Madam Speaker, I second the suggestion from the member for Windsor West, and I congratulate the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.
I will be splitting the time with the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville.
I welcome the opportunity to speak to this opposition day motion. However, I have to admit I am somewhat saddened that the official opposition, under the leadership of the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle, would allow such an absence of truth in the written and spoken word. I say that seriously. It is becoming very obvious that there has been a great attempt in recent weeks by the Conservative Party of Canada to misrepresent the work of the Liberal government in this the 42nd Parliament.
Through my remarks today, I will deal, one by one, with the misrepresentations of the facts by the member for Carleton in his motion.
In parts (a) and (b), he tries to allege taxes are higher. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that starting off, in our very first budget, we reduced taxes for the middle class, while raising taxes on the wealthiest 1%. Specifically, the government lowered taxes on the middle-class tax bracket of $44,702 to $89,401 to 22%.