Merv Tweed

[Health Care, June 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the Supreme Court of Canada stated that Canadians were dying due to wait times. At the health committee two weeks ago, a Liberal MP blasted her own government for its inaction.

The court decision proves that Liberal mismanagement is wreaking havoc on the health of Canadians. Nowhere else is this more evident than in rural Canada where emergency rooms are being closed, expectant mothers are being forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to see a pediatrician, and family doctors are closing their practices.

As a member of Manitoba's provincial legislature for nine years, I witnessed first-hand the cutbacks in federal health care spending during the current Prime Minister's tenure as finance minister. It is time the Prime Minister acknowledged what the Supreme Court has stated and what Canadians, especially rural Canadians, have known for years: the health care system is broken and his government is responsible.

Canadians deserve a better health care system, but first they deserve an apology from the Prime Minister.

[Extended Sitting Period, June 22nd, 2005]

We will draw you a picture. We will send you a picture.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 16th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, if we were to take Bill C-48 to a bank, the only thing we would hear is the door slamming as the banker asks us to leave because he would not lend us a penny. The government is asking taxpayers to foot a bill with no plan and no organization. It is not a business plan. It is two pieces of paper with a little bit of scribbling on it that adds up to $4.6 billion of taxpayers' hard earned money being spent recklessly by the government.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 16th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that the member is talking about the free trade agreement that brought wealth and employment to Canadians at a record level. But I ask the member, if he is so committed to his budget and to this added piece of legislation, why is he not standing on his feet to defend it? Why does he just question members on this side? It is because it is indefensible.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 16th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting how the Liberals always portray their spending habits. What the member forgets to tell Canadians is that in the past 10 years, government spending on programs has gone up 50%. The Liberals neglect to tell people that. It seems like such a small amount when talking about percentages, but if we look at the actual increase in the spending of the government over the past several years, it is atrocious. It is reckless spending. It is spending without a plan.

If it is so important and if it is so great for Canadians, why was it not in the original budget? What caused the epiphany that night in that dimly lit hotel room that would drive the Prime Minister to increase spending by $4.6 billion?

What he also does not mention is that a lot of the spending that is talked about in this $4.6 billion is contingent upon other provinces and other governments spending money as well. That triggers an inflationary cost that is not even talked about, so I do not think that the member or the government can give anybody a lecture on good budgeting and good management of spending. It has been out of control for a long time and today Bill C-48 continues that process.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 16th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as I make my comments on Bill C-48, I would like to recognize the fact that on a the bill which seems to be so generous and the Liberals as a government seem to be so keen in supporting, we have seen so few stand up and defend this bill and defend the spending that they have done.

As my colleague once said, it is a deal made in a hotel room over a glass of wine, I suspect with a candle. It must have been quite an interesting night with the Prime Minister, the leader of the NDP and Buzz Hargrove. It would be interesting to see who played the server and the servant, the towel boy.

The bill that we are debating is the same as Bill C-43 that we talked about earlier. It depicts a government that continues to spend and spend, with agreement from the New Democratic Party, without a plan. We have seen so much of this happening in so many ways. It is interesting that the people of Canada are being told how much more spending there is and what a great deal this is going to be.

When I sat in on the first budget, I read the book that the Minister of Finance put out. He stressed to Canadians that it was an all encompassing budget, a budget that included all Canadians and served the needs of all Canadians. It could not be changed or cherry-picked to help different areas. He assured Canadians time after time that all of that was included. He assured Canadians that the Liberals had done their due diligence, that they had done their homework. They had presented a budget that was for all Canadians.

Then, in a blink of an eye and in a deal of desperation, the Liberals committed to spend $4.6 billion more. I do not have the facts, but having some history in the province of Manitoba, I suspect that $4.6 billion is larger than some provincial budgets. In a matter of a heartbeat they spent that money.

I have looked through the bill. I have tried to come up with a plan of how they intend to spend this money. Normally there would be an indication as to what areas it would go to and how it would help to improve the lives of Canadians.

I think back to my previous life in business. I can imagine any of us, and I suspect most on this side have experienced it, but I doubt very much that they have on the government side. Imagine going to a bank with a three page document that lays out a rough idea of where the money will be spent, if the bank gives the money. We have to remind taxpayers that they are the bank. The taxpayers are the people who give the government the money for it to spend to help all of Canada.

What the government has done is it has said to Canadians, “We are going to spend a certain amount of money, an amount in the billions, in this area, but we really do not have a plan. You have to trust us. You have to take our word for it that we know how to spend it and we are going to spend it in the best way we possibly can”.

That is not good enough. I do not think that any financial institution, and in this case the Canadian taxpayer, is being served by a government that would do that to the public. I do not understand why the government reduced a job creating measure, the tax cuts for businesses which would create employment, which would create job opportunities for hundreds of thousands more Canadians, and instead turned it into a job killing measure.

It is not me saying that. It is the business community of Canada that is saying it, the people who employ the people who pay the very taxes, the bank, that the government collects to spend. The government has said to the public, “You can forgo your tax decreases. We will forgo the job creation that those tax decreases would create, and instead we are going to spend $4.6 billion of your money with no plan”.

