Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member for Markham—Unionville as he spoke at length and often used the word “dishonest”. I do not like to make statements using strong words like that. I am loathe to do that even though they are quite often used.
He went on to say that Canada's system and government are second class and Mr. Obama's is first class. I do not think it is second class when our government puts on websites the exact number of projects that are going ahead and the ones actually in the ground.
He talks about taxes. What is dishonest is when a person tries to portray this government's record as something else when the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and our own world-class financial institutions say that we have done many of the right things, that we are on the road to recovery, that our taxes will soon be the lowest in the G8 with the reduction of the GST, pension splitting for seniors and the guaranteed income supplement not being affected. When we took office, the GIS was $500 and it has gone to $3,500.
Was Mayor Frank Scarpitti wrong when he said, “I want to applaud this government for making budget 2009 so comprehensive when it comes to job creation” and “I think it's great news for Markham. The federal government has come forward with an ambitious stimulus package”. That was in the Georgina Advocate on January 31 of this year.
Again, the same mayor said, “Congratulations to you and your government for budget 2009. Your government stimulus funding comes at an opportune time for us”. He said that in a letter to the finance minister.
When his own mayor is saying those good things about us, how can he contradict him?