Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the hon. member thinks it is time for us to update the copyright laws. Could she also comment specifically on the sections of the bill that deal with enabling and piracy and the notice and notice regime?
House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 43% of the vote.
Copyright Modernization Act May 14th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the hon. member thinks it is time for us to update the copyright laws. Could she also comment specifically on the sections of the bill that deal with enabling and piracy and the notice and notice regime?
Copyright Modernization Act May 14th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Nipissing—Timiskaming for a spectacular discussion because he has shown the direct parallel between what the opposition likes to do. It likes to delay bills. When it comes to the economy, it likes to talk down the Canadian economy. It likes to go to foreign jurisdictions and talk down Canadian creators, those who create jobs, wealth and investment.
Therefore, I thank the hon. member for making that direct link between the 11 or 13 hours, or three days, of filibustering on the economic action plan and the over two Parliaments' worth of filibustering by the opposition on this bill. The hon. member is quite correct. When the opposition delays and obfuscates, it hurts Canadians jobs and the economy.
I wonder if the hon. member would agree with me that it is time we passed this bill because it is imperative that we bring in copyright reform to improve jobs and the economy.
Copyright Modernization Act May 14th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we provided that assurance. The bill provides that assurance. The only people who are questioning that are of course the opposition members in a desperate attempt to divide Canadians.
According to the bill, if a student is doing distance education at home and the professor shows a movie as part of the course in the classroom, should that student at home be able to take that movie and use it forevermore when the student in the class is not allowed to do that? Should the two students be treated equally? Absolutely.
However, will the notes that students take while in class be seized, as the opposition has stated? No. Will they be able to use those 30 years from now if they so desire? Yes. Will any not copyrighted information still be left in the possession of our students? Yes, of course it will.
The bill ensures that any copyrighted material is not used adversely against the people who work hard to create it. It evens out the balance between those who study at home and those who are studying in classrooms. That is why 25 student associations across the country support the bill.
Copyright Modernization Act May 14th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, am I confident that this legislation will help create jobs and help maintain jobs? I am confident that this piece of legislation, along with the economic action plan that we brought in, will help create even more jobs.
Obviously, the record is there: 750,000 net new jobs have been created in this country through the economic action plan. Constantly, we see that the opposition members want to vote against that. They are so desperate to divide this country that they actually go to foreign countries to talk down Canadian jobs.
In December of this year, four of the top five artists were Canadians. The largest film festival in the world is the Toronto International Film Festival. On this side of the House, we understand the importance of arts and culture. It is responsible for billions of dollars in investment. It is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs.
We have confidence in our artists, musicians, and the people who create motion pictures and TV shows. We know that they can compete with anybody. All they are asking for is that their creations and the works that they worked hard to create are protected, and that we open up even more markets for them around the world. That is what this legislation does.
Copyright Modernization Act May 14th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I want to take just a moment to congratulate a constituent of mine by the name of Sandra Benedetto, who did the Sporting Life walk this weekend to raise money for cancer research. She raised a lot of money, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate her and some of her neighbours for taking on that initiative.
We are back here yet again talking about copyright reform. This is something we have been doing a lot. We did it in the last Parliament and we resumed it in this Parliament. It was one of the mandates, one of the things we earmarked in our throne speech as being extraordinarily important to the economy.
As members know, the government has been focused on jobs and the economy since it was first elected in 2006. We knew, as we went through the global economic downturn, that we had to start modernizing a number of the things that were holding back the economy. Of course, the Copyright Act was one of those pieces of legislation that was holding back our economy. We knew Canada had some international responsibilities that we were not able to live up to because Parliament was unable to modernize the Copyright Act.
I am very excited that we are at a point where we are actually seeing progress on this and that very soon a modernized Copyright Act will make it through this place and hopefully through the Senate, and Canadian creators, producers and those who create wealth and jobs in this country can continue to do that and continue to have the confidence that their government will support them and that legislation will be in place to help make sure they can continue to prosper.
I had a great opportunity this weekend to visit the Toronto International Film Festival, which had what was called the Next Wave film festival for Ontario's young filmmakers. It was a collection of the finalists from across the country. It was young filmmakers who were given the task of creating short five- or six-minute films in all kinds of different categories.
I cannot tell members how impressed I was by the quality of the productions I saw there. I am even more impressed that two constituents of mine made it to the finals, Joseph Procopio, a grade 12 student, and his two sisters in another category, Susan and Katherine. They won in their category. I want to congratulate them, as well.