We have certainly seen the government in the past come forward with spending plans without an implementation plan. We only have to look to the firearms registry. It is interesting that we were talking about it today. When I first heard of the firearms registry, it was going to cost Canadian taxpayers $2 million. Where are we today? We are at $1 billion plus, and continuing to spend and still there is no plan to implement it.

There is no plan that tells Canadians how the government will tax their money and how it will spend it. All it has told Canadians is how it will tax them. It has not provided a plan. This is done on a knee-jerk reaction in response to a situation to which the government reacts, but fails to have an implementation plan.

We have talked about Davis Inlet, where a whole community was moved. Unfortunately, because it was a knee-jerk reaction, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent, but the problem was not resolved. Nothing was ever dealt with.

It has been in the news and I do not think it is a secret to anybody, particularly to most Canadians, but we have certainly seen what happens when we start throwing money at an advertising plan without a plan to implement it and no way to check if the money is being spent properly. It leads to corruption and to the charges that we have seen and the charges that will come.

My experience has been in the province of Manitoba and I have seen what New Democratic governments can do when they get their hands on the public purse. They spend without a plan. They tax people. They find ways of increasing service charges and fees and at the end of the day, are we better off? That has been summed up many times by our colleagues. If we look at the way spending increases have happened in the government and where the taxpayers are today, the two do not balance out. We have seen huge increases in spending and very little to increase the quality of life for Canadians.

We on this side of the House believe that Canadians want the best life that is possible. We believe that a government should allow those people to make their spending decisions for themselves. They have a far better chance of being successful and have a far better chance of creating a family environment where everyone in the family is encouraged to succeed and do better. That, in turn, creates a better Canada.

What we have today and what we have seen in the last several weeks is a government that continues to believe that it can spend our money, taxpayers' money, far better than we can. Our party just does not believe that. We believe in a policy and a system where people who are left with an extra dollar in their pocket will choose where they want to spend it, how they want to spend it, and more than likely will choose a way that improves the quality of life for their families.

Another example we have seen recently is the child care program. The government has committed $5 billion. It is not that it is shielding a plan from us. The minister has clearly stated there is no plan. He is not sure if it will be $5 billion, $10 billion or what the cost will be at the end of the day. However, come hell or high water, the Liberals will implement a plan because they feel they know what is best for families across Canada.

A budget is about opportunity. It is about generating a future for Canadians. It is about optimism. With the present budget Bill C-48, we have seen a deal that was made late at night by two people, one of whom was trying to save his political skin. At the start of Bill C-43, the original budget, we had agreed that we would not defeat it. The Prime Minister, in a fearful mood of where things were going in his political career, made a choice to spend $4.6 billion without consulting anybody, even his own finance minister.

I suspect the finance minister is kind of like the Maytag repairman. He is the loneliest guy in town right now because decisions are being made that affect his department and how he manages the department. He is not even at the table to make those decisions.

I will not be supporting Bill C-48. It has been foisted upon Canadians by an irresponsible government and supported by an irresponsible New Democratic Party. I hope that Canadians will see it for what it is. It is an attempt by the Prime Minister to maintain his grip on power, nothing less.

[Excise Tax Act, June 7th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, is it not ironic that we would hear a Liberal government talk about making rash decisions, when in the middle of the night in a dimly lit room, it committed $4.6 billion of taxpayer money, overnight, in a heart beat? Now the Liberals are talking about a tax that has been imposed upon the Canadian public since 1918. All of a sudden they wake up and say that they cannot make this happen that fast. It is unbelievable the government has the conscience to even suggest that to the Canadian public.

I would like to congratulate my colleague, the member for Vancouver Island North. I know he has worked hard on the bill and I know this is not the first time it has been brought to the House. In the past the Liberals with their majorities voted against it. They had no intention of even moving on the bill had it not been brought forward by my hon. colleague and had it not been brought forward at a time when all members had an interest and concern about the tax. Then they decided to do something. I give my colleague great kudos for doing it and for having the perseverance to continue to present this in a way that Canadians expect and will appreciate when it receives royal assent.

This is termed a luxury tax and it is one area on which I would like to dwell.

It is interesting that we may go out and buy a piece of jewellery for ourselves or for our friends or family. Quite often at this time of the year, with graduation rolling around, jewellery is one of the things we look at to present to our young graduates. It is interesting that if it is a $10 piece of jewellery or a $50 piece of jewellery, there is tax on it. If I had the wherewithal, I could out and buy a $80,000 or $100,000 vehicle and there would be no luxury tax on it. It is about the difference between what is a luxury and what is not. In today's world many of the things we are talking about under this bill are necessities. They are items that we like to own, use and share with our families.

One of the members opposite mentioned the ability to export and that it did not create an unfair competitive advantage. Yet we know that Canadian diamonds can be bought cheaper abroad than in Canada because of this tax. If that is not a disincentive for the diamond industry, I do not know what is. Who would want to set up in Canada and start to manufacture these types of goods. We know the Internet has made shopping much easier and a lot more accessible around the world. I have heard, and I believe it probably to be true, that often a way of avoiding taxes and duties is dealing through the Internet.

