Mr. Speaker, the close and cosy relationship between the Minister of Finance, the Liberal Party and the banks is a matter of very deep concern for all Canadians. The Liberals want to look like they are standing up for consumers and small business people but the Liberals' false bravado is severely undermined by those huge donations from the banks.
In 1996 the Liberals received a quarter of a million dollars from the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank. Now we learn that during the last federal election the Bank of Montreal through its subsidiary Nesbitt Burns gave $1,000 each to 14 of the 28 inner cabinet members, including the Minister of Finance; that is $14,000 to Liberal cabinet candidates. The finance minister's former leadership campaign co-chair is also involved with the banks. He is running the $20 million PR campaign for the Canadian Bankers Association.
The Reform Party is promoting the foreign banks too. Why is that? It takes donations from Goldman Sachs, a good U.S. corporation.
Canadians have all these reasons not to believe the Minister of Finance and the Reform Party when they act like they really care.