“Isn't it beautiful to cut taxes?” The gentleman is already beginning to recognize that he could turn it into music.
Wouldn't all Canadians wish to sing a new song? They would love to sing the song “I have a job and I have less taxes to pay. I have more money for my children's education. I have more money for entertainment. I have more money to do the things I really want to do”. I am so glad the hon. member opposite recognizes there are countries in the world which know how to do that.
We need to recognize that it is very important for hon. members opposite to recognize what the role of government ought to be. I would like the previous parliamentary secretary to the minister of industry to listen very carefully. The role of government is to maintain a culture which rewards entrepreneurship, innovation and research, and ensures a level, competitive and honest marketplace.
How can that be done? It can be done by creating a change in attitude from dependence upon government handouts to one of independence, creativity, the ability to apply one's initiative and an attitude which will give us the incentive to produce, develop and become increasingly efficient.
That happens when taxes are reduced and when people are allowed to spend the money they have so carefully earned instead of the money being spent by a politician or a bureaucrat.
Individual people in Canada are far more capable than any member of the House of spending money in their best interest. They know where it ought to be spent. That ought to be our number one concern.
I sympathize with the NDP when it says that we ought to create employment. Its solution is to give more money to these people through taxes. That would be taking the taxes from one group of people, giving a bit to the bureaucrats and politicians, and giving a bit back to the people. It would create dependent people. It would not solve anything.
The money should be left in the hands of the people. They will spend it wisely. They will develop, produce and provide the kinds of services that will make the country better and make them richer. It would even make NDPers richer.
I want to show precisely how convinced even the Minister of Finance is that payroll taxes actually cut jobs. More than one official in his department has demonstrated clearly that payroll taxes cut jobs. He has ample evidence all around him to show that is the case.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business surveyed over 19,000 small businesses. It found that over half, or 50.8% to be specific, would hire more individuals if payroll taxes were reduced. That is only one kind of tax, payroll tax.
If over half of them would do that it would increase the number of jobs rather dramatically. Only 10% of the businesses surveyed believed the government's infrastructure program—and I wish the hon. member who was just talking about the infrastructure program were here to listen—would encourage more hiring. Over half of them believed that if payroll taxes were reduced they would hire more people.
I have anecdotal evidence of my own. I know full well that as the payroll taxes go up the number of new hires goes down. If we want to get serious about creating jobs we will not increase payroll taxes; we will reduce them. That is what we will do.
A recent paper was delivered by Canadian economists Livio Di Matteo and Michael Shannon. They found that each percentage point increase in payroll taxes reduced employment by .32%. Based on current levels of employment, a one percentage point increase in payroll taxes will kill 44,000 jobs.
I want to put this into perspective. Just recently the Minister of Finance announced in the House and to all Canadians that CPP would be increased by more than 4%. That means four times 44,000 fewer people in the workforce. That is significant.
Are we to sit here and they to sit there saying that this is good for Canada? It is not good for Canada. Payroll taxes ought to be cut. That would be a solution to the unemployment problem.
If we really want to create a better environment for our children and our grandchildren we would cut taxes and let the people spend the money.