Mr. Speaker, today, I am proud to join my NDP colleagues in denouncing the hidden tax hikes that the Conservatives are trying to impose on Canadians in their new budget.
I would first like to congratulate the hon. member for Victoria for moving the motion today, because the issue at hand is of the utmost importance to the families in my riding of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, but also to families across the country.
It has already been mentioned on a number of occasions in the House that, once again, this government has broken its promises to Canadians. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance had promised that Canadians would not have to pay any new taxes under a Conservative government. Just recently, the Minister of State for Finance challenged us to find tax increases in his budget. People took on the challenge and looked at the budget. Their findings were very troubling.
The Conservatives' budget 2013 is actually filled with tax and tariff hikes on more than 1,200 types of product, which will hit Canadian families right in their wallets. We are talking about bicycles, baby strollers, shoes, clothes, coffee makers, plastic school supplies, iPods, hospital parking and so on. It is all fair game.
Because of this government's misguided economic decisions, Canadians will have to take on an additional tax burden of nearly $8 billion over the next five years. Eight billion dollars. Once again, we are confronted with the Conservatives' bad faith and hypocrisy when it comes to the economy. However, does this really come as a surprise to us?
Since the beginning of this debate, the beginning of their mandate in fact, the Conservatives have been trying to confuse Canadians and obscure the facts. Unable to defend their record and justify their bad decisions, they prefer to spend millions of dollars of public money to spread their propaganda and demonize the opposition parties.
As I was listening to the Conservatives' presentations this afternoon, I felt I was back in a McCarthy-era hearing or in the middle of a witch hunt for communists worthy of the 1950s. Their rhetoric was incredibly demagogic, but they were not able to justify why they were going after Canadian families in this way. It is easy to blame the opposition parties for all the wrongs and accuse them of not wanting to co-operate with the government.
How can we support the decisions of a government that brings in those types of measures, which directly and negatively affect our Canadian families?
The Conservatives spent all day accusing the NDP of wanting a carbon tax. This accusation is refuted almost daily in newspapers across the country. I find it rather ironic to hear a number of Conservative members talking about freedom of speech and the right to speak and asking that these be upheld in the House. They rise every chance they get to spout half-truths or facts made up right in the Prime Minister's Office, without even thinking twice about it.
That is what we have seen in the House again today. They want their freedom of expression, but as soon as they have it, they are not prepared to use it properly and intelligently to clearly explain the truth to Canadians.
They are going to bring in taxes on nearly all goods that Canadian families consider necessities. They would have us believe that Canada's general preferential tariff for developing countries is a program that financed foreign companies, but Canadians are not stupid. They know the truth and know that this government would rather put its friends' interests ahead of the interests of Canadians.
Since the Conservatives won a majority, it has become increasingly clear to Canadians that they cannot trust this government. In 2010, the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Heritage proudly declared:
During this fragile economic recovery, the last thing Canadian families and consumers need is a massive new tax on iPods.
What do we have in the Conservatives' latest budget? Ironically, there is a bona fide iPod tax. The Conservatives claim that we are twisting the truth. Editorials have analyzed this situation. Mr. Moffatt's name comes up often in the House.
I urge the Conservatives to go read the research. It is very enlightening and may help them understand what this government is truly doing to Canadians. The facts are clear. In a long list of tariff increases imposed by the Conservatives, there is a new 5% tax on MP3 players and iPods imported to Canada.
The exemption that currently exists under law, that applies to certain imported products and that could have prevented this unfortunate situation, does not really apply to this type of product.
Eligibility for this exemption is prohibitively expensive, and applying for the exemption requires the importer to obtain a signed certificate from every user, therefore every consumer. This certificate has to indicate their name, address, occupation, and even what they use the merchandise for.
For a party that constantly boasts about wanting to cut red tape for our Canadian businesses, it seems rather absurd to want to subject importers to such an administrative burden just so that they can keep telling Canadians that there is no tax on iPods. That is not true.
Sony Canada, to name just one company, has already warned Canadian consumers that they can expect the price of this type of device to go up by 5% to 6%, because this so-called exemption is not realistically applicable in this situation. This is just one example of tariff increases in disguise in the Conservatives' recent budget. Unfortunately, there are many more.
These tax increases will affect the wallets of thousands of Canadians and will also have a major impact on Canadian businesses, which will have a harder time competing with their U.S. competitors, as the cross-border price gap continues to widen.
A number of my colleagues who live in border regions across the country are already seeing this happen, and the changes have not even come into effect yet. We can only imagine the repercussions that these new tariff barriers will have on the Canadian economy when they actually come into force. That is when we might see some very unfortunate consequences for a number of regions in this country.
Another troubling aspect of budget 2013 is without question the application of GST and HST on parking lots that were previously exempt, such as school and hospital parking lots. This is an example of a tax that did not exist before and will be applied as a result of this Conservative government and its 2013-14 budget.
We hear them say that they are keeping their promises and that they are not increasing taxes, but the example we are providing here is very clear. They are eliminating an exemption simply to apply a new tax.
One of the factors restricting access to health care services in our country is certainly the expenses related to a hospital visit, particularly parking costs. We do not yet know how much revenue the government hopes to take in with this new tax, but we do know that it will directly affect thousands of vulnerable Canadians and families that are facing hard times.
Last week, in my riding of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, I had the opportunity to meet the families representing the latest Leucan shaved head challenge. I met the parents of two children in my riding who fought cancer and overcame it. These parents were courageous enough to devote their time and energy to helping other families facing the same challenges they faced. We had the chance to speak at length. They told me of their journey, filled with obstacles. It required perseverance and caused a lot stress within the family. As you can well imagine, they spent countless hours at the hospital to ensure that their children received the care they needed. Just imagine the cost of these numerous trips to the hospital. Then add the rising costs of parking and the wigs given to those fighting cancer. These taxes will directly affect those families and people going through extremely difficult situations.
This is not the first time the Conservatives have broken their promises to Canadians, and if nothing changes, it will not be the last. We need to do better for Canadian families, and that is what the NDP is trying to do.
Instead of raising the taxes of honest Canadians who are working hard and paying their fair share into the system, it is time this government stopped breaking its promises and reversed its bad decision to stick Canadian families with nearly $8 billion in new taxes. It is unacceptable that the government is so proud of its unwavering support for big business and big oil, providing them with excessive tax breaks while forcing these tariffs on Canadians.