Mr. Speaker, the minister is ignoring what credible economists are saying and the signals of concern they are raising. Today George Vasic said that a mild technical recession through the second and third quarters of 2001 is a credible prediction.
The finance minister talks about being tax competitive with the United States. Taxes as a percentage of our gross domestic product are 42% versus 31% in the United States. How can the finance minister stand up here day after day and tell us that we are becoming more competitive with a nation whose total tax burden is nearly a third lower than ours?