It is an unfair tax. At the time it was presented, it was presented as a benefit for all Canadians and I believed it served its purpose. However, how many years later do we continue to pay a tax on something at this level? This is beyond me. I know that this is not new to the government. It is something of which it has been made aware. It has been aware of the issue for the past several years. As my colleague mentioned, the Canadian Jewellers Association was formed on the sole principle of eliminating this tax. It had no other mandate except to eliminate the tax. That would suggest is something that is long overdue. I congratulate my colleague for bringing the bill forward.

As a new candidate in the last federal election, this was the issue at the first door on which I knocked. Having spoken to the person involved and having a better understanding of it, I encouraged my colleague to bring it forward. I offered all the support I could garner to him and I continue to do that today.

The jewellery industry in Canada has a pretty interesting group of people. They are mainly small businesses, a lot of times family owned and operated. There are approximately 5,000 jewellery businesses in Canada. We are not necessarily talking about a small group, but when we spread it across the broadness of Canada, there is the inability of these businesses to get together to develop policy and lobbying groups to bring to the government and advance some of their cases and issues.

We know the industry employs about 40,000 Canadians. I do not think any of us here would suggest that is not a substantial employee rate. It is a $1.2 billion a year industry. Who would not want a piece of that in their constituencies across Canada?

I understand that when we get into the manufacturing side, it is an opportunity. I have been told by the jewellery industry and others that it has the potential to create a real second industry. I see it as an opportunity for remote and rural communities in Canada . It is probably an opportunity that we have as rural Canadians to entice an industry to come to our communities and set up shop. A lot of industries would look at the size of a community and suggest that it probably would not feasible.

By eliminating this tax, the hope is that we will be a leading diamond producer. It will encourage domestic jewellery manufacturing to grow. In the future this would be very positive for Canadians.

I sat in on many of the debates around the tax itself. If people are retailers and they have this tax imposed upon them, it very quickly becomes a burden of doing business. Some of the debate was around whether we should eliminate the 10% immediately or whether we should do it over a period of time. It was suggested that it may be a hit for the industry to take the 10% right off the top, but people in the industry were prepared to do that because they knew it was the right thing to do.

If we are given only one choice, then we have to look at whatever is put in front of us. However, fortunately through the perseverance of the member for Vancouver Island North, this rose above the government's priorities and it was brought in by a private member's bill. We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to debate this, and to continue to do so.

One of the issues that was discussed with me, and I know the member talked about it, was companies that would set up because of our tax system. Business people are business people, no matter where we go. If they can make the tax rules work for them, they do.

We have seen that in some of this industry where the plateaus are hit and companies are collapsed. Then they start out as a second company under a new name. That is probably not good for the business people who are doing it, although they are within the guidelines. They probably want to contribute in another way to the growth of Canada.

I recognize that my time is quickly closing, but I want to emphasize again to the government that it is important it move on this. There has been the argument that it is irrational decision making, that it is a cost that will impact the government. We have seen the way the government has acted in the last few months. Its members have run around the country spending money. The time has come for this tax to be removed and it should be removed immediately. I am very pleased to support my colleague, the member for Vancouver Island North, to eliminate the excise tax on jewellery.

[Excise Tax Act, June 7th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I noticed in the member's comments that he talked about when this tax was imposed upon Canadians.

I am not exactly sure of the dates and the reasons and I was wondering if the member would be kind enough to give us a little more detail on why it was implemented and why it seems to have taken so long to be removed.

[Department of Social Development Act, June 1st, 2005]

Madam Speaker, obviously, governments have motives for everything that they do. The real issue is that the government never consulted with members of the House. It moved forward on this issue. They are operating as two individual departments now without the authority or the approval of the House and that is the issue.

Governments that act that way are irresponsible and are not representing the people and not giving us, as elected officials, the opportunity to have some input into the decisions that are made. I stated very clearly that government members put the cart before the horse. All we are saying to the government is that when it continues to do that and it continues to neglect and not listen to what members of Parliament are saying and what Canadians are saying, it does so at its own peril.

[Department of Social Development Act, June 1st, 2005]

Madam Speaker, that is the issue for all of Canada. A government's time and days here have to be numbered if it does not listen to the members who are duly elected and sent here to represent the people, and if it is not prepared to move forward and listen to what elected MPs have to say. It is very frustrating.

As frustrating as it is for us, imagine how frustrating it is for Canadians to see this happen. They elect people. They give them the responsibility to act on their behalf, and when we do as MPs, it is ignored by the government. The government, whose Prime Minister has claimed is the leader of democratic reform in this country, then turns around and totally ignores the will and wishes of not only the MPs in this House but of the Canadian public.

It is a recipe for disaster and in a lot of cases the debate that we are having on this particular issue is irrelevant. It is something that the government has chosen to move forward and do, with or without permission of the members of Parliament or without the approval of Canadians, and that, as I said earlier, is shameful.