Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear from my hon. colleague, who I respect and work with in the finance committee, about his belief that the government will to eventually deal with these outstanding egregious matters.
However, I am not raising the broad issue of tax fairness today. I accept that is an ongoing battle we will have. We have very different views on this. The Conservatives believe in this trickle down theory of giving tax breaks to corporations in the hope that eventually we will pay off the debt and then we can all start again, with the hope that we have not lost medicare, post-secondary and cultural institutions by that point.
What I am raising is the question of tax havens specifically because the bill is about that. The bill is very narrow and routine. It was an opportunity for the government to do something more. It was an opportunity for the Conservatives to do what they said when in opposition. I will read another quote from a year ago in the House when a Conservative member stood and said:
The government has for far too long put off renegotiations on tax treaties that serve as tax havens for Canadian companies. Why is the government not closing those loopholes? It might be because they serve its self-interest in one way or the other.
If the Conservatives are not prepared to address this situation, then that statement applies to them. If they are not prepared to act, then it must be because it serves their self-interests in some way or another.