Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They needed that.
My friend across the way is quite right, I did campaign long and hard for income splitting, the first part of it being pension splitting. It is an economic justice and an economic reform that was probably too long coming, but eventually it came.
I do actually thank the member opposite who raised the question because I know he was a proponent when I brought this issue up when I was on that side of the House. He was helpful and supportive on that, as were many of the members sitting over there. I thank them very much for doing that. It was the right thing to do.
I also thank the Minister of Finance. He did the right thing as well by bringing in pension splitting. I will say that quite clearly, this is a reform that we needed and many people on this side of the House, in fact many people on all sides of the House supported this.
What we did not support on this side, what we did not expect, and what shocked us was the betrayal that the Prime Minister showed and the Minister of Finance when they brought in a tax on income trusts. We never thought that would happen because the Prime Minister told us it would not. I mean we foolishly believed him. We believed the man. So we could not understand, nor could we support, any legislation that was bundled with a pension sharing that also robbed seniors of more money than they would ever get in their lifetime--