Mr. Speaker, I cannot hide how pleased I am to see you for the first time in the Chair.
First, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Hochelaga for her excellent speech, and I would like to ask her two questions.
In general, inequalities are increasing in Canada, faster than in the United States. During the same period, under Liberal and Conservative governments, the corporate tax rate dropped from 28% to 15% between 2000 and 2012. Canadians did not see their own personal income tax rate go down as much. The government no longer has this revenue to redistribute wealth and to offer social programs.
In addition, how can the Conservatives tell us today that an unemployed person will lose 50% of any income from a second job as of their very first hour of work? How can they say that this constitutes progress or help for the unemployed?