Mr. Speaker, I was more than a bit interested to hear the hon. member talk about rural Canada to some extent. It was nice to hear but talk is terribly cheap. Unfortunately a lot more about the budget neglects the rural and remote areas of Canada rather than looks forward to helping rural Canada.
The Canadian Private Woodlot Owners Association has been asking for the last 10 years and has been very adamant for the last five years that the federal government find a way to incorporate sustainable development of woodlots and sustainable forestry practice into the Income Tax Act. There is nothing in the budget for sustainable woodlot management.
There is absolutely nothing in the budget for the mining communities in remote areas of Canada and in the rest of Canada in terms of flow through shares. There is no talk at all about flow through shares for exploration companies in the mining community.
There is absolutely nothing in the budget for real tax relief for farmers who need serious tax relief for over $500,000 of capital gains. There is very modest tax relief from 75% of capital gains down to 66 and two-thirds, and of that one can only claim 50%. I would say there is a lot more in the budget that does not help rural Canada than does.
She talked about infrastructure. For the first time in eons we mention wharves and infrastructure which the government decided to divest itself of. Wharves are mentioned but there is no mention of how the government plans to put money into wharves and put infrastructure money into the ports and harbours of Canada. There are a lot more unanswered questions about assistance to the rural and remote areas of Canada than questions that are answered in the budget.