moved for leave to introduce Bill C-251, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST on reading materials).
Mr. Speaker, any time we look at this country, there are about 20% to 25% of Canadians, in both official languages, who are functionally illiterate. A lot of people cannot even afford to buy basic reading materials such as newspapers, books, magazines, et cetera.
However, to charge a tax on reading materials when we are trying to encourage more and more Canadians to actually read is simply wrong.
I have this legislation, like the other two, to encourage my Conservative colleagues, who like to talk about tax cuts, to quickly adopt this legislation and remove taxation from all reading and educational materials.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)