Mr. Speaker, is it not ironic that we would hear a Liberal government talk about making rash decisions, when in the middle of the night in a dimly lit room, it committed $4.6 billion of taxpayer money, overnight, in a heart beat? Now the Liberals are talking about a tax that has been imposed upon the Canadian public since 1918. All of a sudden they wake up and say that they cannot make this happen that fast. It is unbelievable the government has the conscience to even suggest that to the Canadian public.
I would like to congratulate my colleague, the member for Vancouver Island North. I know he has worked hard on the bill and I know this is not the first time it has been brought to the House. In the past the Liberals with their majorities voted against it. They had no intention of even moving on the bill had it not been brought forward by my hon. colleague and had it not been brought forward at a time when all members had an interest and concern about the tax. Then they decided to do something. I give my colleague great kudos for doing it and for having the perseverance to continue to present this in a way that Canadians expect and will appreciate when it receives royal assent.
This is termed a luxury tax and it is one area on which I would like to dwell.
It is interesting that we may go out and buy a piece of jewellery for ourselves or for our friends or family. Quite often at this time of the year, with graduation rolling around, jewellery is one of the things we look at to present to our young graduates. It is interesting that if it is a $10 piece of jewellery or a $50 piece of jewellery, there is tax on it. If I had the wherewithal, I could out and buy a $80,000 or $100,000 vehicle and there would be no luxury tax on it. It is about the difference between what is a luxury and what is not. In today's world many of the things we are talking about under this bill are necessities. They are items that we like to own, use and share with our families.
One of the members opposite mentioned the ability to export and that it did not create an unfair competitive advantage. Yet we know that Canadian diamonds can be bought cheaper abroad than in Canada because of this tax. If that is not a disincentive for the diamond industry, I do not know what is. Who would want to set up in Canada and start to manufacture these types of goods. We know the Internet has made shopping much easier and a lot more accessible around the world. I have heard, and I believe it probably to be true, that often a way of avoiding taxes and duties is dealing through the Internet.
It is an unfair tax. At the time it was presented, it was presented as a benefit for all Canadians and I believed it served its purpose. However, how many years later do we continue to pay a tax on something at this level? This is beyond me. I know that this is not new to the government. It is something of which it has been made aware. It has been aware of the issue for the past several years. As my colleague mentioned, the Canadian Jewellers Association was formed on the sole principle of eliminating this tax. It had no other mandate except to eliminate the tax. That would suggest is something that is long overdue. I congratulate my colleague for bringing the bill forward.
As a new candidate in the last federal election, this was the issue at the first door on which I knocked. Having spoken to the person involved and having a better understanding of it, I encouraged my colleague to bring it forward. I offered all the support I could garner to him and I continue to do that today.
The jewellery industry in Canada has a pretty interesting group of people. They are mainly small businesses, a lot of times family owned and operated. There are approximately 5,000 jewellery businesses in Canada. We are not necessarily talking about a small group, but when we spread it across the broadness of Canada, there is the inability of these businesses to get together to develop policy and lobbying groups to bring to the government and advance some of their cases and issues.
We know the industry employs about 40,000 Canadians. I do not think any of us here would suggest that is not a substantial employee rate. It is a $1.2 billion a year industry. Who would not want a piece of that in their constituencies across Canada?
I understand that when we get into the manufacturing side, it is an opportunity. I have been told by the jewellery industry and others that it has the potential to create a real second industry. I see it as an opportunity for remote and rural communities in Canada . It is probably an opportunity that we have as rural Canadians to entice an industry to come to our communities and set up shop. A lot of industries would look at the size of a community and suggest that it probably would not feasible.
By eliminating this tax, the hope is that we will be a leading diamond producer. It will encourage domestic jewellery manufacturing to grow. In the future this would be very positive for Canadians.
I sat in on many of the debates around the tax itself. If people are retailers and they have this tax imposed upon them, it very quickly becomes a burden of doing business. Some of the debate was around whether we should eliminate the 10% immediately or whether we should do it over a period of time. It was suggested that it may be a hit for the industry to take the 10% right off the top, but people in the industry were prepared to do that because they knew it was the right thing to do.
If we are given only one choice, then we have to look at whatever is put in front of us. However, fortunately through the perseverance of the member for Vancouver Island North, this rose above the government's priorities and it was brought in by a private member's bill. We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to debate this, and to continue to do so.
One of the issues that was discussed with me, and I know the member talked about it, was companies that would set up because of our tax system. Business people are business people, no matter where we go. If they can make the tax rules work for them, they do.
We have seen that in some of this industry where the plateaus are hit and companies are collapsed. Then they start out as a second company under a new name. That is probably not good for the business people who are doing it, although they are within the guidelines. They probably want to contribute in another way to the growth of Canada.
I recognize that my time is quickly closing, but I want to emphasize again to the government that it is important it move on this. There has been the argument that it is irrational decision making, that it is a cost that will impact the government. We have seen the way the government has acted in the last few months. Its members have run around the country spending money. The time has come for this tax to be removed and it should be removed immediately. I am very pleased to support my colleague, the member for Vancouver Island North, to eliminate the excise tax on jewellery.