Debates of June 8th, 2010

Jobs and Economic Growth Act

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Madam Speaker, I was very pleased to hear the member talk about the tax havens. It has certainly been a big issue in this country for many years. Interestingly enough, Revenue Canada has an amnesty program so that Canadians can invest in their tax havens in Liechtenstein or wherever. At the end of the day, if Revenue Canada catches on to them, all they have to do is walk down to Revenue Canada's office and declare their ill-gotten gains. The amnesty applies and they are off free.

That is a very bad signal to be delivering to taxpayers. We would be none the wiser about some of this tax haven activity had it not been for a low-level computer employee in a Liechtenstein bank, who a couple of years ago took a disc of names and sold it to the German government so that it could chase all of the people who were hiding money in Liechtenstein.

That is how we got on to this issue. It was through no help from the government or law enforcement in Canada. It was a bank employee in Liechtenstein who set this process in motion. The fact is that the Canadian government allows an amnesty. It allows people, once they get caught, to simply walk in and declare their income and they are let off scot-free. How is that in any way shutting down tax havens?

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from the NDP raises an interesting point. One of a collection officer’s hardest jobs is to go and get the taxes, as the finance minister says. The minister sets the fiscal policy and the Canada Revenue Agency has to go and get the money wherever it is.

What was said about Liechtenstein was very interesting. I well remember the previous minister responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency proudly announcing that he was going to nab 160 people thanks to a list that a banker had sold on Google to the German government. It was rather strange.

I would remind the NDP member that Canada's exports of capital go primarily to the United States, followed by Great Britain. The country that ranks third in our capital exports is Barbados. This is not for tourism, which is what the G8 people are supposedly going to be engaged in in Toronto. People do not invest in Barbados for tourism reasons but because it is a tax haven that the Government of Canada is unwilling to blow the whistle on and close down.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague from Hochelaga what he thinks about the Conservatives’ attitude during questions and comments. They make speeches about Bill C-9 and then they plant questions every day in question period. The government boasts about Canada’s economic situation and compares itself to the Greeks or other governments, as if it were responsible for the relatively calm conditions here.

This is the same government, though, that in the 2008 election denied an economic crisis was imminent. Now we hear Conservatives all over the place saying we managed to survive the economic crisis thanks to all they did.

Can the hon. member tell me what they are talking about? Is it the measures to help tourism in Huntsville and Toronto by building an artificial lake and so forth to attract tourists from who knows where? What measures can the government claim to have taken, other than the $10 billion to help Ontario’s automobile industry, so that Canada would survive the crisis better than most others?

My colleague is an experienced economist. Can he tell me whether this is a result of government action or rather of the global economic situation?

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Madam Speaker, I agreed with my colleague right up to the last sentence, when he described me as an experienced economist. The member for Markham—Unionville, who is also an experienced economist, will know very well that an economist is defined as someone who makes as few mistakes as possible. So I do not like the adjective “experienced”, but I will accept it.

In fact, the government boasts about all the good news and takes credit for it. In the meantime, the Conservatives are trying to break something that works perfectly well. I will take the example of the Autorité des marchés financiers. We have come through the financial crisis in Canada with regional authorities, provincial authorities, that work together on the passport principle. It is working, it has worked. It has functioned well and now they are saying oops, it is not in Toronto, so it must be bad and we are going to take it over.

I would remind the member that some years ago, the people in the government, who were in opposition, were in favour of the bank mergers and acquisitions of Canadian banks by American banks. There must be a God, because it did not happen, but that has nothing to do with the policies of the federal government.

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Madam Speaker, I would like the member's comments on the possibility of a double-dip recession in the United States. We are aware that $1.3 trillion worth of commercial loans will be coming due in the foreseeable future. There is a freeze on credit for small business in the United States. Manufacturers cannot get lines of credit. In fact, 400 of the largest contractors are now doing work in the public sector where just a couple of years ago 80% of their business was in the private sector. In addition, 2010 will mark the end of the stimulus package and unemployment is going to rise.

Does the member have any thoughts about the possibility of a double-dip recession in the United States, which could have a spillover into Canada?

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Madam Speaker, in fact, if the Americans start having problems with their debts, obviously the credit ratings will be changed and capital will be more expensive. If capital is more expensive south of the border, capital will be more expensive north of the border.

