Elizabeth May: Madam Speaker, I hope the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour will bear with me because I had wanted to ask a question of the hon. member for Niagara West—Glanbrook.
He spoke in favour of the bill, and I think we all find the bill relatively acceptable. It certainly is more business housekeeping than anything very radical. However, he happened to mention that he supported the Minister of Finance in opposing the international financial transaction tax, a transaction tax that the Green Party supports very strongly. It is only 2¢ on every $1,000 of international derivatives trading, which brought the world nearly to ruin.
I would like the hon. member’s thoughts and perhaps the official position of the New Democratic Party on the financial transaction tax.
Robert Chisholm: Madam Speaker, I share concerns over the government’s opposition to this important measure.
However, I will raise another concern that has been brought up, and that is how government members have said that the bill is good because it removes regulation and red tape. Within days or weeks we are going to hear about the value of reducing regulation and red tape as it relates to environmental assessments and how good that is going to be for the country. When the government says removing that kind of regulatory control is good for the country, I think of that. When the government says something is good for us, it is generally just the opposite.