Mr. Speaker, I rise, I must say, with some degree of disappointment in my friends in the NDP, for many of whom I have considerable regard, not because I share their principles but at least because they have some, which I cannot always say for my Liberal friends opposite.
I am disappointed in the motion because it so clearly lacks focus. One of the perennial criticisms of the NDP is that it attempts to be all things to all people and has a kind of Utopian approach to public policy. What is reflected in the very notion of this motion is that we can save Canada, that salvation comes through public policy. That the NDP would present to the House 12 disparate policy ideas to debate in a few hours, I think reflects its lack of focus. It would seem to me that its caucus could not agree on what to bring forward in terms of a supply motion so each of its members got to throw an idea on to the list.
Perhaps the member for Burnaby--Douglas did not participate in the process because I do not see free trade with Cuba on the list. Apart from that, when some of my colleagues first heard there would be a 12 point NDP plan to save Canada, I received a number of e-mails suggesting that we could expect to see things like extending social benefits to house pets, the introduction of a protester protection program and the offer of free day care for all Canadians except bankers' kids. Somebody said that we would need to tax the allowances of children with stay at home parents to pay for the free day care. I was also told we could see Canadians being forced to refer to each other as brother or sister and endangered species being unionized so they could bargain with the government collectively.
Someone else suggested that we might hear about nationalizing WestJet to eliminate competition in the airline industry. Another person submitted that the NDP may want to make the Atlantic economy equal to that of Alberta by ratifying Kyoto and driving Alberta's unemployment levels up to those of Newfoundland. Someone suggested that we would reject NAFTA in this motion and embrace multilateral trade with Iraq, Cuba, North Korea and the PLO.
Finally, number 10 on the list to be anticipated was that the NDP would do for all of Canada what Bob Rae did for Ontario and Glen Clark did for B.C.
We were relieved to see that the NDP did bring forward a couple of sensible ideas but, unfortunately, no substance. First, let me go through its list. It wants Canada to ratify the Kyoto protocol in 2002. This takes no regard for the economic costs of Kyoto which have been estimated to pose a potential cost to the Canadian economy of as much as $40 billion, or 3% to 4% of GDP, and as many as half a million jobs. This is a ridiculous protocol which exempts all the principal polluters in the world, namely developing countries which have little or no emissions reduction technology. It will not be entered into by the United States, our principal competitor, or Mexico, our two trading partners in the NAFTA .
If the advice of the motion were accepted, Canada would impose upon itself enormous economic costs with little or no environmental gain and it would do nothing to reduce the principal polluters like the People's Republic of China which is exempted from the Kyoto protocol. If we were to follow this advice it would be economic madness with no environmental gain.
The NDP calls on us to strengthen the role of aboriginal, Metis and Inuit people in the Canadian family. Who can disagree with such a motherhood concept? The real challenge though is for the NDP and all parties to take a look at the literally hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent on programs to assist first nations and aboriginal people but which have today resulted in levels of poverty, unemployment, despair, teen suicide and substance abuse higher than ever before. Something is not working in the way we deliver these programs and passing fuzzy minded motions about making people feel like they are part of a family will not solve the concrete problems experienced by first nations peoples who have been, I think, put at great disadvantage through many of the programs that are currently in place.
I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca, Mr. Speaker.
The NDP proposes that we reaffirm Canada's international peacekeeping role and rehabilitate Canada's reputation as respected internationalists. This is NDP speak for extreme skepticism in opposition to anything proposed by the United States in the international fora. When it talks about internationalism, its internationalism seems to have an especially close place for regimes such as those in Iraq. When it sees any kind of serious effort to impose United Nations resolutions for inspection of weapons of mass destruction in that tyrannical regime for instance, it is opposed to using the tools available to the international community to avoid rogue regimes from developing weapons of mass destruction. I really do not think this is a country that would want to follow the NDP's advice on foreign policy.
The NDP recommends that the federal government be a full partner in funding health care but to ensure that it is a not for profit system. Every doctor in the country profits from the health care system. Thousands of clinics, which operate within the publicly funded health care system, generate a profit. Profit is not a dirty word. The NDP should end its obsession with eliminating the only economic incentive which exists from operating within the health care system. Of course we need full federal funding and we support funding going back to 1994 levels.
The NDP wants to implement a comprehensive strategy for the eradication of child poverty. Everyone would like to eliminate not just child poverty but poverty in general. We would like to eliminate pain and suffering as well. We must understand that we have developed a multibillion dollar poverty industry which has not appreciably seen a reduction in the levels of poverty. Furthermore, the NDP uses statistics based on the low income cutoff line of Statistics Canada which does not measure absolute poverty but relative inequity in incomes. That is not a rational basis for public policy.
The NDP wants to ensure that trade agreements include adequate protection for labour standards in a human rights environment. I agree with the impulse here. I spoke yesterday against the accession of the People's Republic China to the WTO because of its human rights violations. We must be very careful about the kind of caveats we add to trade accords with other civilized democratic nations. These could completely vitiate the purpose of free trade and reduce the opportunity for developing countries to enter into the circle of exchange which has seen living standards across the world increase by so much over the past several decades.
The NDP wants to ensure that Canadian primary producers and farm families can compete with foreign subsidies. We agree with that but in the long run the real focus has to be on getting our farmers and primary producers a fair market price for their products, which they do not have because of foreign subsidies. Rather than ratcheting up a foreign subsidy war endlessly where farmers across the world lose, along with food consumers, we must, as one of our top foreign policies and trade objectives, eliminate price distorting agricultural subsidies throughout the world.
The NDP wants stable funding for strategic infrastructure. We agree with that but by strategic infrastructure we think the government should finance hard, meaningful transportation infrastructure for instance, not pork in government ridings which too often is the case.
The NDP also wants to celebrate immigration and diversity, a motherhood statement with which I cannot take exception.
The NDP wants to reaffirm fair taxes. We knew what that meant when Bob Rae had his fair tax commission and told us that anyone who earned over $50,000 a year was rich. In other words, anyone with an above average income should have a disproportionate tax burden.
The NDP wants to strengthen Canadian culture. We do too but we think Canadians are the best people to direct and finance their own culture and do not need bureaucrats and government programs to do so on their behalf all the time.
Finally, one point that I do wholeheartedly share agreement on with the NDP is number 12 which would strengthen Canadian democracy through parliamentary and electoral reform. We are the only party that shares with the NDP a policy that supports electoral reform to some more proportionate system of representation and of parliamentary reform.