Mr. Speaker, I am talking about truth in advertising and that is not offered in the budget. I said that bracket creep prior to the reindexation of the tax code constituted an annual tax increase, but I also said that stopping a tax increase was not a tax cut. People running stores increase prices every year. It is ridiculous to say if one year they decide not to increase them they are therefore cutting their prices. I thought the member was an accountant. I do not know how he gets that twisted logic.
I have considerable regard for the member, but in terms of the CPP either he has been grossly misinformed or he is misinforming the House when he says that the opposition seeks to scrap the Canada pension plan. He knows that is not true.
We have proposed in the past and continue to propose a degree of freedom for younger Canadians to direct a portion of their mandatory pension premiums into self-directed investment vehicles as opposed to a government invested fund. That is not scrapping the CPP. He knows that perfectly well. I see that his nose is growing.
In terms of the child tax benefit I simply said that this was a transfer program disguised within the tax system. It is not a tax cut. It is a targeted entitlement. It is essentially a redesigned version of the old family allowance, which is fine.
We could have a legitimate debate about that, but the point is that it is wrong to count it as a tax cut. When we include CPP increases this year and other increases in the budget for taxes there is a net tax increase in the current year in the midst of a recession. That is not good fiscal policy.