Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague and I come from the same province. He talked about the families he has met who earn $20,000 to $30,000 and the day to day difficulties in which they find themselves. However, I noticed the minister did not talk much about the budget about which this debate is.
Therefore, I want to ask him two questions.
First, the corporate sector of the country reported an 18.8% profit under the current tax system this year. The insurance companies and the banks are reporting record profits, profits on the backs of the people about whom he so eloquently talked. Where did the tax breaks go? Generally to those big corporations at 2% over the years, a $4.2 billion tax break.
We have asked on this side of the House for many years to remove the GST on home heating essentials to give an equitable tax break to those hard-working families.
My second question for him is as the minister in charge of procurement. I could not believe the lob ball question by the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans about whether the new Coast Guard vessels would be built in Canada. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans could not even answer a simple lobbed question from his own backbencher.
Let me ask this of the minister who will eventually end up signing the cheque on these new ships whenever they come. We in Halifax and in shipyards across the country have asked this very clearly. In the new procurement process for Coast Guard and military vessels, will these vessels be built in Canada using taxpayer dollars.