Madam Speaker, I, too, listened to the parliamentary secretary with great interest, especially to the piece on jobs.
He is absolutely correct. I am sure there are residents of his constituency who talk about jobs, but let me just draw his attention to his government's budget, on page 34, in table 2.1, which talks about employment rates for 2010. It also talks about 2009. What it shows is the government's own forecast, by the finance minister's own words, is conservative by its estimates. It is telling us that unemployment this year will be higher than last year. Yet the parliamentary secretary was telling us that they concentrated on ensuring that we were going to have an abundance of jobs this year, ensuring Canadians were back working and we were going to be prosperous once again.
What the government is telling us in this budget, what the government is telling Canadians, is that it failed Canadians when it came to creating jobs. It is failing my constituents. It is failing his constituents when it does not generate enough jobs to ensure that folks are off employment insurance.
We know that at least 12% are unemployed, not 8.5%. If that is the number, then clearly the government's estimates are not only weak, they are wrong. What the member has not done is fulfill the promise he made to his constituents, which was the Conservatives would put jobs first and foremost. However, their finance minister says that unemployment is higher this year than last.