Bill C-13 (Historical)

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act

An Act to implement certain provisions of the 2011 budget as updated on June 6, 2011 and other measures

Part 1 of this enactment implements income tax measures and related measures proposed in the 2011 budget. Most notably, it
(a) introduces the family caregiver tax credit for caregivers of infirm dependent relatives;
(b) introduces the children’s arts tax credit of up to $500 per child of eligible fees associated with children’s artistic, cultural, recreational and developmental activities;
(c) introduces a volunteer firefighters tax credit to allow eligible volunteer firefighters to claim a 15% non-refundable tax credit based on an amount of $3,000;
(d) eliminates the rule that limits the number of claimants for the child tax credit to one per domestic establishment;
(e) removes the $10,000 limit on eligible expenses that can be claimed under the medical expense tax credit in respect of a dependent relative;
(f) increases the advance payment threshold for the Canada child tax benefit to $20 per month and for the GST/HST credit to $50 per quarter;
(g) aligns the notification requirements related to marital status changes for an individual who receives the Canada child tax benefit with the notification requirements for the GST/HST credit;
(h) reduces the minimum course-duration requirements for the tuition, education and textbook tax credits, and for educational assistance payments from registered education savings plans, that apply to students enrolled at foreign universities;
(i) allows the tuition tax credit to be claimed for eligible occupational, trade and professional examination fees;
(j) allows the reallocation of assets in registered education savings plans for siblings without incurring tax penalties;
(k) extends to the end of 2013 the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance treatment for investment in machinery and equipment in the manufacturing and processing sector;
(l) expands eligibility for the accelerated capital cost allowance for clean energy generation and conservation equipment;
(m) extends eligibility for the mineral exploration tax credit by one year to flow-through share agreements entered into before March 31, 2012;
(n) expands the eligibility rules for qualifying environmental trusts;
(o) amends the deduction rates for intangible capital costs in the oil sands sector;
(p) aligns the tax treatment to investments made under the Agri-Québec program with that of investments under AgriInvest;
(q) introduces rules to strengthen the tax regime for charitable donations;
(r) introduces anti-avoidance rules for registered retirement savings plans and registered retirement income funds;
(s) introduces rules to limit tax deferral opportunities for individual pension plans;
(t) introduces rules to limit tax deferral opportunities for corporations with significant interests in partnerships;
(u) extends the tax on split income to capital gains realized by a minor child; and
(v) extends the dividend stop-loss rules to dividends deemed to be received on the redemption of shares held by certain corporations.
Part 1 also implements other selected income tax measures and related measures. Most of these measures were referred to in the 2011 budget as previously announced measures. Most notably, it
(a) accommodates an increase in the annual contribution limit to the Saskatchewan Pension Plan and aligns its tax treatment with that of other tax-assisted retirement vehicles;
(b) clarifies that the “financially dependent” test applies for the purposes of provisions that permit rollovers of the assets of a deceased taxpayer’s registered retirement savings plan or registered retirement income fund to an infirm child or grandchild’s registered disability savings plan;
(c) ensures that the alternative minimum tax does not apply in respect of securities that are subject to the election under section 180.01 of the Income Tax Act;
(d) clarifies the rules applicable to the scholarship exemption for post-secondary scholarships, fellowships and bursaries; and
(e) amends the pension-to-registered retirement savings plan transfer limits in situations where the accrued pension amount was reduced due to the insolvency of the employer and underfunding of the employer’s registered pension plan.
Part 2 amends the Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006 to implement the softwood lumber ruling rendered by the London Court of International Arbitration on January 21, 2011.
Part 3 amends the Customs Tariff in order to simplify it and reduce the customs processing burden for Canadians by consolidating similar tariff items that have the same tariff rates and removing end-use provisions where appropriate. The amendments also simplify the structure of some provisions and remove obsolete provisions.
Part 4 amends the Customs Tariff to introduce new tariff items to facilitate the processing of low value non-commercial imports arriving by post or by courier.
Part 5 amends the Canada Education Savings Act to make the additional amount of a Canada Education Savings grant that is available under subsection 5(4) of that Act available to more than one of the beneficiary’s parents, if they share custody of the beneficiary, they are eligible individuals as defined in section 122.6 of the Income Tax Act and the beneficiary is a qualified dependant of each of them.
Part 6 amends the Children’s Special Allowances Act and a regulation made under that Act respecting payments relating to children under care.
Part 7 amends the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act to provide that the maximum aggregate amount of outstanding student loans is to be determined by regulation, to remove the power of the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development to deny certificates of eligibility, and to change the limitation period for the Minister to take administrative measures. It also authorizes the Minister to forgive portions of family physicians’, nurses’ and nurse practitioners’ student loans if they begin to work in under-served rural or remote communities.
Part 7 also amends the Canada Student Loans Act to authorize the Minister to forgive portions of family physicians’, nurses’ and nurse practitioners’ guaranteed student loans if they begin to work in under-served rural or remote communities.
Part 8 amends Part IV of the Employment Insurance Act to provide a temporary measure to refund a portion of employer premiums for small business. An employer whose premiums were $10,000 or less in 2010 will be refunded the increase in 2011 premiums over those paid in 2010, to a maximum of $1,000.
Part 9 provides for payments to be made to provinces, territories, municipalities, First Nations and other entities for municipal infrastructure improvements.
Part 10 amends the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office Act so that funding for the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office may be fixed through an appropriation Act.
Part 11 amends the Wage Earner Protection Program Act to extend in certain circumstances the period during which wages earned by individuals but not paid to them by their employers who are bankrupt or subject to receivership may be the subject of a payment under that Act.
Part 12 amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to repeal certain provisions that provide for mandatory retirement. It also amends the Canada Labour Code to repeal a provision that denies employees the right to severance pay for involuntary termination if they are entitled to a pension. Finally, it amends the Conflict of Interest Act.
Part 13 amends the Judges Act to permit the appointment of two additional judges to the Nunavut Court of Justice.
Part 14 provides for the retroactive coming into force of section 9 of the Nordion and Theratronics Divestiture Authorization Act in order to ensure the validity of pension regulations made under that section.
Part 15 amends the Canada Pension Plan to include amounts received by an employee under an employer-funded disability plan in contributory salary and wages.
Part 16 amends the Jobs and Economic Growth Act to replace the reference to the Treasury Board Secretariat with a reference to the Chief Human Resources Officer in subsections 10(4) and 38.1(1) of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.
Part 17 amends the Department of Veterans Affairs Act to include a definition of dependant and to provide express regulation-making authority for the provision of certain benefits in non-institutional locations.
Part 18 amends the Canada Elections Act to phase out quarterly allowances to registered parties.
Part 19 amends the Special Retirement Arrangements Act to permit the reservation of pension contributions from any benefit that is or becomes payable to a person. It also deems certain provisions of An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to pensions and to enact the Special Retirement Arrangements Act and the Pension Benefits Division Act to have come into force on December 14 or 15, 1994, as the case may be.
Part 20 amends the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to allow residents of Canada to temporarily import a rental vehicle from the United States for up to 30 days, or for any other prescribed period, for non-commercial use. It also authorizes the Governor in Council to make regulations respecting imported rental vehicles, as well as their importation into and removal from Canada, and makes other changes to the Act.
Part 21 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to clarify the legislative framework pertaining to payments under tax agreements entered into with provinces under Part III.1 of that Act.
Part 22 amends the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act to change the residency requirements of certain commissioners.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, I know there are a lot of costs involved in this economy. One of the costs is jobs, if we do not get the bill passed. A lot of jobs are waiting for it to be passed. A lot of jobs should be sustained.