I bring up the Toronto International Film Festival and our young creators because it is one of the things that helps define the city of Toronto and helps to define Vancouver. The importance cannot be understated of the entertainment industry to both Toronto and Vancouver, and to smaller towns across this country, for the hundreds of thousands of jobs that this sector creates.
This sector has been asking us for increased protections, not only so that we could live up to the international treaties we have signed but so that the works and the investments they put in could actually be protected in this country. That is what this bill would do. This bill would enable or increase some of the protections that the industry has been requesting for the longest time.
When we talk about large films, often we talk about the stars. A couple of years ago in my riding, in my hometown of Stouffville, one of the final episodes of the West Wing came to town. They were pretending my hometown was New Hampshire. Everybody was excited to see Jimmy Smits there as the Democrat nominee, but what struck us most was the hundreds of other people who were in support of the production, the hairstylists, carpenters, electricians and security personnel who were there. These are the people who are part of these productions, and these are jobs across this country, hundreds of thousands of jobs that are at stake if we do not actually get our act together.
Now 400 film, television and interactive media companies across Canada represent 130,000 jobs, and that is $5.2 billion. They support this legislation. They support it because they know it is the right thing to protect them. It is the right thing to protect our producers, creators and the people who actually create wealth and jobs in this country.
Who else supports this legislation? There are the 38 multinational software companies, including Corel, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Apple, IBM and Intel, and 300 of Canada's business associations and boards of trade support this legislation. The students of 25 universities across Canada support this legislation. The entertainment software industry, representing 14,000 jobs, supports the legislation and is wondering why it has taken so long to get the legislation passed.
When we talk about the process, until recently, until we brought the budget forward, I do not know of any other piece of legislation that has received more input than this particular piece of legislation, over two Parliaments. We have heard from hundreds of witnesses. We have heard dozens of speeches in this place. It became almost ridiculous, on the opposition side, that they were actually recycling the same members and some of the same speeches two and three times on this particular piece of legislation. That is how ridiculous it became, the effort to try to stop us focusing on the economy.
We are not just seeing it on this particular piece of legislation, unfortunately. We are seeing it on a whole host of legislation, which is targeted toward improving the economy, creating jobs and helping bring even greater investment to this country. What we see from the opposition, time and time again, whether it be on this legislation or on the government's economic action plan, is that its main focus is not to help Canadian business, not to help Canadian consumers and not to help those who invest in this country and create wealth in this country. Its main job, it seems, is to do whatever it possibly can to try to get to this side of the House.
That is all it cares about. Its members will say anything, they will do anything, they will misrepresent the truth any way they possibly can, in the hopes that Canadians will not pay attention. That is one of the massive disrespects that side has done with respect to this particular piece of legislation.
We have heard from the opposition that students would be visited by the copyright police and their notes would be somehow gathered up and burned because of this piece of legislation.
Of course, that is not true. It has never been true. It will never be true. The legislation would do no such thing. In fact, through this updated legislation we would actually provide even more help to our students. However, we would protect the content producers as well. By ensuring that digital locks are respected we would be protecting our creators. That is what this legislation would do.
We are also going to go after those people, the enablers, who take the hard work of our creators and of our artists and then put it over the Internet. Those are people who absolutely provide no benefit, who basically steal from the creators. The legislation would update that and would ensure we go after those people.
Our notice and notice, which is another important piece of the legislation, would also help ensure that those creators' copyright is not being infringed.
Ultimately, what would the legislation do? The legislation would bring more investment to this country. It would bring more opportunity. It would protect the people who have worked so hard to create all the things we use, be it an album or a piece of music, be it an artist like these two young students I talked about. It would facilitate even greater investment in our economy.
It is about time this Parliament passed this piece of legislation, because our creators have been waiting a very long time. One of the things we heard from them is that the Canadian culture is strong. It can compete with anybody. All they need is the protection in place from the government to protect their hard work. That is what this copyright legislation would do. I hope the opposition will join with this side of the House and continue to focus on jobs and the economy and get this legislation passed as soon as possible.
Ceremony of Remembrance May 7th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, this weekend Ontario held its Ceremony of Remembrance for police officers who have fallen in the line of duty.
Hundreds of Ontario's finest have made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of keeping our streets and communities safe. Words cannot convey our appreciation for those who serve us every day on the front lines.
Sadly, far too often this service ends in cutting short the lives of brave men and women at the hands of thugs and criminals bent on terrorizing society.
