Madam Speaker, I am sure the member was here during the budget speech but he seems to have missed the fact that there have been substantial tax reductions in the budget in some of the low income areas. Also we have removed the 3% surtax. Why he does not understand this is beyond me.
I will address the great model they always want to use, the United States. That seems to be the only comparison. It seems to be the whole world actually when they get into comparative economics.
The reality is that in the numbers quoted some of those people in the United states pay the highest per capita rate for health care. Often it is not funded through their governmental system. They have higher crime rates and so forth too. We do not quote those things. We quote the taxation system.
Through the judicious hands on the lever of this government interest rates are lower. Interest rates are lower in Canada than in the United States. I do not know where the member has been if he does not think a major factor of productivity in any business is interest. The reality is that Canada is still and continues to be an attractive place in which to do business.