That would have been exactly the right time to have a loan guarantee program in place for the forestry industry, if they had done that, for example. It would have been the right time to put a business start-up program in place. That was done in Quebec in the past, in the early 1990s, after a recession, when we said we were going to give entrepreneurs a boost and offer them government guarantees. In a very large majority of cases, everything was fine and they did not need them.

When there is a problem with capital not being available, it is time for the government to consider developing and implementing loan guarantee programs. That, coupled with entrepreneurial know-how, is how the economy will recover.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by congratulating my colleague on his excellent speech.

Since the beginning, this government has not stopped talking about how much money it has spent on victims and about its plans to come up with some kind of bill to help victims. I have seen no such thing. I would ask my colleague, who is well-informed in this area, to tell us whether he has seen anything for victims other than the $3 million over two years, if memory serves. Other than that, has the government introduced a bill or come up with any concrete measures to help victims?

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Madam Speaker, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance is in front of me, so I will not start over. I will not get angry this time. I will keep the bill, but I want my colleague, the member for Ahuntsic, to know that I have looked at all of it. This has been thoroughly analyzed. There are pages and pages of documents, but there is nothing for victims even though it would make perfect sense to introduce a specific bill for victims. Rather than put everything in an omnibus bill, it would have been a good idea to introduce a bill to protect victims, but that is not what the parliamentary secretary wanted.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Madam Speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to share my time with the member for Outremont.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Denise Savoie]

Does the hon. member for Toronto—Danforth have the unanimous consent of the House for his proposal?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Madam Speaker, Bill C-9 is not a budget implementation bill that lays its cards on the table. It is far from honest. The House of Commons has approved an 880-page Trojan Horse filled with measures that have nothing to do with the budget. The NDP called on the members to remove the most provocative measures from the bill so that the House could debate them on their merits. I am very disappointed that this House voted yesterday evening to keep the Trojan Horse whole and intact. I am disappointed that the Prime Minister ignored our call to have the courage to be accountable. I am disappointed that the leader of the official opposition did not walk the talk.

I am especially disappointed this morning with the Leader of the Opposition, who is squandering this opportunity to stop this Trojan Horse budget before it hurts Canadians. Together, we have the leverage. With the G8 and G20 leaders coming for the $1 billion extravaganza, there is no way the Prime Minister is going to force an election on top of that.

Canadians are asking the opposition parties to work together and we need to be honouring that call. At the very least, Canadians deserve clarity from their official opposition, not a maze of confusion.

Look at what has happened. In committee, the Liberals voted against the Trojan Horse budget but not in sufficient numbers to ensure it was defeated. At report stage just last night, the Liberals voted for the Trojan Horse by opposing NDP amendments to split off the most egregious elements of it for separate discussions. Then again last night, they switched their vote once more and voted against the Trojan Horse but not in sufficient numbers. The result was that the whole package was approved and stands before us in this debate now on third reading.

This is not some kind of academic exercise. Let us review what is at stake here with this bill.

This bill weakens the Environmental Assessment Act. It gives responsibility for environmental assessments to the National Energy Board, which is in bed with the energy industry and big oil. Even worse, it gives cabinet the power to forgo some assessments, even for major offshore energy projects. Could the timing be worse? The Conservatives want to give oil companies more freedom when the BP oil spill is destroying the Gulf of Mexico and Canadians want measures to prevent a similar catastrophe here.

The bill also authorizes the sale of AECL. Without debate, we are ceding Canada's control over the future of nuclear technology in this country.

At risk are 30,000 highly skilled jobs and our reputation as an innovator, especially in nuclear medicine and research. It is an obnoxious precedent. It gives the cabinet the right to sell the largest crown corporation without public debate or scrutiny and that is simply wrong.

Third, the bill furthers the privatization of Canada Post. It takes profitable overseas mail delivery business, which is essential to Canada Post's success and hands it over to private business. It weakens this vital crown corporation and sets up the slippery slope toward full privatization.

Universal public mail service is a right of citizenship in this country and has been for over a century wherever we live, just like public health care. We cannot count on a weakened privatized Canada Post to provide fair services everywhere, especially in rural areas where service is less profitable but vital to the businesses and the citizens of rural Canada.

The bill also seals the deal on raiding the EI account. The Supreme Court concluded that the government was wrong to steal the money from the EI surplus, put it into the general accounts, and give it away as corporate tax cuts to the banks and oil companies. The Supreme Court said it was wrong and so, buried in the bill is the provision to simply make it a new law that not even the Supreme Court could stop. It is obnoxious timing because we are still emerging from a recession when workers need the help from the EI fund more than ever.