I look at my own riding, if he is only interested in that aspect. We have Toyota manufacturing. This government put $70 million into what Toyota is doing on a RAV4 electric vehicle. It will be sensitive to the economy. Those are the kinds of things that have to happen.

I certainly wish that my colleagues across the floor would see the importance of getting this budget passed and do it quickly.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to what is not in the budget and what the government might think about going forward.

One in five Canadian children lives below the poverty line, which may lead to poor nutritional status and poor child health outcomes. Fortunately, school nutrition programs are highly effective in providing children with nutritious diets, better cognitive abilities and health. Unfortunately, Canada is one of the few developed countries without a national nutrition program. If we had a national school meals program implemented in Canada's high schools at a cost of $1.25 per meal, with the goal of increasing graduation rates by just 3%, the annual payback would be $500 million.

Does the hon. member think that we should have a pan-Canadian nutrition program?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is very important. The best way to help Canadians out of a cycle of poverty is to provide jobs. That is what this budget is about, providing jobs for Canadians. It is high time the opposition got with the program and realized the importance of passing a budget that is good for all Canadians by providing jobs.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, my friend from Oxford gave a very informative speech. He is an eloquent speaker and has an incredibly strong history of protecting Canadians. He represents a region where there is a lot of industries. Those industries were struggling and they were troubled about how they would keep going. Something that has not been talked about a lot is the work-sharing program that we extended and then we continued it again in our fall economic update.

