Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a total and complete hypocrite. During the recent federal election campaign, he presented himself as Captain Canada. He wrapped himself in the Canadian flag with his elbows up. He wove a story of having resigned as chair of the multi-billion dollar investment firm Brookfield to come to Canada's rescue at a time of crisis.
Of course, this self-serving narrative is pure fiction, because what the Prime Minister did not tell Canadians is that, as chair of Brookfield, he played a key role in helping Brookfield avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes in Canada through Brookfield's shady use of offshore tax havens. In fact, the Prime Minister has the dubious distinction of being chair of Canada's biggest corporate tax dodger.
Analysis reveals that, of Canada's 123 largest corporations, there is no bigger tax dodger than Brookfield. Brookfield managed to avoid paying a staggering $6.5 billion in taxes in Canada in only five years, and I want to emphasize that the Prime Minister was not a bystander to Brookfield's tax dodging. He was an architect, including setting up and registering three multi-billion dollar investment funds in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, which of course are notorious offshore tax havens. Not only that, the Prime Minister stands to profit from one of these funds that he registered in Bermuda in the way of future bonus pay. In short, this is a Prime Minister who stands to make tens of millions of dollars as a direct result of his tax-dodging scheme. So much for Captain Canada and so much for Mr. Elbows Up.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has the audacity to tell Canadians that they need to sacrifice more. I have news for this arrogant and out-of-touch Prime Minister. Millions of Canadians get up every day, they work hard, they play by the rules and, yes, they pay their taxes in Canada. Why will he not? He has a responsibility to do so, and in the meantime, he has a responsibility to come clean and tell Canadians how much he has in offshore tax havens.