Bill C-60 (Historical)

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1

An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures

Part 1 implements certain income tax measures proposed in the March 21, 2013 budget. Most notably, it
(a) allows certain adoption-related expenses incurred before a child’s adoption file is opened to be eligible for the Adoption Expense Tax Credit;
(b) introduces an additional credit for first-time claimants of the Charitable Donations Tax Credit;
(c) makes expenses for the use of safety deposit boxes non-deductible;
(d) adjusts the Dividend Tax Credit and gross-up factor applicable in respect of dividends other than eligible dividends;
(e) allows collection action for 50% of taxes, interest and penalties in dispute in respect of a tax shelter that involves a charitable donation;
(f) extends, for one year, the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for flow-through share investors;
(g) extends, for two years, the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for eligible manufacturing and processing machinery and equipment;
(h) clarifies that the income tax reserve for future services is not available in respect of reclamation obligations;
(i) phases out the additional deduction available to credit unions over five years;
(j) amends rules regarding the judicial authorization process for imposing a requirement on a third party to provide information or documents related to an unnamed person or persons; and
(k) repeals the rules relating to international banking centres.
Part 1 also implements other income tax measures and tax-related measures. Most notably, it
(a) amends rules relating to caseload management of the Tax Court of Canada;
(b) streamlines the process for approving tax relief for Canadian Forces members and police officers;
(c) addresses a technical issue in relation to the temporary measure that allows certain family members to open a Registered Disability Savings Plan for an adult individual who might not be able to enter into a contract; and
(d) simplifies the determination of the Canadian-source income of non-resident pilots employed by Canadian airlines.
Part 2 implements certain goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) measures proposed in the March 21, 2013 budget by
(a) reducing the compliance burden for employers under the GST/HST pension plan rules;
(b) providing the Minister of National Revenue the authority to withhold GST/HST refunds claimed by a business where the business has failed to provide certain GST/HST registration information;
(c) expanding the GST/HST exemption for publicly funded homemaker services to include personal care services provided to individuals who require such assistance at home;
(d) clarifying that reports, examinations and other services that are supplied for a non-health-care-related purpose do not qualify for the GST/HST exemption for basic health care services; and
(e) ending the current GST/HST point-of-sale relief for the Governor General.
Part 2 also amends the Excise Tax Act and Excise Act, 2001 to modify the rules regarding the judicial authorization process for imposing a requirement on a third party to provide information or documents related to an unnamed person or persons.
In addition, Part 2 amends the Excise Act, 2001 to ensure that the excise duty rate applicable to manufactured tobacco other than cigarettes and tobacco sticks is consistent with that applicable to other tobacco products.
Part 3 implements various measures, including by enacting and amending several Acts.
Division 1 of Part 3 amends the Customs Tariff to extend for ten years, until December 31, 2024, provisions relating to Canada’s preferential tariff treatments for developing and least-developed countries. Also, Division 1 reduces the rate of duty under tariff treatments in respect of a number of items relating to baby clothing and certain sports and athletic equipment imported into Canada on or after April 1, 2013.
Division 2 of Part 3 amends the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Bank Act, the Insurance Companies Act and the Cooperative Credit Associations Act to remove some residency requirements to provide flexibility for financial institutions to efficiently structure the committees of their boards of directors.
Division 3 of Part 3 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to renew the equalization and territorial formula financing programs until March 31, 2019 and to implement total transfer protection for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. That Act is also amended to clarify the time of calculation of the growth rate of the Canada Health Transfer for each fiscal year beginning after March 31, 2017.
Division 4 of Part 3 authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to certain entities or for certain purposes.
Division 5 of Part 3 amends the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office Act to remove the statutory dissolution date of the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office and to provide authority for the Governor in Council, on the Minister of Finance’s recommendation, to set another date for the dissolution of that Office.
Division 6 of Part 3 amends the Investment Canada Act to clarify how proposed investments in Canada by foreign state-owned enterprises and WTO investors will be assessed and to allow for the extension, when necessary, of timelines associated with national security reviews.
Division 7 of Part 3 amends the Canada Pension Plan to ensure that the Canada Revenue Agency can accurately identify, calculate and refund overpayments made to the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan in a particular year by contributors who live outside Quebec.
Division 8 of Part 3 amends the Pension Act and the War Veterans Allowance Act to ensure that veterans’ disability benefits are no longer deducted when calculating war veterans allowance.
Division 9 of Part 3 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to authorize the revocation of temporary foreign worker permits, the revocation and suspension of opinions provided by the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development with respect to an application for a work permit and the refusal to process requests for such opinions. It authorizes fees to be paid for rights and privileges conferred by means of a work permit and exempts, from the application of the User Fees Act, those fees as well as fees for the provision of services in relation to the processing of applications for a temporary resident visa, work permit, study permit or extension of an authorization to remain in Canada as a temporary resident or in relation to requests for an opinion with respect to an application for a work permit.
It also provides that decisions made by the Refugee Protection Division under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in respect of claims for refugee protection that were referred to that Division during a specified period are not subject to appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division if they take effect after a certain date.
Division 10 of Part 3 amends the Citizenship Act to expand the Governor in Council’s authority to make regulations respecting fees for services provided in the administration of that Act and cases in which those fees may be waived. It also exempts, from the application of the User Fees Act, fees for services provided in the administration of the Citizenship Act.
Division 11 of Part 3 amends the Nuclear Safety and Control Act to authorize the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to spend for its purposes the revenue it receives from the fees it charges for licences.
Division 12 of Part 3 enacts the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, sets out the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister for International Trade and the Minister for International Development and provides for the amalgamation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canadian International Development Agency.
Division 13 of Part 3 authorizes the taking of measures with respect to the reorganization and divestiture of all or any part of Ridley Terminals Inc.
Division 14 of Part 3 amends the National Capital Act and the Department of Canadian Heritage Act to transfer certain powers, duties and functions to the Minister of Canadian Heritage from the National Capital Commission. It also makes consequential amendments to the National Holocaust Monument Act to change the Minister responsible for the construction of the monument to the Minister of Canadian Heritage from the Minister responsible for the National Capital Act.
Division 15 of Part 3 amends the Salaries Act to add ministerial positions for regional development responsibilities for northern Canada, and northern and southern Ontario. It also amends the Salaries Act to replace a reference to the Solicitor General of Canada with a reference to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. It also makes an amendment to the Parliament of Canada Act to provide that the maximum number of Parliamentary Secretaries who may be appointed is equal to the number of ministers for whom salaries are provided in the Salaries Act.
Division 16 of Part 3 amends the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act to remove the requirement for the Minister of Public Works and Government Services to obtain a request from a government, body or person in Canada or elsewhere in order for the Minister to do certain things for or on their behalf. It also amends that Act to specify that the Governor in Council’s approval relating to those things may be given on a general or a specific basis.
Division 17 of Part 3 amends the Financial Administration Act to give the Governor in Council the authority to direct a Crown corporation to have its negotiating mandate approved by the Treasury Board for the purpose of the Crown corporation entering into a collective agreement with a bargaining agent. It also gives the Treasury Board the authority to require that an employee under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury Board observe the collective bargaining between the Crown corporation and the bargaining agent. It requires that a Crown corporation that is directed to have its negotiating mandate approved obtain the Treasury Board’s approval before entering into a collective agreement. It also gives the Governor in Council the authority to direct a Crown corporation to obtain the Treasury Board’s approval before the Crown corporation fixes the terms and conditions of employment of certain of its non-unionized employees. Finally, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Division 18 of Part 3 amends the Keeping Canada’s Economy and Jobs Growing Act to provide for increases to the sums that may be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for municipal, regional and First Nations infrastructure through the Gas Tax Fund. It also provides that the sums may be paid on the requisition of the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in the House of Commons to support economic action plan 2013.

This is our government's eighth budget since 2006. Over this period of time, our country has met with some unmatched economic challenges, many of which are beyond our borders. Throughout the life of this government, we have never wandered from our commitment to strengthen the economy for all Canadians and the determination to see our plan through.

