Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Parkdale—High Park, the official opposition's finance critic, on her excellent speech. I had the opportunity to work with her on the Standing Committee on Finance. This is an issue that the committee will be examining, and rightly so.
The bill before us has more than 950 pages and amends the Income Tax Act and other related legislation, but primarily the Income Tax Act.
I asked the parliamentary secretary a question earlier. In her speech she talked about simplifying the act, which is already 3,000 pages long. If we pass this bill we will have to add even more pages. We will support this bill because it eliminates some tax loopholes and other measures that lead to fiscal inequity, but the government's philosophy confuses me. How will adding more measures and clauses—even if they close tax loopholes—help simplify the act?
I would like to ask my colleague what she thinks of the Conservative government's process. What is her definition of “simplification” and how should we interpret the government's silence on this issue that concerns both private companies and individuals?