Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. Last year Canada's leading CEOs received a raise of some 43%, putting their median pay package at $3.7 million. Meanwhile Revenue Canada has said now that 41 major corporations with annual revenues of more than $250 million paid no corporate income tax at all between 1995 and 1998.
How could the minister justify giving his rich friends and the big corporations they direct tax breaks that amount to nothing less than corporate welfare for the rich? How could he justify that in today's modern society?