Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for its tolerance in allowing me to share the time with my colleague. Bill S-11, an act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Canada Cooperatives Act and to amend other acts, is a good bill. It is a bill that we support.
As my friend and colleague just mentioned, the CBCA has not been amended since 1975. After consultation the government put together a plan that will amend it in this bill. The CBCA is the main federal law that governs corporations in Canada, including large and small to medium sized businesses. In fact it governs more than 155,000 businesses in total.
However, I wonder why the government has not taken it upon itself to be more innovative and aggressive in trying to improve the business climate in our country. We have heard over the past week and a half that productivity in Canada has been declining for years. That hits every single person in our country. Our nation and the people in it are reliant on an environment in which businesses can thrive in an effort to improve the health and welfare of all Canadians and so we can also have jobs.
In our globalized economy we are laggards. We are falling further behind. Why do we accept the fact that countries such as New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland have grown, prospered and thrived and have been more productive than Canada? Canada is a nation and a country that has overwhelming resources and a good workforce, a competent and intelligent workforce, people who are willing to put their backs into the country. As well, relatively speaking we have an enormous amount of wealth in and above ground. Yet despite these natural assets we are falling further behind.
Why do we accept the fact that our dollar has plummeted from the 70 cent range to 65 cents today? I believe it was at 73 cents when the government took over in 1993. There is no end in sight as analysts view our dollar as continuing to slide. Some make the glib comment that this is okay because it strengthens our ability to sell products abroad.
That is true, but what does it do for those companies that are reliant and dependent on the ability to import products? How can they function properly and make their products? What does it do for Canadians who travel abroad? It severely hamstrings them, reduces their productivity and reduces their competitiveness.
We have to create a nimble, aggressive economy in Canada. The government's responsibility is to enable Canadian companies to do that. Its responsibility is to provide a climate of ingenuity where Canadian companies can prosper, where they can compete with and beat other countries from around the world.
We need strong fiscal and monetary policy. Why do we not have a debt reduction strategy? Why do we accept that our national debt sits at $560 billion? Perhaps the public watching today would be very interested to know that the debt we are all saddled with exceeds $1 trillion when we take in the debts accrued by the provinces and crown corporations. That is $1 trillion that we owe as a nation.
Why has the government not taken it upon itself to flatten the tax system? Our complex and onerous tax system makes it very difficult for most people to even do their own taxes. They have to get a professional to do them. Why do we not simplify the tax system?
Over the years my colleagues in the Alliance have repeatedly put forth suggestions to flatten the tax system, to simplify the tax system and to lower the tax structure so that individual Canadians and businesses can have more money in their pockets. Why does the government not have the same zeal for this as it has for Bill S-11? Why does it not apply that zeal to improving the structural aspects of our economy? Why does the government not drop the GST to 5%? Why not make it comprehensive and have single, one year reporting? Why have a system where private companies must hire people to do their GST returns? It adds costs to the ability of those firms to function properly.
Why do we not reduce payroll taxes, which in effect put just another cost on top of the costs to do business and the costs to Canadian consumers? Why do we not reduce personal taxes? When personal and business taxes are reduced, what happens? The economy improves, unemployment rates go down and, interestingly enough, moneys coming into the public coffers increase.
I want to draw to the attention of the House the tale of two provinces. I will compare my province of British Columbia to the province of Ontario. The NDP has ruled in my province for the last eight years or so. Thankfully its life will soon be shortened. With the upcoming election on May 16 there will be a new provincial government in my province, which I am sure will do a much better job than the NDP has done.
Let us look at the objective statistics in a province that has had high taxes, crushing rules and regulations and an environment that basically told the private sector to go somewhere else because it was not welcome in that province. Real per capita GDP when the NDP was elected in my province was $367 greater than the national average. After eight years of NDP rule, with its high taxes, complex rules and regulations and choking union rules, the actual decade ended with the real per capita GDP $3,471 lower, while the rest of the country, in particular Ontario and Alberta, experienced tremendous growth in real per capita GDP, 16.7% and 26% respectively. In regard to disposable income, which really hits the individual consumer, when the NDP came into power the real per capita disposable income was $743 greater than the national average. Now it is $768 below the national average.
It has plummeted nearly $1,500 during the period of high taxes, complex rules and regulations, and an oppressive environment for the private sector. That is what has happened to the money in the pockets of citizens in my province.
