Madam Speaker, I think that is a little bit of a mischaracterization of the Conservatives. Yes, our members who spoke to this did mention that people were being taxed too much and certainly that is true. Too much money is being taken from them. A balance is necessary.
Paying down the debt is part of the Conservative policy, by the way. In a Conservative budget we would mandate a portion that had to be paid down. In every budget, a portion of that budget would be mandated to go to debt repayment because we feel that is important for the future.
In terms of productivity, it is the high taxes that take investment elsewhere. We are living now, whether we like it or not, with the global economy. We have to be competitive. We are falling behind. Some members fail to understand that when business taxes are too high, and they are too high in Canada, investment begins to go to other countries. The tax cuts that those members across are trying to slay here were slated for the future, but they were a signal to investors that tax cuts were coming, tax cuts that would make their investments more competitive in a global economy.
As Nancy Hughes Anthony, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said:
We wished he had converted prior to agreeing to spend $4.6-billion as part of the NDP deal...and placed the country in a straightjacket.
The most recent data indicated that Canadian productivity edged upward only .2% in the first three months of this year, compared with .6% for the United States of America. Frankly, we are falling behind. This means that investment dollars will go elsewhere. Jobs ultimately will be lost. As for the union members who like to support the other party over there, many of them will be crying because they will be losing their jobs if we do not maintain a competitive edge.