Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that the Liberals' so-called middle-class tax reduction gave the largest tax reductions to people earning over $100,000 a year and gave zero dollars and zero cents of tax reduction to families earning less than $40,000 a year.
I had a chance to visit your riding with you for a few days, Madam Speaker. I do not know, but it seems to me that the middle class in your riding is probably a little like that in a lot of ridings in Canada. A lot of people who earn $40,000 would describe themselves as middle class. Therefore, who really was the target of the Liberal tax reductions if not the privileged few? Of course, for the Liberals, that means their base, the people to whom they talk.
With regard to the taxes, there is no question that this type of consumer tax will, first and foremost, make it difficult for those at the low end of the spectrum because they have no way of avoiding it. People driving Maseratis do not really care how much they are paying for their gallon of gas. They will keep paying for it. However, it is different for someone who takes public transit and that goes up because of the cost of diesel. One would hope that in whatever formula it takes, whether a carbon tax to put a price on carbon, or a cap-and-trade system to put a tax on carbon, those responsible for applying it would ensure to put in a proviso to ensure those with lower incomes would receive compensation from the government. That would be the only fair thing to do.