Economic action plan 2013 marks the next phase in keeping that commitment to Canadians to create jobs, increase long-term prosperity while keeping taxes low for families and businesses, and balance the budget by 2015.

Economic action plan 2013 sets out a plan that I know constituents in my riding of Simcoe—Grey will benefit from this year and for years to come. Let me highlight some of the key components.

The economy and job creation remain job one for our Conservative government. That is why our major focus of economic action plan 2013 is connecting Canadians with available jobs and providing them the skills they need to fill those jobs.

To accomplish this, we have a three-point plan on skills training. First, it introduces the new Canada jobs grant that would provide up to $15,000 or more per person, including a maximum federal contribution of $5,000, to be matched by provinces, territories and employers. The grant would directly connect skills training with employers and available jobs in the current market.

Second, the plan would create opportunities for apprentices by working with provinces and territories to harmonize requirements for apprentices, and examine the use of practical, hands-on tests as a method of assessment in targeting skilled trades.

Finally, it will provide support to the groups that are under-represented on the labour market, such as persons with disabilities, young people, aboriginal peoples and newcomers, to help them find good jobs.

Our government recognizes the ongoing uncertainty in the global economy. Economic action plan 2013 announced an extension of the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for new investments in machinery and equipment in the manufacturing and processing sector for an additional two years. This would enable manufacturing and processing companies to plan and invest over the coming years to help create jobs in a sector that was particularly hard hit by the global recession. The 50% straight-line depreciation rate would be extended for two years to include investments in eligible manufacturing and processing machinery and equipment in 2014 and 2015. By allowing a faster writeoff of eligible investments, this measure would provide concrete support to businesses in the manufacturing and processing sector to help them retool, with new machinery and equipment so that they can remain competitive in the current global environment.

What does that mean for manufacturers in Simcoe—Grey, my riding? For companies like Reinhart Foods in Stayner, it would mean significant deductions that would allow them to remain competitive. This government would enable them to continue their manufacturing and processing, and plan and invest over the coming years to help create jobs in my riding.

While job growth remains a key pillar of economic action plan 2013, our government believes that family is the foundation on which Canada rests. We have taken action to support Canadian families year after year.

The Conservative government delivered the children's fitness tax credit to help families with the cost of enrolling their children in activities and sports, as well as the children's arts tax credit. The tax-free savings account is a versatile option for parents and families, whether they are saving for a house or a vacation.

We have cut taxes over 150 times, including cutting personal income taxes and the GST, resulting in the average Canadian family of four saving over $3,200 a year.

In addition to this, we would also be enhancing the adoption expense tax credit. This government recognizes that strong and stable families are critical to Canada's long-term prosperity. Families provide children with support, community and a sense of well-being, and yet an estimated 30,000 children a year are currently in the care of child welfare agencies in Canada, waiting to be adopted.

The adoption expense tax credit recognizes costs unique to adopting a child. To provide better tax recognition of the costs incurred by those adoptive parents, economic action plan 2013 proposes to allow additional adoption-related expenses, such as fees for provincially required home studies or mandatory adoption courses, to be eligible for the credit.

Families in Simcoe—Grey who wish to adopt, many of whom I know, can now feel a little bit of that weight of adopting a child lifted off their shoulders so that they can commit to doing this. I commend the government for supporting this effort.

In order to encourage charitable giving by new donors, our government introduced the first-time donor's super credit. This tax credit would provide an additional 25% for a first-time donor on up to $1,000 in monetary donations. An individual would be considered a first-time donor if neither the individual nor the individual's spouse or common-law partner had claimed the charitable donations tax credit or the first-time donor's super credit in a taxation year since 2007. The super credit could be shared between spouses and common-law partners.

What does this mean for charities in my riding? A first-time donor who gives $500 to charity would now receive $285 as a tax credit, versus $160 before. The super credit would provide an additional incentive to people who donate for the first time to benefit charities like the YMCA in Collingwood, Habitat for Humanity in Wasaga Beach, the Hospice Georgian Triangle or Matthews House in Alliston.

Getting first-time donors on board is often the most costly and challenging part of an equation on getting charitable donations. If we engage young donors and new donors, we can create a culture of giving and that can only benefit all of our communities.

Our government is also streamlining the process for providing tax relief for Canadian Armed Forces members and police officers deployed on international moderate-risk missions. This process would allow the Minister of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Minister of National Defence, or the Minister of Public Safety to designate a mission for purposes of the Income Tax Act. This would replace a lengthy process that delays timely implementation of tax relief for these families.

In my riding of Simcoe—Grey, it is extremely meaningful. For CFB Borden in Simcoe—Grey, where we have stationed thousands of men and women who support and are a part of the Canadian Armed Forces, many of whom spend time away from home on international missions, they would be able to save a little bit more and make things a little bit easier on their families left at home in Canada.

I strongly believe that all of the initiatives I mentioned will help Canada by creating a better standard of living for Canadians today and a more prosperous nation that will continue to be a world leader in the future.

I strongly believe that all the initiatives I have highlighted today would greatly benefit all the people of Canada by creating a higher standard of living for Canadians today and a more prosperous nation that will continue to be a world leader today and tomorrow.

This government's aim is to deliver the very best to Canadians. I ask all members to support the swift passage of Bill C-60 and to facilitate the implementation of Canada's economic action plan 2013. It would benefit my constituents in Simcoe—Grey and Canadians across the country.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as members heard in my presentation, the temporary foreign worker permit legislation needs to be improved and we are doing just that in Bill C-60. I cannot say whether we need a certain number, a smaller number or a larger number of temporary foreign workers. We know the temporary foreign worker permit legislation must be fixed so that it is used as it is meant to be used.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his speech.

Earlier, we said that will be voting against Bill C-60. We will vote against it because it is an omnibus bill. We also opposed Paul Martin's omnibus bill in the 1990s.

However, I do have a question. I would like to know when the Conservatives will stop haphazardly slashing the budgets of the economic development agencies for Canada's regions.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak in the House tonight on behalf of my constituents of Pickering—Scarborough East to Bill C-60, the jobs, growth and long-term prosperity act.

As a professional engineer, I highly support the bill, as it would truly provide a concrete foundation addressing real Canadian issues and would build Canada's future economic strength for many years to come, in order to maintain our country as one of the best places in the world to live, raise a family, work and start a business.

My expertise in the engineering profession and service in the army engineers has allowed me to explore this bill from various aspects. Bill C-60 focuses on the well-being of Canadians, and as a member I can assure the House that it includes a variety of measures to implement certain provisions contained in Canada's economic action plan 2013.

My constituents in Pickering—Scarborough East are supportive of Bill C-60 as it addresses some of the key issues that they have been facing.

As we all know, youth have been financially neglected in our system for a long time by previous governments. Canadian youth are struggling to find jobs within their area of study. Our Conservative government has a plan for young Canadians seeking employment in the job market. Our Conservative government understands the needs of today's youth population and has proposed to provide $18 million in funding in multi-year support for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation to enable the foundation to continue supporting young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 34. This would not only be an opportunity for young people to grow in their career-oriented horizons but would also help to boost our Canadian economy, leading young Canadians toward innovation.

Just to give an example, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation has worked with 5,600 new entrepreneurs, helping to create 22,100 new jobs across Canada. This plan is working and will work for Canadian youth; they are the leaders of tomorrow. The New Democrats indeed have some ideas, but they are not delivering accordingly to the needs of our Canadian youth.

Furthermore, Canada's temporary foreign worker program needs reform in order to ensure clearly and without doubt that Canadians are given first chance for available jobs. This is an issue that my constituents in the riding of Pickering—Scarborough East are concerned about, and Bill C-60 is addressing it. This program provides employers with access to foreign workers on a temporary basis to assist sectors and areas that experience labour shortages. Reform should ensure that this program is used in the way it was intended and not otherwise.

In this connection, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act also needs to be amended. It needs to provide authority to revoke work permits issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and to suspend and revoke labour market opinions provided by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada if an employer is found to be misusing the program.