EI was not there to help them when they needed it. People are falling off the EI rolls. The government celebrates but it should not be because many of those people are falling into welfare. That is why EI needs the financial support that the bill would take away. It is time to renew protection for the unemployed, not take it away.

What is going on here? Omnibus bills like this are the wrong way. They are the last refuge of a regime that is trying to hide from Canadians what it is doing and it is playing on the weakness or ambivalence or waffling of the official opposition.

There is an opportunity this afternoon to do the right thing because barring a sudden conversion by the Prime Minister before tonight's vote, something I am not holding my breath in anticipation of, Canadians will wake up tomorrow with a weaker country.

It did not need to be this way. It does not have to be this way. Tonight's vote could change that and Canadians need us to do exactly that.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for Toronto—Danforth for that very passionate speech. The member rightly points out that we do have an opportunity to stop the bill in its tracks.

We had an opportunity last night, but sadly we did not have all of the members of the opposition supporting NDP amendments. Tonight we have an opportunity for the opposition to have all of its members in the House to just say no to what the Conservatives are doing to our country.

I would like to ask the member to speak to one particular aspect of the bill. I know the member many times has raised the issue in the House.

Those of us on the west coast, in British Columbia, are very concerned about what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico with the oil spill. In British Columbia we have had a moratorium in place that prevented oil and gas drilling in our very sensitive and pristine waters. We also had a moratorium on tanker traffic. We have heard the Conservative government talk about the fact that this moratorium has lapsed.

With the environmental regulations, or I should say the deregulations, that are in the bill, I wonder if the member could comment on what he sees the impact could be on our environment with this omnibus bill that buries these environmental regulations and takes apart these environmental regulations.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Nanaimo—Cowichan for her tireless work and the time she has devoted toward the protection of the west coast fishery and the pristine waters which we all know need to be protected.

There is a word that the Minister of Natural Resources has been using lately with regard to this moratorium. He slips it in rather quickly in his prepared answers. It is the word “voluntary”, that it is somehow a voluntary moratorium. In other words, we are to trust Exxon or British Petroleum, BP, to voluntarily avoid damaging the environment off the west coast. Come on, I say to the government. Surely it is the role of the government as the representative of the people of Canada to ensure that the resource is protected and that the moratorium has the force of law.

It was interesting to hear the proposal from Enbridge to put a pipeline 1,100 kilometres long across the Rocky Mountains, to take bitumen to huge tankers that would then be sent off across the ocean. The risks involved in this are enormous. Once again we are dealing with the question of whether the tankers will be allowed.

I believe we are setting up for a massive battle with the oil and gas companies around these issues, and we need every tool at our disposal. This budget takes away one of those key tools.

I have one final comment. The Leader of the Opposition has mused about how perhaps the Liberal senators in the other place will somehow save us from this Conservative government. I ask the Liberal members to stand up in this place and join with us in stopping the government from doing what it intends to do.

[Bruce Hyer, NDP, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. leader of the NDP, building on his comments about big oil, why in this 880-plus page omnibus bill are there no investments in Canada? Why is there no income security for mothers, families and retirees? What about passenger rail, green jobs, green technologies, health care, home care, education, sustainable community-based forestry and especially sustainable energy, instead of tax rates which are half the rate of the United States for big oil and big banks?

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for listing exactly the kinds of things that should be in a budget implementation bill, things that Canadians and New Democrats have called for for a long time. Sadly, the government does not believe in those kinds of positive initiatives. It does not take those sorts of positive steps to build our future. It is disappointing. It is one of the reasons we are voting against this budget implementation bill.

I would call on the majority of members of this House to show up and to vote with us against this bill.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-9, although the bill itself does not please anyone following our debates here. It is an honour to speak after the Leader of the New Democratic Party and to note a few aspects of this bill to illustrate to what extent it would be unacceptable for the House to pass it, especially since the Conservative government, as we all know, is a minority government.

My leader raised a number of points that bear repeating, namely the fact that the Conservatives, with their now legendary hypocrisy, keep saying they are a law and order government. Take Canada Post for example. The courts ruled that the activity of certain companies falls within the mandate of Canada Post and that this was a clear violation of the legislation.

