Right now, I think we have several aspects to it.
To go to Sean's point, I'd say the starting point is, why would we run a deficit? I think we need a long-term goal. What's our strategy? What do we want to see the economy being in 10 to 15 years from now? I have a particular view on that. I'm thinking about how we're going to benefit our export sector, how we're going to ease transportation across Canada to make Canada a hub, not just for exports in general but a global trade hub. That involves a lot of infrastructure, trade infrastructure, in order to ease the movement of goods and people across Canada. That is one aspect of it.
The other aspect is, how are we going to make Canada a draw for foreign direct investment? That's when I get to the small business tax credit. To try to make Canada a hub for foreign investment to come into Canada, reform the small business corporate tax backdrop to encourage growth.
We also have immigration aspects, which have been talked about elsewhere.
When we're doing stimulus we have to have that idea: what is our goal, where are we going forward, what do we ultimately want to see, and what are the benchmarks we're going to use for success? I think there was room to do more stimulus in the last budget, with the proviso that we had a long-term goal. What is it we want to see for the economy 10 to 15 years down the road? As opposed to being an energy superpower, do we want to be an innovation superpower? How are we going to do that? We use the leverage of the government in an environment of low interest rates...people willing to invest in Canada. We have this generally sluggish growth backdrop, which seems to suggest that if somebody can step up to provide growth opportunities, they should. In Canada, I see that being the federal government.
That provides the structure that suggests why we should run government and what we should aim for.