In addition, under economic action plan 2013, the Government of Canada announced that it will be introducing user fees for employers applying to hire temporary foreign workers through the labour market opinion process. The government would use existing regulatory authority and would establish authority for a privilege fee in respect of work permits. This would ensure that taxpayers no longer subsidize the cost of processing these applications.

Many constituents in my riding are supporting this amendment, which is designed to avoid abuses of well-intended legislation.

Many newcomers reside in my riding of Pickering—Scarborough East. For these newcomers, becoming a Canadian citizen is a significant milestone, creating stronger bonds to the economic, cultural and social fabric of Canada. I am pleased to see that economic action plan 2013 is aiding in ensuring a flexible and robust citizenship program. I have volunteered and lectured at many citizenship classes in my riding and surrounding ridings, and I am aware of the waiting times and the program's increasing costs.

The citizenship application fee has not been adjusted for almost 20 years. The current $200 fee only covers 20% of the actual cost to process a citizenship application, which means that our Canadian taxpayers are subsidizing 80% of the actual processing costs. The Citizenship Act would be amended to provided the expanded authority for the Governor in Council to make regulations respecting fees for services provided in the administration of the Citizenship Act and for the waiver of such fees.

The enactments would also provide that the User Fees Act would not apply to fees for services delivered in the administration of the Citizenship Act. This would indeed serve both newcomers and taxpayers, and fix mistakes made by past governments.

Canadians want clean, reliable and safe energy. That is why our Conservative government has proposed, through Bill C-60, amendments to the Nuclear Safety and Control Act.

In my riding of Pickering—Scarborough East, we rely on the Pickering nuclear generating station for safe and clean power. The aforementioned reform would allow the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to continue to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians and would provide reassurance of Canada's international commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear technology for power production.

The problem right now is that with the current fee structure, payments are collected from licence holders to support regulatory activities that may take place in a subsequent fiscal year. If this is the case, the dues received but not used can result in a lapse at the end of a fiscal year. The legislative amendment would provide the commission with the authority to carry forward unspent revenues collected through licence fees from one fiscal year to the next.

As an engineer, it is easy for me to see that this reform would allow all of my constituents to be assured that their health, safety and security would be protected at all times and that there would be no financial difficulties for the commission in order to do its job to its full ability.

Canadians want concrete actions and ideas on how to keep the economy on track and create jobs and prosperity for their families, not empty statements or promises. That is why our Conservative government introduced economic action plan 2013 to amend parts of the Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, 2011.

The amendments would allow for a series of increases, starting in 2014-15, to the sum that may be paid under this statute for the purposes of the gas tax fund. Currently that sum sits at $2 billion a year, and it is proposed that the amount be raised by $100 million when an underlying calculation, the initial sum of $2 billion increased annually by 2%, reaches the next $100 million threshold.

Canada's gas tax fund provides predictable, long-term funding for Canadian municipalities to help them build and revitalize public infrastructure that achieves positive environmental results. More specifically, the fund supports municipal infrastructure projects that contribute to cleaner air or water or to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fall into the following categories: drinking water, waste water infrastructure, public transit, community energy systems, solid waste management and local roads.

Our Conservative government has put forth logical reforms in Bill C-60 that will make Canada continue to be a beacon of enlightenment, freedom and prosperity the world over.

I rise today to ask all members of this House to join me in voting in favour of this measure so that Canadians can continue to prosper.

The measures I have highlighted today are significant examples of this government's commitment to a strong economy and responsible management in the name of all Canadians. The commitment represents our longer-term view of how we can become more efficient and more prudent with taxpayers' hard-earned money. The steps we take today will indeed give us the tools and strength to withstand challenges that we may face in the near future.

This is why I say that our Conservative government's focus has been planning according to what Canadians are asking us to do, and implementing Canada's economic action plan 2013 through Bill C-60 will achieve exactly that. To me, it is obvious that Canadians from St. John's to Yellowknife to Vancouver Island, including those in Pickering—Scarborough East, will benefit from the policies this bill lays out.

This is a reminder of what we are here to do first and foremost, which is to represent our constituents. Therefore, let us pass Bill C-60 for prosperity. Let us pass this bill not because it helps us sitting in this chamber today, but because Canadians need it. Canada needs this bill.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on behalf my riding, Sherbrooke, to speak to Bill C-60. The budget was brought down in March. The budget implementation bill, which is 100 or so pages long this time, followed.

We might say this is a small budget implementation bill compared to the last two, which were 400 pages each. However, if we look at the history of budget implementation bills, we realize that a 100-page bill is still quite voluminous. This approach does not allow parliamentarians to do their job properly and analyze the bill in detail.

In the Conservative government's last two budget implementation bills, there were hundreds and hundreds of pages of measures that were not necessarily related to the budget. Are the Conservatives afraid of public opinion? Is that why they rush to pass measures in a document that is so voluminous that it is hard, even for experts, to see all the details in it? That is my theory, but I think most of my opposition colleagues see it that way as well.

I am somewhat sad to speak to this bill for a number of reasons, including the fact that this budget contains a lot of bad news. It would take a long time to rhyme it all off, but I will mention a few items that affect my riding in my speech.

As the member for Sherbrooke, I am obviously here to talk about the impact that this bill could have on my riding and on the beautiful city of Sherbrooke, the capital of the Eastern Townships. Sherbrooke is a fairly large city that has a population of 160,000 and many needs. I am honoured to serve the city in this House.

I would also like to mention the correspondence that I received from the people in my riding on various subjects. I will talk about those subjects today, since they garnered the most attention from the people of Sherbrooke, even though it may have been for the wrong reasons.

In a question I asked my colleague earlier, I talked about the Treasury Board's political interference in crown corporations' negotiations. In the last budget implementation bill, we learned that the President of the Treasury Board was going to give himself the right to interfere in the business of our crown corporations, for example the CBC. This crown corporation is a fairly well known entity in the field of journalism, and it must be as independent as possible. It is vital that the CBC, more than any other crown corporation, be independent.

The government would interfere primarily in negotiations with CBC employees, which include journalists. According to many people and even witnesses who came to comment on the budget, this is a direct attack on the CBC, as well as on other crown corporations, such as Canada Post and VIA Rail, and the list goes on.

This measure will make it possible for the Treasury Board to give guidelines to administrators of crown corporations and tell them how they should manage and pay their employees or how they should manage their day-to-day operations. Earlier, I mentioned negotiations with employees of this crown corporation, and then there is the announced $115 million in cuts to the CBC, which is another Conservative attack on our crown corporation. Unfortunately, that is $115 million less that the crown corporation has to do its job.

There is another topic that has been the subject of a lot of talk in my riding, and that is the elimination of the tax advantage that was offered by labour-sponsored funds, such as the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and the CSN—the most well-known funds in Quebec.

According to the figures, the government will save $350 million by eliminating this tax advantage. It will save $350 million, including $312 million in Quebec alone. It is no coincidence that we have been hearing from the media and other sources that this is a direct attack on Quebeckers. In Sherbrooke, there is an FTQ office just a few metres away from my office.

Labour-sponsored funds, such as the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, allow the workers who participate in the fund to invest in small and medium-sized businesses. These workers are encouraged to do so because they receive a 15% tax advantage from the federal government. This tax advantage does not exist for other savings plans, such as ordinary RRSPs, which are done through banks. Investors would choose to go through a labour-sponsored fund to make use of the tax advantage. The government now wants to make some gradual cuts. Labour-sponsored funds will no longer be able to offer that advantage. They will unfortunately have to fight even harder with the banks to compete for investors.

The direct investments made in the regions of Quebec through these funds enabled small and medium-sized businesses to start up and helped other businesses to keep jobs. This is really a shame. Many people have reacted to this, and that is why I want to condemn it. I hope that the government will pay close attention to this issue. As I said, there will be negative repercussions, particularly for Quebec, because it is the province with the most labour-sponsored funds.

