I would like to thank my colleagues for their selflessness and caring, both of which allowed us to prepare a presentation, which we will give a little later. I also want to thank everyone for their presentations this afternoon. What you have done is extremely important. After hearing from the petrochemical industry, social groups and students, we are in a better position to prepare and analyze the government's budget choices. A budget is a reflection of choices, and those choices will speak volumes about the government's priorities, which are not always the same as ours.
I want to start with Mr. Podruzny. I would like him to discuss the tax cuts that he has just advocated. He knows that our party does not agree with him: we believe that the money that could be saved by not granting your members those tax cuts could be used for social spending.
I want to ask you something very specific. Even before the global economic crisis, 450,000 jobs were lost in Canada's manufacturing sector, namely in Quebec and Ontario. We have always favoured a targeted economic approach. Having a manufacturing sector in a country such as ours requires the government to make certain choices. In order to achieve $60 billion in corporate tax cuts—the total amount of the tax cuts—the government created tax room by looting the employment insurance fund.
The equation works out almost perfectly: $57 billion taken out of the EI fund and $60 billion invested in tax cuts. Do you find it fair that those cuts came out of the employment insurance fund, while all of your members in the manufacturing sector, who, despite losing money and not making any, could not take advantage of those cuts? Let us be clear, a company that does not make money never pays taxes. But, all of these companies, even though they were losing money, paid into the employment insurance fund for all their employees.
Are you telling me that you agree with a tax policy that takes money away from your members, who duly paid into the system even though they were losing money, and gives that money to the most wealthy companies, those that made profits, such as in the oil and petrochemical industries, but also to the banks, which had absolutely no need for it? Does your association consider that a good tax decision by the government?