Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of speculation on that very front. We know the tax was imposed in 1918. We know that the Canadian Jewellers Association never existed prior to the imposition of the tax and that this became the motivator for jewellers to form themselves. Their mandate was to get rid of this tax which they saw as being unfair for at least the last 50 years.
Why has this tax been the last one to be removed or contemplated to be removed? It has been suggested that because the constituency is fairly small they did not have a lot of political clout.
It also has been suggested that by promising the jewellers that it would be eliminated but then not doing so, it would keep them on the hook as a potential political funding source, for lack of a better word.
If we were to resolve the problem then the jewellers would go back and be happy with doing business. We do not need political friends in the same way as we do when we are trying to get rid of a very discriminatory tax.
Every time I think I understand this whole file and this tax and deal with a few more people, I find out a few more things. That has sort of bubbled up to the surface as maybe being the rationale why this tax has hung in there for such a long time.