Mr. Speaker, I am interested in the comments of the hon. member because I thought his party supported a rules based international trading system. I assumed that his party was one which believed in a simple taxation system. I assumed his party believed in transparency and predictability. Yet the position of his party seems to be that we should unilaterally cancel these tax treaties. The member mentioned that we had 79 around the world.
At the same time the member would suggest that we forget a rules based system, that we simply eliminate and terminate it which will have the effect of affecting 1,700 companies that do business in Barbados. As the member knows, we are continually reviewing these. We have been reviewing them since 1994, with the latest review in 2002.
How does the member reconcile the fact that on the one hand I believe his party supports a rules based system and on the other hand it would today, if that party were in power, simply terminate or abrogate the agreement?