I think the services are incredibly important. The budget cuts announced at the end of September will produce a definite impact in the form of court challenges, literacy funding, and youth employment programs. The unemployment rate among young people is over 21%. Yet we have a government that's going to reduce the funding that actually creates jobs for young people. This reduction of funds, combined with the $1.3 billion cut to training and literacy programs, amounts to $2 billion worth of cuts in money that would have helped some of our most vulnerable citizens.
I'm extremely concerned about the impact of these cuts. I'm particularly worried about how this is going to affect the long-term stability of Canada. Right now we have a resource export boom that's being driven in Alberta, but those natural resources aren't being stewarded to create jobs across the country that everybody has access to. While corporations are making record profits, we have a situation in Canada where the gap between the highest- and the lowest-paid people is growing. How is that possible? There's something wrong with the trickle-down theory. It simply hasn't ever worked.
I'll just end by saying we don't need to worry about having a competitive corporate tax rate at the moment. Our corporate tax rates are actually lower than those in the United States. So the question is distribution and how to accomplish it.