If Tory times were hard times it would be very advantageous if the Liberals would learn from the hard times of the Tories and do something about the situation in my constituency. The simplest way to describe taxes is confiscation of capital, confiscation of the capital required by the companies to be able to do the job.
When the GST was introduced it was sold to industries as a tax that would benefit the export industry because it removed hidden taxes. The $100,000 of federal sales taxes the GST removed from the average mine was overshadowed by $600,000 to $1 million created in fuel taxes. Coal producers paid $4.4 million in federal fuel taxes and another $5.4 million in provincial taxes.
Furthermore, to move the coal from the coalfield in the southeast corner of British Columbia to port, those fuel taxes are yet another factor that puts them at a severe disadvantage to other producers around the world.
It was interesting that the member for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke was referring to the fact that the thermal plants operated by Ontario Hydro are powered by coal imported from the U.S. He said it very well. What this basically means is that the coal miners, the workers in Canada, do not have the jobs. Furthermore the coal imported from Kentucky has a significantly higher sulphur content than the coal that is currently available in my constituency.
Why are we not using a more benign coal, the B.C. coal, at Ontario Hydro? Why are we not employing the people in British Columbia to mine and refine the coal and deliver it to Ontario Hydro? Why are we sending the dollars to the United States? It is because taxes cost jobs. The taxes on the transportation of the coal from the southeast corner of British Columbia to Ontario means that we use a dirtier coal, coal from Kentucky, we send them our money and we let their workers work. Taxes cost jobs.
The country was founded on its abundance of natural resources. Our rich mineral deposits have sustained the quality of life which Canadians have become accustomed to. We only need to take a look at what has happened in the fishing industry, particularly on the east coast and now under the current minister of fisheries. I should call him the oceans minister. We are coming to much the same kind of situation on the west coast. The difference is that due to the mismanagement by the department of Canadian oceans we have lost our resources. In the case of the west coast due to the continuing mismanagement our resources are under threat.
The difference is that in this case, in mining, the resources are still available but the mining is being taxed out of existence rather than the resources going away. We need to make sure that we have the ability to continue to draw on this resource. The mineral resources in British Columbia, the current proven mineral resources, show us that at the current rate of production there is another 500 years of production available.
The European governments provide $14.8 billion U.S. in subsidies to their domestic coal producers. I am not suggesting that we should subsidize our coal producers but I am saying that we must stop taxing the life out of Canadian mines.
We are going right at the moment into the abyss of a chasm that we require a rail bridge across. When we put that rail bridge across the chasm in the mountains we then say that is a property improvement. As a result the regional districts along the way between the coal mines and port end up actually charging
municipal taxes on the bridges, on the rail line, in the mountains going across the chasm.
What is going on in Canada at the moment is that we are taxing our mines, taxing our natural resources at such a rate that we are going to put them out of production.
The government saw firsthand how a reduction of cigarette tax created a greater volume of revenue through the increase in consumption. If we were to take a hard look at what we are doing in terms of taxes on our coal mines, on our mineral producers, on our natural resource producers, we would see that by lowering the taxes they would be able to increase demand.
Our party is in an interesting position because on one side of the coin, particularly with respect to Bill C-48, we are saying that the Department of Natural Resources must be downsized at the federal level. There must be more power to be able to regulate at the provincial level. We must see a decrease in expenditures at the federal level and we must see a decrease in control.
That is our position. However I must relate to the House that there is an interesting situation in the province of British Columbia where there is an NDP government. It seems to have some kind of an idea that it can do things completely out of context to what world demands are. It has come forward with a study called "The Committee on Resources and Environment", CORE. Under CORE there have been studies. There has been input from a tremendous number of people. It has come back with a report that supposedly has a very broad base. I see more regulation, not only taxes.
It is not just me. I will read very briefly from a couple of news reports. Cranbrook city council will oppose implementation of the east Kootenay CORE report recommendation. In unveiling the report Owen, the person responsible for putting the report together, said east Kootenay CORE table members can take pride in the fact they put it together. This has been an ongoing process for about 18 months. That did not sit well with councillors Ron Tarr and Jim Kenelly. "It was not a made in the Kootenay report", Tarr said. "It was a Stephen Owen report", said Kenelly.