These same companies have convinced the government to introduce within this omnibus bill, provisions in their favour. This is clear to the House. Instead of being punished for breaking the law and told to stop breaking it, these people have convinced the Conservative government to change the law so that they are no longer in violation of it. The government claims the legislation was the problem and not the people who were violating it. Such is the Conservatives' hypocrisy.

We also saw this with the theft from the employment insurance fund. Some $57 billion had been collected from all the employees and all the businesses in Canada for a specific purpose: to cope with the cyclical nature of unemployment in Canada. The Supreme Court ruled that by taking this $57 billion, the government was, in a way, violating the law. No matter, it will simply change the law again to no longer be in violation of it.

With impunity, those who broke the Canada Post Act are now finding justification ex post facto through a legislative amendment. With impunity, the government has shown that the law only applies to others. That the law applies equally to everyone is the very foundation for a free and democratic society. In French we call it une société de droit. In English, we call it the rule of law. We have seen that, for the Conservatives, the rule of law consists in saying “do as I say, not as I do”.

There is a direct link between another matter in Bill C-9 on the environment and the destruction of what used to be a balanced economy in Canada.

In Canada, since WWII, we have built a balanced economy with the primary sector as the engine. The makeup of our country dictated that it was the strength of our economy from the beginning. We had mines all over the country. We mined the different minerals and moved onto the forestry sector. It is our primary sector. The secondary sector is based on processing and manufacturing. It is well distributed across the country but concentrated, to a certain extent, in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario for historical reasons. Finally, in the last generation, the service sector has been growing.

The Conservatives have been destroying this balanced economy since they came to power. There is a term for the reality in Canada today. In economics, it is known as the Dutch disease. When the Netherlands discovered oil and gas resources off their coasts two generations ago, they quickly began their exploitation. At the time, the Euro was not Europe's common currency and every country had its own currency. In the Netherlands, it was the guilder. The value of this currency rose significantly, compared to other European currencies, with the result that the manufacturing sector in the Netherlands was destroyed in one generation. We learned not to do this. That is not the case for the Conservatives, who, I would remind you, continually boast about being excellent administrators and people who understand the economy.

Let us look at the facts. Last year, they posted the largest deficit in Canada's history. That is the reality.

That is not rhetoric; that is the reality of the Conservatives.

Since they came to power, they have emptied the employment insurance fund. In fact, they picked up where the Liberals left off and finished looting the EI fund. They are making it official with Bill C-9. They created some $60 billion in tax room, so it is no coincidence that Canada's richest companies received exactly $60 billion in tax cuts.

Why do I say the richest, wealthiest, most profitable companies? It is simple. Let us take the example of manufacturers in Quebec and Ontario and forest companies in B.C. Our strong loonie is a direct result of the Conservatives' work, because they imported huge numbers of U.S. dollars by exporting huge quantities of Canadian oil without internalizing environmental costs. Because the number of U.S. dollars is artificially high, the loonie is too high, which makes things more difficult for the manufacturing and forestry sectors. When a company does not turn a profit, it does not pay any tax, which means that the $60 billion in tax cuts did not benefit the companies in the manufacturing and forestry sectors, which needed them most.

Who did these tax cuts benefit? Companies like Encana, which was already making a fortune developing this country's natural resources, the oil sands, without internalizing environmental costs, and received a $500 million windfall. The government is leaving not only an environmental mess, but an economic mess for future generations.

The worst part of the whole thing is that the companies that tanked are paying the price, because if a company loses money, it does not benefit from tax cuts, but it still has to pay employment insurance premiums for all its employees. The companies most in need therefore wind up subsidizing the richest companies in Canada. That destabilizes our economy.

Before the current crisis hit, in the fall of 2008, Quebec, Ontario and the other manufacturing sectors had already lost 400,000 well-paying jobs. The government will say that that is wrong and that we can see from the figures and the statistics that other jobs are being created. Okay, but they are not factory jobs that pay $35 an hour and come with a pension. Sustainable development also means thinking about outcomes for future generations. It is not just an environmental concept, but an economic one as well.

Future generations are the ones that will pay because those people may now be working in a store for $12 an hour. I do not wish to take anything away from someone who works for $12 an hour in a store, but make no mistake, these people cannot truly provide for their families and they definitely do not have a pension plan. We are just continuing to dump our problems onto future generations.

According to OECD, Canada has the highest debt-to-financial assets ratio for households and families. That is the reality.

So when we hear the Conservatives say that this is normal and that their banks are absolutely brilliant on the global stage, we look at the facts. For the first six months of this year, the Canadian banks have set aside $5 billion for bonuses for their executives.

