Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance yesterday closed the infamous Bronfman family tax loophole to much applause and hoopla. But let us not forget that the Bronfmans actually got that $500 million Christmas present from the federal government in 1991 and have kept it.
It took five years before either a Tory or a Liberal Minister of Finance was embarrassed by the auditor general to act. The Minister of Finance has obviously known of this loophole for the past three years but only acted when the auditor general and public and political pressure made him do it.
In yesterday's Toronto Star , the Minister of Industry was quoted as saying that we need more foreign investment and to attract it the federal government will promote the fact that we have very low corporate real tax rates. He pointed out that Canada has the lowest labour costs among the seven leading industrialized nations.
Low corporate taxes and low wage rates; this promotion sounds like it should refer to a poor developing country, not Canada. If low corporate taxes and low wage rates are things the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Industry are bragging about, I say shame.