Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. Thank you for this opportunity.
Thank you to the witnesses.
I have followed the whole income trust issue with great interest over the years. In fact, in 2005 I put forward a motion that the government should do exactly what it has done.
Let me quote an article from the Winnipeg Free Press in June 2005. Someone said:
Whole industry sectors are becoming tax fugitives by restructuring themselves as income trusts. We need to be clear with Canadians about the implications of income trusts. When corporations do not pay their taxes citizens pick up the tab in the form of higher taxes, more service fees, and cuts to social programs.
It's long been held that these flow-through entities are a way of wholesale tax avoidance. Wouldn't it be safe to say that most corporations restructuring themselves as income trusts do so to avoid taxes? Am I completely off base here, or is that pretty much it?