Thank you, Chair, and my thanks to all the witnesses for being here today.
Being from Toronto, I'm going to avoid CropLife Canada, Grain Growers of Canada, and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, so you can all take a breather for the next five minutes.
Mr. Russell, it's good to see you again. I'm going to direct my questions to you.
The NDP is correct—credit where credit is due—in that they are in favour of lowering of the small business tax rate by two points. But they also support an increase in corporate tax of 19.5%, which represents a $3.6 billion corporate tax squeeze.
Going through all the different consultations that we have throughout the country and in Ottawa, and listening to the NDP and how they are in favour of increased taxes, it reminds me of that movie, Canadian Bacon, with John Candy, when he stormed the RCMP headquarters to free his friend who had been arrested for crossing the border with firearms. One of the persons in the jail cell, when John Candy asked what he was in for, said, “Well, I'm a corporate executive.”
How would an increase in corporate taxes affect your members?