Mr. Speaker, I think it is necessary to comment again on some of the matters that have been raised in the hon. member's speech.
First, the finance committee's report as tabled in the House, a public document, found that there was no loophole or tax evasion involved here. Revenue Canada applied the law correctly.
Second, I must restate that Canada has one of the tightest systems for taxing people who move abroad. The fact that Canada does not tax some gains until they are actually realized is not a loophole. Nor is it a loophole that our tax treaties give us the right to tax some gains and our treaty partners have the right to tax other gains. That is the important main element, the migration of people outside the country. This is what we are talking about here, the tax treatment of these people when they leave the country. There are very definite rules in the Income Tax act.
As a lawyer I have never been told that one subsection has a priority over another subsection unless it states that explicitly. So to say that there is just a little subsection here, so do not bother with it, is ridiculous. The experts backed that up in a very public, open round table meeting that went on for over six hours last spring, and members of the opposition were there.
Again we have a minority report from the opposition members who have brought this motion today which is just politics. It does not state reality. Reality of the Canadian tax law today in Canada is a very complex situation. What any government should do is constantly improve.
The report came up with very definite recommendations for the finance minister to consider. The report has been tabled. Those recommendations are on the table and they will be considered in due course. Canadians deserve the best tax law that we can come up with, but it has to be fair. The process has to be open. We have certainly had an open process.
I find it unbelievable that he thinks a policy decision concerning tax should not be debated in the finance committee. He may not even be aware that after tabling his report, the auditor general himself sent a letter off to the chair of the finance committee which stated that these sections of his report were under the purview of the finance committee and that it might want to look at them. That is the reality.
What we have here is politics. I understand that the opposition's job is to play politics. Unfortunately for it, the job of government is to govern and when we govern we govern with the real facts.