My sincere apologies, Mr. Speaker. I get so excited when I talk about the record of the government on keeping its promises, cutting taxes, cleaning up the environment and improving the health care situation. Sometimes I get so excited I want to refer to the Prime Minister by name, because he is not just my friend, he is a friend of this country and he is a tremendous world leader. Sometimes I just get too excited.
I want to talk about energy and the investments we are making into renewable fuels. This will not just help us clean up to reduce our carbon footprint, but it will also breathe new life into areas like Peterborough where agriculture now has an additional market. We are talking about taking things that can be grown in the field and converting them into energy, clean energy, energy that will have long lasting benefits for all Canadians. The farmers in my riding are really excited about this.
Last year and in years past it was certainly very difficult for agriculture in Canada. I have often said that agriculture in Canada suffered for more than a decade of failed leadership and planning on behalf of the former government. That may be difficult for the Liberals to hear. They will not be happy that I said that, but it is a fact. When they brought in the CAIS program, it cut the heart out of agriculture in Canada and they did not support our farmers.
This government clearly does support our farmers. The new renewable fuel strategy has created almost a bidding war for dirt in Peterborough. People want to plant crops because they see that they can make money at it again. That is all our farmers want. They do not want handouts. They want a market. This government is creating a market.
I also want to talk a little about tax fairness. We know, among other things, that the Liberals do not stand for a democratically elected and accountable Senate. They stand for the influence of big money in politics. They do not believe that they should ever have to tell Canadians where the sponsorship money went. We know that this is a fact.
We also know that based on the testimony they have made in the House time and time again, they do not support tax fairness. They do not believe that all Canadians, in fact, all corporations, should pay their fair share of taxes. We know that from the words of the Leader of the Opposition himself and many members of the Liberal Party. They stand alone on that.
I would like to recognize that the Bloc Québécois and the NDP both support the government's decision. It was a difficult decision, but when we made the promise in the last election to stand up for Canada, that meant we had to protect the tax base. It meant that we had to provide tax fairness for all Canadians.
Indeed, if we want to continue to assist seniors, families and low income individuals in this country, we simply cannot allow people to escape paying their fair share of taxes, because the burden gets placed on people who cannot afford to pay it.
Sometimes difficult decisions have to be made in government. We understand that. The former government did not. The Liberals did not understand that difficult decisions had to be made. In fact, they often avoided difficult decisions.
The member for Scarborough—Guildwood the very day that the former finance minister made his announcement not to tax income trusts was on CBC saying, “Yes, we must move to tax income trusts”, and the former finance minister did not do that.
Everyone knows the government certainly has access to the departmental information that clearly demonstrated tax leakage. All provinces came forward and said there was tax leakage. The Governor of the Bank of Canada said the way that things were going would lead to lower levels of investment, lower levels of productivity, less employment. It was bad for Canada. We have moved to fix that.
Budget 2007 has the title “Aspire”. It is about aspiring to a stronger, safer, better Canada. I will say that again because it makes me feel good: a stronger, safer, better Canada. I would love it if people stopped and considered that. I would like them to absorb it.
