Mr. Speaker, I understand where the member is coming from. The confidentiality of the Income Tax Act is sacrosanct and our concept that taxpayers voluntarily assess the amount of taxes owed by them is on the understanding that the information is confidential and will not be held against them at a later date.
The auditor general, as far as I am aware, did everything he could to try to maintain that confidentiality. It certainly was not the auditor general that breached the confidentiality rule.
This was the point I made in my speech. The member pointed out that perhaps we could identify this particular tax cut. I am looking at Bill C-41 and I quoted that the Department of National Revenue information banks are now going to be opened up for searches.
Obviously the Divorce Act and Bill C-41 will allow a particular person to search the data banks at Revenue Canada for information on a particular person, for example, an ex-spouse. What happens to confidentiality under Bill C-41? It is right out the window, absolutely and completely. Name, social insurance numbers, taxable income and everything else will be on the table for people who have a specific interest in that particular taxpayer. That is why I find this whole comment from the government side to be absolutely and completely hypocritical. Right now we are debating Bill C-41 which guarantees that the confidentiality of Revenue Canada will be breached.