Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I think I have spent the past 20 minutes demonstrating just that. There is nothing in this budget to boost the economy. I am not the only one saying that. Based on the articles I have had a chance to read today, analysts across the country agree that the Minister of Finance missed the mark in terms of stimulating the economy.
There is nothing. The tax reductions were already planned. There is nothing new, no new money. What would have been really important is an increase in the Canada social transfer to help the provinces faced with serious problems in the health sector. The rate of funding for education has never been so low. Something should have been done in that sector as well.
Investing in services stimulates the economy, because more people can be hired to provide these services, particularly in hospitals.
There is nothing, apart from the instalment payments called for by the Bloc Quebecois. This was also a measure favoured by Mrs. Marois in her last budget. Apart from the deferral of installment payments for six months, there is absolutely nothing to help industries or companies.
There are many companies in my riding. I think that all entrepreneurs are now starting to dip into their reserves because of the economic downturn. We must not mince words. We are now in a real recession. These people are worried. They expected the Minister of Finance to help them out until the economy rebounds. This is not what is being offered in the budget brought down by the Minister of Finance yesterday.
In our view, this budget does nothing but make announcements regarding security, defence and so forth. We have nothing against the federal government taking meaningful action to ensure the safety of Quebecers and Canadians. But we were expecting more. The Minister of Finance is still keeping us in the dark and fiddling with the books. In our opinion, he had another $6 billion available to reinvest and put the economy back on track.