David Anderson

[Canada Customs, November 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday I answered a question from the hon. member but his memory appears to be defective.

I pointed out that we do in fact target different parts of the border at different times of the year, depending on demand and that we do alter the mix of customs officers that we have within a region or across the country. I also pointed out to him that for example at the Commonwealth Games we had 65 extra customs people in Victoria brought in from Yukon, Alberta and other parts of British Columbia. We therefore have a sophisticated system whereby we are able to deploy our resources for the best effect.

With respect to the 25 per cent, I will get him the figures that he has requested. I assure him that we have in fact substantially increased customs activities over the past eight months.

[Canada Customs, November 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it would seem to me important for the member to compare what might have happened before if he wants to see the impact of a 25 per cent increase in enforcement activities.

I should point out to him also that if we attempted to stop every vehicle and give a complete search, tourism in this country would cease to exist as would trade with the United States.

I should point out to him that we target areas where we feel there is high non-compliance. Therefore, with a number of sophisticated methods of achieving some sort of targeting of high non-compliance areas, we are able to be remarkably effective in the customs work that we do.

[Underground Economy, November 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the hon. member should look a little further into the reason for the level of GST payments to the government.

The fact is that we have had a substantial improvement in the economy, thanks in large part to the measures of my colleague, the Minister of Finance. The result has been more investment in productive goods which indeed are often GST exempt. As a result of that and as a result, I might add, of my department's speedy repayment of certain measures, we are now able to see that the GST level is again increasing.

[Underground Economy, November 28th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is next to impossible to measure with precision something which by its nature is illegal and beyond the scope of measurement by normal government means.

However there is no question that the underground economy is serious. I have no doubt that my hon. colleague, the Minister of Finance, is quite correct in saying that we are faced with a serious problem which we will address.

I would remind the hon. member that only two months ago, because he apparently overlooked it the first time, I sent him a copy of a press release I issued a year ago in which I outlined a series of measures to deal with the underground economy. I am pleased to report today that the efforts the press release led to have resulted in something in the neighbourhood of three-quarters of a billion dollars in taxes assessed.

[Budgetary Policy, November 28th, 1994]

moved:

That this House take note of the opinions expressed by Canadians on the budgetary policy of the government and, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 83.1, authorize the Standing Committee on Finance to make a report or reports thereon no later than December 7, 1994.

[Smuggling, November 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should be aware that we have one of the most effective customs services in the world which operates extremely efficiently along our border.

He should also be aware that the numbers of officers have been increased substantially within the last year, indeed in February of last year and thereafter.

He should be aware because his specific concern is that of firearms that we have a situation involving our border with the United States, a country which has a vast number of weapons, a country which has a tradition of people both carrying and using weapons which is quite foreign to our own. It is very important for us to use, as we are doing, modern equipment, dogs to sniff out weapons, which they can do and also as many custom officers as we can. We are using all possible means to intercept weapons at the border.

However, I warn him that it is not possible-

[Smuggling, November 25th, 1994]

Very simply, Mr. Speaker. We have increased the numbers overall at the border as indicated.

On the other hand, as the member knows, we have tremendous fluctuations in numbers of tourists who come to Canada at different times of the year. In addition we have differing requirements at different areas of the border. We do move people around within the regions and indeed within Canada as a whole to deal with the demand at certain times.

I specifically refer the member from British Columbia to the extra 65 people we brought into Victoria during the Commonwealth Games to make sure that we had quick and effective customs surveillance at that point.

It is a simple issue of good management by customs officers and not a question as he seems to suggest of reducing enforcement.

[Smuggling, November 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is really quite amusing that the Reform Party is constantly telling us to slash expenditures and at the same time fails to point out that we increased the number of customs officers at the border by 25 per cent last February in response to need. If we accepted its general suggestions that

everything be cut across the board, the situation the member described would be infinitely worse.

With respect to gun smuggling, there is no question that it is a serious problem. We have a country adjacent to us with an enormous population and that country is literally awash in weapons. We have a border which has 130 million transits a year. We have in addition the world's largest trade between any two countries. We have vast numbers of tourists. It is thus impossible to create the type of Berlin wall that the member seems to think would stop the smuggling that he speaks of.

[National Revenue, November 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have answered many aspects of this question previously.

As the hon. member comes from Newfoundland, I will point out that yesterday we signed an agreement with the province of Newfoundland. It is part of a series of agreements with all provinces across the country so that we can combine audit information and the work of our auditors. We can thus have much more efficiency in what we do. We can increase the revenues to both the provincial and the federal levels of government.

Perhaps most important, this helps cut down on the duplication of government work and the harassment of ordinary honest citizens who presently sometimes find themselves faced with an audit by Revenue Canada and three weeks later faced with another audit by provincial authorities, neither of which have talked to each other.

This new agreement will go a long way to encouraging better revenues for both levels of government and less hassle to the public of Canada.

[Auditor General's Report, November 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I can only say that one year ago yesterday I issued a press release announcing a series of measures to improve the recovery of moneys owing to the government. This ad resulted in some billions of dollars coming in. For example, in this fiscal year we anticipate it will result in an extra $3.8 billion coming in as a result of these new measures.

I sent that press release out to everybody, including the press gallery, one year ago yesterday. The Auditor General at the end of May when the fiscal year ended, four months after I sent out this report, looked at the year. Most of the months in that year were Tory months and not months that I was minister. He said there were certain things that needed to be done. My press release was in fact a preface to the Auditor General's report with respect to collections.

Two months ago the hon. member's colleague who is sitting at his right hand right now asked me a question about a speech of the Auditor General in Quebec City. I pointed out to him that it was something we were collecting and there was no question of this money not being collected.