I would like to go back to the statement made by Mr. Ernewein about information that we apparently do not have regarding banking institutions in particular. That really surprises me because under the Bank Act, which is under the purview of the Minister of Finance, banking institutions must submit a report every year. Some of them have already published the October 31, 2010, report and I am presuming that both the Department of Finance and the Revenue Agency have these reports. One thing is clear, we have all of the reports for October 31, 2009. I find it strange that you are saying we do not know what these figures are.
For example, on page 133 in the Scotiabank annual report, it says that there were 10 tax havens and that resulted in a Canadian tax savings of $325 million. On page 128 in the RBC annual report, it says that this bank has 28 subsidiaries in tax havens which resulted in a Canadian tax savings of $360 million. These reports are not talking about taxes on income, but rather taxes owed. As for TD, on page 129 of the report it states that it has four subsidiaries resulting in a savings of $450 million. With respect to the CIBC, on page 150 it states that there are 12 tax havens and that savings amounted to $118 million. These people are not very effective. With respect to the Bank of Montreal, page 152 refers to three tax havens and $212 million. Finally, on page 144 of the Banque Nationale report, the bank states that, with only two countries, it saved $45 million. So, in total, we are talking about 59 countries, including 9 on the grey list; 11 of them have signed agreements with Canada that have not yet come into force and 14 have not signed agreements but are currently participating in negotiations. This represents $1.5 billion for 2009. I am very surprised to hear you say that we do not have information.
Why is it that the left hand of the Minister of Finance is not able to tell the right hand that $1.5 billion are available? We say this every year, and I will bet you my shirt—although you may not want it—that it's going to be even worse yet for October 31, 2010. In my opinion, negotiating an amnesty is tantamount to becoming amnesic. It is as though we are saying that everything is going well and that all is forgotten.
Why do you not go after this information, which is available, or why do you appear not to know about it?