Federal finance minister, Ralph Goodale, defended his government’s approach to dealing with income trusts in a speech today.

Speaking to the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ottawa, Goodale addressed the government’s recent moves on the tax front – including its decision to halt tax rulings for prospective income trust conversions – and, the need for greater productivity in a world where energy prices are high, the dollar is strong, low wage competition continues to grow overseas, and the Canadian population is aging.

“A forward-looking Canadian agenda for growth and prosperity must be rooted in basic framework policies designed to ensure a climate in which enterprise will flourish. Among other things, that means ongoing rock-solid fiscal discipline. Balanced budgets. Surpluses. And debt reduction,” he said.

As for its move to reconsider the income trust regime, he said, “The point of our consultations is to gain as much perspective and insight as possible on this complicated area of tax policy so that any public policy decision made will be in the best interest of all stakeholders — the average Canadian investor, the private sector, governments and the overall economy.”

Goodale stressed that improving the basic framework for growth and prosperity demands the government “work harder on timely, more efficient regulatory regimes. We need international borders that are closed to terrorists and criminals, but open efficiently for business, trade, investment and immigration. And smoothly flowing internal trade with as few barriers as possible to the mobility of people, capital, goods and services.”

He suggested that other levels of government must cooperate to reform the securities regulatory system, and to alleviate provincial capital taxes, among other things. And, he added that government must invest in public infrastructure, education and innovation.