These same banks have made more than $19 billion in profit since the beginning of the recession, not because they are financial geniuses, but because there is a quasi-monopoly, because no one controls the simple things such as ATM fees and because no one does anything to control interest rates.

The differential that exists between the basic rate and what they are charging for mortgages, on credit cards and on lines of credit is the largest in history. It is not because our banks are financial geniuses, it is because they are abusing the system. But no one in this government is doing anything, no one is lifting a finger, to act in the public's interest. It is an outright failure, and it is entrenched in Bill C-9. However, we know the Conservative government's cynicism.

They tell themselves that it does not matter because the Liberal leader has already demonstrated his incompetence, his mismanagement and his inability to act, so they can put anything and everything into this omnibus bill. And they will say that we have no choice but to support them. The public will not soon forget. We are going to oppose Bill C-9.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Outremont for his intervention here today. It is very important to include the manufacturing sector, as well as what is happening with the dollar and the petro-economy.

One of the things that has not been touched upon yet but one which I would like him to expand upon is the insanity of borrowing this money for record corporate tax cuts, money we will be paying interest on for generations. Let us look at the HST, the $6 billion bribe to be brought in. I had independent economists estimate over 10 years the average borrowing rate of the government and they estimate it is will cost anywhere between $8 billion and $10 billion after interest, if we can pay it off in 10 years.

I would like the member for Outremont to talk a bit about the fact that we will continue to pay interest to provide this privilege. This is something that George Bush did in the United States and it has hollowed out the American economy quite a bit. That will continue to hollow out our economy as we pay a premium, not just with regard to the general corporate tax cut now, but the interest in the future of that actual cost.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for the excellent work he has done on this important issue because his figures are borne out by independent studies.

It is important to bear in mind that as the Conservatives go through their exercise of saying that they are great managers and look at these figures for this year's budget and so on, there are any number of little nuggets like that one that are being hidden and, again, will o be foisted upon future generations.

The example of the HST in Ontario and British Columbia is a good one. Canadians, as a whole, will be paying for what the government will have to borrow to pay that off long term.

However, let us look at the other examples, and there are many. In a study done, not by our political party but by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, an independent outside outfit,--we do not draft its studies, let us just put it that way--it calculates 200,000 jobs will be lost because, in addition to stealing the $57 billion from the employment insurance fund, which the Liberals started and which the Conservatives are now completing with Bill C-9, and because they have frozen EI contributions they are creating a hole that will start being paid in a couple of years but that hole is $15 billion which will be a terrible tax on payrolls and will take away jobs.

These great managers, who love to pretend that they finger-wag and tell other people what to do with the public pursue, are in fact the biggest big bunch of incompetent bunglers who have ever put together a budget in the history of Canada.

My colleague is right to point out once again that they are hiding the figures and that what will happen is that future generations will be stuck with an environmental bill and a financial bill the likes of which we have never seen before in this country.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Outremont for his speech. I have a question for him. Yesterday, the member for New Westminster—Coquitlam introduced a bill in the House of Commons regarding employment insurance. This bill would extend the period for which sickness benefits may be paid from 15 weeks to 52 weeks, for example, in the case of Marie-Hélène Dubé, from Laval, who testified in committee, and who is struggling with her third bout of cancer. This week, I met a man in my riding who, after 22 years of work, developed a serious, long-term illness and was not entitled to employment insurance.

The Liberals and Conservatives are going to approve the write-off of that $57 billion. We must remember that the Liberals were stealing this money up until 2006, and that the Conservatives took up where they left off. Would the fund have enough money if it were not going to Bill C-9? Today, journalists are reporting that the costs were not included in this bill, and they amount to about $450 million. Would there be enough money to help workers instead of the major banks, as the government is in the process of doing?

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Madam Speaker, the wonderful thing about the Conservative government is that from time to time, it says out loud what it has actually been thinking. We all heard the minister publicly say that she and the government believe that people who receive employment insurance are lazy and looking for a handout.

Benefits have always been needed to help offset the cyclical nature of employment insurance, and assist the unemployed and their families. I am very proud to work with the member for Acadie—Bathurst. For years, he has been a strong and consistent voice to ensure that the employment insurance fund is accessible to the public and that money is not stolen from it, as the Liberals did, with the help of the Conservatives.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to stand here as a member of the finance committee to talk at third reading of Bill C-9, the jobs and economic growth plan. It follows up on our economic action plan, which this government implemented over a two-year period to tackle the economic situation that this country was facing, as other countries were around the world.

