Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Here we go again. The committee has been here since 3:30. The committee was delayed by the Liberal Party. We didn't even get started on this because the Liberal Party put forward 3,000 amendments that they chose, for whatever reason, to try to force the committee not to hear. Now we're discussing what is I think their tenth anti-avoidance....
They're against these anti-avoidance measures. This measure, which we would like to see go forward, will in fact help Canadians. The member from the Liberal Party talks about tax fairness. Well, Canadians expect all parliamentarians, when they're aware of tax loopholes, to close those tax loopholes. The NDP believes in it; Mr. Mai clearly believes in it—he was just commended by Mr. Brison over it. Unfortunately he wasn't here for the tax haven study, but we know that he is committed to it.
Here we have another measure put forward by this government to close tax loopholes, and the member from the Liberals and the Liberal Party choose to defend the tax loophole. It's unbelievable. I would suggest to Canadians watching tonight that they clearly see this for what it is: this is a delay tactic. It is simply to delay.
This is an important anti-avoidance measure, and it is important to Canadians. The Liberal Party is making an absolute mockery of what's happening here tonight. Frankly, I'm very disappointed in what's going on.
We are going to support closing every tax loophole because we believe in fairness. We don't just say we believe in fairness: we put forward bills that include measures to close those tax loopholes; we vote to support measures to close tax loopholes. Canadians ought to see this for what it is. This is a game being played here by the Liberals, and it's unfortunate.
We're going to vote to support what we have put forward to close tax loopholes. I would urge the Liberals to stop playing games and start telling Canadians exactly what it is they're doing, which is delay to delay. They must start to think about the long-term implications of these anti-avoidance measures and choose to start supporting them. That is what the prudent parliamentarian ought to be doing. I don't think there's a Canadian in this country who would side with the Liberals in trying to keep tax loopholes open.
If he really believes in closing them, he will vote down his amendment and will vote in support of the government's bill.
Thank you.