Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the official opposition to address Bill C-10, an act to implement the convention between Canada and Sweden, a convention between Canada and the Republic of Lithuania, a convention between Canada and the Republic of Kazakhstan, a convention between Canada and the Republic of Iceland and a convention between Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and to amend the 1986 Canada-Netherlands Income Tax Convention Act and the Canada-U.S. Tax Convention Act of 1984.
I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague, the insatiable snack-packer from Calgary West.
It is clear that the proposed conventions with Sweden, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Iceland and Denmark are important tax treaties. Neither myself nor any member of the official opposition would argue that these conventions are in and of themselves bad fiscal policy.
The thought of unchecked tax duplication is enough to make any of us a little uneasy. Much of Bill C-10 concerns simple—