Madam Chair, the Liberals' so-called luxury tax is an utter smokescreen. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer has offered, it is one cent on the dollar of what a wealth tax would bring in.
Here is the contrast. At the same time as there is a refusal to bring in a wealth tax, hundreds of thousands of Canadians who currently depend on the Canada response benefit will see that benefit slashed in just a few weeks. In the middle of the third wave those benefits will be slashed from $500 to $300 a week. The question is how these people will put food on the table. How will they keep roofs over their heads? Particularly as we see record homelessness, why would the government slash the benefit?
The NDP is proposing tomorrow an amendment that would ensure that benefit is maintained at $500. Will the finance minister support that NDP amendment?