Mr. Speaker, we are dealing with a budget implementation bill. I know the member is always enthusiastic when he is talking about not only the last budget, but what should be in the next budget.
I want to briefly comment on the child care matter he dealt with. In my own view, I do not think Canadians are homogenous and can be pigeonholed into one or the other. People who do not go to work will be on welfare and if they have children they do need to have some support.
The member will well know that I have worked hard to support families that have one parent who stays at home to provide direct parental care to their preschool children. We do have to be balanced and be reflective of the reality of families.
The points that I want to put to the member have to do with taxation. In a 2004 report it was summarized and reported that in the year 2002, 15 million Canadians filed income tax returns and paid taxes. Another 7 million taxpayers who filed returns paid no taxes, but they filed returns for other purposes. We are really talking about 15 million Canadians filing tax returns and paying taxes.
If we were to give $100 to each one of those 15 million people, we would be talking about $1.5 billion. If we were to give $500, all of a sudden we would be up to the level of the last surplus. A $500 tax cut for Canadians would wipe out last year's surplus.
The member is saying that he wants serious tax cuts. How much in tax cuts is he proposing if $500 would cost almost $9 billion? What does the member mean when he says serious tax cuts? Let us get a dollar figure. Let us get the magnitude so that we can understand what commitment his party is trying to make, not only to one year when there is a surplus, but which will be with us as an obligation of reduced revenue each and every year forever?