Mr. Speaker, if only it were true. In reality, the member's numbers are inaccurate. If someone earns $44,000, they will get a zero per cent income tax cut from this budget. The very small tax relief that does exist really only peaks for people who earn over $100,000. Even for them, it works out to about $700 a year. A person needs to earn about as much as the hon. member does to enjoy that maximum tax relief under this budget. However, the working poor get exactly nothing, which is unfortunate because it reverses the trend of the previous government, according to the parliamentary budget officer, the independent and non-partisan parliamentary budget officer.
The previous government cut taxes by about $30 billion per year, and that tax relief was overwhelmingly in favour of lower- and modest-income earners. In fact, for many low-income and impoverished workers, the previous Conservative government cut their taxes by 100%; meaning that they do not pay anything at all. That helps them get over the welfare wall; that is to say, it ensures that work always pays more than welfare. We know that the best anti-poverty plan is a good job.
Now, we have a government that is going to impose new costs on the working poor, through a carbon tax that will make it more difficult to heat a home and drive to work, and through a payroll tax, which will mean that small businesses will have to lay off their most vulnerable workers. That is an attack on the poor, it is an attack on the working family, and we will, on this side of the House, fight it every day.