Mr. Speaker, the years come and go, but we continue to see a lack of action on the part of the government.
Yesterday, we learned that the Canada Revenue Agency once again signed a secret agreement with wealthy Canadians to avoid prosecution for tax evasion. Once again, the rich get away with a slap on the wrist and a warning not to do it again.
Yet, three years ago, the Minister of National Revenue told us to our faces that there was no amnesty, that there had never been an amnesty, that the agency would never offer an amnesty. In the KPMG affair, she publicly stated, “The agency will definitely exhaust all judicial avenues.”
She also stated that KPMG's clients could face criminal charges and that there would be no amnesty agreement.
Today, the minister is once again putting her incompetence on full display by casting blame on everyone but herself. Today, she is saying that she will look into the matter to resolve the problem. That is ridiculous. The minister has had four years to fix our two-tiered tax system, but her record is clear: no convictions, no arrests, no money recovered in cases of tax evasion abroad.
The minister just lost the little credibility she had. She only has herself to blame for all of this.