Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was complaining about tax increases during previous federal budgets. He is right. We have eliminated some tax breaks and subsides to business.
We responded to demands from Canadians for more fairness in the tax system and more balance. One in particular is generating a lot of revenue. The hon. member may remember that Canadians were quite incensed that at a time of a depressed economy, at a time of dropping employment the banks were recording record multi-million dollar profits. He may recall one of the tax increases of which he is complaining was a surtax on those very bank profits.
Perhaps the member will remember as well the difficulties small businesses have been complaining about in their dealings with banks and service charges which consumers are complaining about. He may wish to tell Canadians whether the Reform Party does or does not support the surtax on multi-million dollar bank profits.