Mr. Speaker, it is apparent that the last speaker obviously spent more time reading his speech than listening to what the minister of finance from British Columbia had to say and what the premier of Saskatchewan had to say. It is obvious he spent more time writing his speech than actually reading the budget.
Is the hon. member suggesting, given that poverty is one of the single greatest indicators of health and given that the ability to have access to good health care increases productivity remarkably, that he would not have had us make health care a priority in the budget?
Does the member think that we should not have dealt with the GST so that single parents in very low income circumstances would begin to get the maximum of their GST rebate supplement in a timely manner?
The child tax benefit is going to give $1,975 for the first child and an extra $1,775 for the second child in the family. That may not sound like a lot of money but it is a substantial increase of almost $4,000 to a low income family of two. The child tax benefit moved the level up from $26,000 to $29,000 which may sound like a great deal of money but which is poverty and low income circumstances as far as I am concerned.
There are so many initiatives that are helping poor single parents in the budget. Had the member taken the time to read the budget he would have known that. Does the hon. member not think we should have done all of those things?