Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance said there was no need to go after tax havens because Ottawa had been able to cut taxes.
In the year 2000 alone, companies like Canada Steamship Lines—owned by the member for LaSalle—Émard at the time—that transferred money from Barbados without paying a cent in taxes, would have paid the federal and provincial governments over half a billion dollars, were it not for the infamous tax convention the former Minister of Finance himself negotiated.
Will the government explain why it insists on taking from the general public to give to the rich?