Mr. Speaker, I wonder whether the hon. member would comment upon Quebec as a tax jurisdiction. Would he agree that Quebec is among the highest, if not the highest, tax jurisdiction in North America?
Would he agree that government spending on a per capita basis is something in the order of $1,500 per person greater in Quebec than in other provinces, particularly the province of Ontario?
Would he agree that the province of Quebec is struggling to retain business to grow its economy, that in fact the province's GDP has not been expanding in the last number of years?
Would he recognize that corporations, and persons for that matter, seek lower tax jurisdictions in order to be competitive? If they do that in Canada and they do that internationally, would he then agree that some corporations in order to be viable end up siting themselves offshore, because if they do not, they will simply cease to exist?
If he agrees with all of that, would he therefore agree that the only issues we should be addressing in this chamber are those abuses which are abuses designed effectively to evade taxes rather than to avoid taxes?