Madam Speaker, I apologize, but I believe my colleague got some of the numbers mixed up. One moment she said it was $500 billion and the next moment she said it was $5 billion. So, I am not quite sure what number she is going to go with. The NDP seems to come up with these numbers from thin air. However, let me give the appropriate numbers.
There have been nearly 600,000 jobs created under this government's watch since the recession hit. This government is committed to ensuring we protect Canadian jobs, ensuring we create Canadian jobs. That is why the next phase of Canada's economic action plan has been put forward in an effort to move that forward.
I need to remind this House of what Catherine Swift, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, stated when discussing one of the NDP's proposals to double CPP premiums in its efforts to protect jobs. Here is what Catherine Swift in fact said, “That would mean probably about a 60% to 70% increase in premiums from what we understand, and that was very, very worrisome. So any tax breaks that were in the NDP platform were grossly outmatched but what they were going to ding small business on that CPP alone”.
However, she does not talk about the $10 billion tax hike that is going to kill jobs. She does not talk about the fact the NDP wants to raise the GST, and on and on.
I will take another question and address, once again, the great efforts by this government as we move forward on this great economic action plan venture.