Mr. Speaker, the tax-free savings account is sadly inadequate and does nothing to help ordinary Canadians be able to save money. Individuals' savings in this country according to Statistics Canada have gone down, not because people did not want to save money, but because they could not afford to. Ordinary families cannot afford things like the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of housing, the cost of fuel to heat their homes, the cost of child care, the cost of health care and the user fees that are going to be imposed on them when everything is done under public private partnerships.
This centrepiece for the Conservatives' budget is sad. Unfortunately, it will do nothing to help individuals save money in my riding of Vancouver Island North.