Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou for this important question because it is extremely important that everyone understand the regressive tax issue.
A 15% hike on a specific product will have much more of an impact on low-income households than it will on wealthier ones. Tariff hikes—even small ones—will make it much harder to get these necessary consumer products. Perhaps a 3% hike does not mean much and will not make a very big difference to the monthly budgets of the wealthy, but such is not the case for middle-class families with lower incomes.
The Conservatives often tell us that they have already proposed a number of measures to help families. Yet what they propose 99% of the time are tax credits that do not help low-income families because they are not eligible for them. On top of being unable to benefit from the help that the Conservatives are trying to give, as minimal as it may be, families will now have to spend even more to continue to accomplish their daily tasks and meet their needs. That is completely unacceptable.