Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Anjou-Rivière-des-Prairies for his speech. I would like to make a comment because I do not want Canadians to be left with the impression, after what the member just said, that the present government is reducing the deficit on the back of workers and on the back of the most vulnerable people in our society.
When we took office in October 1993, the deficit for 1993-94 represented about 5.9 per cent of the GDP. For the fiscal year ending at the end of this month, we have brought the deficit down to approximately $32.7 billion, with a cushion for the finance minister. This will be about 4 per cent of the gross domestic product. For the coming year, we had predicted in our red book that the deficit would be down to 3 per cent of the GDP or around $24 billion and, furthermore, the finance minister has told us that, for the 1997-98 fiscal year, the deficit will be down to $17 billion or 2 per cent of the GDP.
I want to remind the member that, when we took office, government spending amounted to $120 billion and that it will be down to $109 billion for the coming year and possibly to $106 billion for 1997-98, which is a reduction of $14 billion or 12 per cent.
The member also talked extensively about tax havens in his speech and my question relates to that. According to the member, it seems that thousands and thousands of Canadians do business with other countries to avoid paying taxes here.
Can the member please tell me and tell the House how many Canadian corporations take advantage of tax havens, according to his research?