Thank you, Mr. Laforest.
You refer to future estimates. You refer to government revenue estimates and to the aging population, which could have a major impact on future government revenues.
You said that 395,000 jobs have been lost over the last two years. These were very well-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector. At this point, the majority of jobs created in Canada pay far less than those of the manufacturing sector, and they are often part-time positions. So, the tax rate and government revenues would certainly be less than they would be had the 395,000 well-paid jobs in the manufacturing sector been kept. Indeed, those people would be paying higher taxes.
Today, we are seeing—and economists are telling us so—that the jobs that are being created do not pay as well. It seems as though we would have to live with an increase in these types of jobs and a continued drop in well-paying manufacturing sector jobs.
Are you able to tell us whether government revenues over the next few years, based on personal income tax rates, will increase or whether, on the contrary, they will continue to drop? In my opinion, the more well-paid jobs lost, the less taxes collected, that is obvious. If you replace 395,000 jobs or one million well-paid jobs by one million jobs at a lower tax rate, it makes a huge difference to revenue.