Crucial Fact

  • Their favourite word was farmers.

Last in Parliament October 2000, as Reform MP for Portage—Lisgar (Manitoba)

Lost their last election, in 2000, with 10% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Excise Act February 22nd, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that question. It is a well founded question.

What I was trying to point out is that after having 167 million pounds of production quota and another 5.5 million pounds over that, farmers are going to be forced to take a lower price for tobacco if it works the same as it does in other commodities.

With this increased sale of tobacco of 173 million pounds, that little bit of taxation that is going to be put on them by the federal government will not nearly compensate for the gains

they are going to make on the huge amount of sales in the tobacco industry.

Excise Act February 22nd, 1994

Mr. Speaker, today I am speaking as a representative of the Reform caucus regarding Bill C-11. The House has already heard speeches from Reform Party members on this important issue and I am pleased to add my comments to this discussion.

The measures contained in Bill C-11 are secondary when compared to those in the government's action plan to combat smuggling. They allow the government to sell or destroy seized property even when there is an unresolved claim, and allow the government to give police forces the same seizure power as the RCMP. The bill also requires cigarettes to be stamped properly if they are manufactured or imported into Canada, to make sure duties have been paid.

This bill makes it illegal to manufacture a package or sell cigarettes in packages containing less than 20 cigarettes, the so-called kiddie packs.

I agree with my Reform colleagues that the exchange of ideas regarding all of the government's anti-smuggling measures and not just those contained in Bill C-11 cannot be delayed. It is of utmost importance to Canadians that they are studied in their full scope immediately.

In the time I have been a member of Parliament this issue has far outweighed any other in terms of number of responses from my constituents, the vast majority of whom oppose the government's action. Such is the magnitude of the impact these changes promise to have on Canadians. These consequences will be felt in many areas; law enforcement, justice, interprovincial relations and of course health, particularly the health of young Canadians.

I would also make note of the fact that in Ontario tobacco production in 1993 was 173 million pounds. This was 5.5 million pounds over the tobacco marketing board's quota of 167.5 million pounds.

Is it not interesting that at the time when tobacco producers saw this large surplus, and this holds true also of the United States and some other foreign countries, the government introduced these measures which will undoubtedly increase tobacco sales? Indeed this is excellent news for tobacco companies.

As a farmer, I can tell the House that whenever there is an over abundance of product, the price has to go down to compete on the market. Here the tobacco companies are buying their inputs at a low cost and selling more of their product because of reduced taxes. They benefit first from low production costs and second from lower taxation. They are the clear winners with these measures and taxpayers are the losers because of the lost revenue and higher health care costs. Not of less concern in all of this is the financial implication of these measures.

On February 8, 1994 the leader of the Reform Party gave his initial response to the government's announcement. He pointed out that the root cause of all these serious issues was the problem of government overspending. This was what led to overtaxation in the first place and brought about these ramifications.

While I recognize that financial implications are only one of the serious aspects brought to light by the government's anti-smuggling measures, I would like to focus on them today along with the broader issue of the federal government's tax policy. I believe the issues serve as an excellent example of how the government's priorities should be reviewed.

Several questions have to be asked of the federal government regarding these measures. First, I am interested to know what will be the overall cost of these measures. I can see that they will change many aspects of federal finances. One of the most obvious questions that arises is: Where will the government make up for the lost revenues from the rollback of cigarette taxes? As we know there is no magic pot of money from which this will be regained. Any extra revenue that has to be made up will come in the form of new taxes. In fact, the tax burden promises to create new taxation problems.

Another thing tax reduction promises is a public health disaster. This makes it very hard for Canadian smokers to quit an addictive habit and introduces the harmful habit to a whole new generation of smokers. Aside from the human costs that cannot be measured, what about the cost to the health care system?

We have a situation where the federal government has decreased transfer payments to provinces for the past number of years. In some cases it is not enabling provinces to keep up with health care costs. Every Canadian knows that the health care system currently faces huge financial challenges. Health groups contend that extra health care costs associated with treating diseases in new smokers could be approximately $1.3 billion per year. I would like to know if the government has figured out exactly how it is to pay for these increased health care costs.

All indications point to new taxes for Canadians. I wondered how much thought went into this bill when I noticed that the government was doing away with the so-called kiddie packs in an effort to reduce smoking among our country's youth and at the same time drastically reduce pack prices overall.

