Or we could drive a bus through. These specific exemptions were left in out of self-interest, out of conflict of interest I accuse.
It makes me furious to think that they can get away with this and then look Canadians in the eye and talk about fair taxation when they, out of self-interest, specifically left in these tax loopholes for which they can take advantage. The man has more gall than Caesar, and he had all gall.
Surely one would think a federal cabinet minister would be patriotic enough to do his business in this country. Surely one would think Canadians would want a future prime minister to fly a Canadian flag on the ships he owns. Would that not be sort of a prerequisite of patriotism for someone who would seek the highest office in the land? It is unbelievable.
This is not just some left wing lobby group that dislikes corporations. This is not the whinging of a frustrated NDPer. Successive auditors general have continuously pointed out that we are being shortchanged, that we are losing opportunity and revenue, by design, deliberately, to shovel these benefits into the hands of corporations.
Let me deal with the banks for a moment because I do not have much time.
Certain Canadian banks are operating in tax havens which are even blacklisted by the OECD. Charter banks means we give them the exclusive right to certain financial activities and privileges, very profitable privileges, for instance, credit card transactions, cheque processing transactions.
Surely those Canadian charter banks that we call our own have an obligation to pay their fair share of taxes and not actively seek out every possible way to avoid paying taxes in this country. It undermines our tax base and our tax system. It undermines the quality of life we enjoy because we do value quality of life. We do seek to elevate the standards of living conditions for all people and that does take a tax regime that is higher than that of Barbados and higher than some of the other tax shelter countries.
It undermines our tax base when it puts Canadian companies at a disadvantage. Those Canadian companies that stay here and pay their fair share find themselves at an economic disadvantage against those who go out and participate in this economic treason. It gives justification for the Canadian Alliance to stand and say that Canadian businesses are at a disadvantage to other global competition because in that sense it is true. Well, we should plug that loophole. It is that simple.
I wish to thank the member for Joliette for giving us this opportunity to remind the government in the twilight days of this Parliament to do the honourable thing, do what is right and put an end to this outrageous rip-off. I cannot say how disappointed and angry I am at this entire stink.
There is another tax loophole that the government has selectively left unplugged, and that is the whole idea that business fines are still tax deductible. In 1994 the government revisited this issue and made it so that bribes were no longer tax deductible, but it did not plug the loophole so that business fines would not be allowed to be tax deductible. Well guess what? The former minister of finance, the future Prime Minister, got the largest single fine in Canadian history for polluting the Halifax harbour with offshore dumping of bilge water or sludge or whatever pollutant into the water.
Happily the laws have not been changed, even though the government was made aware of this in 1994, 1996, 1997, and by my private member's bill in 1998, 1999 and 2000. It has had ample opportunities to change this but it does not want to plug that loophole because it is to the advantage of certain cabinet ministers in the government, specifically the owner of Canada Steamship Lines. It is outrageous.
My colleague from Winnipeg North Centre read some comments from the CBC television show that exposed this outrageous shell company situation that Canada Steamship Lines and other Canadian companies enjoy in Barbados. She pointed out that Canada Steamship Lines has nine shell companies in Barbados. All they are is a post office box. They do not produce anything; they do not generate anything. They do not build widgets in Barbados. It is not as though they are engaged in any activity other than providing a post office mailbox for Canada Steamship Lines so that they can avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
We should not tolerate it. Canadians should be in the streets with pitchforks screaming about this issue. Canadians deserve to be outraged. Unfortunately, I think they are getting jaded. They are getting used to maybe the way Ottawa does business. Well, it is not the way it does business as long as we have anything to say about it and as long as we have breath to expose this kind of issue.
How can the revenue minister, of all people, stand in her place today and defend what amounts to organized tax evasion; systematic, institutionalized, organized tax evasion? It puts these companies in the company of biker gangs and organized crime and other people who use the absolute secrecy of these offshore banks to disclose all kinds of criminal activity. That is who seeks these things out, those who do not want their financial activities known to others. That is who engages in this offshore banking regime that exists internationally. It does not say much for the company that they choose to keep when it is rogues, crooks and certain Canadian corporations that choose to avail themselves of these outrageous tax loopholes.
Talk about ethics and values being the operative buzzwords of Ottawa these days. Where are the ethics? Where are the values demonstrated by a cabinet minister in the Canadian government, exercising rights under these rules as they exist today? Where is the morality of it? We know it is legal, but is it moral? Is it ethical? No, it stinks to high heaven, and I, like most Canadians, am outraged. I, like all Canadians, thank the member for Joliette for allowing us this opportunity to lambaste the government on this issue today.