It has been a very difficult economic time and we in this country have been fortunate enough to have a banking system, financial system and Conservative government vision that have paid down debt and put our House in order to be able to manage through that economic crisis. We have seen some really positive numbers over the last number of weeks, whether it was our GDP growth at 6.1% or the job creation numbers that we have seen over the last few weeks.

I think we are on the road to recovery. We are doing much better, as was even admitted by our Liberal opposition today, than most countries around the world. The OECD indicates that we are number one in terms of our ability to come out of this recession. It is the deepest recession that we have had in this country since the Great Depression. We had the foresight, vision and ability to take action and make things happen.

We were able to create jobs, generate wealth and resume the economic growth that this country needs and has been able to maintain over the last number of years. We are getting back on track and I think it is very much in light of this government's ability to see what is going to happen, take action and put the economic action plan in place.

The action plan was a two-year process for us to ensure that we kept our economy rolling. It will come to an end in March 2011 in terms of the stimulus funding and people are aware of that. People understand that it was a one-time opportunity for us to put money into the marketplace to create the long-term infrastructure to make our country a solid place to grow, live and raise a family for many years to come.

Before I really get started, it has been an honour for me to be on the finance committee over the last three to four years. To show the kind of commitment that the committee has to working on issues that are facing Canada and Canadians from an economic perspective on a daily basis, I want to congratulate three of my colleagues on the committee.

First, I want to congratulate the parliamentary secretary from Macleod. Based on a Maclean's survey, a survey done by our peers indicating who we think is the hardest-working member of Parliament, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, the gentleman I work with every day, won that award and it was well deserved.

Another individual on our committee who I also want to congratulate is the member for Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar. She won the rising star award through the Maclean's survey. We in the House voted on who we thought was making a contribution, not just in Parliament but on committee and to their constituents. Both of those constituencies should be very proud of their members and I am honoured to serve on the finance committee with them.

Finally, the other person who needs some recognition is the chair of the finance committee, the member for Edmonton—Leduc, who runs an excellent committee. We often hear in the paper about some of the committees on the Hill that are not working that well, but these are big, tough issues that we deal with. He gets some recognition in the newspaper on occasion but I want to publicly do it here in the House.

We have lots of people who come to see us asking for money and having lots of suggestions. I congratulate and thank the chair of that committee for the excellent work he does on keeping us focused, for keeping an eye on the ball, for knowing the issues we are facing as a committee and for being able to deliver reports, suggestions and recommendations back through the House.

The jobs and economic growth plan that we have in Bill C-9 will come to third reading and hopefully will pass this evening and be off to the other place for its consultation and vote.

I will talk about a number of areas in it and then highlight a few that are of particular interest to me. First, it would eliminate tariffs on manufacturing inputs on machinery and equipment. We have heard often that this is a big bill. It is actually 24 sections, but one of the additional pieces is the hundreds of pages of tariffs that exist affecting business in this country every day. These are tariffs for input costs that our manufacturing sector has to pay. It has to understand that there is paperwork involved and then there is the cost of doing business.

There has been a lot of discussion and I think there will be more in the future on the productivity of Canada and where we are in comparison to our competitors around the world. We do not just compete within Canada. We need to compete on the world stage with the productivity levels of other manufacturers and other service providers around the world. Canadians need to be as productive as possible to ensure we can get the economic benefit from being a productive economy.

These hundreds and hundreds of tariffs have been and continue to be a barrier to many manufacturers, and I am not talking about large manufacturers. These are smaller organizations with 10, 15, 20, 30 employees. This burden placed on them is a job killer and prevents them from being competitive on the world market. I am glad that Bill C-9 is finally removing these barriers.

Bill C-9 would also eliminate the need for tax reporting under section 116 of the Income Tax Act for many investors by narrowing the definition of taxable Canadian property. It is technical but I will give some facts. I will go a little further on this later. We are making it easier for venture capital money to come to Canada. The venture capital marketplace in this country is very small and, for our businesses to grow and attract capital, one of the barriers is in the Income Tax Act on the paper burden for someone to invest in a Canadian company. I will go further if I have time into this issue, but it will remove that barrier.

