Mr. Speaker, perhaps the hon. member across the floor should emerge from his bubble and take off his rose coloured glasses.
When I drive around my riding, I see farmers losing revenue, businesses in single industry communities closing their doors and people losing their houses. Some of my constituents call me at home to tell me they do not have the money to pay for their heating. They are wondering what to do, whether or not to heat their houses. They are even forced to choose between eating or dying, since they cannot pay for both food and medicine.
The member can say all he wants that he created 300,000 jobs. He can create a million jobs if he wants. But if he worked one day a week for $8.50 an hour, he would soon realize that such a wage does not amount to much at the end of the week.