Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure and honour to speak to this issue on this opposition day, particularly since my speech follows those of three of my colleagues with whom I have the great pleasure of working on the Standing Committee on Finance. I would like to thank the hon. member for Victoria for bringing this issue before the House of Commons, because it is very important.
I am also pleased that my three colleagues from the Standing Committee on Finance have played fair by leaving a few factors for me to address. Given their considerable expertise, I might not have had much to offer the House. Fortunately, I can address some very specific issues related to the budget.
I am well aware that some, if not most, Conservative government members like living in the past. However, at some point, they need to get with the times and adopt measures that are relevant to Canada's current conditions.
I certainly agree with some government members who claim that the general preferential tariff or GPT regime needed to be modernized. Unfortunately, these changes are too late for some countries. In fact, one could easily say that the changes are 20 years too late for some of them.
What is more, the government is applying the new regime to a wide range of countries, some of which still need the GPT. This is a really unfortunate aspect of the budget and is symptomatic of the government's complete unwillingness to consider any insight that could help it to implement measures that would assist Canadian families and companies. Perhaps the government is naive or just ignorant in its very narrow perspective, its blindness as to what is going on with the economy. We will continue to work, to keep an eye on the issue and to demonstrate the government's ignorance.
When I say that this measure is 20 years too late, I am thinking about certain specific countries and the overall erosion of Canada's industrial sector. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were very quickly lost under this Conservative government.
Unfortunately, the current Conservative government, already very worn out by its mandate, is not the only one to have abandoned our industry and allowed the destruction of entire sectors of the Canadian economy, thereby forcing thousands, if not millions, of families into temporary or even permanent poverty in some regions of Canada. This measure will only exacerbate the problem. Indeed, especially considering the product categories that will be affected, the proposed regime can even be compared to a flat tax that will hit the middle class and our small and medium-sized businesses most of all.
I say this because, as the member for Beauport—Limoilou, I know very well which sectors and segments of the population will be directly affected and hit hard by this in their daily lives.
Part of the Beauport—Limoilou riding is located in downtown Quebec City. I am referring specifically to Limoilou. It is a very dense urban area that has been experiencing quite a baby boom. Many young families are coming to settle down in Limoilou. To put it simply, and to paint a clear picture, strollers are practically taking over the streets.
When we look at the list of products that will be affected by the tariffs, it includes things like strollers, tricycles and, probably the most shocking, plastic school supplies.
I am so glad to still be a young man, at barely 46 years old. Nevertheless, it has been quite a while since I finished my studies. Still, I do remember the good old days, when I was in elementary and then high school. For instance, at the time, I had to buy a geometry kit, and it was marked “Made in Canada”.
Clearly, everyone agrees that the various sectors of our economy are operating under conditions that are forcing them to adapt. Certain changes have taken place that have forced some companies to shut down, while still others have had to cut back their operations. However, the reprehensible abandonment of many industry sectors in the face of justifiable and inevitable globalization—for which the government should have positioned itself so as to be able to adapt—is almost criminal. This has driven many people in a number of our large communities into an abyss that they just cannot get out of.
I do not know who, on the government side, could answer the legitimate questions that young families in Limoilou, people in their 20s and 30s, are asking. These families have chosen to live downtown, near their workplace, and they have chosen to stand up for a good quality of life. However, they are going to have to deal with tariff hikes, which are a type of forced tax that the government is applying improperly. We should not be surprised by what this government is doing. This is exactly the type of unilateral measure that the Conservatives implement, just like those they imposed on the provinces with regard to health transfers.
The government does not consult Canadians and does not even examine the issues. The measures that it implements seem to be the result of the sort of misguided inspiration that comes from too little sleep. It is really shameful.
As I had the opportunity to mention today, I have the great privilege of being a member of the Standing Committee on Finance, and I have also had the opportunity to serve on the Standing Committee on International Trade. On many occasions, I took the time to speak out against the government's shameful naivety when it comes to international trade. Our country is suffering a great deal as a result of this government's extremely simplistic views and policies.
Take China, for example. It is one of the countries that is being targeted by the changes to the tariff regime. A country's place in the economy deserves to be debated in order to determine the role it must play. However, when the government lets things go, does not react and does not take into account the conditions that exist in other countries of the world, it should not be surprised when it gets results as poor as those we are currently getting.
I would like to talk about China since this country's success is in large part due to the fact that it is an extremely interventionist country. It is therefore rather ironic that the government is trying to teach everyone a lesson without even taking into account the objective conditions of the world economic order. I am not necessarily asking the government to be protectionist, but it must be aware that it has to do something when other countries fail to engage in fair play. This is the kind of thing that the NDP will not just put up with. On the contrary, when countries seek to attack Canada, the NDP will react and respond.
In conclusion, I would like to say that China has taken a very interventionist approach when it comes to currency. It has kept the value of its currency very low. It has taken a very interventionist approach to job and business creation and has paid out massive subsidies in the guise of loans to companies by Chinese banks that did not even require repayment.
Now our core industry has been ravaged. This measure comes too late, is completely useless and places an unnecessary burden on our small and medium-sized businesses as well as our families.
Why is the government increasing taxes like this?