Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot these days about the rights and responsibilities associated with Canadian citizenship. Increasingly Canadians are being called upon to take more responsibility for their lives, for creating their own employment, saving for their retirement and assuming more responsibility for their families' future.
While individual Canadians are doing just that, what about the corporate sector assuming more responsibility for our country's future? Corporate profits totalled a record $95.2 billion last year, up 19 per cent from the previous corporate profit record year.
Today a newspaper headline screams: "Bank of Montreal profit tops all forecasts". It is well beyond even the rosiest forecast, a profit of $296 million, up 29.5 per cent from last year.
Mr. Speaker and members of all parties of this House, is it not time that the banks and other profitable corporations assumed more responsibility to get Canada and Canadians working?