Mr. Speaker, I will address the hon. member's first question on the use of offshore tax havens, which is a concern of mine.
The hon. member might be interested to know that, in the prebudget consultation document, I specifically championed a recommendation that the government should look into the use of offshore tax havens and eliminate them. I know the finance minister is interested in this and he is working on it. I appreciated that the Bloc members also supported the motion and had it put into the finance committee's recommendations.
On the hon. member's second question, my point is quite simple. The government, in law, reduced the basic lowest tax rate to 15.5% from 16%. I am aware there were three budgets in 2005 from the former Government of Canada, the third of which made amendments to the tax act that were never passed in law.
Budget 2006 reduced the lowest personal income tax rate and increased the basic personal exemption in law from their previous levels. That is my point.