Mr. Speaker, I intend to share my allotted time with the hon. member for Témiscamingue.
I welcome this opportunity to discuss the alternative to the existing Goods and Services Tax proposed by the Liberal Party of Canada. After spending $750,000 to find an alternative to the Goods and Services Tax, especially to get rid of the tax, as the Prime Minister has promised repeatedly, it is now clear that the Liberal government has failed miserably in the attempt. There are a number of reasons for this, but I will give you one fundamental reason and five more specific reasons.
First of all, for the price of $750,000, they took four quarters and gave us a loonie. It is disgraceful to use public funds to propose merely cosmetic changes. These changes will not abolish the GST, as the present Prime Minister promised to do and as all members of the Liberal Party promised to do as well, and they were very convincing as they rent a van full of garments. No, these proposals were just for a new GST which, according to the best scenario, will be similar to the old one and in the worst scenario will be more complex than the Goods and Services Tax.
In the end, and this is a monumental farce, after spending $750,000, Quebec and Canadian consumers will still be paying the Goods and Services Tax every time they make a purchase.
We object to this monumental farce for five basic reasons. First, in addition to the general argument I just made, the Liberal majority report proposes a GST alternative which is not an alternative. It is a hidden tax, and the report suggests the possibility of hypocritically and craftily making the new goods and services tax invisible as part of the price.
When they say we will be able to see the amount of the tax on the cash receipt, that is not quite true. The Liberal majority does not say so. It was explained during many discussions in committee that one could indicate at the bottom of the receipt that the total price paid by Quebec and Canadian consumers includes a goods and services tax, a despicable tax imposed by the Liberal government, a tax which may be 7, 10 or 12 per cent or whatever.
The Liberal majority's report opens the door to all kinds of insidious increases without the knowledge of Quebec and Canadian consumers.
The second basic reason why the Bloc Quebecois vehemently and strenuously objects to this Liberal majority report is that it could lead to a broadening of the tax base with a proposal to tax food, health care and drugs. When I heard the secretary of state say earlier that this was out of the question, and that this would have to be negotiated with the provinces, the Liberal government has always been planning to tax these three basic items, ever since the Finance Committee started work, and members on the committee would agree with that.
Subsequently, it was the Liberal majority that referred to taxing food, health care and drugs as a very realistic proposal. As my colleague from Témiscamingue indicated in his question, with the first level of taxation referred to earlier, that is to say the business transfer tax imposed on small business, it is practically impossible to exclude such items from the new taxation system laid out in the Liberal majority report.
I was listening to the secretary of state express earlier a great deal of compassion for the most disadvantaged members of our society. But this is the same man who fought to maintain the proposed cuts to the unemployment insurance program contained in the last Liberal budget. He fought to maintain this budget measure, using arguments that were fallacious and often demagogic.
I will tell him that there is no mention in this Liberal majority report of indexing the tax credit, the refund low income families receive. There is nothing about such an indexation while the Conservatives-whom the people across the way roundly criticized-at least planned to index the tax credit refund on the old GST. These people have no sensitivity, no compassion for the
disadvantaged and you can be sure that their proposal is not intended to help them.
Third, the alternative to the GST proposed in the report from the Liberal majority at the finance committee is an unprecedented centralizing attack on provincial areas of responsibility. This idea of negotiating with the provinces a uniform tax base for goods and services from coast to coast and of bringing this broader tax base to include food, drugs and health care within the scope of an act of Parliament would prevent provincial governments, and the Quebec government in particular, from adjusting tax rates and base to meet their economic objectives as well as their priorities respecting development, economic growth and assistance to any industry that may need it.
Let me recall certain measures the Quebec government has taken in the past to exempt the furniture industry and the clothing industry, child clothing in particular. With this Liberal majority proposal, if the government of Quebec or of any other province for that matter wanted to support these industries and help them pick up or help the less fortunate consumers go through hard times, it could not make the necessary adjustments to help the most disadvantaged members of our society. And that is totally unacceptable!
The fourth reason why the Bloc Quebecois disagrees with the insidious and pernicious report of the Liberal majority is that not only do they give us four quarters for a dollar, as I mentioned, but they make the consumption tax system incredibly complex by adding a small business transfer tax to a GST like the one we now have.
The Bloc Quebecois thinks that this new business transfer tax or BTT for short will be a real nightmare for businesses to administer-I will let my colleague from Témiscamingue who studied business administration explain these complexities to you-as a result of this second level of taxation introduced in the Liberal proposal.
We are told that when they started, the Liberals wanted to abolish the GST and replace it with a simpler system. In fact, they have just made the consumption tax system more complicated by introducing this second level of taxation called the business transfer tax.
The fifth fundamental reason why we are strongly opposed to this proposal, this systematic attempt to disguise the current GST, is that they cannot see the forest for the trees. Since the Standing Committee on Finance started its hearings on the GST, the Bloc Quebecois has been raising the need to review the whole Canadian tax system. We were told, as I heard the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance say last week, that in the past they tried to carry out such a review and failed.
But in the past Canada was not facing the severe difficulties it is now encountering. There was no $511 billion debt or record deficit either. I would tell you that it is the Liberals' second record because the first Liberal administration also set an annual deficit record for the federal government. The then Minister of Finance, who is now the Prime Minister, can claim credit for that record.
I would tell you that they tried without success to change the current GST, to abolish it and to replace it with a simpler system.
Not only have they failed in their attempt but they have made things even more difficult, not only for small and medium-sized businesses but also for consumers, who will not understand this system.
As soon as it was published, the report was destined to be shelved or else to be thrown out. Even the Prime Minister said yesterday that he did not feel bound by this report. He even said that he was dissociating himself from this report and I understand why. Several premiers of the larger provinces have spoken against this Liberal proposal.
So I look at all this and I also look at the Bloc Quebecois's proposal, if you will allow me to state it. The Bloc Quebecois has proposed a viable option, one that has a future and will not force us to negotiate with the provinces for two years and fail, as the Conservatives failed before the Liberals. We cannot harmonize in the way presented here, with unprecedented centralization of a consumption tax system. So the Bloc Quebecois's proposal is first to abolish the GST and keep the Prime Minister's promise and to give this field of taxation to the provinces, with an adjustment in federal spending, of course.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to receiving questions.
