Madam Speaker, I am pleased to finally have an opportunity to debate this bill.
I am disappointed that I have had to wait until debate at report stage for this opportunity on such an important bill which can be construed as constituting a constitutional amendment, according to many of the expert constitutional presenters who appeared before the committee.
According to the official opposition in British Columbia, the Liberal Party there, this treaty constitutes a constitutional amendment. For that reason alone I find it really quite disturbing that the government has rammed the bill through the House with undue haste, with a fraction of the time taken to consider it at the provincial legislature in British Columbia.
In fact, two weeks ago, as we know, the committee studying the bill travelled through five communities in British Columbia hearing from a hand-picked witness list. Many of the organizations and individuals who applied to appear before the committee to express their concerns were refused the opportunity.
One of those organizations was the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a large advocacy organization representing some 80,000 Canadians; representing some 20,000 of them in British Columbia.
This organization had prepared a 30-page study, including thoughtful appendices and original research by constitutional and economic experts, and yet it was denied the opportunity to present its views on behalf of its members to the committee.
I will take the opportunity to read part of its submission, which was never heard by the parliamentary committee because of the Liberals' refusal to have a full and complete debate. I will take the opportunity to read some of their analysis into the record.
Before I do so, there has been something of a debate today on whether or not the treaty constitutes a template for future land claims agreements. Indeed, it is not the official opposition in this place who originated that argument, rather it was the then British Columbia premier Glen Clark, one of the principal negotiators of this treaty, who said that it constitutes a template for future lands claims settlements. We are simply taking one of the principal negotiators at his word when he suggests that this treaty will be a template for the future. Obviously it will not be a precise template, but a very important precedent.
I hear my colleagues from the New Democratic Party speaking in caustic tones about the Reform Party's opposition to this treaty, yet they seem to ignore the fact that perhaps the most credible New Democratic attorney general in Canadian history, Alec MacDonald, the former NDP attorney general in British Columbia, has spoken out publicly and vociferously against this agreement. This opposition does, and ought to, cut across partisan lines.
One non-partisan organization that I know something about, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, was denied a hearing on this treaty. It released a study which called on the minister of aboriginal affairs to read the fine print of the Nisga'a treaty. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says that the $490 million cost of the Nisga'a settlement for cash, land and resource transfers, is likely understated as it does not include any estimates on mineral, water or fisheries resources to be transferred. It also says that fair party compensation is likely, significantly underestimated.
It goes on to say that “the $490 million cost quoted by the government does not include taxpayer transfers to the Nisga'a government which will cost taxpayers, according to federal negotiators, a minimum of over $400 million in additional transfers over 15 years for one settlement with one native band. The Nisga'a treaty is not final in a multitude of senses”, according to the CTF. It says that four appendices in its study from constitutional legal expert Mel Smith, a former principal constitutional adviser to three successive B.C. governments, are attached to the review and that they list 49 sections of the treaty where there are explicit requirements to consult or negotiate agreements and a further 22 sections of the agreement where paramountcy is unclear or not stated.
It says there is a ratchet up provision where any favourable tax exemptions granted to other bands over the next 20 years will need to be given to the Nisga'a as well, and that there are 17 instances where the Nisga'a treaty or future Nisga'a laws will prevail over federal or provincial laws in the event of an inconsistency. The Nisga'a government will be anything but municipal as proponents claim.
Municipal governments do not possess power over citizenship, culture, adoption and all levels of education, timber resources and court systems whereas the Nisga'a under this treaty will.
The decision on whether non-Nisga'a will be able to vote in Nisga'a elections is up to the Nisga'a government. Senior levels of government have traded away a core political right, the right of taxpayers to be represented by those who will have the power to tax them in this agreement.
The CTF's B.C. director, Mark Milke, is quoted as saying that the Nisga'a treaty “is neither fair nor final to taxpayers and it gives powers to one native band similar to powers possessed only by the federal and provincial governments”. He says that “in addition it trespasses upon the basic political right to vote for those who would set the taxes. Canadians deserve better than a document negotiated by a distrusted B.C. government and rammed through parliament by a federal government afraid of debate”. He says that “when politicians horse trade core political rights and negotiate open and financial commitments, taxpayers deserve a vote on it”. By that I infer a referendum, which I think something like 80% of British Columbians have expressed a desire for. The CTF's submission goes on to say:
—the Nisga'a treaty and the B.C. treaty process will involve a substantial reallocation of taxpayer money, Crown-owned resources, and Crown-owned land. Because of federal and British Columbia cost-sharing agreements, every Canadian from St. John's to Victoria will be affected. In addition to the costs to taxpayers, forgone tax revenues (from forestry stumpage for example) will result from land to be transferred. Such land transfers could one day also affect the public treasuries of not only Canada and British Columbia—given the lack of treaties in some provinces and the possible judicial reinterpretation of treaties already signed and thought to be final—but other provinces as well.
Moreover, municipal tax bases within British Columbia may be affected—
It goes on to detail how that is the case. In addition, the Nisga'a treaty in fact removes the long-held political right to taxation with representation, and thus runs counter to the basic principle of liberal democracy. Disenfranchisement for any reason, cultural or in pursuit of justice for past wrongs, can hardly be said to be either responsible or in taxpayers' interest. It goes on to say:
Moreover, the size and responsiveness of governments to taxpayers is directly related to the powers that such governments possess. The more portfolios that a government possesses, the higher the price tag for such a government is likely to be... The Nisga'a government will far more closely resemble provincial and federal governments than municipal governments. That is an important point to remember in the context of taxation, tax transfers, and the disbursements of such tax dollars by the proposed Nisga'a government.
It asked how much the treaty will cost. In 1995 there was $125 million in cash according to government estimates. In 1996 the agreement in principle cost $190 million in cash. At the time, the B.C. government failed to include the value of the crown land and resources transferred in the deal. When pressed, the government reported the land to be worth $107 million. Thus in 1996 government estimates totalled $297 million.
In 1998 leading up to the final agreement, the B.C. government still insisted the cost of the treaty was only $190 million according to press releases. But the opposition Liberals leaked a copy of the treaty, the official estimate jumped to $312 million. When questioned on the breakdown of the costs, Premier Clark admitted it was closer to $382 million. The premier's staff shortly thereafter added items not mentioned by the premier and the cost rose to $459 million. The next day the figure was again revised to $490 million, where it remains.
This does not include any estimate of mineral resources to be transferred, any estimate of water resources to be transferred or any estimate of fisheries resources to be transferred. There are monetary transfers to the Nisga'a of $160 million over five years after implementation of the treaty as well.
The report goes on but unfortunately I have run out of time. A serious concern is being raised by a major taxpayer group about the long term fiscal implications not just of this treaty, but of dozens of other treaties which will be negotiated with this as a template. We should pause because of these concerns rather than rush to the judgment which we see from all four other parties in this place.
On behalf of my constituents I will be voting for these amendments and against the bill.