As the member from Winnipeg says, I remember the debates in the House of Commons in 1993 when members of the Liberal Party got up and said “elect us and we will get rid of the GST”. I remember the Prime Minister saying that if he was elected Prime Minister he would get rid of the GST. That is on tape and can be seen by looking up the old speeches from question period in 1992-93. I ask the Liberals across the way what happened to that fundamental promise they made to the Canadian people. What happened? The Liberal member across the way is clearing his throat in embarrassment. What happened to that campaign promise the Liberals made to the Canadian people in 1993?
No wonder people are cynical about the electoral process, politicians and political parties when a political party can make a very serious promise to the country and then break that promise. In hindsight, the only member across the way who did not break the promise was the minister of heritage, the member for Hamilton East. She was deputy prime minister. She resigned her seat in the House of Commons, probably in 1996, and went back to Hamilton East for a byelection. She said she had made a commitment on the GST, the government had changed its mind and she sought a new mandate for herself as the member of parliament for Hamilton East.
What about the rest of those members? They made the promise, they broke the promise and they are still in government. That is one reason why more and more people in the country give up on the political process and rank politicians so low in terms of credibility. The goal has to be to gradually eliminate the GST in order to make it a more progressive taxation system.
People are in the final process of filing their income tax, with the deadline being April 30, which is only a few days away. When Canadians file their income taxes they are reminded that too much of the taxation burden in Canada is still on low income and modest income people in Canada. These are people who have families and are struggling to make ends meet. I hear stories day in and day out about low income people having trouble with the taxes they have to pay.
Yet there are so many loopholes in our taxation system. We have the family trusts for the Bronfmans and the wealthy, and they can really get away from paying taxes, from paying their fair share. These very wealthy people, the billionaires, do not pay their fair share and we have the Liberals across the way who will not do anything about this.