Madam Speaker, one of the concerns we have on this side is the fact that a lot of the companies that will benefit from this tax reduction are generally foreign companies, foreign investors and foreign shareholders. For example, on the east coast of Canada many people are concerned about the extraction of our natural gas and getting very little in return in terms of royalties or payments or anything of that nature to benefit the economy of Atlantic Canada. The perception is that it is our resource and it is heading south and the big profits are going to those foreign nationals. That is one of the concerns I would like the parliamentary secretary to address.
As well, the bill does not say anything about what happens when mining companies abandon an area or leave an area and who is left with the costs of the cleanup of those particular areas. I think especially of uranium mining. I think of the specific example of the Tulsequah Chief mine in northern British Columbia. Again it is the taxpayer who is left with the burden of the high cost of cleaning up these sites and the environmental concerns.
I would like him to address the environmental aspect of it. I would also like him to address the possible perception that Canadians may have that this is a giveaway of our resources in terms of assisting those foreign investors and foreign nationals.