Mr. Speaker, it is pretty clear from the comments of my colleague from British Columbia that he does not believe in tax fairness. He knows that some of the corporations in Canada are earning, not millions, but billions of dollars in profits. In fact, last year, EnCana, one of our largest oil and gas companies, earned $7 billion worth of profits which it was planning on converting into an income trust.
Is my friend suggesting that EnCana should not being paying taxes on those profits?
We need to look at what the public says about this. The Globe and Mail said, “The Finance minister tackled a difficult issue that the Liberals could not muster the gumption to resolve”.
The National Post said, “Everyone else has gotten the message. Why haven't the Liberals?”
The Toronto Star said the same thing. In fact, the member's own finance critic said, “It was absolutely the right thing to do”. Sheila Copps and John Manley both said that the income trust decision was the right thing to do.
If the member believes that tax fairness should be the rule in Canada and that ordinary taxpayers should not bear the burden of having to carry the taxation that corporations normally carry, why will he not support the income trust decision that the government so courageously made?