The report came after this was signed. My Liberal friend reveals the problem. The Liberals did not start the report until after this was signed, sealed and delivered. He reveals the fact that he actually thinks he is not a eunuch. He actually thinks he has some energy, that he has some role to play. He does not. He is just a nice piece of backdrop that every now and again is asked to bleat, what we call voting, and that is his job.
Let us understand that when we debate legislation like Bill C-67 we are acknowledging one more time in a long list of acknowledgements that one person runs this country and runs this government, the Minister of Finance. He decides now on education policy. He decides on health care policy. He decides on environmental policy. He decides everything.
Once again, should we have foreign banks? My friend says there was a committee roaming the country looking into this. I am on the finance committee. We actually study this. It was all after the fact, after the Minister of Finance had committed to the world that this is what the Government of Canada would do on a particular day, and that is what we are doing. That is why this is really a frustrating place sometimes.
I like the Minister of Finance. He is a smart guy. He is not an expert on health care, education and so on. Maybe foreign banking is getting close. That is not the way we are supposed to work in this place. Members of parliament are supposed to have some role in deciding on the appropriateness of certain legislation.
I lament the fact, I regret the fact that we are living in a dictatorship. It is a kind of elected dictatorship, because we do elect the dictator every four or five years, but basically once that is done, that is it. We are all a bunch of rubber stamps. We sit here and stamp ourselves and that is it, and the Minister of Finance decides what will go on.
It is an elected dictatorship in the hands of the Minister of Finance who now decides all types of economic and social policy and all types of foreign policy. Look at our defence budget. Who decides on the nature of Canada's armed forces? Is it the minister of defence? No, it is the Minister of Finance because he decides on the financial ability of our armed forces to develop the infrastructure they require.
This is frustrating. I am frustrated. I know other members of parliament are frustrated. They are shaking their heads. Even some Liberals are shaking their heads one way or the other. I know the people of Canada are frustrated because they know that the government ignores them. They say they feel alienated. They feel left out of the circle. Of course they should feel alienated because they are left out. They are not considered. Their views are not considered.
We do not support the trickle down theory of economics. We do not like the idea of foreign banks coming into the country and not providing any useful services to the average Canadian. We lament the fact that this debate is irrelevant. What I am saying is that we will not be voting in favour of the legislation.