I just want to respond very directly to Mr. Martin's question.
Ed Broadbent, someone I think you know, wrote a very interesting opinion article in the Globe and Mail on November 24, the 20th anniversary of the Eliminating Child Poverty resolution. One of the things he suggested was that if the federal government were to increase the marginal tax rate on people with individual taxable incomes above $250,000 per year to 35%, which is exactly what people in the United States pay making that level of income—that's a six percentage point increase, from 29% to 35%—the federal government could generate an additional $4 billion a year in revenue.
What if the federal government were to decide, with that $4 billion, that they were going to put it into some key priorities? For example, the Caledon Institute has calculated that child tax benefits could be increased by about 50% above current levels with an additional $4 billion investment. Perhaps some could be applied to enhancing the disability tax credit that Bev talked about.
I think there is some room to look at raising the marginal tax rates on very wealthy Canadians. In a sense we're non-competitive with the United States, which has a 35% tax rate above $250,000 in individual taxable income. I think if it were framed in that way, and if those dollars were dedicated to fighting poverty, you might be surprised: there might be more support for that kind of proposal than we think at the current time.