Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act  In the case of the Conservative Party, which is the government and has been the government now for four years and nine months, it has decided that its priorities do not lie with average Canadians, middle class Canadians, poor Canadians, low income earners and aboriginal communities. If those were the government's priorities, it would not now be ready to borrow $6 billion in order to provide tax breaks to the most profitable large corporations, rather than invest in our families that are struggling today to make ends meet, struggling to deal with an aging population or struggling to deal with family members who are either terminally ill or ill with a chronic disease.

Canada-Panama Free Trade Act  The incomes of the wealthiest 10% of Canadians have increased dramatically since the implementation of the NAFTA agreement, but every other income category in Canada has either stagnated or declined. These deals have not been good for middle-class Canadians. They have been a disaster for low-income and working Canadians. There is a real problem with bilateral trade agreements, with seeking out specific trade agreements with specific partners around the world.

Canada-Panama Free Trade Act  This widespread money laundering and the use of tax havens so drug pushers and folks who earn money illegally can get around existing tax laws are not small issues. Hard-working middle-class Canadians, poor Canadians, work very hard and they pay their taxes. They do what they must do as Canadians to support our society. Yet the Conservative government is going to shamefully sign an agreement with a drug pushing, money laundering tax haven paradise without even addressing one word of it in this agreement.

Business of Supply  At one point the organization referred to some work that had been done and asked, “So what will we be left with [without the long form]? A skewed picture of mostly middle class Canadians. We'll look less diverse, less poor, ultimately less in need of government support”. I certainly believe that is what the government wants. It wants a skewed picture of this country so it will not have to spend money that it does not want to spend on needs that it does not want to recognize.

Committees of the House  Speaker, what happens for the third of Canadians who do not fill it out? They are not white, middle-class Canadians. We know this from scientific evidence. We know that those people who are less likely to fill out the questionnaire are the disadvantaged. We are talking about the linguistic minorities, first nations, poor people, ethnic minorities, and they are precisely the people we want to target with government policy, but unfortunately, they will not be represented.

Industry committee  I think the more troubling thing is that, if the experience in Canada and elsewhere is that it's not going to be representative, you would get an over-weighting of--let's face it--white, middle-class Canadians and a dramatic under-weighting of some other groups, particularly the poor and the very wealthy, particularly some recent immigrants, and certainly first nations. Over time you could probably sort that out, but it would probably take three or four cycles of a survey to understand what the weights are.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  Come the next election, whenever that might be, the Conservatives will stand for further reductions in corporate taxes and leave the beleaguered middle class to fend for itself, whereas the Liberals will freeze corporate taxes at their current already competitive level and use the resources not only to address the deficit but also to address the needs, concerns and worries of middle-class Canadians in terms of post-secondary education, elder care, child care and pensions.

The Economy  Personal income taxes and the GST will account for 75% of all government tax revenues by 2014 and hard-working, middle-class Canadians will contribute the lion's share to that. They are the ones who will be called upon to pay back this new debt. If only the government would balance the books first, it could cut those corporate taxes without having to ask Canadian families to give up more of their money down the road to pay servicing fees on this new debt.

The Economy  Even staunch Liberals, like former Paul Martin's former communications director, Scott Reid, are shaking their heads at the Liberal leader's out of touch policies. Yesterday, Reid said, “The Liberal Party is clearly not connecting to middle class Canadians, not connecting to people in terms of day to day realities...”. This is not surprising. Canadians know what Liberals will not admit, that higher taxes kill jobs, which is why they have told us loud and clear to fully implement year two of Canada's economic action plan, and that is exactly what we will do.

Jobs and Economic Growth Act  According to this bill, the government has no example of what it wants to do. So we put forward a national housing strategy, a real issue for middle-class Canadians. With respect to immigration, we want to ensure we have a system that provides additional resources for application processing, more support for immigrant settlement and an increase in the number of permanent residents Canada accepts.

Resumption of debate on Address in Reply  Speaker, of course we support the cultural sectors in this country but we do not support the iPod tax that the coalition parties are proposing. I think that would hurt middle-class Canadians who are trying to enjoy Canadian culture. I thank the hon. member for agreeing with us in our efforts to extend employment insurance parental leave to soldiers who return and have small children who they had originally left behind.

Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act  This tax has been introduced by stealth. The reason is that they know they have just put a tax increase on working- and middle-class Canadians and they do not have the courage to stand up before those people and acknowledge it--

Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act  Speaker, I think the idea that jobs are created by implementing a tax on working- and middle-class Canadians is not only untested but fallacious. I do not think that is the kind of job creation project that we want in this country, and that is not the kind of strategy that we should have.

Disposition of an act to amend the Excise Tax Act  He can live in that fictional reality, that theoretical reality, if he would like, but the fact of the matter is that poor Canadians are going to be on the hook, middle-class Canadians will be on the hook and the rich cats will get away again.

Finance committee  The stretch tax credit is particularly appealing in that it would benefit charities of every size and in every region, urban and rural. It would provide an incentive particularly for working families and middle-class Canadians to give more than they have in the past and encourage those Canadians who have not given in the past to begin to donate. This would help broaden the base of donors in Canada, and it would help those Canadians who want to give through their income rather than through assets, and this is the majority of Canadians.