Mr. Speaker, this is what happens in politics when a political debate is dumbed down into catch phrases that are supposed to represent entire economic thoughts.
The progressivity that the member talks about is nonsensical. He is describing progressivity as progressive larger chunks of income that the government takes away. Our concept of progressivity is moving the economy forward, rewarding the best and brightest and letting people keep more of what they earn so they can have a better future. That is progressive.
Although it is broken, flawed and unproven in almost every jurisdiction it has been tried, there is an economic argument presented in Das Kapital that says “The harder you work, the more you build, the more people you employ, the more you innovate, the more entrepreneurial you are, the more the state should punish you”. Yes, there is an argument out there for that.
Speaking as a young Canadian, and I hope I am not alone, it is rather progressive to say to people that the bigger the risk they take, the more successful they are, the more people they employ, the more ingenious they are, the more creative they are, the bigger sacrifices they make, the more the state is going to champion them as the kind of people that ought to live here, not the kind of people we are going to target and punish because we can take money from them and give it to the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism. That is not progressivity.
However the Liberals seem to define progressivity as the progressively larger chunks that the government can take away from the builders, producers, entrepreneurs and the people who make the country work. I would suggest that the Finance Minister spend more time out there talking to small business people and telling them that in Canada they are worth something because they make the country work. They employ the people and they make the country work. The government should reward them not punish them for being the best that this country has.