Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to defend this income trust broken promise petition on behalf of Bob Matwichuk of Calgary, Alberta, as of last night the home of Liberals, who remembers the Prime Minister boasting about his apparent commitment to accountability when he said, “There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept”.
The petitioners remind our Prime Minister that he promised never to tax income trusts and then recklessly broke that promise by imposing a 31.5% punitive tax, wiping out over $25 billion of the hard-earned retirement savings of over two million Canadians, particularly seniors.
The petitioners therefore call upon the government to: first, admit that the decision to tax income trusts was based on flawed methodology and incorrect assumptions; second, apologize to those who were unfairly harmed by this promise; and third, repeal the punitive 31.5% tax on income trusts.
I thank Mr. Matwichuk for his concern for all Canadians and their hard-earned savings.