Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite makes a good point. The problem is that the federal government is the one that sets the standards. The federal government is the order of government which built the expectations in the population of Canada. Provincial governments are responsible for delivering the programs for which expectations were determined by the federal government. When there is one order of government responsible for raising the money and the other order of government responsible for delivering the programs, there will automatically be situations where people are pointing fingers, one at the other, saying it is your responsibility.
It seems to me that whoever raises the money and pays the bulk of the money should be setting the standards.
My colleague opposite also pointed out that businesses create wealth. I do not have any problem with that. However, it seems to me that it would be far more efficient to provide for entrepreneurs to make a profit and retain it and get a capital pool for their investment. When any order of government uses taxpayer money to subsidize another business, it is artificially stimulating or changing the business environment in a particular area. The reason businesses take up government programs is they are there. If one business makes use of a government program and another does not, then the business that takes the government largess has an advantage. It does not create employment, it just creates more and more taxation.
I raise the example of someone working for $7 or $8 an hour and paying taxes to the federal government. That money working its way back into the business environment, subsidizing someone else to go into competition with the people who paid the money in the first place just plain does not make sense.
If we allowed entrepreneurs to retain a return on the investment that would create an entrepreneurial environment so that people could make more money from entrepreneurial activity rather than a passive return on investment on interest income, we would see a whole lot more entrepreneurial activity, a whole lot more job creation and it would be extremely cost effective.