Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, our Conservative government does not believe in punishing Canadian families who are trying to get ahead with higher taxes and reckless deficit spending that would hurt our economy and cost jobs.
The NDP has shown its pro-tax agenda by opposing our GST reductions, demanding $10 billion a year in higher business taxes that would lead to job losses, and even asking for new taxes, like a tax on everyday financial transactions.
While the NDP is promoting its high tax agenda, our Conservative government is helping families with our low tax agenda that is saving the average Canadian family over $3,000 a year.
We are also helping Canadian consumers, especially those who use financial services. Canadians use financial services products every day, whether it is by using their credit card, cashing a cheque, going to the bank, or signing a mortgage. Canadians deserve to be treated fairly when they use these products and to be provided with clear information before agreeing to use them.
For that reason, since 2006, our Conservative government has introduced key measures to address the concerns of consumers and to make financial services products more advantageous for consumers.
For example, our government has protected consumers with new credit card rules that require consent for credit limit increases, a minimum grace period of 21 days for new purchases, disclosure to the consumer and limits on commercial practices that are detrimental to the consumer; established a code of conduct for the credit and debit card industry to help small businesses fight unfair practices—the code promotes fairness, encourages choice and competition and will protect businesses against cost hikes; banned negative option billing for financial products; reduced the hold periods for cheques; made mortgage insurance more transparent, more understandable and more affordable through better disclosure and other measures; and established an independent working group responsible for making recommendations on financial literacy to help consumers make informed choices.
In the 2011 budget, our Conservative government is building on our achievements by implementing other measures to help consumers such as banning unsolicited credit card cheques, protecting consumers of prepaid cards, and moving forward with the implementation of the recommendations of the task force on financial literacy, starting with the appointment of an official responsible for financial literacy in the government.
The question for the NDP is why it is opposing all of these pro-consumer initiatives and instead promoting a high tax agenda, even increasing the GST?