Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member and his party for allowing our budget to pass. This proves to Canadians that the Liberal Party believes that we, at this difficult time, are the best to manage the finances of our country.
Let me be clear. This government, unlike its predecessor, recognizes the importance of our manufacturing industries, including the auto sector, to our country. Since we came to government, we have continually introduced initiatives that help our industries compete. At a time when others sat around and watched, we took action.
Our response to the report of the House's industry committee on manufacturing was comprehensive and overwhelmingly positive.
We set out to develop a long term economic plan that would give an advantage to our businesses and create jobs. In fact, last year in Ontario alone nearly 100,000 new jobs were added to the economy, offsetting the 37,000 jobs lost in manufacturing. These are mostly full time, high paying jobs.
We introduced incentives for manufacturers so they could innovate and improve their productivity. Budget 2008 introduced a number of important initiative to benefit manufacturers. Total tax relief—