Madam Speaker, I cited earlier the fact that the real income of most Canadian families has actually gone down over the last 20 years not up. They are actually earning less now than they were over two decades ago.
That same phenomenon has actually taken place in the United States as well. That is why changing NAFTA and bringing in tougher social and environmental standards was part of the Barrack Obama campaign. Between 2001 and 2005 about 96% of Americans actually saw their real income fall. We have seen the same dynamic right across North America.
The member is right to raise the issue of income inequality. All of that money is being channelled to corporate CEOs, corporate lawyers. Essentially, we have a massive movement of wealth which means the wealthiest Canadians now take most of Canada's income. That is completely unfair. That undermines the kind of community business environment that we need to see here.
Speaking as a former business award winner, I can tell the House that prosperous small businesses in a community benefit everybody. That is why I am a member of the Burnaby Board of Trade and a member of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce.
British Columbia has the highest rate of child poverty in the country as the member well knows. It is a tragedy throughout B.C. Many British Columbians will be voting on the basis of the shame that they feel because of what the Gordon Campbell government has done to facilitate growing poverty in British Columbia. It is a tragedy and part of it is a result of the meltdown of the softwood industry that we saw after the softwood sell-out was signed.