Yes, he probably did, maybe at that time we did not care so much about federal politics, but I believe that we might have supported it at the time, supported his efforts of clarification regarding the tax privileges some social classes enjoy in Canada. The speech he made today, he could have made it at the time of the Conservatives and he would have had the same result.
People might consider his proposition favourably, like many of us did when we heard about it. They might look at it and say: "There might be something there, maybe we could do something". But next year, when we are going to talk about new amendments to the Income Tax Act, we will probably say the same thing again. There are privileges in Canada. There are people who do not pay the taxes they should be paying. We deplore it, everybody talks about it, newspapers mention it, TV commentators mention it, and tax experts say so too.
The other day, a tax expert was saying that the Income Tax Act is so dense and contains so many exceptions that it takes an expert to find one's way through it. A provincial finance minister is even known to have said that, with our tax system, if a big company pays taxes, it is probably because its accountant is not very good.
So, when we are faced with these kinds of situations, I think that we cannot limit ourselves to proposals like those in Bill C-70, which deals with all kinds of things that are, in fact, secondary. As far as the exemption is concerned, I think that it might be the only provision which would be somewhat sensible for the working class. In the case of funeral arrangements, people would not have to pay taxes on the interest earned on amounts prepaid for these arrangements.
This is not serious. I believe that Canada is in a very difficult fiscal and budgetary situation. Minor improvements such as the ones proposed in Bill C-70 are not going to solve anything. We have to look once and for all at the Canadian tax system that we have had for the last 20 to 25 years and which has not undergone the reform everyone expected. Canadians are waiting for some kind of reform. Taxpayers, Canadians who contribute to social, health and education programs are ready to continue to do so, but they want everyone to do his or her fair share and to realize that taxes due must be paid. But that is not the case nowadays.
When we consider the case of banks and big business and, as I said a moment ago, the whole issue of tax shelters, we see how outrageous the whole situation is. Some would say: "Well, you are not an economist". If, for example, we increase corporate taxes, we are going to lose investments. That might well be but very often this is a point used to scare us, to prevent us from taking measures which would be significant, which would be necessary if we want Canada to have a sound tax system, if we want everyone to pay taxes according to their income and to prevent people from being in a situation where they can avoid paying taxes since this is essential to the survival of this country.
It is not just a question of saving money for all taxpayers. A country where taxes are not considered fair and equitable is on the road to ruin. A country has obligations and must have sufficient revenues to meet them. It has the responsibility to see that the revenues are there and that they come from the population as a whole, not only the middle class and the least fortunate members of our society, but also from big corporations and well-off families. The more fortunate members of our society must also pay their share of taxes because they benefit from the central government and from its services.
No business in Canada would survive if we were in a situation where people are opposed to a certain extent to the tax measures because if they are not sure that justice is the same for everyone, that responsibilities are the same for everyone, people will be less and less interested in paying taxes. They will turn more and more to moonlighting, thus taking away the money needed by government. This would lead us to disaster. That is why I call upon the minister-I do not know if many members did, although all the members of the Bloc who spoke on tax issues did do so-, I call upon the Minister of Finance to show more social understanding and to initiate a genuine tax reform. I hope that we, the members of the Bloc, will see such a reform while we are still in the federal Parliament.