Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to the hon. member from the Bloc. In its position as the official opposition to the Government of Canada, the job of the Bloc is always to hold the government accountable. Its job is to ensure that any legislation coming before the Chamber will be accountable to the people of Canada. In particular, its job is to watch the public purse. In particular, the Bloc motion states that the government is opening the door to other capital transfers that will deprive the federal government of hundreds of millions, and possibly billions, of dollars every year.
I cannot understand the Bloc political party. Only a year ago the transfer of money across the border to the United States was under discussion in the committees and in this Chamber. Changes were suggested to the tax treaties between Canada and the United States. The general public has to understand that these are reciprocity agreements which apply to Canadians and Americans.
A suggestion was made by the Senate banking committee in the form of a bill that came to this Chamber eventually. This political party was asked to pass judgment on a major change in tax policy that would mean a reduction in the withholding tax on multinational corporations that sent their money from their subsidiaries to their parent company in the United States. Do you know what the Bloc said, Madam Speaker? The Bloc said on page 14707 of Hansard that it was a wonderful thing because now our capital could freely flow into the United States.
I ask the hon. member to justify his position in view of what he is saying today. Here is what was said at page 15541 of Hansard : ``The bill does not specifically say how many millions and billions of dollars are at stake in this protocol. We do not know which country, Canada or the United States, will benefit the most from this tax liberalization protocol but we support these proposed tax changes''.
How does the hon. member support the position of the Bloc when it supported the movement of capital out of this country and at the same time put in the words of this motion today and present this picture to the people of Canada?