Madam Speaker, there are two points that I would like to make to the hon. member.
First of all, she talks about taxpayers. She is right to talk about taxpayers. They are an important part of Canada. In fact, there was $7 billion worth of tax relief in this budget. What this member and what her party do not talk about are those Canadians who are not taxpayers: the disabled who are unable to work; seniors who are living in poverty; Canadians who are unable to find work for whatever reason. Those 10 million plus Canadians in this society who are not taxpayers deserve the interest of this government as much as Canadian taxpayers.
Second, and I will be very brief here, it was interesting that the member, in talking about transfers to the provinces, failed to bring up the fact of equalization and the fact that equalization payments have actually increased. Do you know why I think she may not have brought it up? Because her party's platform in the last election called for the absolute gutting of these transfer payments, of these equalization payments, so that our poorer provinces, the provinces where access to basic services are important and need the support of equalization, would be disadvantaged. That party would simply do away with it. So I ask the question: Why would she not talk about equalization payments and her party's determination to gut them?