Madam Speaker, the hon. member asks a good question. On the face of it, the home renovation tax credit enjoys a lot of support among Canadian, certainly among contractors, who love it.
The problem is nobody knows whether it works. The idea of the home renovation tax credit as part of the stimulus package was to get shovels in the ground. On the face of it, that is a good idea. The trouble is the government will not tell us whether it works. There is a significant component of taxpayer-funded dollars in that program.
The government should let the Parliamentary Budget Officer find out whether it works. The point of stimulus, the point of the member's party sometimes support and sometimes opposition was the stimulus money would be timely, in the ground and effective. It may be, but nobody really knows.