Mr. Speaker, I am quite surprised. The member for Kings—Hants is a member of the finance committee and I would have thought he might have read the budget. He covered so much terrain and there are many areas in which there is much misinformation. I would like to focus on a couple.
First of all, on the CHST and the transfers to the provinces, the member cited a 13% increase. As I indicated earlier and as the budget papers clearly portray, the cash portion of the transfers, which is only one part of the transfer as there are tax points as the member full well knows, is increasing with this budget by 25%. In fact, the CHST has been fully restored. If we throw in equalization, it is at a level of about $40 billion in transfers to the provinces.
He talked about making business more competitive. The budget reduces the corporate tax rate from 28% to 21% for the highly taxed sectors. That is a pretty bold move. It takes the 21% rate and for small businesses applies that immediately for income between $200,000 and $300,000.
He talked about access to capital and incubation of small companies. If he turns to the budget papers, he will realize that the budget introduces taxation benefits for stock options, the capital gains treatment of stock options. That will help businesses, start-ups and particularly those in the high technology sector. If he read the budget papers, he would realize that the government has introduced capital gains tax remission for companies that roll over their capital gains and put it into small businesses and start-ups and part of the invigorating part of our economy.
If he actually read the budget, he would discover that the capital gains tax inclusion rate has been reduced from three-quarters to two-thirds.
If he read the budget, he would understand that it puts close to $2.4 billion into defence.
I could go on and on but I think the member should read the budget before he comes to the House. Normally he is most informed on these issues. I was surprised today. Has the member read the budget?