Madam Speaker, I would like to ask a question of the member who defends this status quo budget. It is not much more than the status quo of what the government has been doing over the years, which is not much of anything.
I am curious as to how the member feels about the $200 million injection into the budget that is supposed to help our military when we have words from the auditor general saying that billions of dollars are needed and a Senate committee insisting that we put a $3 billion to $4 billion injection into the military immediately. That $200 million sounds very small. At the same time the government is prepared to inject $500 million into providing cottages for the criminals across our land to give them more comforts while they are incarcerated. People do not respond favourably to these kinds of things. He has taken a lot of time on his high horse about the wonderful budget, but these specific things do not resonate with Canadians at all. I am wondering how they resonate with him.
Second, I hope the people who live in his riding will take some time to fax the member copies of their paycheque stubs of a year ago and paycheque stubs of today. He will notice that there is quite a significant difference in the amount of take home pay, which is less now than it has ever been. The standard of living is going down. The government is gouging and taking more taxes. It is like a bunch of rats; it can smell out taxes from the most unbelievable places to make more revenue. It absolutely is not resonating with Canadians. The member may say it is, but it certainly is not. I would like to hear the member respond to that.