The Conservative Party in Ontario on the other hand took over from the regime of Bob Rae the mess of high taxes, complex rules and regulations, and an oppressive environment in the private sector. Since that time, with the lowering of taxes and the removal of rules and regulations, 822,000 jobs were created; tax revenues were up $15 billion; and Ontario's economy is expected to grow 2.3% this year and 3.6% next year.
Interestingly the left wing tries to lambaste the so-called heartless PCs in Ontario, but the fact is that 622,000 people in the lowest socioeconomic group are not paying taxes now. The same number of people in British Columbia find life more difficult. They have less chance of being employed and a greater chance of being on welfare. The amount of moneys and opportunities accessible to them are less. Is that fair? Is that a good environment to be in?
Everybody in the House, including the NDP, must see that having high taxes and complex rules and regulations chokes off the private sector. It harms people who are on welfare but who want to work. It harms the people who are underemployed as well as those who have talents and skills and want to use them to help their families and be able to contribute to society. These are the people who are hurt by left wing, socialist economic policies that have choked the life out of the province of British Columbia and out of Ontario prior to the PCs getting in.
Although education is a provincial responsibility, why does the federal government not work with the provinces to develop national standards? With people being forced to move, and sometimes quite rapidly, why do their children not have the same educational opportunities in all provinces? If national standards were established children could be slotted in and have similar educational opportunities.
We also have to expand and improve educational opportunities. Why not look at private-public partnerships? Germany has taken it upon itself to have a very innovative private-public partnership. People are given apprenticeships in high school. It has enabled people in high school and in university to develop experience and skills that will benefit them and enable them to be employable in high paying jobs. That is innovation. I urge the federal government to sit down with its provincial counterparts to accomplish that goal. They could have a very useful and innovative meeting which would benefit all Canadians.
The government also needs to tackle the issue of loans. At the present time access to post-secondary education is becoming the purview of the rich. I would not be able to go to medical school today. Statistics demonstrate that at the University of Western Ontario the average family income has increased dramatically to $80,000. Very few Canadian families make $80,000 a year. That means that children of people making less money have far less opportunity to gain access to professional faculties. Canadians do not want that. They want to ensure equal opportunities based on skill level, not based on the amount of money in their pockets.
We should also look at ways to decrease red tape. Red tape chokes the living daylights out of the private sector. It is easier for people to trade between Athens, Greece and London, England than it is to trade between Halifax and Victoria. Members should think about that. That is absolutely absurd. Why is it easier for a business person in Europe to have trade facilitated between two cities in Europe, which are separated by a considerable amount of space, than it is within our own country?
The government has attempted in the past, and I do not know why it has failed, to bring down trade barriers. It has simply nibbled around the edges. The barriers to trade in our country are a very real problem. It is very difficult to export the very fine wines that are made in my province of British Columbia to the rest of the country.
Why is it so difficult? Why do we have so many barriers for individual producers and business people engaged in trade and commerce within our own borders? We certainly pursue free trade with vigour. Why does the government not pursue the elimination of internal barriers to trade with as much zeal? That is something the government should bring forth in this term. I know it would find a great deal of support and constructive input if it were to do that.
My colleagues have raised the issue of transportation and the fact that our transportation arteries are falling apart. With the benefit of our surplus a good investment would be for the government to invest wisely in those structures which the private sector cannot invest in. An investment in improving transportation arteries within the country would be a wise investment that would help commerce within our borders.
Good environmental policies are also required. We do not have them. There are many good environmental policies, though, that are not followed by the government. Time after time the environment commissioner puts forth good, constructive solutions and points the government in a direction that would improve our environment. There are many good scientists and people with very good ideas on how we can improve the environmental behaviour of businesses. I encourage the government to use some of those ideas.
The government needs to look at how our businesses operate abroad. I encourage people to look at how the Export Development Corporation, using taxpayer dollars, is funding companies that are pillaging other countries through mining processes. They are dumping tailings and poisoning rivers or engaging in the rapacious destruction of hardwood forests in places like Papua New Guinea, Borneo and Central America.
Why are we tolerating environmental destruction abroad when we would never tolerate it in Canada? What is worse is that we are using Canadian taxpayer money to fund corporations and companies to do that.