I was not aware of this issue until relatively recently in the fall. A number of members of Parliament had a meeting with Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and it was clear that this section of the Income Tax Act was a real barrier for it to be able to attract money from other parts of the world to invest in Canadian companies. This is not a takeover. This is to get companies from one level of a being small organization, where most of the investment that has happened thus far is either from the pockets of the owners, their friends, their family or other angel investors they may have found, and move them to the next level where they can compete on a world scale and attract investment to help them to invest in people, equipment and machinery to make the best products and services so they can be the number one company in the world.

We are implementing important changes to strengthen the pension plans which were announced in the fall. Bill C-9 would implement those changes, which I will talk about later. It would authorize over $500 million in transfer protection payments. What does that mean? There have been changes to the formulas in terms of transfers to the provinces. For those who do not know, there are three basic transfers to provinces: the health transfer, the social transfer and the equalization payments. There have been some changes to the formula and we wanted to ensure the provinces were treated equitably through these changes. For some provinces, because of the formula, there was going to be a reduction in the transfer.

This government came to the plate, stood up for the provinces and said that we know there are some issues in the changes and that we will honour the amount of money the provinces received in previous years. That is what that $500 million is for.

The bill would allow for the regulation of the national payment card network and its operators. With respect to the credit card and debit card industry, the minister has been very clear that some changes have to be made. The consumer has to be respected. This bill would put in place what the minister has said is voluntary at this point, but if the voluntary program is not followed, the government will make it mandatory.

However, the Minister of Finance did not have the authority to make it mandatory. Many people do not know that. A lot of people believe that the federal government has a magic wand and it can do whatever it wants. That is really not the case. The law has to be followed and the law did not allow it to happen. Bill C-9 allows the finance minister to make mandatory any changes to credit card and debit card operations that would benefit consumers.

Another aspect I am very excited about is that Bill C-9 would provide credit unions in each province the ability to have a national charter. What does that really mean? There are a number of very successful credit unions across the country. They are all run and regulated by the provinces. The bill would allow for a broader opportunity.

Just a few minutes ago the banks were mentioned. Canadians are thankful for our banking system. Our banking system is much more robust and got us through this recession in much better shape than many other countries. However, we still believe in competition and that is why we think the credit union system can play a role in being competitive in the financial services marketplace.

Now it is not possible for credit unions to have a national charter. The bill would allow them to have a national charter so that a credit union that is successful, say, in British Columbia, could expand in other provinces. Credit unions would need permission from the provinces. It would be a partnership. It is not the federal government overruling the provincial regulations, but it is a partnership that would allow it to happen. That is included in Bill C-9.

We are doing a number of other things. My colleague spoke earlier about the extension of the mining and exploration tax credit for another year, which helps the mining industry remain competitive. A member talked about the tax fairness between single and two-parent families with respect to claiming universal child care, which is putting money in families' pockets.

We are also hearing, particularly in southern Ontario and some areas of British Columbia, about the difficulties with contraband tobacco. Bill C-9 would deal with that issue. We have come up with a new system to identify which packaging is legal tender and which packaging is not. Consumers and law authorities would be able to tell what is a legal package of cigarettes and what is illegal. Those who are producing contraband tobacco products and selling them mostly to young people would not have access to this new system and it would be possible to prosecute them based on that.

We have to take the lead on these issues in this tough economic time. I am hoping the majority votes for Bill C-9 tonight to move it to the other place and allow us to move ahead on some of these issues.

One of the issues is the freezing of allowances and salaries of parliamentarians and reducing governor in council appointments to federal institutions. For clarification, there is a whole slew of governor in council appointments available to the government. Many of them go unfilled because the positions are not needed or the organization has fulfilled its mandate in terms of what it was set up for. However, each department that makes these appointments has to budget for them and put aside Canadian taxpayers' money to fund those positions, year after year, just in case the government of the day decides to make the appointment. It cannot make the appointment if there is no financial support for the position.

Our finance minister, through Bill C-9, has removed a tremendous number of these appointments. This in turn allows the departments and the government to take that money out of funding those positions that were never going to be filled.

In the last few minutes that I have for debate I want to talk about venture capital. Our Conservative government believes that Canadians and Canadian businesses should keep their hard-earned money where it belongs and not in others' pockets.

We are committed to making Canada a great place and to creating jobs for Canadians to earn a living. It is done through private investment in companies so they can grow, create jobs and compete in the world market. That is why the jobs and economic growth bill includes a key tax reform to strengthen Canada's entrepreneurial advantage, supporting greater venture capital investments.

