Madam Speaker, as a former trustee of employee benefit plans, I concur that employee benefit funds and union pension plans are one of the largest single investors out there. In fact, over 50% of all of the trading that goes on at the New York Stock Exchange, and, in fact, the TSX, are employee benefit plans and union pension funds being moved around; the buying, selling and representing the beneficiaries of those plans.
One of the biggest things that has backfired in the Conservatives' zeal to keep lowering corporate taxes is that it has become obvious that businesses and corporations that are the beneficiaries of these lower taxes, such as the banks and the oil companies, are not reinvesting the money and are not paying it out as dividends to their shareholders. They are hoarding the money and stockpiling it. It is like Scrooge McDuck rolling around in his bank vault with all of his coins and dollar bills. They seem to be basking in all this dough.
The logic has not really played out. I understand their reasoning that if we allow businesses to make more profits they will reinvest and create more jobs. However, they have not been doing that. Their own analysts have been telling them that. The minister himself has expressed his frustration. They are not putting that money into circulation. It is not having the desired effect and, therefore, is a bit convoluted. It is Conservative pretzel logic that keeps this blind fundamentalist orthodoxy that lower taxes will trickle down to the average consumer. If anything, the companies that need help are not getting it because they are not paying taxes anyway if they are in dire straits.