Simply put, kids are not stupid. They will quickly realize that through the government's action they can buy a regular size package of cigarettes at a lower price than their kiddie packs cost. One statistic states that when the price of cigarettes goes up 10 per cent, tobacco sales to adults drop by 4 per cent to 9 per cent and sales to teenagers drop by 10 per cent to 14 per cent. These similar statistics were made available to the government by health groups before its decision to reduce cigarette taxes.

It should come as no surprise that smoking will increase just as dramatically when taxes are reduced. That the government was made aware of this and still chose to lower taxes makes me think that it either does not have an adequate grasp of the reality of the situation or it simply does not care. Eight out of ten provinces lobbied strongly for the government not to lower cigarette taxes.

While on the subject of health care, I note that in my home province of Manitoba, 25 per cent of kids go to school hungry. Thousands of adults are forced to depend on food banks. Now we have a government that has not addressed these problems saying: "We can afford to forgo a half billion dollars in revenue by reducing cigarette taxes". Would it not make sense for a government to write off these losses by providing for lower food costs so more hungry people could be fed as opposed to providing cheap cigarettes to Canadians?

It is a sad fact that governments in Canada have tried in vain to get their deficit problems under control by raising taxes instead of demanding better value from their spending. The notion that a deficit can be reduced from government revenue increases alone is a misguided one.

Higher taxes federally have failed to reduce the deficit and have in fact stalled the economy by cutting the spending power

of the consumer by dampening new investment and by diverting growth into a flourishing underground economy.

Granted government measures are intended in part to address an aspect of the black market, but would it not make more sense to instead reduce taxes in an area that would spur Canada's economic growth? For example, agricultural producers in my riding have seen, with the rest of Canadians, a reduction in the country's international competitiveness on agricultural markets. This is not the result of low efficiency on the part of Canadian farmers, but rather because of the high input costs farmers face. This is directly attributed to tax policy.

I can give the House an example. In Manitoba the taxes on clear gasoline that is not used in the agriculture industry are 11.5 cents provincially and 8.5 cents federally. For diesel it is 9.9 cents provincially and 4 cents federally. Fuel for farming use however has no provincial tax but still has the same federal taxes of 8.5 cents and 4 cents. There is no federal tax break at all. This is just one example of how taxes are driving up input costs. In the government's attempt to squeeze every dollar out of Canadians, it is squeezing the life out of our economy. Where we should see tax breaks, they appear and where we should tax breaks, there are none.

An article in the Financial Post states this very clearly:

Federal policies are forcing more than one in five firms polled by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to move or consider moving business out of Canada.

I have been told many times by entrepreneurs: "Yes, I love Canada and I do not mind paying my personal income tax here, but my future and my profits, if government keeps on taxing them this way, are going to be somewhere else".

In the farming community many are forced to get 50 per cent of their income from off farm employment because the business of farming is no longer profitable. Farmers have to supplement their income just to get by. Think of the effect this has on unemployment levels. There is evidence across the country. University educated professionals leave Canada for nations where the income tax rate and the cost of living are lower, and this is after we have paid to educate them.

What the government should be looking at is a tax break that would help farmers, or for that matter any Canadian business or industry, become more competitive and that would provide incentive for professionals to stay and make their careers in Canada.

I was shocked to learn recently that since 1961 Canada's tax freedom day has advanced 73 days. It is of particular note that in 1961 the tax freedom day fell on May 3. Last year it fell on July 15. Very soon we will not have enough time to sit down and light up a cigarette if this trend continues.

We are rapidly approaching a point where we will be working for governments full time just to pay for their debt creating policies and bad spending decisions. In the face of such serious conditions, when the country is crying out for a large scale tax reform, this is what the government offers: lower taxes on cigarettes. Surely this cannot be what the government sees as most beneficial to Canadians at this time. Recently the revenue minister, vowing to kill the underground economy that costs the government billions of dollars, hired a shock troop of 500 additional tax auditors. This really displays what is wrong with the government's tax policy. Rather than give a tax break that would help kickstart the economy, it has decided to spend the money on hopeless efforts to regain revenue lost in the underground market.

In conclusion, I hope I have managed to show how this bill and all its associated measures display how the government's taxation policy should be seriously reviewed.

