Mr. Speaker, you can tell it has been a long day when the member opposite stands up and tells the House and the television audience how much his government and minister have done for small business.
There are a lot of small businesses right now that are taking some Tylenol, some Pepto-Bismol because that speech must not only give them headaches but make them absolutely nauseous.
They say they do not want to stand in the way of small business and that they are helping small business. They have breached their obligation to small business. They have thrown up obstacles which small business has to struggle over just to do what it wants, to try to make some money.
I want to talk about the incredible tax regime that the Liberal government has laid on the backs of small business. Where does the money come from that the government says it is giving to the small business program? It rips it out of the pockets of small businesses and then it comes like heroes and tries to give it back to them. The best thing it could do is to stay out of the pockets of small businesses and let them get on with business. That would be better than any program it could put on the table for small business.
How can the Liberals stand up in the House and say how good they are to small businesses while at the same time they are taxing them by over 33% more on their EI premiums? They are ripping it out of their payrolls, their investment capital and their profits. How can they stand there and say how good they are being to small business? It is astonishing and it is dishonest.