Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for that pertinent question. His party said that this budget feels like the movie Groundhog Day. We prefer to use the expression "copy and paste". It is as though absolutely nothing happened between March and May, as though this government did not hear the needs and demands expressed by Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
The proposed budget cuts are worrisome, in terms of both their scope and the uncertainty surrounding exactly what is going to happen. The government is throwing around huge, staggering numbers—$4 billion in savings next year alone—without giving any clue as to who will be hit and where the government is going to cut.
We know we are in a difficult budget situation, and the government needs all of its revenues. Now is not the time to give any gifts to large corporations like oil companies and banks, and then turn around and say that the government can no longer invest because it has no money.
The NDP is proposing that the government stop giving gifts to those who do not need them. Last year, Canada's six major banks made over $20 billion in profits. If we lower their taxes, they are not going to create jobs. That would be a gift to them, when that money is needed to meet the needs of ordinary Canadians.
If we need to find $4 billion next year, why not put an end to the tax breaks? That would get us halfway there, since that would mean an extra $2 billion right away.