Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's speech and the debate today about our economy. It is an important conversation.
First let me give an example.
Let us just assume that magically 9% is the new preferential tax rate for small business. Let us also just assume that we magically go back to 20%—or higher, depending on what the NDP leader has said—for a corporate tax rate. In that case, if the member has a restaurant in her riding with about $500,000 in earnings every year, it would qualify for the preferential small business rate.
Let us just say that the restaurant owner decided to open up a second one. I think we would all support that. We would see more jobs and more choice for consumers as a result of someone trying to invest and grow a business. That is something we would like to see.
However, suddenly the restaurant owner would take a hit, going from a 9% rate to at least a 20% tax rate from there on in, and it could be more, depending on what the NDP leader wants.
Why would someone with a successful business and a low tax rate invest just to see the taxes double? Does the member not see the fallacy in her thinking? She is advocating lowering the tax for small businesses, but she is actually creating a system, with her NDP leader, that incentivizes businesses not to grow.
This is the fallacy of the NDP. It says it wants to help small business, but in fact its policies would actually discourage investment growth.