The Canadian public would be appalled. I have been to the island of Borneo and have seen pristine jungles being decimated for palm oil plantation. I have driven for dozens and dozens of kilometres through what was formerly jungle to get to the interface between jungle and palm oil plantation. We have recently discovered that a lot of large primates such as orangutans are being decimated as a result of this destruction and that Canadian companies supported by the government are funding this behaviour. That is absolutely appalling.
I encourage the government to look at our aging population with as much zeal as it is looking at Bill S-11, which would be very beneficial. The population is aging. As a result, the relative numbers of people working compared to those retiring will produce a grave imbalance. No one is looking at that. This will have an impact on our workforce, tax structure, government revenues, social programs and health care system.
We know that we have a pension system. The public would be interested to know that our pension system, the CPP, is unsustainable. When it was put together the CPP architects knew very clearly that decades from now it would collapse under its own weight. There would be demands placed on it that could not be met by the number of people in the workforce.
Why does the government not look at something innovative such as increasing the minimum age of retirement to age 70. This would enable people to have a somewhat graded ability to access CPP. It would also encourage them to be in the workforce, earn money, pay taxes, be productive and be less of a drain on a CPP that would otherwise collapse.
The government had to raise CPP premiums quite significantly through a payroll tax. We see the imbalance in what is happening. We have an aging population and an unsustainable CPP, which forced the government to raise payroll taxes, depressed productivity, put people out of work, and reduced government revenues.
If the government were to look at what happened in Ontario where taxes were lowered, it would see that revenues went up by $15 billion. Wherever taxes were lowered, whether in New Zealand, Singapore or Europe, economies thrived and more money, not less, went into the public coffers. This is not elemental; it is a fact of life.
On the issue of immigration as it relates to the workforce situation, we have a workforce crisis that will be exacerbated. We need to take a critical look at our immigration policy. We need to encourage and expand the number of independent immigrants coming into the country as well as review the people who are on the list and the skills required in our country.
This is Nursing Week in Canada. We have a crisis in nursing. We will have a shortage of 112,000 nurses in the next 10 years as our population ages and the demands on our health care system increase. Nursing is not a required profession on the list of professions that we are seeking. It is unimaginable that it is not. We need nurses. That is just one of a number of professions that we need which are not on the list of professions required. I strongly encourage the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to look at the list, revamp it and make it reflective of the needs of the economy and industry today.
I would like to deal with the issue of right to work legislation. It is a very contentious issue in the House and it should not be. We need to look at the impact of right to work legislation, at the international experience. Right to work legislation gives the individual worker the right to be part of a union or not. I strongly encourage the government to work with its provincial counterparts to introduce right to work legislation. It helps the worker and makes labour laws more flexible. It unleashes and unshackles the private sector.
What has happened in countries where right to work legislation has been in place is extraordinary. In the United States, in those states where they have right to work legislation, the per capita income of the worker has improved dramatically. It has gone up about $3,000 per worker. Unemployment has dropped by 50% and productivity is at 157%, whereas in areas where there has not been right to work legislation it is hovering around 0%.
These extraordinary statistics demonstrate the need for right to work legislation in our country today. If we bring it in workers would have a greater chance of being employed and would have more money in their pockets. The provinces would have more money coming in. It would be a much healthier environment.
I encourage the government not to dismiss this out of hand but to look at the facts. It should look at areas where the right to work legislation has been put in place: the U.S., New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The facts support the notion that right to work legislation improves the health and welfare of the worker.
Not having right to work legislation harms the most vulnerable in our society. It gives them fewer opportunities to work, less money in their pockets and worse working conditions. I would encourage the government to work with the provinces on that.
In closing, I would encourage the government to look at having tax free zones, tax free zones that have worked in Subick Bay in the Philippines; in Raleigh, South Carolina; and in areas of Ireland. If we had employer centres in Canada that were tax free havens, they would be a major attraction for investment, employment would go up and they would be magnets for innovation and research and development.
In my speech I, as have many of my colleagues, have given the government numerous innovative solutions. We support Bill S-11 but I would encourage the government to look at other more complex issues it can actually tackle, issues that must be addressed today if Canada is to become a nimble, aggressive player on the world stage.
The failure of the government to address issues on taxes, education, trade, barriers to trade, rules and regulations and others, will result in a country that is punching far below the belt. We do not need to do that. We can do better. I plead with the government to follow our advice.