Mr. Speaker, a while back I asked the Minister of Finance a question about the budget. The Conservative government has staked its reputation on claims of creating jobs, fostering economic growth, and keeping taxes low. Indeed, since 2009, the Conservatives have spent $113 million of our taxpayer money bragging to Canadians about their so-called economic action plan. Unfortunately for all of us, they have failed miserably on all counts.
The government has managed to create a long-term structural deficit, a multi-billion dollar hole that it is trying to dig itself out of with cuts and by shifting taxes, which in turn is holding back growth and will continue to hold back growth. Despite its claims that it has not raised taxes, we know that the government has shifted taxes from large corporations onto the backs of the Canadian middle class in each of the last four budgets.
For the first time in Canadian history, more than half of federal revenue will come from personal income taxes, the hard-earned dollars of our middle-class families. Meanwhile, personal debt for the average Canadian as well as our national debt have both increased by over 25% under the current government.
Since 2011, the government has collected an additional $3.6 billion in increased employment insurance premiums while placing even more restrictions on EI claimants. It has now instituted a freeze, but it refuses to roll back these job-killing payroll tax hikes to pre-2011 levels. This is not an insurance plan; it is a huge tax grab on small businesses and Canadian workers.
The Conservatives have been increasing the financial burden on Canadian families in other ways. Canada has one of the lowest large corporate tax rates in the world. Our rate on large corporations is less than half that of the United States. The OECD has warned that a tax rate on large corporations substantially below the top personal income tax rate, like we see in Canada today, “can jeopardize the integrity of the tax system as high-income individuals will attempt to shelter their savings within corporations.”
There are unnecessary tax breaks for hugely profitable large corporations, plus an incredible $1.3 billion tax subsidy provided by the government to oil and gas companies despite the fact that the Conservatives have broken their promise to end this subsidy again and again.
The Conservatives have also refused to crack down on tax evasion. Estimates suggest that upwards of $5 billion is lost every year to offshore tax havens.
What is more, their claims about Canadian economic growth are pure fiction. Let us look at the facts. Unemployment has increased by 9% and youth unemployment is double the national rate; Canada is 20th in the OECD for job creation; real economic growth per capita is the lowest in, wait for it, 78 years; the number of consecutive Conservative deficits is six; housing costs have increased by 52%; the personal debt of the average Canadian and our national debt have increased more than 25%.
The Conservatives have presided over a dismal lost decade in our Canadian economy. Their failed trickle down economic approach does little to help the average Canadian have a bright future.