Thank you for that.
He did admit—and it was the first time the government has admitted this—to the fact that Canadian families at the poorer income levels are actually getting poorer. Now, he said he hoped that would address itself. My concern, and I'll complete the point on that note, is that more of the same medicine is not going to lead to more prosperity; it's going to lead to an even larger prosperity gulf as our manufacturing capacity erodes.
I'd like to continue on the issue of pesticides; Mr. Bains mentioned it earlier. We have a decision by the government to allow for greater pesticide residue in Canadian food. This is a food safety issue. There have been studies done. The 2006 study in the Annals of Neurology found that even low exposure to pesticides increases the risk of contracting Parkinson's disease by 70%. What the government is doing, in a very clear and unabashed way, by saying they want to harmonize or remove that trade irritant of more effective food safety regulations, is actually putting Canadians' health at risk.
The United States has the weakest pesticide rules in the industrialized world. Why would it be in Canada's interest to lower our food safety regulations, to actually put Canadians' health in jeopardy, so that we can in some way harmonize our regulations with lower American standards?