Mr. Speaker, we would not be in this situation today if the Liberals had taken this issue seriously when they were in government.
We know that over a a dozen years the Liberals were warned that they had to deal with the growing problem of tax leakage because income trusts were taking on a certain dominance in the investment sector. In fact, just before the 2006 election, the minister then was in the middle of a consultation process, which was cut short because of the looming election, and probably therein lies the difficulties they faced consequently.
However, the real issue here for seniors and Canadians everywhere is the potential loss of over $1 billion annually as a result of corporations using income trusts for a tax advantage. That had to be stopped and the Liberals know it. It is time they declared their position.