Another issue that my office has received a lot of correspondence about is the merger of the Canadian International Development Agency, or CIDA, with the Department of Foreign Affairs. People in Sherbrooke are very concerned about this. Like me, they wonder how Canada's economic and trade interests, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Foreign Affairs, can be reconciled with CIDA's humanitarian aid mandate. I hope that CIDA will continue to deliver that aid despite cuts to its budget. How can the two be reconciled? How can the government believe that everything will be fine, that there will be no problem when it merges the two? Many people in Sherbrooke are deeply concerned about this.

Another issue we have been getting a lot of feedback about since the budget was tabled is the higher tariffs on some commercial goods. Countries that want to export their goods to Canada will have to pay higher tariffs that will apply to hundreds of thousands of consumer goods.

As the member for Sherbrooke, it is clear to me that higher tariffs are in fact a new tax, a hidden tax. There is no need to study economics for years to realize that if the cost of exporting goods to Canada goes up, companies will raise the retail prices of the goods they export to Canada. In the end, Canadians will pay more.

Canadians, including the people of Sherbrooke, will have to pay an estimated $8 billion more because of the Conservatives' tariff increase. That is in addition to higher costs for hospital parking and the attack on credit unions, such as Desjardins, which is a pillar of the community in Sherbrooke. There is one on nearly every corner. That is yet another thing the Conservatives have taken aim at.

I will be happy to answer my colleagues' questions.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I take exception to the degrading tone of the member's intervention. He has brought debate down a level with some of his characterizations about whether they are Conservative initiatives or the rationale behind them.

We put forward a budget in good faith, with lots of consultation, particularly on the infrastructure aspects, with municipalities of all sizes. Bill C-60, which the member opposite, unfortunately, will vote against, would implement the indexation of the gas tax fund. That would be immediate and it sets out the formula going forward for how it would be indexed and increased. Whether it is a small municipality or a large-tier municipality, they are all going to get an instant injection of infrastructure funds that they can put into their priorities right away. I am very sad the New Democrats will oppose that.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Essex for that mixed bag of Conservative talking points on Bill C-60.

My question is on the part of his speech that had to do with infrastructure. If possible, I would like the response not to start with “There has never been a government that has done more for infrastructure”, because, really, if the measure the Conservatives are putting forward does not fix the problem, then we are hardly any further ahead.

The program was originally supposed to be for seven years and now the government is extending it to 10 years without doing the math and increasing the amount of money allocated to the program so that the objectives are at least maintained. What is more, most of the money will be spent at the end of the program instead of at the beginning.

Does the hon. member not see that this is basically a cut disguised as a new program?

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today not only in support of economic action plan 2013 but of Bill C-60, our budget implementation bill.

We come to a discussion about the economic action plan in this bill at a time when our economy is creating job growth in quarter one in 2013 at a very robust 2.5%. There is an adjustment to quarter-four growth last year. We have now had seven consecutive quarters of growth. In total, we have well over 900,000 net new jobs, 90% of them full-time, with 75% to 80% of them in the private sector. All of that is just since July 2009, which was the depth of the recession.

The IMF and OECD have predicted that Canada will experience some of the strongest growth in the G7 projecting out quite a way. We have the lowest overall tax rate on new businesses in the G7. That is a serious competitive advantage for the country. We also have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, by a country mile, as we would say in Essex, or two, in this case. We are headed to pre-recession levels in due course. We have a deficit that has just come in lower than forecast and a sterling AAA credit rating with all of the major credit rating agencies.

Of course, we recognize that when we look to Europe and south of the border, or from where I live, north of the border, to the United States, there is more to do. There are still very real threats in the global economic landscape. That is why we need economic action plan 2013 and why we need to get on with the business of implementing the economic action plan here with Bill C-60.

It is important to put economic action plan 2013 in the context that it builds on previous work we have been undertaking. For those of us in the auto sector, which is where my roots are, we had a national auto strategy in 2008, including the creation of the auto innovation fund. Now we have the renewal of the auto innovation fund after major investments to create jobs.

The growing forward 2 program builds on growing forward 1, which was to strengthen the farm gate. Growing forward 2 is targeted at the food processing industry to get the sector into the export markets and to expand it and create jobs.

We had the original build Canada plan in 2007, which was $33 billion. Later we had the gas tax fund, which we made permanent just a couple of years ago. The new infrastructure plan in economic action plan 2013 would be long term. Included in Bill C-60 is the fact that we would begin to index the gas tax fund. We lay that program out in the bill.

With respect to a new border crossing between Windsor and Detroit, which is a vital economic lifeline, if we look back at past budgets, we lay aside the funding for the Herb Gray Parkway, which is currently under construction. Those funds allowed us to go ahead and acquire the land on the Canadian side for customs and the toll plaza. In this budget, funds are set aside that will help us begin some land acquisition over there, now that there is a presidential permit on the U.S. side.

We are also building on our elimination of red tape and are streamlining the regulatory regime to spur economic growth. I could go on and on, but I want to focus on a few measures that I think are extremely important. If we look first of all at the Canada job grant, we are tackling the skills mismatch, which is a critical problem we face in the labour market.

Even in Windsor-Essex, where we have had chronically high unemployment for a number of years, we have a machine tool, die and mould sector, for example, in which we have hundreds of jobs that have been open and unfilled. Many of them have been unfilled for as many as six months or more. Why is that? It is because those who may be unemployed in that area, and who may even have good skills, do not necessarily have the appropriate skills.

We know this from experience in Ontario. We can look at the second careers program, which retrained a lot of unemployed workers through the recession and out of it. People were training to be chefs and truck drivers. These are not unimportant jobs, but they are not hitting the labour market as it exists. The great benefit and the beauty of the idea of the Canada job grant is that it would put the employer, who has an actual opening and a plan for short-term training, at the centre of the equation to meaningfully train someone in a specific job to fill that opening. That is a major step forward.

I also like the fact that we are embarking on a major long-term infrastructure plan. That is extremely important for municipalities. As I said earlier, the gas tax fund has been made permanent. In this economic action plan, we did not stop there. We are going to be indexing that fund at 2%, and then in increments of $100 million.

If members talked to any municipality, including rural municipalities like ours, they would find that this is vital. Municipalities can borrow against it if they want to build a project now, because it is permanent and they know what the transfers will be. They can pool it and wait, if the municipalities choose to do that. They can apply these funds to their own priorities with respect to their local infrastructure.

The government is expanding the categories for the municipalities so that they can do more with that particular funding Maybe the municipalities have already invested heavily in upgrading their waste water infrastructure, as they have in Amherstburg, and it may be time to move on to something different. Those funds can be used in those ways.

I am surprised that the opposition is not supporting that. Bill C-60 lays out a schedule for indexing and a formula for how that is going to occur. It will be a significant blow to municipalities to find out that not everyone in the House is going to be casting a vote in favour of that.

The economic action plan is also really important because there are a lot of tools for the economy in Ontario, particularly southern Ontario, where I come from. We are still concerned about the economy in Ontario. The provincial government is pursuing high-tax policies that have driven up the cost of electricity, which used to underwrite the strong manufacturing sector in Ontario. Our businesses are grappling with that as they try to function in a global economy.

I am encouraging our provincial counterparts not only to get on board with the Canada job grant, in terms of better retraining, but to follow the example we have been setting with consecutive budgets, including this one, by lowering taxes.

In Bill C-60, we extend the accelerated capital cost allowance for an additional two years. That is critical. It is allowing our auto sector and our food processors in Ontario, which happen to be the largest manufacturing sectors in Ontario, to retool and invest in the equipment they need to not only increase their productivity but to lower their costs over the long term.

We are renewing the auto innovation fund, as I briefly mentioned earlier. It is a critical fund as we look to secure the automotive footprint in North America. I have to say that for a government that participated on behalf of taxpayers in restructuring Chrysler and General Motors, the auto industry is coming back with pent-up demand. They have a business case that works. A fund like this will allow them to tap in and help with creating jobs for innovative products that are rolling off the assembly line.

