Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member a question about the theme around which he concluded his speech. He suggested that he wanted more meat and potatoes in the Speech from the Throne. He suggested that perhaps that was a way to justify what would appear to be the Liberal decision to complain about the Speech from the Throne and then vote with the Conservatives, or for the Liberals to sit on their duffs and not take a position.
This is about meat and potatoes. This is about food for ordinary Canadians. This is about sustenance. It is about economic security. If the member is not aware of it in his own region, which he should be, I want to remind him about the statistics that came out just last week from Statistics Canada. A new study showed that in fact the rich are getting richer in this country. After two decades of overall economic expansion, the top 5% of earners saw their average income leap from $133,000 to $178,000. During the same period, earners in the middle of the pack saw average incomes frozen at $25,000, with family incomes nudging up slightly from $42,000 to $43,000.
What we have tried to do in the House and around the Speech from the Throne is give living proof and testimony to the fact that the gap between the rich and the rest of society is growing. It has to be addressed by the government of the day. The support of the Liberals is needed once and for all on this issue. It is not good enough to simply repeat past mistakes, nor is it good enough to stand up in the House and propose an amendment to the Speech from the Throne that talks about tax--