Mr. Speaker, I want to deal with a couple of the errors, or misconceptions maybe, that the member has indicated in his speech.
First of all he left the impression that since the tax revenue of the government is going to increase from $107 billion to $140 billion that somehow, and members opposite use the phrase over and over again, this is being done on the backs of Canadians. The hon. member is using a little bit of smoke and mirrors.
There are a million more people working in Canada than there were in the prior year or since the mandate of this government commenced. That means there are more taxpayers working, more taxpayers paying their taxes and there is more revenue for the government. It is absolutely erroneous to suggest that somehow this is a greater tax burden on the individual Canadian.
The member also talks a lot about bracket creep. He had a lot of fluff in there about all the editorial commentary. The member should probably well know, and I think Canadians should well know that this bracket creep issue has to do with the indexation of the basic personal amount as an example, which is $6,456 and an inflation rate exceeding 3%. Given what the inflation rate was for instance last year and taking the federal rate, what we are talking about is approximately $12.46 for an ordinary taxpayer in terms of the federal coffers.
The member goes on and on about 33 tax increases since this government took its mandate. We are talking about small items. We are not talking about the substantive items.
I want to ask him a question about tax relief. Tax relief in the amount of $7 billion was provided to Canadians in this budget. It included items like increasing the provisions under the basic personal amount. It included a number of measures, but it accumulated to some $7 billion. That is included in the determination of a balanced budget. The member may suggest that the tax relief is nominal, but it was $7 billion.
If the member is going to make the argument, can he stand up and explain to the House exactly how or what he is going to change in this budget? What item is he going to change specifically to provide which tax benefit? I want him to say exactly what tax benefit he is going to provide to Canadians. How much is it going to cost? And is he still going to be able to deliver the balanced budget that Canadians have asked for?