Mr. Speaker, I am happy to have been recognized to speak to this subject.
The bill before us has the best of intentions, but the result is questionable and rather inconsistent. Unfortunately, the NDP will not be able to support this bill. I will take the time to summarize the bill so that those at home will understand what we are talking about.
This bill provides that taxpayers may deduct, from their taxable income in a given year, the cost of purchasing tickets for the taxpayer or a child or children of the taxpayer for non-business travel that involves crossing at least three different provincial boundaries. The bill is designed to encourage Canadian taxpayers to travel within the country in order to increase domestic tourism by providing a maximum deduction of $2,000 a year from taxable income.
It is complex and yet it is not. Basically, people need to travel a lot and need to cross three borders. If they can prove that they were not travelling on business, they can get a non-refundable deduction of up to $2,000.
The NDP has found six major flaws in this bill.
This bill is fiscally irresponsible. It would allow for up to $1 billion in tax deductions, but this measure would directly cost $110 million. A little earlier, I heard my hon. colleague say that if people travel, they will spend more money, but that principle does not apply here, especially in light of the current situation with the tourism industry.
Tourism within Canada is being squeezed dry. Domestic travel accounts for a majority of the travel in the country and this proportion continues to increase. There is no reason to believe that creating more travel in an industry that has already been squeezed dry would suddenly create enough economic activity to compensate for the $110 million.
The Canadian Tourism Commission is asking for about $110 million to create a real international marketing program. The tourism industry is always lamenting the fact that we do not have enough foreign tourism. Canada's tourism industry is already struggling to stay afloat with domestic travel.
There will surely be cases of fraud. How can someone prove that they travelled for work but stayed a few days at the destination to visit the beach or do some shopping? How do they sort that out come tax time? It does not appear as though that aspect of this bill was thought through.
Consider the increased amount of paperwork if, for example, the government has to contact a taxpayer or a business if there is any doubt that travel or an application for a tax refund was associated with business travel instead of leisure travel. How would we manage that? The bill does not address that problem.
The other important point is that this is a regressive policy. Only families that are well off can spend thousands of dollars on transportation costs. The study we received showed that 70% of the tax benefits associated with this bill will go to families that earn a minimum of $50,000. We want to share Canada and get Canadians to travel. However, we must help the lower-income families who will never be able to see Vancouver, not the well-off families who could afford a trip to Vancouver regardless.
This bill does nothing to address the fact that it is not easy to travel within Canada. One of the major problems with the tourism industry is that transportation services are irregular and inadequate. For example, train service out east between Montreal and the Maritimes was recently reduced by 50%. Providing a credit on a service that is no longer available is like the chicken and the egg. This bill has it backwards. First we must ensure that our infrastructure can provide adequate service.
Another point concerns the harmful effects of greenhouse gases. For the same reason that those who are well off will be more likely to be able to cross three borders—since that is what the bill requires—they will also be more likely to travel by plane to claim this tax credit. Once again, this bill favours the mode of transportation that causes the most pollution. It does not address this problem.
We can imagine another ridiculous scenario that the bill does not cover. Imagine that a family crosses three borders. Family members leave Quebec, go to New Brunswick and want to go to Prince Edward Island. One of the children tells his father that he wants to go to PEI by ferry. However, the tax credit does not apply to ferries. The father will have to apologize to his child and tell him that they will not be able to go to PEI because the method of transportation for getting there is not covered by the tax deductions for non-business, family travel. This bill has all sorts of problems like this one.
The asymmetry of the provinces, which is specific to Canada, is another factor that is completely unfair to the western provinces. I can cross three provinces and get a tax credit by going to spend a weekend with my family in the Maritimes, since I live in eastern Quebec. It would be impossible for someone who lives in British Columbia to even think about getting a tax credit for making a short weekend trip by train when he has two or three days off. It is not fair to the western provinces. The bill does not address this problem. The bill does not address the tourism industry's main problem.
The tourism industry is calling for more international tourism. Domestic tourism is being squeezed dry. Canadians are doing all they can right now. There is a lack of marketing to ensure that domestic tourism stays the same and even continues to grow and to convince hundreds of thousands of new international travellers to come to Canada.
With the emergence of BRIC, more and more people are travelling. They have money and we are not reaching out to claim our portion of it. That is the real problem. If this bill is passed, $110 million will be invested, but it will not be invested in solving the tourism industry's real problem.
We would like to ensure that agreements with the provinces and municipalities result in affordable infrastructure, so that low-income families can afford train tickets and go on a trip. That is our goal. We would also like to see the tourism industry finally gain increased revenues from international tourism.
None of these solutions and priorities are part of the bill. We cannot support a bill so badly put together. It is not right to introduce a bill and expect a committee to fix it.
What about families who travel by car? What about families who travel in two provinces by train, then take a ferry to a third province? Do they suddenly stop being eligible for the tax credit? What if a man goes on a business trip with his family tagging along, and they vacation together for seven or eight days? Should they report that they were travelling for business or for pleasure?
Such a convoluted and unmanageable solution is not acceptable. Some people think that if a bill is flawed, it can just be sent to committee to be fixed up.
However, when a bill creates more problems than it solves, there is no way we can support it at second reading and send it to committee.
Sadly, that is the position New Democrats find themselves in today. The bill was poorly conceived and poorly drafted. It would be costly and difficult to implement, and it would not solve the problems facing Canada's tourism industry.
