Mr. Speaker, the member just deflected the question. It was an excellent question. We lead the G-7 in job growth as well as being the only G-7 country to have a surplus, low interest rates and low inflation. The fundamentals are good because we are fiscally prudent in managing the financial affairs of the country.
The same procedure has been followed in significant cross-Canada consultation with Canadians. Canadians did not say to forget about affordable housing, post-secondary education, the environment, foreign aid for Darfur, or labour market programs. Canadians did not say that. They wanted a balanced approach. It was not “give me more money and stay out of my life because we do not need anything else”.
Given that background, the member should know that there are about 14 million Canadians who pay income taxes each year. If we were to put $100 in each pocket of every Canadian who pays taxes, it would be $1.4 billion to provide $100 of taxes. If the member is suggesting we need meaningful tax cuts, what does he consider to be meaningful? How many hundreds of dollars times $1.4 billion does he feel would be necessary to achieve the things he wants and what is that total, and does it put us back into a deficit scenario which Canadians do not want?