Mr. Speaker, I am going to cut the member for Newton--North Delta a bit of slack with respect to his statement on accountable government as he was not here in the last session. He was not here in the last session when his party was sitting on this side of the House and all Canadians received a clear lesson on what accountable government is and what it is not.
I can quite honestly say that this party on this side of the House is the government now simply because Canadian citizens do believe in accountability. My hon. colleague's party on the other side of the House obviously suffered from a lack of Canadians' confidence. It was well illustrated that those members were totally unaccountable.
I do want to thank my colleague, however, for his assessment of the realities of the marketplace and the considerations given.
As far as surtaxes are concerned, I mentioned to my colleague who proposed this motion that I do not know where we get off trying to decide which industry should be penalized and which industry should not be penalized. As an example, the pharmaceutical industry, by many statements and many international records, is considered to be one of the most profitable industries in the world. One of the major headquarters for the pharmaceutical industry in Canada is in the province of Quebec where enormous profits are being made by that industry. I do not see a surtax being applied there toward health care for Canadians.
I am suggesting that we do not seem to have a sense of balance here.