Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister needs to listen more so he can learn about the challenges facing the middle class. Since 2006, our economy has grown, on average, a mediocre 1.5% per year. The forecast for this current year: 1.5%. Not since R.B. Bennett was in power in the 1930s have we seen numbers this bad for a prime minister.
Without a stronger middle class, we will not see robust growth, yet the budget did not even acknowledge the problem. Why not?