Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to this amendment.
In this bill the government is taking a look at small business. It wants to provide more funds for small business. We would argue on this side of the House that what the government should do is provide the economic climate for small businesses to flourish and prosper in Canada.
I visit businesses in my riding. I talk to employers who work very hard at their businesses and who employ a small number of employees. They do not mention that they need a subsidy.
It is the government's responsibility to provide an economic climate that would help to foster a positive economy for our country. We know small business is the engine of job creation in Canada; it is not government but small business.
Subsidies can have the effect of rewarding one small business in competition with another with the other company's own tax dollars. That does not seem to make sense. It would make better sense for the government to focus on the things it can take care of, such as high payroll taxes.
There are very high EI taxes in Canada. Today in question period we heard the finance minister openly defy the auditor general's report. The auditor general said that the accounting practices the minister is employing are not proper and that he would not sign off on those government estimates. Yet the finance minister stands in his place and says that it is okay, that the Liberals can do this, that they are the government so they can do this.
That is exactly the kind of thing small businesses would like to see changed. They would like to see payroll taxes decreased.