Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government never lets truth stand in its way. In its first budget the Conservatives cut $15 million from the Status of Women. When the women's groups started challenging them, they reinvested that $15 million, so it zeroes out. They have not done any 42% increase.
In terms of the GST, all economists, anybody who has any common sense in economics, say that the $5 billion is misspent. That lack of revenue could have been better utilized in social spending.
The Conservatives need to learn economics 101, which is that consumption taxes are not important. We have to eliminate poverty through reduction of income taxes.