Madam Speaker, the member's question relates to a point that I wanted to raise with the member for Kitchener Centre. He talked about the GST cut and how that is stimulating the economy.
The problem with tax cuts and interest rate cuts is that their effect, and this we learn in economics 101, is mediated by market psychology. We could cut taxes all we want but if people are afraid they are not going to spend. We can cut interest rates all we want but if businesses are not optimistic they are not going to borrow and they are not going to invest.
In response to my NDP colleague's point, I think in times like this what is important is that the government takes control of levers that it would have absolute control over, things like infrastructure spending. If the government decides it is going to spend on infrastructure, no amount of market psychology is going to make it change its mind, but if an individual gets a 1% GST cut, and by the way the effect of that is just recouped by oil companies that raise gas prices or coffee shops that raise the price of coffee, the problem is that the government has a very loose string. It has a loose string that it is trying to push. It is a string when what we need is a more solid lever.