Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to speak to this motion because what we are addressing concerns an issue that is of crucial importance in my riding of Newton—North Delta. It is the issue of income trusts. There is no other issue on which I have received more phone calls, letters and e-mails from my constituents. I do not know how many times I have heard from them. Many voted Conservative and not Liberal in the last election and said that the government they voted for is not the one that would have reversed its position on this. If it did, my constituents would never have given it their conditional trust, never mind the responsibility to handle income trusts.
Because of the volume of complaints I received, I decided to hold a town hall meeting for those who had lost so much of their hard-earned savings. I listened and could not believe all I was hearing. These are ordinary Canadians who do not speak from positions of great wealth. Many are not in their peak earning years any more. Many cannot even dream of making up half of what they lost because of this decision.
I sat down with them in the town hall meeting and we talked about the real costs of this decision. We know the numbers: an estimated $25 billion, an average of $25,000 for each Canadian. However, the numbers are just the facts. They do not tell the story. They are too abstract. One cannot understand these losses until one actually sits down with some of the people who have suffered from this decision, but talking and consulting with the Canadian public does not seem to be a core strength of the government to begin with.
One gentleman, Mr. Maurice Bouchard, was one of the Canadians who based his retirement plans on an investment portfolio that included income trusts. He is 60 years old. He has a mortgage and four children, one who has lost his chance to own a home because of this meanspirited decision by the government. Mr. Bouchard did not expect to be in this position. He has worked hard all his life. He has paid his taxes. He has been an active member of the community in Newton—North Delta.
Here in Ottawa where it is all about numbers on the books, we could use some of his clarity. For him it is very simple. He stated, “How can I tell anyone, my kids or grandchildren, that the high morality of one's word as a promise is still the foundation of our society...when our political leader of the day breaks his own word for no good reason?” That is a very good question. It is the one I cannot see the government answering any time soon.
It is not just those who are planning their retirement who were hit hard by this decision. I also received an e-mail from Mr. Bouchard's son. He is 23 years old, just starting out in life. He has worked hard doing overtime in labour jobs, rarely making more than $13 per hour. This young man, Mr. Mark Bouchard, does not want to be a millionaire. He just wants what so many other Canadians want. He wants to own a home.
Of course, the government might not pay much attention to the property prices in my riding of Newton—North Delta, but let me make it simple. This young man put his savings for a home into income trusts. Those savings are gone now.
All I can say is that I wish the Conservatives had the wisdom to speak to ordinary Canadians like the Bouchards before they made their decision. We on this side of the House know that there were better ways to manage the file. That is what this motion is all about.
We all know that the government had the opportunity with the committee process to truly listen to Canadians before it broke its promise to them.
I know many of the measures in Bill C-33 are about tax fairness, avoiding tax havens, ensuring no Canadian has a tax advantage over another and for the principle of fairness, which is why I support the bill.
However, there is no fairness involved with this aspect of income trusts. My colleague, the hon. member for Markham—Unionville, the finance critic who worked so hard on tax reform in his role as a minister, put it very well. He said that this was a “nuclear bomb” approach to solving this problem. There were alternatives and he clearly outlined them in his speeches here in the House.
As for consultations, we heard about advisers on taxation but there are no better advisers on taxation than hard-working Canadian families, like the families in Newton—North Delta that were affected; families like those who spoke with me at my town hall meetings; and families like those who have written to me or phoned my office in numbers the House could not imagine. I have received more phone calls, e-mails and letters on this one issue than on any other issue.
If the government had consulted with the business sector it would have heard the same things too. It would have heard what many people wisely predicted but has now become a reality. The income trust tax has resulted in at least 15 takeover attempts in the last five months. Interest deductibility will just make this situation worse.
Again, the government has broken its promise to ordinary Canadians. It has mismanaged this file and it cost hard-working Canadian families over $25 million in losses in one day. We could be waiting a long time for sound fiscal management from the government, as we had strong fiscal management from the previous government.
Time is money. Many Canadians are now wondering what happened to the sound fiscal management that 13 years of Liberal government brought in with 8 years of balanced budgets and the best economic performance in the G-8 countries.
It is not me who is saying this. In fact, if we go back to the Economist magazine, it says that Canada was one of the best countries, the second best country to Denmark, in which to invest. If we look at between 1990 and the time we left the government, Canadians were taking 11% more in their take-home pay after paying taxes. Many Canadians, like my constituents, want the old Canada back now.