Mr. Speaker, at one point one of the high priorities of the government was supposed to be to deal with issues such as innovation and productivity. The Minister of Human Resources Development and the Minister of Industry held a series of meetings across the country to gather input on this. It was to be a big deal but it fell off the radar screen. In fact, there was hardly a mention of it in the last budget.
Clearly, I think the member would acknowledge that Canada needs to become more competitive in the world. He probably knows that as a result of our inability to keep up, our standard of living has also fallen, along with our sort of lackadaisical productivity record.
Many countries have now surpassed us in the last number of years. Certainly everyone has heard about Ireland and its great turnaround. Countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Iceland have all surpassed us in terms of standard of living. This is tied directly to our ability to be more productive.
My question has to do with the fact that one of the keys to their improved productivity was that they have been very aggressive about reducing corporate tax rates and capital taxes. Their standard of living has ultimately jumped as a result.
Why is the government dragging its feet on bringing about these reductions in corporate taxes, either manufacturers' taxes or in this case resource taxes? Why is the government dragging its feet? Does it not appreciate that this has a direct bearing on people's standard of living ultimately and the longer the government delays, the longer people are denied being able to enjoy the fruits of a greater standard of living?