Mr. Speaker, the member for Scarborough—Guildwood likes to heckle from his seat and throw insults my way. Every time we question the wisdom of the Liberals when they were in government, he likes to insert put-downs and make personal comments about my speech and about my beliefs. I hope he realizes that it is time to get beyond personal politics and start to talk seriously about these issues. I have put up with a lot of insults from him and others on that side of the House and, frankly, I get quite tired of it.
If we really want to get serious about this issue, then let us look at the Canada Steamship Lines issue and the involvement of the Liberals around the tax holdings of the member for LaSalle—Émard.
Let us go back to February 2003 when the member for LaSalle—Émard used the peek-a-boo clause in a supervisory agreement when dealing with members of the board of Canada Steamship Lines.
Let us go back to March 1, 2003 when we said in the House that we in this party could not live with ourselves if we had to deal with this kind of situation and if there were not a crack down on it immediately.
Let us go back to January 28, 2004 when the government announced that the companies of the member for LaSalle—Émard, including Canada Steamship Lines, received $162 million in federal government contracts, grants and loans.
Let us go back to February 4, 2004 and the CBC town hall meeting when the member for LaSalle—Émard defended his flags of convenience, saying that Canada Steamship Lines was a Canadian company, that it pays it taxes in Canada and that the bulk of its operations were here in Canada. We have a study by credible sources that shows that Canada Steamship Lines, owned by the member for LaSalle—Émard, avoided paying $103 million in Canadian taxes between 1995 and 2002 by setting up nine shell companies in Barbados.
I ask the member for Scarborough—Guildwood why his government did not shut that down when it had a chance? Why is it still before us?
Now the question is: when will the Conservative government finally do what is right and ensure that these kinds of wide open loopholes, tax avoidance and tax evasion schemes are shut down once and for all?