Finance committee  We have not advocated how you would do it, and again, we tend to take a lot of our lead on tax policy from the C.D. Howe Institute and some of the other groups that do a lot of work in that area. But what is important about the high end--and you're right, it's not an easy argument to make--is that a lot of those individuals drive the innovation, drive competitive policies, drive the success not just in financial services, but in many other businesses and sectors.

Finance committee  I think one of the points we make is that it's not a question of having the lowest taxes. We're not doing a race to the bottom. What we're looking for are tax rates that are competitive with those jurisdictions that we do business with, that we compete with. So we think setting targets for where we might want to have both business and personal tax rates would be an appropriate thing to do.

Finance committee  Well, when you look at economic growth and at spending growth, the two have great difficulty matching up. So we would encourage the government to continue to find more efficiencies and to manage program spending.

Finance committee  They should be managing program spending.

Finance committee  I think what the government certainly has been committed to is bringing down overall tax rates in a number of ways. Certainly they've provoked some controversy about some of the decisions they've made about how to do that, and I will leave that for you and your colleagues here from all parties to argue over.

Finance committee  When you see the overall picture that the government is putting forward for their tax relief, we think that is to be encouraged, and we certainly would encourage more.

Finance committee  One of the things that I think all governments have to be cautious about is their spending. We have expressed views in the past that looking at the federal government overall in terms of the spending that has occurred, we don't think it is sustainable. Keeping tax rates lower can also be a good discipline on government in terms of helping them to be more effective in how they use those tax dollars for program spending.

Finance committee  Oh, I had a brief experience.

Finance committee  For a brief period of time, yes. We had several very distinguished finance ministers during our term.

Finance committee  Well, as I said earlier, not only with tax relief but also with government spending, it has to be a balance. On the one hand you can't, as opposition has sometimes been known to do, criticize the current government for spending reductions, and then at the same time criticize them for being spendthrift.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Menzies. First of all, on the tax question you asked, we're not shy about expressing our views to all members of Parliament, or the provincial parliament in Ontario, or to city council. We do tend to do that quite persistently. In terms of the WTO negotiations, our organization has not been involved in those discussions.

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely. We make the point, as many organizations have, about the negative impacts of a tax on capital. I think the other challenge for Canada is that it has stood out like a sore thumb, in the words of one CEO to me. When other companies are coming here looking at investing they see that.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon to the committee members. Thank you very much for this opportunity to present today and to participate. Our association represents a full range of organizations that make up the financial services sector, from banks and insurance companies to investment firms and mutual funds, as well as the professional organizations that support them, such as accounting and law firms.