Madam Speaker, I agree that we are robbing the Canadian tax base in our ability to pay for the social investment and also to create a more competitive tax system in other areas of Canada with a tax haven. However we have to address it, working with other industrialized countries that have a tax treaty relationship with Barbados and other tax havens.
This is an area where Canada could play a leadership role. We have a Canadian who is head of the OECD. There is a real opportunity. In fact, I believe Don Johnston was a former minister of finance in Canada or was at least a minister on the fiscal side in the Trudeau government. We have a Canadian, a former cabinet minister of Canada, heading up the OECD. What better entree for Canada to play a leadership role in helping to shape this process?
I would like to see Canada playing that role, and I agree absolutely with the intention of the hon. member to create more tax fairness for all Canadians and to make sure that all Canadian companies are paying their fair share. However if we do that and ignore the realities of what other countries do in similar circumstances, we could have the law of unintended consequences which could lead us to losing an awful lot of our Canadian companies to other jurisdictions. That would not be in the interests of any of us.