Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin my speech on the debate by reminding not only members opposite but all Canadians about our commitment in the red book to the GST. The hon. member from the Reform Party suggested that we on this side of the House had forgotten about the commitment which was made during the last election. It is clearly stated on page 22 of the red book. I would like to quote a couple of sentences from it. It reads as follows:
Fairness, simplicity, and harmonization should be key objectives of the tax policies. But instead of introducing fairness and simplicity into the tax system, the Conservative government not only imposed the greatest tax increases in history, but compounded unfairness and complexity by introducing the GST. The GST has undermined public confidence in the fairness of the tax system.
The GST has lengthened and deepened the recession. It is costly for small business to administer.
We stated that:
In the first session of the new Parliament, a Liberal government will give the all-party Finance Committee of the House of Commons a 12-month mandate to consult fully with Canadians and provincial governments and report on ways to achieve tax fairness. In particular, the committee will be mandated to report on all options for alternatives to the GST.
I recite those paragraphs from the red book because I am one member of Parliament who believes passionately that the tax system must be reformed. I stated in opposition for four years that the GST was not the way to go, that our current tax system, both personal and corporate income tax, was complex and unfair.
My proposal was quite specific. I worked with many chartered accountants and tax lawyers and we came up with the proposal of the single tax system. I was happy to see today, after almost six years of work, that the Globe and Mail has finally acknowledged that this may, in fact, be a pathway that we should consider taking.
The point I want to make tonight has to do with the role of the opposition. When I learned that the Reform Party elected close to 50 members during the last election, I was pretty excited about it in the sense that one cornerstone of its campaign during the last election was comprehensive tax reform.
I can remember the leader of the Reform Party coming to my city of Pickering, to CFRB, one of our larger radio stations. He took a whole morning on CFRB to say: "We must reform the tax system". In fact, he went so far as to say that the member for Broadview-Greenwood was on the right path with the single tax system. He did acknowledge that the Reform Party system was called the proportional tax system but he made a commitment that he would lead his party in the House of Commons and talk about a constructive alternative to the current mess. Now a year and a half later very rarely do we hear the opposition talk about that very specific proposal its members campaigned on in the last election.
I raise that because I think the nature and the spirit of the House has to do with constructive debate. It is from that action and interaction and the agreement and disagreement that we will eventually come up with a good, comprehensive tax system for all Canadians.
What did we hear today? We heard some criticism of this leftover portion of the tax act, part of which we inherited from the previous government. Not once in the speech of the previous member did we hear anything about the constructive alternative that the Reform Party talked about during the last election.
I talk about this with a tone of frustration because we have a spirit and an approach in this party where we debate vigorously within. We also welcome the debate that comes to us from across the floor. On the issue of taxation, the Reform Party has walked the other way.
Reformers have criticized the existing system but have not recommitted themselves to the campaign they ran on during the last election. I believe strongly in this issue and wish the Reform Party would come back and stir up that tax debate in a much more vigorous way.
I am concerned about this as well because I now see that in the United States all the leading Republicans for the presidential campaign are talking about a single tax system or a flat tax system. We understand that even some of the leading Democrats are looking at a total reform of the tax system.
That concerns me because if the United States adopts a single tax system before we do we will see a flight of capital and human energy and human capital out of this country that we have never seen before.
That is why I believe this is one of the essential, one of the prime debates that we must have in the House. I believe that if we would lead the way in total tax reform, comprehensive tax reform from the Chamber, we could also reverse the capital flow back here.
We all know the real challenge for those of us in government today is to get a handle on those capital flows. We know and we talk about the derivative game within all the chartered banks and major financial institutions. They are moving billions of dollars all around the world by pushing buttons.
One of the ways we could attract large pools of capital is by making sure the fundamental tax system is such that it would attract those large pools of capital. With a system like that where we would have those large pools of capital, that would put downward pressure on interest rates.
With that downward pressure on interest rates we would have capital available to the business men and women who are so desperately in need today of that capital in order to start their small or medium size business, grow it and expand it.
That is how we will get the economy going. The instrument we control in the House that can best manage those capital flows, that excitement about investment, that possibility for increased productivity is based in the Income Tax Act.
I listened to the Bloc Quebecois finance critic today taking all kinds of cheap shots at the fact that we were making little amendments to the tax act. Why does the Bloc Quebecois not look at the notion of comprehensive tax reform?
It is interesting. When we presented this idea to the finance committee a few months ago, the finance critic in the committee then for the Bloc Quebecois said: "When we separate this single tax system is the type of system we will have for Quebec. Why would we begrudge it for the rest of Canada?"
I wish the opposition parties, rather than taking cheap shots at minor amendments to the tax act, would get their forces together and really engage us in a debate on total tax reform.
If we do not have total tax reform in the House in about 25 or 30 months from now I agree with the people who say we will hit the wall when it comes to our deficit and debt.
The quickest and most constructive way to get out of this is by dealing with one of the root problems, comprehensive tax reform.
A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.
