implement an agreement between Canada and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, an agreement between Canada and the Republic of Croatia and a convention between Canada and the Republic of Chile, for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
We, as a party for free enterprise, strongly support measures of this nature which can remove barriers to commerce and make efficient financial flows between trading jurisdictions such as Canada and the three countries stipulated in this bill.
We have reviewed this bill in detail and find that it is substantively in keeping with the model for international tax conventions proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
I would second the substantive remarks of the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance who just detailed for us some of the elements of this bill.
I would, however, make reference to one concern that I have, which is with respect to an element of this bill which confirms a tax convention with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. While in principle I think it is a good thing for Canada to establish firmer trade links leading to greater prosperity between ourselves and international jurisdictions, I think this gives us pause to reflect on the general foreign and economic policies of the current government vis-à-vis tyrannical regimes overseas.
We have seen a recent example of this kind of cosy, pillow fluffing, red carpet treatment that Canada provides to foreign jurisdictions, such as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Indonesian, a country we have been talking about in this House recently.
While I do not oppose the effort to establish a tax convention of this nature with Vietnam, I do wish that it were tied more clearly to a more vigorous articulation on the part of the Canadian government of the need for the respect of human, religious and civil rights in communist tyrannies such as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Simply opening up trade and more efficient means of financial balances such as these tax conventions without a concomitant effort to press the need for human rights and political reforms is, in my view, insufficient and is a black mark on the record of this government and of this country.
Having said that, let me say that I and my colleagues object most strenuously to the process by which we find ourselves addressing this bill as S-16. For those not familiar with parliamentary procedure, it is coded as S-16 because it is a bill that was introduced in the Senate in May of this year.
Why was this bill introduced in the Senate? Conventionally in this Parliament, right from its beginning, bills, and particularly meaningful government bills, have been introduced in the lower chamber, the House of Commons, reviewed, debated, passed and then submitted to the upper chamber in the other place.
However, in this case we have before us one instance of the growing and troubling pattern on the part of this government to introduce legislation such as Bill S-16 in the Senate, to pass it there and then to bring it before us here in the Commons. We submit this is a contravention of a long established parliamentary convention whereby we respect the de facto supremacy of the lower Chamber, the elected Chamber, the democratically legitimate Chamber over the appointed patronage haven we call the Senate to introduce and discuss bills here first.
Bills ought to be introduced and debated, deliberated on and passed here and then considered by the Senate as a de facto rubber stamp rather than the other way around. Instead we find ourselves, through introducing this and other bills at the Senate, increasing the legitimacy of what is in actual fact an increasingly illegitimate body in the eyes of the Canadian people and the official opposition. We find this very troubling indeed.
We have asked the government in our negotiations with its House leadership and in public statements here and elsewhere to respect the long established parliamentary convention of introducing legislation of this nature, government bills, in the Commons for consideration by the duly elected representatives of the people before proceeding to the Senate and not the other way around. But the government has decided to refuse to respect that convention and to refuse to assert the democratic authority of this place over the Senate.
This is very unfortunate, particularly in light of the fact that this government has virtually no substantive legislative agenda. Here we are in Canada with an economy that is slowing down, with a nearly $600 billion debt, with the highest personal income tax rates in the G-7, with a dollar that has just this summer reached historic all time lows. Here we are with enormous problems to deal with in terms of the livelihoods of Canadians and what does this government have on its legislative agenda? Very little except for little technical bills of this nature.
So there is no compelling reason for the government to have introduced this bill or similar bills in the Senate for its consideration before the consideration of the Commons. There is no compelling reason except for the government's decision to try to legitimize the upper chamber at a time when in the eyes of Canadians it is increasingly an illegitimate body.
I say this about Bill S-16, an act to implement an agreement between Canada and the republics of Vietnam, Croatia and Chile, because we have before us in this place a rare historic opportunity. That is an opportunity provided to us by the duly elected government of the province of Alberta. The Alberta legislature has decided to convene and hold an election for senators in that province, an election that will be held on October 19. This election is not being held as some symbolic frivolous effort by a political gesture on the part of the people of Alberta.
Rather, the Government of Alberta wants the people of Alberta to choose its next senators to begin the long, arduous but critically important process of fundamental Senate reform so that one day we can reach a situation where the upper chamber is elected and is accountable, so it can exercise effective powers hopefully with equitable if not equal representation from the provinces and regions so that it can consider bills like Bill S-16, so that it can even talk about technical government legislation such as tax conventions with a modicum of democratic legitimacy. Until that day arrives we assert the prerogative of this House, the democratic assembly of this parliament, to consider bills of this nature first before they go to the patronage haven down the road.
Today we heard the Deputy Prime Minister say that the Senate elections in Alberta are undemocratic. Undemocratic elections? Let me get this straight. In this strange twisted Orwellian world of the government opposite it is undemocratic to have elections but it is democratic to appoint people to an upper chamber to decide how tax dollars are spent and to use the enormous and sometimes coercive power of the state. I fail to grasp the twisted logic of the Deputy Prime Minister and the government in introducing bills like this and in attacking a legitimate effort to push the agenda of democratic reform in parliament. The Liberal Party of Canada and the Right Hon. Prime Minister say they favour reform of the Senate. I then invite them to demonstrate that support by introducing bills like this in the lower Chamber first.
Before my time expires I would like to move—