The problems caused by overspending cannot be solved by overtaxation. Overtaxation of cigarettes has created the underground market in the first place and this is just one example of how high tax levels are stifling the economy.

By reducing the tax on cigarettes the government is opening itself up to costs of about half a billion dollars per year just for implementation. To this you can add billions more in increased health care costs. How will this be paid for? I am afraid that it can only be paid through increased taxes.

The actions do nothing to break the damaging cycle of taxing to pay for spending. If we do not break the cycle soon and allow ourselves to implement useful carefully considered tax breaks, Canadians will see their income taxed out of existence.

Prince Edward Island Fixed Link February 15th, 1994

Madam Speaker, I am very interested in the comments the hon. member made about efficiency. I wonder if he is aware that water freight is ten times as efficient as truck or highway. Where is the cost of efficiency coming from by moving products from the island to the mainland?

Has the member done any cost study on how much extra will be spent in moving produce from the island to the mainland?

Cigarette Taxes February 10th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to inform hon. members my constituents are furious that the Prime Minister would ignore the pleadings of eight provincial premiers not to reduce taxes on cigarettes and would allow Canadian taxpayers to be held hostage.

The one-half billion dollars lost by this tax reduction could be better spent on health care, education and retraining for the unemployed.

Furthermore, Manitoba residents are totally outraged that the border crossings where smuggling is a problem will now be lit up 24 hours a day. This is sending a clear message to smugglers to avoid those border crossings.

I challenge the 12 Liberal MPs from Manitoba to publicly acknowledge in the House of Commons that they have offered no resistance to this government initiative that puts the health of Manitobans at risk.

Manitobans have made it abundantly clear to me they are prepared to take action to prevent this country from going up in smoke.

West Coast Ports Operations Act, 1994 February 8th, 1994

Mr. Chairman, I think we are getting away from the real point here.

I appreciate the hon. minister acting in this matter. I would have liked to have seen him act a little faster as he knows. This legislation is here to do something for the victim and not for the offenders in this strike.

It is time that we as the House of Commons realize that we as a country are a victim of these senseless strikes. We cannot continue with them, regardless of whether we are for labour or for management. The whole country is suffering through this. I appreciate the hon. minister taking these steps. We have to realize that when we will not have food on our tables to eat, we will find out how important these strikes have been and I thank him for that.

Employment February 7th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to inform members that the latest unemployment figures for Manitoba increased by almost 2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Farmers in Lisgar-Marquette have suffered through a summer of extreme weather, crop disease and now a strike by Vancouver dock workers.

With 1.5 million workers unemployed, a rejection of a $2.12 an hour wage increase over a three-year contract is not only shameful but devastating to other workers and businesses who have consented to a wage freeze or wage cut.

The failure of this government to deal with smugglers, unemployment and labour disputes is putting any economic recovery in jeopardy.

The Minister for Human Resources Development is becoming the minister of human misery. I urge the government to wake up and take actions to solve problems rather than to contribute to them.

Agriculture February 1st, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the hon. minister could use his talent in speech in negotiating rather than answering for the agriculture minister.

I have a supplementary question. With all due respect to the minister, the only thing unions and owners agree on is that there will not be a quick voluntary settlement. This lockout is an obvious attempt by the dockyard owners to force federal government intervention.

Could the minister tell the House what is to be gained by waiting for this to happen?

Agriculture February 1st, 1994

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture.

The ongoing labour dispute involving west coast longshoremen is costing Canadian grain farmers millions of dollars a day. Contrary to what the minister of human resources claimed yesterday in the House there is no settlement in sight. It is obvious that the plan of dockyard owners is to hold Canadian grain farmers hostage.

Could the minister tell thousands of innocent grain farmers caught in this mess what he intends to do to resolve this major agricultural crisis?

Pre-Budget Consultations February 1st, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. member on his excellent speech. I share his concern in the farming industry.

I was wondering whether he would like to comment on what his thoughts would be in resolving some of the management-la-

bour problems we seem continually to have in the grain industry. This issue has bugged and hurt farmers for years. What are the member's feelings on that?

Labour Disputes January 31st, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I remind the hon. minister this is the type of rhetoric that we, as grain farmers, heard all through the seventies and the eighties.

I would like to know from the minister, if alternated shipping points are not sufficient to move Canadian grain, would he seriously consider declaring grain handling an essential service and force a binding arbitration and dispute settling mechanism?