A handful of Conservative government cabinet ministers will give speeches to select audiences at home and abroad Tuesday, voicing Ottawa's opposition to the push for an international bank tax that is backed by European governments.
It is a tactic Prime Minister Stephen Harper has chosen to give maximum exposure to his government's push to kill the proposed tax, which the Conservatives say will unfairly punish prudent Canadian banks.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is in Mumbai, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day in Shanghai and International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan is in Washington -- and all will deliver speeches outlining the government's stance on the contentious bank tax proposal. At home in Ottawa, Industry Minister Tony Clement and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will give speeches in Ottawa.
The proposed bank tax would collect fees from financial institutions that would be used to protect banks against future financial meltdown, preventing taxpayers from having to bail them out.
European governments are in favour of the concept, which has also reportedly gained the backing of the White House. But the Harper government has opposed the idea from the get-go.
Speaking about his opposition to the bank tax on Monday, Harper suggested Canadian banks could end up paying for the mistakes of other financial institutions that hadn't operated in a fiscally responsible manner.
"They were not able to exploit some of the opportunities that got so many of these other western banks into trouble. That's why we think it would obviously be unfair," he said.
As an alternative, the Harper government suggests that improved financial regulation is the key to avoiding another financial meltdown. Ottawa will continue to push its plan for financial reforms at the upcoming G20 summit in Toronto next month.
Janet Ecker, a former Ontario finance minister and president of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, said any potential regulatory solution must be applicable on a global basis.
"If anybody had any doubt that we had a global economy and a global financial system, that was put to rest with the financial meltdown," Ecker told CTV's Canada AM during an interview in Toronto on Tuesday morning.
"So to fix it, we need global solutions that are effective and that are right and that work for all of the jurisdictions."
