As my colleague from Winnipeg Centre said, the architect of this absolutely despicable practice in our society today.
We are talking about tax havens. There is something wrong with tax havens, is there not? First, offshore tax havens provide a blank cheque to corporate business to avoid their fiscal and social responsibilities. We know that. It is money that is lost to us which could have been used for important services that we and the government have an obligation to provide the people of Canada. We are talking about a lot of money. The tax rate for corporations in Barbados is 2.5%. That is one-tenth of the Canadian rate.
It is not just New Democrats and other opposition members saying that. The Auditor General said that last fall in her report. She said that Canada loses hundreds of millions of dollars through tax havens. She cited at that time the Barbadian example. She said that the 1995 effort to close tax loopholes was insufficient.
That is one reason why we need to address this loss of revenue and this tendency on the part of some in our society to skirt the law, to find ways around the law, to look for loopholes.
The second reason is that tax havens also harm Canadian workers, not only are jobs shipped out of the country but labour standards and practices are out of line, much less stringent than Canadian standards. Union protection may be denied, workers work under lower safety standards and receive less pay and benefits than they would as Canadian workers. That is important.
Let us go back to the former minister of finance because he at one point recognized the negative aspects of tax havens. He actually stated:
What we've really got to do is go at these tax havens on a global basis.
Others have referenced this but let us remind folks that in his 1994 budget speech the former finance minister actually said:
Certain Canadian corporations are not paying an appropriate level of tax. Accordingly, we are taking measures to prevent companies from using foreign affiliates to avoid paying Canadian taxes which are otherwise due.
As New Democrats we certainly supported that initiative and, in fact, there was some tightening of the tax laws in 1994. However, as we know, the former finance minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard, did not shut down all the tax havens, did he? Across the Atlantic he kept Barbados open. Interestingly, that is exactly where CSL went.
I want to read an exchange that happened between representatives of CSL and members of the Disclosure program where many of these series of developments were exposed.
The question: “Why did you move your shell companies to Barbados in 1995?” The answer: “We moved them to Barbados because of the change in the Canadian tax rules”.
The question: “Was [the former finance minister] aware of this--when you moved to Barbados in 1995?” The answer: “[The former finance minister's] assets are in a blind management trust”.
The question: “Was he part of this decision to move to Barbados?” The answer: “This is a question that you should ask Mr. Wilson [Federal Ethics Counsellor]”.
The question: “Was this discussed at any of your meetings?” The answer: “These are all questions that should be put to Mr. Wilson”.
We put those questions to Howard Wilson but, interestingly, he could not reveal details of those meetings without permission from CSL and from, guess who, the former finance minister.
There were more exchanges between Disclosure and Mr. Wilson.
The question: “What was discussed at these meetings?” The answer: “Well I'm, I'm not really in a position to go and tell you. These are matters that are covered by the Privacy Act.”
The question: “We're just asking what went on in those meetings. And what was discussed in those meetings”. The answer: “Well, you've got my answer on that”.
The question: “We're not going to know?” The answer: “No”.
Canada Steamship Lines now has nine shell companies in Barbados, eight of them at a lawyer's office near Bridgetown. They share the same mailbox and the same tax rate, 2.5%.
I rest my case. It is absolutely clear that we have to once and for all deal with this issue of tax havens and send a message to Canadians about the kind of person they are getting in the name of the former finance minister.
If this is what he is like in terms of his business dealings, if this is how he treats pensioners, as we saw out on the front steps of the legislature today with Voyageur bus, what is he like in terms of protecting the interests of Canadians?