We have extended FedDev Ontario an additional five years to help diversify the economy. That is a significant step forward. The creation of an advanced manufacturing fund is going to really help in that regard as well.

The promised overhaul of the National Research Council to commercialize research and development is important to the sector but in a way that is going to allow small and medium-sized businesses that may not be able to develop the in-house R and D capability to access all of this great public infrastructure we have built through successive investments in our science and technology fund. To be able to do that to create jobs is a very good thing.

The one item I want to close with is one that is personally important me. It is the expansion of the adoption expenses tax credit. Many will know, since my Motion 386 of a couple of years ago and the study on federal support for adoptive parents and children, that this has been an area of passion for me. It would look at families who choose the path of adoption. There would be a recognition in our budget that there are 30,000 children waiting to be adopted in Canada.

This is a measure that would allow some of those costs to be underwritten or subsidized to get more of these children into the loving permanence they need. I encourage the opposition to get behind measures like this and get behind the economy and support Bill C-60.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak to Bill C-60 at report stage, the government bill that would implement the legislative aspects of the government's budgetary plan.

What I have been hearing from the constituents in Wellington—Halton Hills, the riding I represent, is that their number one priority remains economic growth and job creation.

I have talked to hundreds of constituents over the last six months or so on my drives back to the riding, and called them and asked them what their priorities are, over the last half year. Consistently, they have said that they want to see the government remain focused on economic issues, that they are still concerned about job creation and economic growth. I am happy to say that this budget would deliver on those concerns.

I think it is useful to take a step back from the immediate events that have taken place in the last year and take a bit of a broader perspective on the budget.

Since September 2008, the world has changed. It is clear that the global recession that hit us is still with us in many respects. Even though the contraction of economic growth is not there globally, many of the aftereffects of that recession that took place in the aftermath of September 2008, in the summer of 2009, are still with us today. Canada has weathered those aftereffects better than most other advanced economies in the world. I think it is useful to take a look at what happened over the last five or six years, to put things into perspective.

In 2009, the IMF said it would be the first time since the 1930s that the global economy would actually contract. South of the border, in the United States, we saw a housing market that underwent a severe correction, affecting many homeowners.

In Europe, we saw the crisis that is still unfolding, a eurozone crisis of skyrocketing unemployment. In fact, I think the most recent figures for the eurozone show eurozone unemployment reaching a new high of about 12%. We have unemployment in Spain hitting 25%. Youth unemployment is almost double that level. We had a sovereign debt crisis about a year ago in Greece that almost led to a solvency problem. We have had ongoing austerity measures, deep austerity measures, that have taken place in the rest of the eurozone.

Yet, we in Canada have managed to escape the worst of some of those aftereffects. I think it is because the government, in late 2008 and early 2009, realized that we had to do things differently. We came forward with an economic action plan. This budget would build upon those economic action plans of the last five or six years.

I think the proof is in the evidence. The proof is in the empirical data. The fact is that since the recession, the global recession and the recession here in Canada, ended in the summer of 2009, more than 950,000 net new jobs have been created. Contrary to many people's misperceptions, most of those jobs have been full time, 90% of them, and most of those full-time jobs have been good, highly skilled and highly paid jobs.

Do not take it just from me. Take it from the IMF and the OECD, which have said that this year Canada will lead the G7 in economic growth. In fact, the World Economic Forum has rated Canada's banks as the soundest in the world for the last four or five years.

Clearly, our plan has been working. It is has been working, in part, because of the government's actions through its budgets of the last four years or so, five years. It has worked, in part, because of actions taken by Canadians and the Canadian private sector.

I think it would also be useful to take a step back and take a look at this budget as one would review a set of financial statements. There has been a lot of talk about our deficits, about our debt to GDP ratios, about the government's taxation policy.

However, if we break down the budget, the government's budget, the government's financial position is a set of three financial statements. Look at the cash flow, look at the balance sheet and look at the profit and loss statement. I think there again we can say that Canada is in an excellent position.

In terms of our cash flow, clearly, we have no problems in servicing the national debt we have. In fact, I just checked on the quotes today. The Canada 10-year bond is trading at just above 2% yield. That yield is at almost a record low level. Never in the last 40 or 50 years have we seen the Canada 10-year bond trade at such a low yield.

Why is that? It is because investors want to buy Canada bonds. They have faith and confidence in the financial plan of the government, and there is high demand for these bonds, which indicates a great deal of investor confidence and investor faith in the government's financial plan.

The fact that all the major rating agencies have once again reaffirmed the Canada bond AAA rating is also proof that, from a cash flow perspective, we have nothing to worry about.

From a balance sheet perspective, our debt to GDP ratio is currently about 33%. If we look back at the history of our debt to GDP ratio, it has not been this low since the mid-1960s. In the period from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s our debt to GDP was at or below 33%, and we would have to go back much further, back to the first 20 years of the 20th century to see Canada's debt to GDP ratio at that level.

If we take our debt interest to GDP ratio, there again it has not been this low since the early part of the 20th century, so from a balance sheet perspective, we are also in great shape.

If we look at the government's budgetary plan as a profit and loss statement, this year's deficit is projected to be $19 billion. That represents 1.2% of our GDP, the lowest in the G7. There again, it is an excellent figure.

As we have committed many times, we will eliminate this deficit by 2015-16. In fact, in the fiscal year 2015-16, we project a slight budgetary surplus, and we have done this despite the fact that over the last six years since coming to power, the government has significantly reduced personal and corporate income taxation in this country, and we have committed to balancing this budget without raising corporate or personal income taxes.

From a cash flow perspective, from a balance sheet perspective, from a profit and loss perspective, the government's budgetary plan is working and it is prudent.

I would also like to highlight specific measures in the budget. We have the Canada jobs grant, which would be built on the expiry of the labour market agreements that have been negotiated with the provinces and are to expire next year, in 2014.

Clearly, when we look at the macro unemployment picture in this country, we see we have regions of significantly higher unemployment and regions of significantly lower unemployment—in fact, one would argue, naturally zero unemployment in some parts of the country—and we need to better match labour market demand with unemployed Canadians who are looking for work. The Canada jobs grant is precisely the plan that would help us match employers with Canadians who want to work.

Another significant aspect of this budget that I want to highlight is the record-setting investments that the government would make over the next 10 years in infrastructure. In fact, total federal outlays for infrastructure, beginning in 2014-15, would be $70 billion over that 10-year period. That is a record amount of infrastructure money that this government would commit to, which would flow to municipalities and provinces, to help build the infrastructure requirements of tomorrow.

Finally, I want to highlight the fact that we are also very focused on job creation and economic growth, especially for Canada's small to medium-sized businesses. That is why we would extend the hiring credit for small businesses. That is why we would create a fund of $60 million over the next five years to help incubator and accelerator organizations, and that is why also we would create an advanced manufacturing fund to help manufacturers in southern Ontario who have borne the brunt of the recession.

In sum, this is a good budget, a budget I support. I encourage other members in the House to acknowledge some of the good aspects of the budget. I do not expect them to support it, being in opposition, but I do think that some of the good work the government has done over the last number of years that would be carried on in this current budget needs to be acknowledged. It has put Canada in an enviable position in the G7 and in the OECD, and I encourage members on both sides of the aisle to acknowledge that good work and commend the government for it.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to debate Bill C-60, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures.

Once again, the Conservatives did not allow a single amendment to their bill in committee. Now we are at report stage in the House, and the bill is deeply flawed. Nevertheless, it will be passed as is if the Liberal Party's amendments at report stage are rejected. Even though the Conservatives are not listening, I would like to use my time to explain how this bill will affect Quebec's economy.

All Quebeckers—except for the Conservative MPs, who are loath to lift a finger for Quebec—are scandalized by the elimination of the tax credit for labour-sponsored funds. Driven by their ideology, the Conservatives have decided to gradually eliminate the tax credit for contributions to labour-sponsored funds because they want to hurt unions. The credit will drop from 15% to 10% on March 1, 2015, then from 10% to 5% on March 1, 2016, and it will be eliminated altogether on March 1, 2017.

