Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his, as usual, erudite, intelligent and well placed question.
The hon. member is a true Liberal in the traditional 1970s sense. He does point to the fact that Canadians are leaving to find greater opportunities elsewhere. He and I both agree that Canadians are leaving Canada to find greater opportunities elsewhere. Where the true Liberal thing comes in is, at this point, where we divide. I go one way and he goes another in terms of our pursuit of a solution. He believes that government, through government spending, can create better opportunities in Canada to keep Canadians here. I believe that if the government reduces taxes we can create better opportunities here.
In terms of the opportunities for people leaving Canada to seek jobs elsewhere is in part pay. It is not all taxes; part of it is pay. However pay is an instrument closely related to corporate tax rates. Canada has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the OECD. Last year, for instance, our corporate tax rates were lower than those of Italy and Japan. This year we now have higher corporate tax rates than Italy and Japan because Italy and Japan have engaged in tax reform and tax reduction on the corporate side.
If the hon. member is sincere about pursuing greater opportunities for Canadians then he should unshackle Canadian enterprise and businesses from the burden of his party's failure to address corporate tax reform.
Jack Mintz, one of his constituents, submitted an excellent report to the federal government, the Mintz report. It was commissioned by the federal Minister of Finance and then ignored by the Minister of Finance.
I would suggest that this hon. member listen to one of his constituents in Toronto Centre—Rosedale who has provided a great blueprint for tax reform and tax reduction in Canada. If followed, it would ensure that ultimately Canadians would enjoy greater opportunities here and not have to seek them elsewhere while the government pursues 1970s policies which have been discredited around the world and in fact mire Canadians into less opportunities in the future and not more.