Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to come back to the issue of holding meetings immediately. Experts, and individuals affected by the situation, are being consulted about the bill. Why are parliamentarians not being consulted during this initial phase which will lead to the final draft of the bill?
Furthermore, the problem goes beyond the bill. As I already said, I agree with the principle of ending the conversion of corporations into income trusts. That I am not questioning. However, 2.5 million Canadians with shares in income trusts lost money. The average loss has been 16% since October 31, 2006. Could we think about how to minimize the negative impact of this drop in value, particularly in light of the fact that during the election campaign the Prime Minister guaranteed these people that he would not touch these tax rules?
So I think we have some work to do so that we can suggest some solutions to the government. They may go beyond the context of the bill, or they may improve the bill. If possible, we should do this before we study the bill. Clearly, we will have work to do after second reading, but then we will be working within the confines of the bill itself. Our work cannot go beyond the provisions of the bill in any significant way.
With respect to the uncertainty, I have already told Ms. Ablonczy that we would be voting for the bill, but that we wanted to work constructively, not ideologically. We know that the Conservatives, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois will be voting for the bill in the end. I do not know what the Liberals' position on the bill is. I understand that we should not be creating false hopes for some by giving the impression that the government will reverse its decision to put an end to the conversion of corporations into income trusts.
Therefore, I would like to move an amendment to Mr. McCallum's motion. I would add some words to the beginning of the motion so that the amended motion would read as follows:
Notwithstanding the Standing Committee on Finance's support for Ways and Means Motion No. 10, adopted by the House of Commons on November 7, 2006, that the Standing Committee on Finance invite expert witnesses to appear, including officials from the Department of Finance, to testify in regard to the decision to tax income trusts. At least six hours are to be allocated [...]”
I think everyone could agree with this. I think Mr. McCallum's motion is broader than the one put forward by the parliamentary secretary.