The Conservatives used a June 2012 study by the OECD to justify this attack on unions. The study recommended eliminating the tax credit for labour-sponsored funds because they offered lower returns than private funds. The study, however, was based on analyses from the early 2000s, and it is a poor reflection of Quebec's reality, which is much different from the rest of Canada's.

Quebeckers are dismayed at this change. The Conservatives might be surprised to hear that it is not the unions crying foul at the government's decision; it is chambers of commerce across the province. They are all united in sounding the alarm. A brief look at the statistics shows why.

This tax credit affects Quebec directly because take-up in our province is 85%. These very popular funds are a huge help to small and medium-sized businesses. They are a staple of Quebec's economy and retirement savings. According to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, labour-sponsored funds have helped create or maintain over 35,000 jobs.

Venture capital is plentiful in Quebec. According to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, if we look at the province's venture capital-to-GDP ratio, Quebec ranks third among OECD member countries and is well above the Canadian average. Having access to venture capital is vital to the start-up of many companies. Given that there is generally less entrepreneurship in Quebec than in the rest of Canada, we have to understand that putting another obstacle in the way of starting up businesses could be devastating to Quebec's economy.

Labour-sponsored funds generally make long-term investments in businesses. This allows entrepreneurs to start up a company and keep it going until it turns a profit, which can take a number of years. These funds generally also invest in smaller-scale projects than private funds, which makes it possible to help businesses that would not otherwise obtain any funding.

We know that these funds complement private funds rather than compete against them. Together, they allow Quebec to have a competitive economy and, above all, to be one of the most creative places in the world.

I have to speak out against the elimination of the tax credit for labour-sponsored funds and also the phasing-out of funding for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.

Last year, the government said that cuts to the organization's operating budget would result in reductions in administrative costs, but not transfers. However, transfers to businesses will be at their lowest level since the law was enacted to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec in 2005.

For example, in 2005, $286 million was paid out in transfers. In 2010-11, $424 million was paid out. The Conservatives plan to pay out only $212 million in 2013-14.

Taking inflation into account, we quickly realize that the Conservatives are also looking to gradually eliminate the agency. As I previously asked here in the House, will the Conservatives stand up and tell us clearly what they intend to do with Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions? Are they planning on abolishing it, as they are doing with the tax credit for labour-sponsored funds? Many Quebec businesses need this government assistance. What is the Conservative plan? Why do most of their cuts directly target Quebec?

Another serious problem with this bill is that it calls into question the autonomy of crown corporations, including CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada Post and VIA Rail. Everyone knows that the Conservatives like to control everything and they never hesitate to extend the scope of this control. Many Canadians are justifiably concerned about this government's lack of transparency.

In my case, since this bill was introduced I have received five times more correspondence on this issue than on any others.

The government now wants to interfere in the collective bargaining process. It is talking about reducing the compensation of crown corporation employees, including their pensions.

I do not understand why Conservatives have such a rigid ideology. With this budget, they are taking advantage of their majority position to impose their vision on Canadians. This budget is openly hostile to workers, including employees of crown corporations.

Another major concern about this bill is that it does not do enough to stimulate the economy, particularly with regard to youth unemployment. We all know that young people have been hit hard by the economic crisis. Today, their unemployment rate is 5% higher than before the economic crisis. It is very disconcerting. As we speak, young people have just finished or are finishing up their semester. They racked up debt all year long in order to pay for tuition, housing, food and other things. However, they will have a hard time finding a summer job. For them, the summer is the only time when they can put a bit of money in their pockets.

If they do not get a job this summer, some young people will have to drop out of school temporarily or permanently only to, quite often, end up working for minimum wage. Many will not be able to resume their studies because they will not have the money to pay for another year of school. Those who pursue their studies anyway will have to tighten their belts, which will have an adverse economic impact. They will consume less this summer, which will decrease revenues for a number of businesses.

I am asking my Conservative colleagues: where are the measures for boosting youth employment? Where is the government's vision for young people? There is nothing for them in this budget, just bad news for their future.

I could go on and on about many other aspects of the budget that concern me. I raised a number of points at second reading. I raised more today, and I will raise even more at third reading.

Although there are some points I agree with, there are many I do not agree with. I am particularly concerned about the tax hikes, but I will not have time to talk about that issue.

In general, this bill and the government's economic action plan are tainted with a narrow ideology that does not support workers' rights. This ideology would have them control everything, even when the Supreme Court tells the government it cannot do something, as was the case with the securities commission.

This budget is not designed to stimulate the economy. Instead, it is designed to transform Canada into the Conservatives' vision for Canada. This is not a budget for Canadians. It is a budget for the Conservatives.

We will vote for Canadians and we will vote against this budget.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up on the point the member made in reference to the process in committees.

In bringing in time allocation, the government likes to say that it has allocated the bill out to six committees to have thorough debate and discussion. I sit on the citizenship and immigration committee. When the bill came before our committee, the Liberal Party was given a full 10 minutes to deal with the changes that were being implemented in this budget. A full 10 minutes, which means 5 minutes of questioning with 5 minutes of answers. It did not quite work out to 5 and 5, but the point is it is only 10 minutes.

The question I have for the member is in regard to the manner in which the government is pushing through Bill C-60. It is very anti-democratic, as it continues to rely on time allocation and prevents individuals from being able to speak out and giving their concerns and ideas. The member made reference to amendments, which the government does not respond to, whether by allowing for proper time or considering positive changes that are being suggested.

Does the member want to provide comment on that?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to Bill C-60. I know you have been in the House a number of times when I had a chance to talk about the border and you will hear more about that. The previous member did mention what was taking place with the Windsor-Detroit corridor, with a new public border crossing being created.

There have been some positive steps that have taken place, which have been supported by all parties in the House for the most part. However, some decisions need to be made for the future. Unfortunately, the Conservative government is exposing the new border crossing to some potential issues.

We all know that there has been a challenge with Matty Moroun, who is the owner of the Ambassador Bridge. He has private American ownership. Basically, there are around 25 international bridges and tunnels between Canada and the United States and only two are held in the private sector, the Ambassador Bridge and the AbitibiBowater Bridge in Fort Francis and International Falls.

Why is this important for the Windsor-Detroit corridor?

For those who do not know, in the riding that I represent there are four crossings that span around two miles which represent approximately 40% of the daily trade to the Untied States. However, with 34 states having Canada as their number one trading partner, this key system of infrastructure has yet to be addressed with the border authority. A border authority would help with the efficiency of our trade. It would allow goods and services to travel more freely and in a better organized fashion.

From the far west, we have the Hazmat Truck Ferry. There is the Ambassador bridge, which takes just over 30% of the daily trade. There is the Detroit-Windsor rail tunnel, which is an aging piece of infrastructure, but hopefully a new one will be coming. However, I am not sure we will have support for that right now from the government. We are waiting to see the decision on that and if the application process will still go forward. Last, we have the Windsor-Detroit tunnel which has mostly vehicles that go through it and some trucks make use of it as well.

The reason I mention this is because the Conservative government is embarking on a public-private partnership for the border. However, the government is not going with the agreement that is normally uses for infrastructure improvements on other bridges and crossings, which is needed to exercise leveraged borrowing through public bonds, such as they do in the U.S. This is one of the ways in which the Americans have gone about their process for twinning infrastructure pieces in the past and look to that for future developments. The Peace Bridge and the Blue Water Bridge are two examples of that. Those areas also have a border authority.

However, we have yet to see the details of the management of our new border crossing, but the public-private partnership the Conservatives are proposing could be fraught with issues, which I have raised. We will have to use a carrot-stick approach and see whether someone from the private sector will bid on it.

It will be a very ambitious project because the bridge will have to span across the Detroit River, yet it has to have enough carriage space underneath to allow transport freighters go through. This is one of the busiest waterways in the world for freighters and private boats. It is very important that the proposal does not touch the Detroit water, that it is a different type of bridge from one that has footings in the water, otherwise the IJC is triggered and it will take much longer.

