Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and happy birthday as well.
Thank you for joining us in the middle of summer, Mr. Minister. We really appreciate the opportunity to ask you questions about the government's plan to ensure the financial security of Canadians.
We wanted to invite you here--and others, by the way--because of the global situation. As you mentioned, we have seen the wild stock swings, the sovereign debt crises in Europe, and concerns about another potential recession.
In spite of your reassurances, though, our economy has been underperforming. We have inadequate demand to generate economic activity and investment that would put money in the pockets of Canadians and their families so that they can spend and further boost the Canadian economy.
We have, as you know, 1.7 million Canadians who are out of work or have stopped looking or are underemployed, and their lost wages alone cost our economy about $80 billion. Companies are sitting on about $500 billion of cash that they've been using to pay down debt and pay dividends. It's almost enough to pay down our entire debt in Canada, yet this government's looking at giving them a further corporate tax cut. Consumers are tapped out with very high personal debt levels, and our export deficit is growing.
Clearly, there are concerns about the U.S., where 70% of our exports go, so we can't be complacent as a country. We can't be rigid or inflexible. Your government has chosen to attack the fiscal deficit by cutting spending, thus taking more money out of the economy and increasing unemployment.
My question is, why not attack the jobs deficit? Why not create jobs that will keep the economy moving and also reduce the fiscal deficit through growth? With interest rates at near-record lows, is it not irresponsible for the government to be less proactive? Why not make strategic public investments to serve the people of Canada, create jobs, improve retirement security, boost growth, and through that ultimately lower Canada's debt?