Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Industry likes to portray himself as a champion of productivity. Sadly, his government is the champion of high taxes and user fees on the private sector.
Since the Liberals took office in 1993 corporate income tax revenue has more than doubled. Canada's combined federal-provincial general corporate income tax rate averages 43%, 4 percentage points higher than comparable rates in the United States, our number one competitor.
Canada's corporate tax is also 9% higher than the average G-7 country.
The Liberals also did nothing to address their unfair, competitive and non-productive cost recovery program. In 1996-97 alone the program cost 23,000 Canadian jobs and cut $1.3 billion from our GDP.
If the Minister of Industry was serious about productivity he should have fought for a budget that provides tax and regulatory relief for the private sector. Let us hope the minister's battle to save the NHL is more successful than his battle to improve productivity.