The reason I bring all that up is, again, the public-private partnership, which is a challenge with regard to our process because it is not vetted. We have gone through this before for our border crossing and I am really concerned that we will need major incentives which would raise the tolls, and the tolls are an additional tax on citizens. There is no doubt about that.

There is a difference between a public and private partnership. Recently, the city of Windsor successfully sued for its portion of the tunnel. We were in a relationship there, but the operator and owner of the tunnel kept it past the 50-year date line that they were supposed to and kept the proceeds as well. When I was on city council, the mayor, Mike Hurst, successfully sued. We found a document showing that the owner had to return the tunnel to the public. However, we found the state of the tunnel in such disrepair that we had to put millions of dollars into it right away just for it to be safe. The private sector had a different model, which was basically to sponge every nickel out of the thing. The result was it did not put the maintenance money into it.

Now successfully operating under the city of Windsor, it provides a revenue stream to the city for infrastructure and other projects and it has been fixed up and repaired.

Interestingly, the private sector on the other side of the border, which owns the lease agreements from the city of Detroit, actually charges more money for crossing than what we charge on the Canadian side. Again, it is going to squeeze everything it can. In fact, it does not even have parity in terms of money, despite the dollar being close to parity with the United States over a number of years. That is one of the issues I want to touch on a bit later.

I will leave it at that for the border, but we are a far way from being done and the public–private partnership that we have is a big exposure because the finances are not allocated right at this time.

As New Democrats, we have been raising questions about the process that has taken place for this budget bill and what has happened. It is important that I lay out a bit about why we believe the process is so broken and it is one of the reasons the Conservatives are going back to fix things that they tried to fix in the last budget bills.

A number of years ago, it was the Paul Martin administration under the Liberals that started to add components of legislation in the budget bill. “Omnibus bills” is what they are specifically known as and they have a number of different things that are travelling with the bill that would normally have an independent process. That is important because this is similar to what the Americans call “riders”, where they attach all kinds of unusual things as they cut deals to try to get the budget passed, so all kinds of pet projects and things will go through.

The issues we are dealing with in this budget bill are very serious. We have the Immigration Act, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Act, the Investment Canada Act, to say a few, that in the budget bill as opposed to having a full vetting at committees.

The committee systems are important. At a committee we have a number of different individuals who will be invited to come forward, provide their testimony and then from there we get experts and we really hash it out. Sometimes there is actually support for legislation and for changes or we find mistakes in bills that were put forth accidentally. Not all legislation is drafted in a pristine manner and will pass the test of metal, so it requires amendments. Amendments will be made, voted on and then returned here to this chamber. That is the normal process and usually it takes a bit longer, but at the same time it makes for better legislation. Unfortunately, all these different things have been put in front of us.

The committees that the budget bill has gone to have been the finance committee, the industry committee, the citizenship and immigration committee, the human resources and skills development committee, the veterans affairs committee and the foreign affairs and international development committee. Through that process, despite looking at spending billions of dollars, there were 33 amendments by the New Democrats, 8 by the Liberals and zero from the Conservatives. Therefore, what we see is a budget bill that will go through with very little debate and expert review.

I would just make one other point with regard to the finances in the budget. The budget continues on a reckless path of cutting revenues without increasing the access to supports that we need to pay for some of them. This is what I am referring to with regard to corporate tax cuts that continue. We are borrowing money and we will be paying interest on those corporate tax cuts because we do not have a surplus right now. Therefore, we are taking resources out of our system and paying a premium for them at a time when we should not be doing that.

That is how the HST was brought in. I commissioned an independent paper that looked at the HST when we had to borrow $6 billion to do so and if we got back to a surplus and paid it off in 10 years, as an independent paper estimated, we would spend around $8 billion to bring it in. Therefore, when we are going to pay a premium for something, we had better get something of value out of it and I do not think we are.

This budget continues subsidies for the oil and gas industry. It supports tax reductions for banks, insurance companies and others that certainly are making a profit right now.

We need to make better decisions.

[José Nunez-Melo, NDP, Laval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first, I must admit that when I was asked to prepare a speech on Bill C-60, I was quite interested because many of the proposed measures in the budget concern the municipality of Laval. Laval needs infrastructure and certain changes. I felt this was a good opportunity.

However, this morning, just before oral question period, the government once again cavalierly imposed time allocation on this bill. This reminded me of a session of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development that I attended. Some witnesses were clearly saying that the government was not on the right track when it came to its proposals for aid to developing countries, including wanting to merge Foreign Affairs and International Development with CIDA.

We have been opposed from the beginning to the Conservative caucus's recent way of doing things during debates and discussions. Even in committee, we can see this intransigent attitude, as the Conservatives reject outright every proposal and amendment put forward by the opposition or interested groups, such as witnesses. The door is not open. This government does not listen.

The Conservatives talk about the action plan all day long, as though it is the be-all and end-all when it comes to Canada's economic growth over the next few years. I want to point out that this action plan was designed a few years ago, when our economy was in a different situation. The timing is off with this adjustment.

The government is still using old studies and projections as the basis for omnibus bills like this one, which include all kinds of things. Five committees had to study this bill. I will list them all, since that is unbelievable. Perhaps members can tell me how these committees are connected. The only logical connection I see would be between the Standing Committee on Finance and the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.

The bill includes measures that affect the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration; the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities; the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs; and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

The NDP alone proposed 33 amendments. They were all rejected outright, with no explanation. The government claims to listen, but it does not. It already has a set plan for what will happen. As I already mentioned this morning, just before question period, the government moved a time allocation motion. I know that times are tough right now and that there are problems everywhere. When the action plan was designed two or three years ago, it was a good thing.

However, employers are using the temporary foreign worker program, although there is no job stability for Canadian families, who are deeply in debt. This is not about job creation, but job stability. People are losing their jobs.

The Conservatives say they have created thousands of jobs, but they can create only public service jobs. The private sector has created these jobs.

They really cannot reconcile two things: they say they want to eliminate the deficit, but they are taking the wrong approach. To them, the right approach is to reduce spending. They have hobbled plenty of organizations that should receive lasting support to maintain economic growth.

One thing that struck me is that this bill gives broad powers to the Treasury Board. After being elected in May 2011, I began to sit in June 2011, like most members. From the outset, I was really surprised to see that my new role as a member promised to be very tough indeed. There was a lot to learn. Indeed, what I was faced with right off the bat was blatant and shocking, because I had to sit until midnight when we held a filibuster during that period in June 2011.

It was about protecting the rights of workers to organize and negotiate a collective agreement with their employer without government intervention. This is dangerous. The Conservatives ignored these rights. They said that was what they wanted to do and they did it. They say that Canadians gave them a majority mandate after the 2011 election, but I think this mandate has been misinterpreted.

I am sure most Conservative members promised their constituents that they would duly represent them and defend their interests here in the House of Commons. However, what is happening instead is that in practice, policy and cabinet are governed by and firmly in line with the predetermined policies of the Conservative elite.

Bill C-60 sends the message that the Conservatives intend to keep Canadians in the dark and change a whole lot of bills without holding consultations. The consultations they do hold are pointless because they do not seem to listen to what people say. The people on the other side are not giving us logical answers. They latch onto an idea from the very beginning and will not let go.

We have reached an impasse, and they are running roughshod over democracy. Opposition members are all constantly seeking answers and solutions to problems that those in government more or less ignore. The only thing they care about is their ideology.

This is the result.

I am very disappointed, and I stand by our caucus's original position.

We will strongly oppose this bill because it makes no sense at all.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned the palliative care. What he will not do, because I know he is a humble man, is take credit for a lot of the work he has done in respect of seeing investments like that in palliative care.

I want to commend my colleague for his discussion today on Bill C-60. Our government proposes to index the gas tax fund and that measure is included in Bill C-60. That measure is important for our communities and for our infrastructure.

