Mr. Speaker, given that we will be strict on time in terms of questions and comments, I feel like someone at a smorgasbord. I do not know where to start, but I will be succinct.
The member talked about the budget in Ontario, corporate income taxes and their impact on trade, et cetera. Has the member actually had a chance to read the Ontario budget or budget 2000 of the federal government? Budget 2000 of the federal government reduced the general corporate tax rate from 28% to 21% or seven percentage points. A few months later the Ontario government has come along and made similar reductions in the corporate tax rate. I applaud the Ontario government for following the lead of the federal government.
In fact, the member opposite talked about how Canadian companies are not competitive. He cited Ontario. I can tell the hon. member that when these corporate tax reductions are fully implemented, the combined federal and Ontario corporate tax rate will be significantly below the tax rates in that party's sacred cow, the United States, and in the United Kingdom, two jurisdictions that the member for Calgary East cited.
I am wondering if the hon. member has had a chance to actually read the Ontario budget and to read budget 2000 of the federal government and if he would reconsider the conclusion he reached earlier, because I think it clearly negates what he said earlier.