Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.
It is not by happenstance or a lack of knowledge about how the economy works. Personally, I think this is the result of deliberate action on the part of the government, of its decision to develop the right-wing American model. This means lowering taxes, having dwindling financial means, no longer having the means to fund social security and other public programs, which means they have to be eliminated, and growing the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
I would like to share an example from my riding concerning the latest one-percentage point cut to the GST. Does anyone really believe that, in a village of 1,000 people, that decrease would give the community another important economic tool? Could a much better balance not have been struck by giving our manufacturers a better tax arrangement, by giving them the means to engage in research and development, for example, through refundable tax credits? That is how jobs can be saved. In a small village of 2,000 or 3,000 people, a business that is given a boost of that nature could offer a competitive product, remain on the market and continue to create jobs.
No. The government decided that, at the end of the year, even with a very good national debt to GDP ratio, it would pay down the debt with the $10 billion surplus. This was of no help at all to the local economies of our communities.
In the medium term, we absolutely must put an end to this practice. The government must understand that it is not the right thing to do. If the government continues to head for disaster, all opposition parties must derail it and fight it in this House, go to the polls and ask the citizens of Quebec and Canada what kind of government they want. Do they want a government that will help them to build prosperity or a government that considers itself to be a spectator and takes no responsibility for organizing society in order to create this wealth? Unfortunately, at present we have this type of inaction by the Conservative government.