Could the member comment on that? While I am at it, I am stunned to hear that the opposition will not support a measure like this for long-term predictable infrastructure funding for our communities, direct to them so they can do what they need to do.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in favour of economic action plan 2013 and our government's budget implementation bill.

Even in the face of this global downturn, under the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, Canada has led the world. Our net debt to GDP ratio is the lowest in the world. All the major credit agencies have affirmed Canada's AAA credit rating, and we have enjoyed the strongest job creation record in the G7. Canada has created more than 950,000 net new jobs since 2009, and 90% of those were full time and 80% in the private sector.

Through our government's leadership and discipline, our fiscal program played a strong role in ensuring that Canada's economy stayed on the rails, moving forward. In fact, to quote an editorial from my local paper, the Waterloo Region Record:

Canada is doing better and should continue to do better than most other advanced industrial nations, thanks, in part, to the fiscal prudence....

—of the finance minister's budget.

Canada will continue to lead the world because the Canadian government has made the tough, responsible choices. It has made the choice to engage Canadians in a massive temporary stimulus program that kept our economy afloat and built world-class research and commercialization facilities and much-needed community assets and infrastructure: roads, bridges, water treatment facilities and community centres. It has made the choice to maintain our commitment to lowering taxes on individuals and businesses that ensures Canada is an excellent place to call home, to work, to build a business and to raise a family.

It is worth remembering that the average family of four is paying $3,200 less, thanks to our tax cuts. Our choice to remain on track for balancing the budget in fiscal 2015-16 is a statement of confidence, confidence in our businesses and workers that, as global markets recover, our entrepreneurs and highly skilled workforce will seize that opportunity, confidence that the prudence we practice today will earn our prosperity for years to come.

Canadians can be confident, confident in themselves, confident in this budget and confident in this government.

I want to focus, though, on the elements of budget 2013 that are most important to my home area of Waterloo Region. For those hon. members unfamiliar with the Waterloo Region, our community has a history of reinventing our economy to adapt with changing times. Our ability to reinvent ourselves has always hinged on our uniquely strong sense of community.

When there is an opportunity to be pursued, business, academia, government, labour and the community sector all work together to make it happen. The people of Waterloo Region do not look for handouts, but they welcome collaboration and support.

That is why I stand today in this House and state categorically that this budget presents great news for my riding of Kitchener—Conestoga and for all of Waterloo Region. Our region is one of the hardest hit by the shortage of skilled workers, from engineers to welders, which our government continues to address. Our government is committed to providing leadership in correcting this. We will support the use of apprentices in federally funded projects and long-term infrastructure programs. We will work in collaboration with the provinces and territories to standardize requirements for apprentices in the skilled trades.

We are expanding opportunities for new entrants to the job market to get the skills they need, and we are increasing supports for Canadians with disabilities. Also, we committed to the Canada job grant, which would provide funds to help Canadians get the skills they need for the in-demand jobs. One hundred and thirty thousand Canadians would be able to take advantage of this program each year, and the direct involvement of employers would ensure the training offered aligns with the skills Canadians need.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called Canada's economic action plan 2013, “a significant step forward in the federal government's attack on Canada's skills challenge”.

However, it was not only business organizations offering praise. The Association of Canadian Community Colleges, the Canadian Building Trades and Engineers Canada all spoke highly of our approach to building the talent Canada needs, where it needs it.

Dr. John Tibbits, president of Conestoga College, noted that:

This budget clearly recognizes the important role that applied learning plays as a catalyst for job opportunity and innovation that will reinvigorate Canada's economy and put us on the path to a brighter future.

Even the Canadian Labour Congress called our plans around apprenticeships

“...a good first step in creating opportunities.”

It is not just a shortage of talent that is holding us back. Our high-tech industry faces a severe lack of venture capital.

High-potential companies in my riding, like Miovision Technologies and Clearpath Robotics, have shared the difficulties small companies face in finding the investment needed to take them to that next level. We live in a global economy and there is a very healthy entrepreneurial culture south of the border, and entrepreneurs there are very willing to purchase promising small enterprises. Too often they require that the companies' core team move to the U.S. to be closer to their funders, and the result is lost growth.

We need this amazing talent. We need these entrepreneurs to stay right here in Canada. As a government, we need these companies to stay here at home in Canada because we want the jobs they create to be created here, at home in Canada.

Iain Klugman, CEO of Communitech, Waterloo Region's technology association, noted the significance of budget 2013 stating that the two key barriers to growth for tech companies are access to talent and access to capital. Budget 2013 takes aim at helping companies overcome both of these barriers. The additional resources for NRC-IRAP and the Business Development Bank of Canada would increase the availability of much needed capital for Canada's tech companies.

Communitech was also pleased to see our government support entrepreneurship by supporting business incubators, and I would like to share a bit about the impact a business incubator can have on economic growth.

Communitech offers a business incubator program to high tech start-ups. The Communitech Hub opened in 2009 as part of a five-year digital strategy. Both were supported by this government. We see the benefits when large, established companies donate to support services for start-ups. We see the impact that peer-to-peer training and mentorship can deliver to young companies. We see the synergies that result when aspiring entrepreneurs are able to access bleeding edge technologies like the 3D virtual environment.

How do we see all of these very positive changes? Let us measure the impact against its five-year plan, just three years into that plan: 800 new digital media and mobile technology companies, eight times the forecast; 1,600 new jobs in start-up companies, 80% of the five-year goal; $350 million in equity investments, more than triple the five-year goal.

As a result of this holistic approach to business development offered by the Hub, 83% of start-ups in the Communitech network are still in business after five years. That is almost double the industry average. These are the keys to a prosperous community.

Speaking of prosperous communities, I must mention how pleased the communities that make up Kitchener—Conestoga were with this budget's commitment to renewing our infrastructure, a $53 billion program in predictable infrastructure funding. This 10-year program would be the largest and longest federal commitment to infrastructure in Canadian history.

Its components include a $14 billion renewal of the building Canada fund to support major economic infrastructure projects; a five-year plan to continue building infrastructure projects through innovative public-private partnerships, P3s; and more than $32 billion in enhanced gas tax fund payments to provide predictable, application-free funding to municipalities.

This long-term, predictable funding is something our municipal partners have been requesting for years.

Also, while keeping on track for a return to surplus, we would invest new money to help move vulnerable Canadians off the streets, out of shelters and into stable housing, and invest directly in affordable housing.

For my home region of Waterloo, it is estimated that the gas tax fund improvements alone would channel an additional $126 million to our local municipalities.

Grant Whittington, the chief administrative officer of Wilmot Township, sent me a note shortly after the budget, stating that he felt “the budget was well done and provided long-term financial support for municipal support for municipal infrastructure”. He concluded by noting that “The indexing of the Gas Tax Funding Program is very appreciated”.

Kitchener city councillor Berry Vrbanovic, also the past president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, agreed, stating that “The Federal Government has delivered to municipalities with this budget”.

The FCM was even more effusive with its praise:

We applaud the government for choosing to continue moving our communities forward even as it meets its immediate fiscal challenges....

...it will spur growth and job creation while laying the foundation for a more competitive economy.

From engineers to educational institutions, from big business to small business to organized labour, from our communities and our newspapers, we are hearing the same thing, that the budget is good news for Canada.

I look forward to seeing Bill C-60, the economic action plan, passed and implemented quickly. Our communities need the funds to renew their infrastructure. Our unemployed need the training opportunities. Our businesses need the talent.

I ask all hon. members to support Bill C-60, which would make it easier for families to adopt a child and provide a healthy, nurturing environment; easier for charities to attract new donors, as proposed by my friend, the hon. member for Kitchener—Waterloo; easier for businesses to grow and innovate to create new jobs and better-paying jobs; easier to support the development and expansion of palliative care services for those who so desperately need them.

I am proud of this budget. I am proud of how Canadians have persevered through this time of economic adversity. I am confident in Canadians. The government shares that confidence. This budget and this bill reflect that confidence. I ask all hon. members to join me in supporting Bill C-60.