Three names were added to the cenotaph this year, including Constable Garret Styles, who died this year in East Gwillimbury. To his family and to all our heroes in Ontario and across Canada, I thank them.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act May 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. We can see what the result is if we look at other jurisdictions around the world that did not focus on the economy and on balancing their budget. We are seeing extraordinary turmoil in Europe. We are seeing the difficulties that our friends to the south are having. That is why, in this country, we have talked to Canadians, and they have told us that it is very important that we return our budget back into balance. They understand that what we had to do through economic action plan one was to stimulate the economy.
However, the hon. member is quite correct. Canadians want us to return this budget back to balance because they know that through a balanced budget we can guarantee funding for health care, for social programs and for all of those programs and services that Canadians depend on and all the things that make this country the best place in the world in which to live.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act May 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, clearly the hon. member does not know that I actually represent the largest riding in the country. There are 228,000 people who call my riding home. Why should the vote of the people in my riding count for significantly less than the vote of people in the ridings of other members of the House? I represent more people than Prince Edward Island.
I think that the good, hard-working people of Oak Ridges—Markham deserve equal representation. That is why the minister of democratic reform has finally sought to balance that representation here in the House. I am very proud of what the minister has done. I am very proud that this government has actually had the courage to look at how we are represented. I am extraordinarily excited for the people of my region, because their vote will finally equal the votes of people in other parts of this country.
I know that I represent the 228,000 people in my riding very well, but they deserve to have their vote count as much as anybody else's does.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act May 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, of course the environment is extraordinarily important to the members on this side of the House. My family was one of the first families to donate a conservation easement across 60 acres of 100 acres of land that we owned just north of Markham. That easement was given to the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust to preserve significant amounts of natural heritage.
This government has continued to do that. Before I was elected and before that member was elected, we worked with our partners, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Ducks Unlimited, and put significant investments into securing our natural heritage across this country. I know that in my riding we have announced the creation of a new park, the Rouge Park. We are doing a lot of things.
Some can talk about environmental protection; we chose a different path. What we chose to do is to actually act on protecting our environment. That is why greenhouse gases are coming down. That is why we are creating new parks. That is why this government has decided to get out of programs and services that do not work and to focus on those that actually do work for the environment and the Canadian economy.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act May 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House but it is a particularly big honour to rise and talk about the next phase of Canada's economic action plan.
It is also important for us to give some thought to how we came about this next phase of the economic action plan. We were elected on a promise to focus on jobs and the economy. We were elected on the promise to bring our budget back into balance.
Since we were elected, members on this side of the House have been engaging in their local communities. We have talked to members of the Chambers of Commerce. We have talked to our neighbours and our friends. We have held round tables, not only in our ridings but in ridings across this country. We asked Canadians how they thought the government should proceed toward guaranteeing the future economic stability and prosperity of this country and how we should bring our budget back into balance to guarantee that long-term stability and economic growth.
Canadians were very clear in saying that they wanted the government to look at ways of reducing waste. They wanted government to continue to look at ways of reducing duplication. They wanted to ensure their government kept in mind that they wanted their taxes lower and that the government offered hope and opportunity for future generations of Canadians, and that is what the next phase of Canada's economic action plan offers.
However, it is also important for us to look back to see how we came to this particular point. When this government was elected, it began almost immediately to focus on renewing and restoring faith and pride in the institutions of this country. It began to focus exclusively on how we could improve the economy, not just on that day but for future generations of Canadians. We also knew at that time that there would be some difficult times and difficult choices that would need to be made in the years ahead.
I remember an interview that the Prime Minister gave in, I believe, 2007, in which he talked about the years ahead and that there would be some difficult choices that would need to be made and that there were some troubling signs that the global economy was headed for some difficult waters. Therefore, we made some very clear choices back then to ensure that the Canadian economy had all the tools it needed to continue long-term growth and prosperity. We campaigned on that.
That is why, after we were elected, we immediately set out to stimulate the Canadian economy and to leave more money in the hands of Canadians. How did we do that? We did that by reducing taxes for families. We cut the GST from 7% to 6% and then down to 5% because we recognized that the way we could stimulate the economy was by leaving more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians so that they could invest in themselves, in their families and in their businesses.
However, then we did more. We introduced the national infrastructure program at the time, which was one of the largest infrastructure programs in Canadian history. The building Canada fund, which went across this country to reinvest in our infrastructure, be it roads or bridges. We started down that road.
We looked at our small businesses to see how we could help them to succeed, not only locally but so they could compete and succeed internationally. That is why we reduced taxes for our small businesses. We reduced taxes for our manufacturers. We set out a very aggressive agenda to open up new markets for our small businesses, our medium-sized businesses and our large businesses. We set out to create and open new markets so that those people who generate wealth and create jobs in this country had every opportunity to do that going forward.
