Mr. Speaker, I looked forward to participating in this debate only because following the debate throughout the day, I cannot help but start off by saying that there were certain comments made by the government benches, the NDP and the Bloc that were really, in my view, and I do not want to use the word “misleading”, sending the wrong kind of signals to Canadians as to what this motion, brought forward by the leader of the Liberal Party, the hon. member for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, is all about.
For the record, I want to read the motion before I make my comments, so that Canadians out there understand what this Liberal team is trying to do. The opposition motion states:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government's mistaken policies with respect to interest non-deductibility--
And I underline that.
--and income trusts are making it increasingly difficult for Canadian businesses to succeed internationally, while making Canadian businesses increasingly vulnerable to foreign takeovers, thus putting Canadian jobs, head offices and investment at risk and contributing to a hollowing out of Canadian enterprise;
and this House calls upon the Prime Minister to instruct his Minister of Finance to resolve these dangers by withdrawing his interest non-deductibility proposal--
That is what it is all about.
--and entering into meaningful public consultations on appropriate measures to combat tax abuses,--
This is what the Conservatives are talking about, which is what they want, which was what was just mentioned by my colleague, the former speaker. It goes on:
--and by withdrawing his proposal to tax income trusts and replacing it with the Liberal alternative as summarized in the 14th Report of the Standing Committee on Finance, presented on February 28, 2007.
That is what we are debating today. We are not debating the HRDC boondoggle that was mentioned a minute ago, which sadly, those innuendoes of that day moved the government forward to create an inquiry that cost us millions of dollars to prove what, Mr. Speaker, and I know you remember this very well?
The result that came out was that $64,000 could not be allocated, but continuously, until this very day, attempts are made to mislead and camouflage that whole issue and mislead Canadians by calling it the $1 billion boondoggle. There was never a billion dollars lost.
I will not talk about that. I want to focus on this issue. What is puzzling here is this. Prior to the last election and during the campaign of the last election, the current Prime Minister, the then leader of the opposition, stood up and made all these wonderful promises because, yes, there was an initiative at that time.
There were comments from the Liberal government of the day to look at income trusts. We just did not react to it. We did not wake up one day and say that we would make these changes, especially when we addressed this area, which has an impact not only on corporate Canada but on the lives of many people, and more specifically, seniors who wisely invested so that they could have a better future in their golden years.
Seniors took confidence and accepted the word of the then leader of the opposition, the current Prime Minister of this so-called new Conservative government, and they felt comfortable.
There were many people I know who, on that issue and that issue alone, decided to cast their vote, and rightfully so. That is democracy. That was the most important issue for a certain segment of our society and they decided to vote because the Conservatives made a firm commitment that they would not tax income trusts.
It is all very well documented here, not innuendoes, and as I said earlier today in my questions and comments period, as did the member for Kings—Hants and other members, “Do not listen to what we have to say, here are comments from third parties, third party endorsements”.
They quoted Diane Francis, who is not necessarily a Liberal. They quoted Premier Danny Williams of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Premier of Nova Scotia, who today are saying, without any hesitation, that the government misled Canadians. It made a promise in terms of the Kelowna accord and today it reneged on it.
A similar commitment on the Conservative campaign was made with respect to income trusts. The current Prime Minister, for example, talked about fairness and protection. He stated:
The commitment...was not that we would have no taxes for Telus. It was not that we would have no taxes for BCE. It was not that we would have no taxes for foreign investors, or no taxes for major corporations. It was a commitment to protect the income of seniors.
I have had emails, letters and phone calls from seniors, who quote a $30,000 impact. One senior says that he has been impacted to that specific figure. The Prime Minister broke his commitment to the widow of a veteran. In writing he said that the moment the Conservatives assumed government, they would address the VIP program. He has gone back on the income trust commitment.
Think of it this way. Once that message was sent out, people are influenced, invest their savings and feel confident. All of sudden they have the rug pulled from under their feet. All of a sudden seniors are sending emails. As I said, I prefer not to make my own comments, but pass on the comments of other people.
Ton and Ethna Anderson say:
A broken promise is a broken promise. The current government broke its promise not to tax income trusts. These actions have seriously lessened our confidence in the government's ability to govern with honesty and integrity. Our investments and the investments of thousands of Canadians, especially seniors like us, have suffered greatly. We reject the government's claim that destroying existing trusts was necessary to prevent further conversions. We urge you to do whatever you can to get rid of the [Prime Minister] and the [Minister of Finance and to hold them accountable].
Here is another one. The Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity) had a meeting in his constituency. Bill Fisher sent this and stated as follows:
We worked hard to elect a Conservative government, and we were rewarded with betrayal. [The Prime Minister] promised one thing and did another. That's a lie. A 35 billion-dollar lie. Calling manure a rose doesn't change the smell. [The Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity)] spoke a lot of rose at the meeting, but few were fooled. He and [the Prime Minister] need to listen to Ralph Klein and recant, repent, and reimburse investors and seniors. You can't reward lying politicians by voting for them.
I assume Bill Fisher is from the minister's riding.
I have another one from the Martinson family. The letter states:
[The Prime Minister] conned people into thinking it was OK to invest in trusts then pulled the rug out from under us.
The government has successfully made it SOUND like it was NO TAX MONEY from businesses involved in the Income Trust structure and people seem to be buying this. I feel it is important that it be made clear to the Canadian public that Governments get lots of tax money due to Income Trusts.
It goes on and on.
I will close with another one from Elmer Sather from Surrey, B.C. He stated:
I am speechless, and in shock over how fast these Income Trusts are being taken over by foreigners.
I quoted this one last, though there are many others, only because the motion really deals with that.
It really has to do with a level playing field, of which the Minister of Finance said yesterday. This does not create a level playing field. Canada should not be the Boy Scouts of the world. If everybody out there internationally wishes to implement the same rules, what is good for the geese should be good for the gander and we must not, we should not weaken corporate Canada. After all, they create the jobs to create the revenue for a prosperous Canada.