Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of his remarks, my hon. colleague congratulated the members of the Standing Committee on Finance on their work on a report he described as excellent. He failed to mention however that this was a majority report that ignored to a large extent the official opposition members' input.
I would like to draw his attention to the title of this report, which is "Finish the Job". Does finishing the job, as he said, mean less money for research and development, an area he seems to like and in which Canada has taken a tumble in terms of its ranking among OECD nations? Canada now ranks 18th, while it used to do much better than that.
Does finishing the job mean bleeding the Canadian public service? Does it also mean bleeding Canada Post? Does the report's title mean bleeding and taking advantage of the unemployed across Canada?
I would like my hon. colleague to tell us what he would be prepared to do to help the unemployed find a way out and live with a degree of dignity instead of being forced onto welfare in a few weeks. Will the government just keep shovelling its deficit into the provinces' backyards, as it has since taking office?