In advance of the global economic downturn, we paid down some $40 billion worth of debt, recognizing that there could be some troubled waters ahead.
I remember the time when that discussion was taking place. I had not yet been elected but I remember being at home and listening to how some of the other parties suggested that the $40 billion that had been used to pay down the debt should have been spent in other areas of government. However, we resisted that because we knew that the best thing for the Canadians economy and for Canadians was to start to pay down our debt.
When the global economy did eventually turn, as it did in late 2008 and in 2009, we were in an extraordinary position to meet that challenge and to actually succeed in ensuring that Canadian prosperity and Canadian families could enjoy future economic opportunities.
What did we do in 2008 and 2009 when the global economy started to shift? We started to invest. We again sought the advice of Canadians. We asked Canadian businesses, Canadian families and our partners at the provincial and municipal levels what we needed to do to make sure that hope that opportunity continued in this country. We asked what we needed to do to guarantee that our health care system and the social programs that Canadians rely on could be guaranteed for future generations.
That is when we brought forward Canada's first economic action plan. It was an incredible document that sought advice from all kinds of Canadians. In the first phase of that economic action plan, we set out a very aggressive agenda to reinvest in our country, to make a very large investment with our provincial and municipal partners in roads, sewers and hospitals, as well as massive investments in our colleges and universities and in our recreation and sporting facilities.
We did all of the things that we needed to do in order to give the economy and our small businesses—our wealth generators, and the people who create jobs—the opportunity to succeed as we came out of the global economic downturn.
The results are quite clear. Despite the global economic downturn, this government has created over 700,000 net new jobs. These are predominantly full-time jobs and very well-paying jobs. Canada is leading the G7 in terms of economic prosperity. It is leading the G7 in terms of economic growth.
We know that the first phase of Canada's economic action plan was an incredible and resounding success, and through the last election we said that it was now time for us to move forward. It is time for us to move forward to continue to guarantee long-term growth in this country.
We asked what we needed to do that, and Canadians told us to continue to move forward by reducing taxes but to also start to bring the budget back into balance. That is what this government has been doing for the last year, after consulting Canadians.
The economic action plan introduced by the award-winning Minister of Finance outlines a clear course, a clear path to a balanced budget, but it does even more than that. It continues to reduce taxes for Canadians. It continues to reduce taxes for our small businesses. It gets out of the way of people who want to create wealth and jobs and opportunity.
As part of the consultations for the economic action plan, the red tape commission was formed. That red tape commission criss-crossed this country and asked people how government could assist them and how government could get out of the way.
Part of the economic action plan going forward is a recognition that when government brings in a regulation, another regulation should be removed, so that we do not handcuff the people who want to create jobs in this country. I think that is an extraordinarily important initiative.
The Minister of Finance, along with the Minister of Health, announced a long-term strategy to guarantee that we have sufficient resources and some record funding for health care in this country. We have said to our provincial partners and to our friends at the municipal level that we will continue to work with them and not against them, that the days of unilateral cuts, as we saw from previous Liberal governments, are over, and that this government was going to work with them in the best interests of all Canadians.
We have moved forward with trade agreements with the European Union. We are expanding markets for our manufacturers. We are doing more with respect to environmental assessment to make sure that we not only protect Canadian jobs but also open up new markets. For the manufacturers in southern Ontario, this is an extraordinary benefit. It is the manufacturers of southern Ontario that support the wealth that is being created in the west through our oil and natural resources, so they are very excited by the opportunity.
When we look more closely at the department that I have the honour of working with, Canadian Heritage, we can see the opportunities we are creating there by protecting the investments we have made. This government, throughout the global economic downturn, was one of the only governments that did not just maintain funding for arts and culture but actually increased funding for arts and culture. We did that because we understand that arts and culture are very important to the Canadian economy. They are the source of thousands of jobs and the source of an incredible amount of revenue generated across the country.
We have guaranteed and maintained the highest level of funding for the Canada Council for the Arts in this budget. When we came to office, our museums were struggling; this government increased funding to our national museums. We have created two new national museums in Halifax and Winnipeg and we have guaranteed the funding to those national museums. We are investing record amounts in youth programs across the country.
The future is very bright indeed for this country. Through the continued efforts of the Minister of Finance and all of the members on this side of the House to guarantee that future through this economic action plan by voting with it, we can ensure a very prosperous and happy future for Canadians for generations to come.