Mr. Speaker, it is important to recognize that at least the New Democrats, on the issue of the GST, have been consistent. They did not like the GST in 1993 nor do they like it now. Of course the Liberals were completely and diametrically opposed to the GST and have since embraced it, with the Prime Minister on foreign travels in fact taking credit for it.
While I disagree with New Democrats quite frequently, I do respect that in terms of principles they are consistent, as opposed to the patron saints of hypocrisy opposite who campaigned on one agenda and then embraced another.
The only thing worse than the Liberal government stealing policies from the Tories and taking credit for the results would be if it were to implement its own. I am glad it has not been terribly original in that area.
Relative to the GST, I would urge the hon. member to look at the tax that the GST replaced, the manufacturer's sales tax which actually, from a trade perspective, penalized Canadian manufacturers. It made it more difficult for them to achieve competitiveness and reduced the opportunities for Canadian companies to create jobs and opportunities here in Canada. If we compare the GST to other taxes in terms of its impact on job growth and opportunities in Canada, it is probably one of the more sensible taxes we have. If we reduce our personal and corporate income taxes and capital gains tax in some of these other areas, there will be a shift to a greater level of dependency on a consumption tax base. There is a significant consensus among economists around the world that most countries should move in the direction of a greater dependency on consumption taxes and less on income taxes in the long term.
There are certainly some issues on collection that need to be addressed and there is an underground economy that has grown significantly. That is because the government has refused to do what is necessary on the income tax side of the equation. I do not think it is fair to blame that on the GST.