Mr. Speaker, I think I did try to paint in the limited time available to me that there is a role. I said there was a role for the public sector. I hope the member remembers my comments about the public-private partnerships which I think will be inevitable in areas like Atlantic Canada that have an infrastructure deficit. I do think there is a role for the public sector. I have maintained that.
Getting back to the example of Georgia, it is interesting that it changed the constitution. An odd little clause says that it prohibits subsidies to businesses in Georgia. It is prohibited in the state constitution. Tax breaks are okay as long as they apply to all businesses, not just to hockey teams, not just to one specific favourite of the minister, but they have to apply to all businesses. What is the result? Over the last 20 years, Georgia's economy has grown 150%. The Canadian economy has grown by 45%. Even in the United States it has only grown by two-thirds.
I do not claim that Maine is the be all and end all of a perfect American state, but even in Maine where similar programs are in place its unemployment rate is only 8.5%, half of what it is just north of the border. It has the same type of geography, the same type of logistical problems yet its unemployment rate which is a key determining measurement factor is much less.