Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the budget helps the poorest Canadians. In fact, it helps them to the extent that 650,000 of the poorest Canadians in our country are taken right off the tax rolls and pay no tax because of the measures in our budget.
With respect to the GST, this tax is paid by all Canadians and it falls most heavily on the poorest Canadians who pay no other tax. Cutting the GST helps the lowest income Canadians because it reduces their only tax burden. This is why, for example, the NDP campaigned in 1997 to cut the GST. It knew that would help the most vulnerable Canadians. The member's own government said in 1993 that it would scrap the GST. Why? I imagine, but I do not know because it never did it, it thought it would help Canadians.
Therefore, I find it odd that the Liberal Party, which wants to help vulnerable Canadians, would criticize the only measure that would help the lowest income Canadians.
With respect to the textbook tax credit, all these measures add up. They again help the lowest income Canadians because they give the biggest credit to them. All these measures help students. They help people who want to get an education, to get ahead, to get the skills to enter our workforce.
I urge the member, instead of criticizing these measures to help students and low income Canadians, to get behind them.