Madam Speaker, of course we did no such thing.
However, the member is correct in pointing out that the wealthiest Canadians are paying less tax under the current government. The wealthiest 1% are paying $4.6 billion less in tax under this government. That breaks another campaign promise. It is a reality and it comes from CRA data. It was reported in The Globe and Mail in a very informative front-page piece by Bill Curry, a respected Ottawa-based journalist. That is a fact.
Another fact—and socialist parties do not like to hear this fact—is that whenever government gets big and expensive, it is always the working class that pays. The rich guys always find a loophole. They move their money out of the country, their hire the best accountants, they go to the black market, or they just make the decision that they have enough money already and do not need to earn more, and therefore they do not have additional taxable income to declare and pay tax on.
The reality is that big government always falls heaviest on those with the least. That is why we need to limit government and expand the scope of economic freedom: so that everybody, not just the wealthy and well-connected who have their hands in government pockets, can get ahead.