Most would agree that it should not be 73 percent. The surpluses needed to pay down the debt are not going to be politically acceptable. The real issue is tax cuts or spending increases. I suggest we choose tax cuts. Tim Reid I think that for Canada's international competitiveness it is important to consider the way the country is perceived abroad.
Foreign investors act on their perception of Canada's fiscal toughness.
They are difficult to persuade by complex arguments of the sort Jeffrey Rubin just made. I think that such a policy would help bring into Canada more of the foreign investment that now is going to the United States, in spite of the fact that we have many of our fundamentals right. Regarding Tim Reid's comment, let me just remind you that in this morning's session it was noted that the rate of taxation for capital gains is 20 percent in the United States and 40 percent in Canada in some provinces. Investors in high-tech industries get most of their returns through capital gains. Therefore it should really not come as a surprise that Canada fails to attract the level of high-tech investment that all of us think we should have.