Mr. Speaker, budgets are about priorities and the Liberal Party would argue that the government has its priorities all wrong. They are not the priorities of Canadians. It is important to recognize that under the the current government, middle-class Canadians have had to work longer and harder just to make ends meet. That is not right.
We are months away from an election and the budget debate provides us the opportunity to show some contrast. I would like to present some contrast and see if the member would like to do likewise for the NDP.
A Liberal government, for example, would make the tax system fairer and cut the middle-class tax rate by 7%. That is a $3 billion tax cut for those who need it the most. The Liberal plan would also provide one bigger, fairer tax-free monthly cheque to help families with the high costs of raising their kids. We would also ask the wealthiest Canadians to pay a little more so the middle-class can pay less. The Liberals would cancel the Prime Minister's income splitting and other tax breaks for the wealthy. We would introduce a new tax bracket for the top 1% of incomes over $200,000.
Would the member not agree that giving strength to Canada's middle class would give strength to Canada's economy, and that it is the way of the future?