Mr. Speaker, this is a fact and figure that is in the budget which some members who are trashing the budget on the orders of their leader must have read. They say they have read the budget, but somehow missed the fact that the budget is targeted largely to lower income Canadians, middle class Canadians, and hard-working Canadians who pay their taxes and look after their families. This is the focus of our budget.
Parties who are not supporting the budget need to explain to their own constituents why a new working income tax benefit for the working poor is not worthy of their support and why a new $2,000 child tax credit should not be supported. Why are they not supporting $16 billion in new infrastructure funding? Why are they not supporting a 40% increase in support for post-secondary education and on and on.
Members of the House who are trying to trash the budget for partisan purposes should have to explain that to their own constituents and to Canadians.