I’m not going to disagree with the Minister on some of those comments, but he brought up the 2008 subprime mortgage issue. I’m not sure how that fit into the response, but anyway.
I think Members on this side of the House have made things perfectly clear. We are very concerned going into this budget on this shortfall. I believe, personally, that this shortfall has caused a tethering, if you will, in the fiscal strategy of this government. It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to calculate that properly and I think that has put a real kink in the cogwheel in terms of what our forecasting will be for the initiatives that this government has so boldly wanted to go forward with. I am very much in concern how we’re dealing with this personal and corporate income tax, so much so that I believe that the five-year rolling average, in my humble opinion, is not going to work.
Historically, if you look at public accounts, if you look at main estimates for the last 10 years, this personal income tax and corporate income tax has been a yo-yo. It’s been all over the map. It’s been the highs and the lows. Unfortunately, when it’s on the high, government gets really excited because they have a high year personal income tax and corporate income tax and we hit the ground running and we have all these great ideas to spend it, which is fine if you have the money. But when you build a financial forecast on a high and it turns into a low, as we have I believe this year, we’re scrambling.
The tools have been before us for many years. I don’t believe we’ve used all the tools at our disposal or in our tool box, Mr. Chair. I would like to move a motion.