Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to wrap up the debate on a private member's bill that attempts to redress the impact of the government's budget measure, essentially penalizing income trust owners in a way that had not been envisaged before the budget.
The reason why the member for Scarborough Centre has introduced this bill is to propose implementation of measures, which had been generated within the Liberal opposition caucus, to redress these punitive tax measures introduced by the government in its budget.
The issue for many Canadians, who hold income trusts, is not only that there was a tax measure introduced, but the tax measure introduced reneged on a promise. It was not like the government was backed into a corner and did not do anything in relation to one of its promises. It actually promised these income trust holders that it would not tax them and then turned around and equivalent to a sucker punch proposed to tax these people in this tax measure. It was not only a broken promise, it was an obvious betrayal.
Arguably income trust owners are not the majority of Canadians, but they are a very identifiable segment of Canadians. The ones we are concerned about, and the reason for the bill, is the seniors group who have always paid taxes. They have done their savings and now they chose a tax measure that they thought would suit. The government has now changed the rules and punitively taxed them. This measure is intended to redress that.