That's not my question.
I refer to Mr. Flaherty's favourite economist, Jack Mintz, who said today that Flaherty now has a hornet's nest on his hands. What he is referring to is the fact that while Canadians are in the process of being deprived of the privilege of owning income trusts, it's the big guys with deep pockets who can buy the underlying assets directly and who are retaining the privilege of effectively holding income trusts. I'm referring, as you will be aware, to the large pension plans that are tax-exempt, in the minister's words, and the private equity concerns that arrange their affairs so as to pay little or no tax.
It is a double-barrelled problem, which has been identified by Jack Mintz and others. How is it possibly fair to deprive ordinary Canadians of the benefits of holding income trusts while giving those privileges to the big pension plans and the private equity concerns?
Second, how is it possibly good for the government's revenue base when those previous income trust holders paid lots of tax, albeit personal, whereas the pension plans and the private equity concerns pay little if any tax? It seems to me that the unintended consequence of this policy is bad for federal revenues and grossly unfair in terms of which Canadians--ordinary or privileged--are allowed to continue to benefit from the income trust model.
I'm asking you a double question on both fairness and protecting the revenue base.