In speaking to the people who took the time, and they took a lot of time to get into the consultation process, I am told that the CORE report simply does not reflect what was agreed to at the table. The regional district of east Kootenay on Friday passed a resolution asking the provincial government to delay adoption of the CORE report until it heard from area municipalities. The east Kootenay district said it had grave concerns about the plan.
Lest we think it is just the politicians who are getting into the act here, the workers at Crestbrook Forest Industries Cranbrook sawmill have joined the list of those opposing Stephen Owen's east Kootenay land use report. Scott Manjack said CFI management has had its say and now it is their turn. The workers may agree with company officials but feel they should have a voice as well. In this instance we are on the same side, which is not always the case.
We would not normally expect the workers on the green chain or the workers who are on the tools to necessarily be in tune with the company. Then we hear from a person who is actually in the office with the staff. There is a grassroots opposition group forming to fight the east Kootenay CORE report. Members fear it could ruin the industry. "We are little concerned about its economic implications", said Kay Eff, "no we are a lot concerned". Eff is a member of the Canadian Women and Timber Organization and an employee of Crestbrook Forest Industries. She said: "This is not about my employer; it is about our economic future here".
Finally, we look again at the mining side. The CORE report recommends increasing protected areas where resource extraction is excluded from 13.1 per cent to 16 per cent. Coal bearing crown lands in the east Kootenay represent approximately 4 per cent of the area and yet coal mining is the single largest contributor to economic wealth. Coal lands designated as dedicated represent only 35 per cent of the total area of coal bearing lands, excluding private lands.
The difficulty with this report and the reason I bring it to the attention of the House is that even when we talk about the potential of downloading some of the responsibility, the people, our constituents, whether they are voting at the regional district level, at the municipal level, at the provincial level, or at the federal level, must make their representatives accountable. The representatives must be responsible in the recommendations they bring forward.
I had an opportunity a number of months ago to make a trip on the west coast with some members of the European Union. They came over to take a look at our clear cutting. I found it quite fascinating that as we were travelling north from Nanaimo to Port Alberni they were looking out the window trying to figure out what these tall things were beside the road. Of course they were 90-foot trees. They were a little bit nonplussed. They really did not know what it was they were looking at because a map that had been provided to them in Europe by the Sierra Club showed it as a desert.
The legend of the map said that this area had been logged, was going to be logged, or was actually out of production. Yes, it had been logged. It had been logged 40 years ago and now we have 90-foot trees beside the road. They were wondering what was going on.
As a direct result of that trip the natural resources committee undertook a study on clear cut logging. The committee made a couple of recommendations and this comes from the report back to the House from the natural resources minister: "Canada believes that internationally agreed rules would help all nations in their efforts to move toward sustainable forest management. Canada through the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers and in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders has begun a
process to define criteria and indicators that will be a scientific and technical basis for measuring our progress toward our goal of sustainable forest management.
In addition, Canada is actively participating in an international process to define criteria and indicators for temperate and boreal forests. During the past year Canada has cohosted with Malaysia the intergovernmental working group on forests to help determine the future path for international sustainable forest management. This will contribute to the work of the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development as it reviews progress toward the goals agreed to at the UNCED".
I absolutely recognize, contrary to my friend in the Bloc, that there is a place for a Canadian natural resources department, particularly as it relates to international trade and international issues.
In the area of communication, the recommendation from our clear cut committee was that the federal government, in conjunction with the provinces and territories, industry, environmentalists, and other stakeholders, strive to consolidate the communication strategies currently employed in international markets into a single and effective campaign to promote Canada's forest management practices abroad.
The response by the minister was supportive of that. Her department says the Government of Canada agrees with this recommendation and recognizes that foreign customers, retailers, and nations are seeking assurances that the forest products they purchase originate from sustainably managed forests.
With 50 per cent of Canada's forest products being exported, the economic health-