During the finance committee's cross-country prebudget consultations, which happen every year in the fall, we heard witness after witness stress the significance of venture capital as a key source of financing for new companies and for the growth of companies that already exist. Indeed, venture capital provides critical financing to promising pioneer start-up firms to give them the ability to introduce new technologies, invest in new capacity and create new, high quality jobs.

That is why our all-party finance committee made an important recommendation in our recent prebudget consultations. I will quote directly from the report that was brought to the House:

In the Committee’s opinion, financing is critical for organizational success....Consequently, the Committee recommends that: The federal government work with the venture capital industry to identify new sources of financing and examine the effectiveness of existing tax incentives related to financing.

I am proud of what we are doing in budget 2010. I am proud of what we are doing with the jobs and economic growth act, Bill C-9. Specifically this legislation proposes a narrow definition of the tax on Canadian property to eliminate the need for tax reporting. It does not sound like much, but it is a tax reporting system that is very burdensome to those who have venture capital to invest. Why would people invest money in a marketplace that made it difficult for them to do so?

The demand for venture capital is not just here in Canada. It is around the world. It is a global marketplace. We need to be competitive to make sure that we are able to attract people with an interest in the growth in Canada and Canadian companies, with their capital, their cash to be frank, to be able to make those investments so we can improve our productivity, improve our delivery of service, improve our delivery of products.

That is what Canadian companies want. That is what Canadian companies need. That is what this government heard and it is what this government is delivering. This will enhance the ability of Canadian businesses, including innovative high-growth companies that want to contribute to job creation and growth in this country.

I have highlighted our government's actions here today with respect to venture capital, helping families with the universal child benefit, improving and making sure that the credit card system is serving consumers, and the credit unions' ability to compete with the banks and provide competition and consumer options. This is what Bill C-9 actually does.

As a result, our Conservative government has taken unprecedented action to help Canadians through this difficult time. We are continuing to see signs of recovery. We are seeing better job numbers, strong positive GDP growth, and signs that the Canadian economy is recovering from the worst global recession since the 1930s.

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the member does a good job on the finance committee.

There is certainly growing concern in the United States about the possibility of a double-dip recession. It has been discussed recently. There is $1.3 trillion in commercial loans that will be coming due soon. There is a freeze on credit for a lot of small businesses. Banks are classifying commercial loans as risky, so they are being very conservative in their lending practices. Manufacturers cannot get lines of credit.

In fact, in 2008 the 400 largest U.S. contractors were doing 80% private sector work, and now the 400 largest U.S. contractors are doing 80% public sector work which will run out at the end of the stimulus package at the end of this year. Unemployment will then rise.

Does the member agree with that assessment of a potential double-dip recession? What will be the spillover effects to Canada and when?

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that was a very good question. It highlights the differences between Canada and the U.S., and the position we are in compared to the U.S.

The United States debt and deficit levels are completely out control. The Americans have no idea and no exit plan. The finance committee was in Washington a number of months ago. We asked them specific questions about their exit plan and their future. The response we got, whether it was from elected or unelected officials, was that they did not have a plan. That is the difference between the United States and this country.

We are seeing growth in this country. Is there potential for a second wave of the recession? It would be untruthful for me to say that there is no possibility of that happening.

We have the fundamentals here. We can see that from the growth and our job numbers. Unemployment is lower in this country than it is in the United States. When in our history has that ever happened?

We have good fundamentals. We did an excellent job of paying down $40 billion of debt before the recession hit. We have set in place the concept of being ready just in case.

That is why Bill C-9 is important. It makes a number of changes to allow us to continue along the growth path that we are on, maybe smaller than what some people thought it would be and bigger than many thought it would be. We want to maintain it so that we do not see a second wave.

[Bruce Stanton, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the remarks of my colleague from Burlington.

The one person on the finance committee that he of course naturally left out was himself. I have seen the member and his work. We worked together on a committee in the last Parliament. I have seen, as is evidenced here today, his tremendous institutional knowledge of the topic as he sat there without notes and went through many different minute aspects of this important bill.

One of the things the member did not mention was the evidence of the progress that Canada's economic action plan is having in his own riding. I know he comes from a part of the province of Ontario that makes a tremendous contribution to Canada's economy generally.

I wonder if the member could reflect on some of those examples that he has seen in his home riding of Burlington, and on why this bill is that much more important to drive the action plan forward.