Mr. Chair, what the member opposite fails to mention, which I am sure he forgot for the moment, is the 2% reduction in GST that applies to all Canadians whether they pay income tax or not. Every time they buy something in this country, as of January 1 this year there is a full two percentage points off, which has had a very desirable effect with respect to inflation.
It has also made it easier to purchase larger ticket items in Canada, particularly automobiles. The experts in the automotive sector have talked about that GST reduction, as well as the revaluation of prices, as being a significant impetus to the very strong car sales we have had in Canada, unlike the United States, in the first three months of this year.
More people are earning more money in Canada. We have a progressive tax system of course. We have four categories of taxation, as I am sure the member knows, and we get more people moving into higher taxation levels which will affect personal income tax.
The reduction of the business tax is entirely intentional. We made that clear in the announcement of the economic statement on October 30, 2007, that we have chosen a certain path.
We have chosen to brand Canada as a low business tax jurisdiction. We have chosen to move to a targeted 25% provincial-federal tax rate by 2012. We are doing our part at the federal level, moving to 15% by 2012. Alberta is already at 10%. British Columbia is going in that direction and we expect that Manitoba will also. The former premier of New Brunswick, Mr. McKenna, spoke recently in Halifax and urged all of the Atlantic provinces to go in that direction. Quebec has made some movement in that direction. As the member knows, I have been gently encouraging the Premier of Ontario to go in that direction as well.
I look forward to having further discussions with the other ministers of finance in Canada tomorrow and the next day in Montreal where one of the things we will talk about of course is how we brand Canada to attract foreign investment and to attract reinvestment in Canada and more high quality jobs for Canadians as we go forward.