Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his very surprising statement. I have a lot of respect for the hon. member, and he knows it, but that is a government that is working for middle-class and Canadian families.
He talks about stepping up. We are stepping up for nine million Canadians by reducing their taxes and we are stepping up for Canadian families with the Canada child benefit. We are helping nine families out of 10 in this country and lifting 300,000 children out of poverty. Really, this is a government that is stepping up for Canadian families and the Canadian middle class.
I would like to thank the hon. member for his dedication to the advancement of small businesses in his riding and across our country. He has made a number of speeches in this House to which we have listened carefully.
We are all committed in this House to supporting small businesses. We have shown it on many occasions. As he said himself, "to create an awesome company it takes treasure and talent, but young companies often do not have the treasure to pay for the talent, so they use stock options."
Our government has always stated and understood that stock options are a legitimate and valuable form of compensation for many Canadian start-ups. The member will know that our government is committed to grow this sector across all sectors of the economy. We will ensure that innovators and start-ups maintain the ability to use this form of compensation.
Our government is committed to consulting with Canadians and listening to them. This issue was one I discussed with many Canadians, particularly entrepreneurs, over the course of the pre-budget consultations I undertook with the Minister of Finance earlier this year. I recall in particular a discussion that we had in Quebec City with young entrepreneurs who just started start-ups and yes, we listened to them. We listened to Canadians.
We criss-crossed the country asking Canadians to tell us what the government could do to help the middle class. We met with aboriginal leaders, business leaders, and leaders in the arts and culture. We listened to Canadians and engaged in discussions to find practical solutions to the problems they face.
The consultations continued online and were enormously successful. We did something that the previous government did a few times. We consulted Canadians.
We got a strong response online from people who wanted to comment. Over 300,000 people visited our site, and we collected over 5,200 separate comments from Canadian taxpayers and groups of Canadians.
Throughout the consultations, Canadians confirmed that they wanted their government to strengthen the middle class and help workers aspiring to join it. I am proud of what we have to offer in budget 2016, and I thank my colleague for giving me the opportunity to talk about these measures.
With respect to small business, for small businesses to flourish, the economy has to grow, and customers have to buy their products.
In closing, we are helping the backbone of the Canadian economy to prosper by investing in growth, supporting the middle class, strengthening the economy, and putting more money back into Canadians' pockets.
Budget 2016 does more than just offer immediate assistance to Canada's middle class. It seeks to build an economy that is good for everyone today and tomorrow.