Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments with respect to the fairness of the tax policy. He is a recently arrived member, so I know that he will not recall some of the debates we have had in this House previously, but I am wondering if he could comment on seeking tax fairness in combination with the northern living allowance.
This is something that happens in some of the rural sectors of our country, but in a seemingly selective way. This bill seems to seek to redress some of the imbalances of the tax system, yet how taxes are applied in some of the more remote or far-flung regions of our country seems to be hit and miss, and it seems to be more politically motivated than it is structurally motivated in regard to changing it to a fairer and more balanced system.
My question is very specific. If the member agrees with the measures in this bill, does he also agree with the concept of taking a basket of goods, let us say, and using that as a measurement for how we allow the northern tax allowance or the rural living allowance to be decided in this country?
A number of my constituents, particularly in the Queen Charlotte Islands, Haida Gwaii and some of the more remote communities, get frustrated and confused about why their cost of living is so much higher for transportation to services, hospitals and the like, as well as for just the basic living commodities such as home heating and food. However, a basket of goods is a way to measure where tax allowances should be made in this country rather than having some meandering political line across our country as it is right now.