Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the hon. member about the raising of the GST or actually about the GST itself. He stated that most economists do not agree with that.
I wonder what his reply would be to the service industry. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association has told us that sector has about one million employees, that 4% of the GDP is contributed by restaurants and the detrimental effect the GST has had on their economy.
In a riding like Chatham-Kent—Essex with 110,000 people, if we do the math, it would distribute another $12 million within our riding. Does that not make an effect on our economy? Is that not a good thing? Are we not moving in the right direction by reducing taxes and giving more money especially to those people that the NDP rightfully point out are the ones in the groups who need it most?