Mr. Speaker, I must say that I am actually embarrassed to be a member of the House today because of what has just happened. It is completely unacceptable for the government House leader and those opposite to pull these kinds of shenanigans and interrupt Private Members' Business, which is important business.
This bill would allow a tax deduction for mechanics' tools for the 90,000 mechanics across this country who want to be treated fairly under our tax laws. When this issue was debated last year it was under my bill, Bill C-366. The bill which we are debating tonight is exactly the same bill, except that one number has changed, the value of the tools. When it was debated, every party in the House, except the governing party, supported that bill.
I even received letters and confirmation from many members of the governing party who supported the bill. Tonight, what do we have? We have the government House leader trying to interrupt a debate on this important bill so the government can bring forward a bill which it has had months and months to deal with. Actually, it is years. I apologize for my underestimation.
Why now is it so willing, without thought it seems, to interrupt this important private member's bill? I do not know, but it is wrong and I am embarrassed to be in the same House as these members who would try to pull that stunt. It is shocking and completely unacceptable.
Bill C-502, as I have said, is identical to Bill C-366 which was debated last year. This bill is asking for a tax deduction for mechanics' tools where it is a requirement of employment that they purchase their own tools.
Currently, mechanics, who are generally low wage earners, most of whom earn $20,000 to $25,000, and there are 90,000 of them across the country, are forced to pay thousands of dollars for tools with after tax dollars. It is double taxation.
When people in small businesses buy tools, for example farmers, they are allowed to deduct the full purchase price of any tools under $200. The value of tools over $200 can be written off and claimed under the capital cost allowance. They can write them off very quickly.
This bill would put mechanics on the same footing as small business people, musicians and several other groups which can claim and deduct, for the purposes of taxation, the cost of their tools. There are several groups who are already allowed to do that.
Why is the government speaking out against this piece of legislation? It is really hard to understand. It seems that whenever the Liberal Party or the finance minister talk about tax fairness it really means one thing. The government is very willing to look at tax fairness and implement what it calls tax fairness when it means more tax. However, in this case, if this bill were to pass, it would mean that less taxes would be taken out of the pockets of mechanics.
The House leader was willing to throw all of that aside, to interrupt the debate and to kill the debate. We will not get another chance to debate this bill before the House breaks for the summer. He was willing to just throw these 90,000 mechanics aside and say to heck with them, they are not important. It does not matter to the government if mechanics have to spend $15,000 on tools, out of their own pockets, when they cannot write off the expense. It does not seem to matter at all.
It matters to the other parties. The other parties have come out as being clearly in favour of this bill. They did when it was my bill, Bill C-366, and they have tonight. The finance committee, on at least two occasions since 1993, has clearly been in favour of this change, which would make the tax system far more fair. It would allow a deduction for mechanics who purchase tools when it is a requirement of employment that they own their own tools.
This issue came before the House last year. It came in the form of a very broad motion once or twice before. It is time we dealt with this because it is important to those 90,000 mechanics, and it is important to me. I believe that everyone should be treated fairly. Clearly, fairness in this case means that mechanics and others in similar situations should be allowed to claim this deduction.
It will amount to something like $60 million a year which the the government will not be able to grab from these people. That is why it is not supporting it, because it will lose $60 million a year in tax revenue. We know that it just cannot get enough. There have been dozens and dozens of tax increases since the government came to power in 1993. We know very well that it has increased the tax take by over $30 billion a year since 1993. It is completely unacceptable that it would try to throw this all aside and snub mechanics once again as it has done several times in the House and as it has done twice in the last year.
When I brought this bill forward the last time, I received 7,000 letters from mechanics across Canada in two months. Copies were sent to the finance minister. He knows that these letters have been received.
What kind of sincerity does the government show in debating this bill? Under access to information I received a copy of the speech that the parliamentary secretary gave when he spoke to my bill. That access to information request showed that he did not even write the speech. He did not even show the courtesy to mechanics to write his speech. The access to information request showed that a departmental official from inside the finance department wrote his speech, and he delivered the speech. He delivered it just like a good little boy should. That is the lack of respect that the parliamentary secretary has for those mechanics, who are only asking for what is fair. Government members do not even have the courtesy to write their own speeches. They get departmental officials to do that. It is disgusting.
It is time this bill passed. I am going to support this bill. We are going to support this bill. The Bloc is going to support this bill. I believe the Conservatives will. They did the last time. The NDP will support it. NDP members have received letters. There should be a lot of Liberal MPs who support this bill as well. If they do not, I can guarantee that they are going to get letters from their constituents. They will have to explain to their constituents that they would not even support this issue, which is a clear issue of tax fairness. That is all it is.
I recently came back from Prince Edward Island. I was amazed by the number of times I heard those people say that this House is no longer a democratic institution. They have seen their members vote on issues which they know they do not support. They have seen them vote in favour because their whip has told them that they are going to support the bill. They pointed to several bills, one being the old Bill C-68, the gun registration bill. They are still upset about that. They are going to continue to be upset about that until we get into power and throw that legislation out.
They are upset for several reasons. They are upset with the legislation, but they are also upset with the process. The process is no better tonight. We see tonight, again, government members opposite showing a total lack of caring, a lack of respect. The Liberals are showing arrogance, arrogance which we know comes before the fall. We are seeing a level of arrogance on that side of the House that I have never seen in this place before. I believe it will not be too far down the road when that fall comes. The Liberals have come to think that they have all the answers. They have come to think that the people they are supposed to be governing for do not matter any more.
In this case, they have sent the message very clearly to 90,000 mechanics who only want what is fair. The House of Commons finance committee has said it is fair on two occasions. Just to point out to government members, as if they do not know it, the House of Commons finance committee is controlled by a majority of government members.
It was a committee controlled by a majority of government members which said, “Yes, let's do this. Let's give these mechanics their tax deduction”. Now is the time to do it. Let us just do it, with no more stalling. Let us do it now.