Mr. Speaker, our economy is underperforming as the unemployment rate for the month of January in Ontario increased to 14.4% among the young adults. Despite giving $6 billion to big corporations, the government cannot create jobs and is killing them by increasing tax burdens in the form of EI payroll taxes on all small businesses. In fact, its $6 billion tax cut ignores 95% of the two million active businesses in Canada.
People in the region of Peel feel that the government is ignoring them too. The unemployment is high in this region but the government does nothing. Six billion dollars in tax cuts will not result in $6 billion worth of economic growth and jobs. Affordable housing and jobs in the region of Peel are much more needed than the corporate tax cut.
The government also needs to take concrete steps to create jobs for youth and give incentives to small businesses so that they can create more jobs for the unemployed families that are starving, under stress and are worrying about their future.