Could the member give us some insight into how that has helped industries in his riding of Oxford?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is the finest Minister of State for Finance we have had in the House. He has done a tremendous job for us.

Regarding the work-sharing program in my riding, he is absolutely right. We have a tremendous amount of manufacturing. We have Toyota motor manufacturing, a GM plant and a Hino truck plant in my riding. We also have a lot of agriculture in my riding. The work-sharing program has been beneficial to all those sectors. It has been able to keep experienced, well-trained employees available for those people. As we have helped the industry come back, they have been able to help the industry by providing that expertise when they got back up to full strength in the economy. It has been a tremendous asset.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise here today to speak to Bill C-13. I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

The title of the bill is the Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act. So much for growth, since the budget grants tax cuts to large corporations without setting any conditions. What a mistake. Not only are these tax cuts not contingent on the creation of new jobs, but they also do not put Canada on the right track for the future, that is, the green track, the environmental track.

I will explain why this legislation is but a drop in the bucket in terms of the challenges we will face in the coming years. And they will be significant challenges.

First of all, as I mentioned, this bill will not create any new jobs. We must continue to create jobs because there are still too many people left behind in our beautiful society. There are too many in Canada and too many in my riding of Drummond.

The huge gap between the rich and the rest of the population continues to grow. The vast movement of global occupation and protest illustrates the fact that Canadian families, and families in Drummond as well, are feeling a tremendous amount of pressure. Relief agencies and poverty assistance groups in my riding are being used by more people, which worries me a great deal. This is happening all over Canada, but I am most concerned about what is happening in my riding. I have an article here from a local paper, entitled “Homelessness: organizations lament the lack of support from the federal government”. Clearly, these organizations are speaking out because there is not enough funding.

I would like to take a moment to commend the excellent work of some of the organizations in my riding, such as the Carrefour d'entraide, the Comptoir alimentaire Drummond, Ensoleilvent, Refuge la Piaule, the Maison Habit-Action, the Tablée populaire and the Maison de la famille.

The problem is that in order to properly support our population, adequate funding is needed. In that regard, the article is very clear. The problem is very serious. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Assistance provided and requests for assistance at both the Comptoir alimentaire and the Carrefour d’entraide have jumped by more than 20% over the past two years. Although the situation is getting worse, funding from the federal government's homelessness partnering strategy has not changed in 10 years.

They have seen an increase of 20% over the past two years, but funding has not changed. We can see that this is not working and that there is a problem.

However, I can already hear the Conservatives apologizing for abandoning people in need in the riding of Drummond, saying that the best way to fight poverty is through job creation. But the Conservative government is not providing enough support for people living in poverty—seniors, children and families. Every week I get a lot of messages saying that I absolutely must prioritize assistance for seniors because they are having a hard time making ends meet. It is crazy that I am getting these messages. There is a problem. There are problems with funding, but the Conservatives are also not doing anything to really help create jobs in Drummond.

On the contrary, the Conservatives' actions are so detrimental to our economy that I have received around 100 letters, which I have here. All of these letters are from SMEs in my riding. They tell me that there is a problem, that the Conservative government is not doing its job and that they are not able to support their jobs because of increased employment insurance premiums for employers and employees. The SMEs do not support this bill.

Canadians are looking for serious, tangible measures to create jobs. For example, the government could bring in a job creation tax credit of up to $4,500, as the NDP suggested. This initiative would help create 200,000 jobs that would help support families every year.

We proposed extending tax credits for investments that support employment such as the accelerated capital cost allowance for eligible equipment and machinery. The government absolutely has to accept that when it comes to jobs, its plan does not work. The government has to stop thinking that simple gifts to major corporations, the banks and the oil and gas industry are measures that help create jobs. That is not true. That will not create jobs in Drummond. We need real measures to create jobs and to help the environment.

Speaking of oil companies and the gas industry, does the Conservative government really believe they are the industries of the future? Are these really the energies of the future? Does it truly believe that oil from the oil sands is ethical oil? Give me a break.

In my riding, people are increasingly joining forces to defend our environment. Recently, people in my region went to the gas production sites that are using hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. They were completely devastated by what they saw. They came back and said it was worse than they thought. This industry is so harmful to our environment. They fear for our air quality, our drinking water, our farmland and the value of our properties and our land.

Nothing in this legislation will ensure a better environment for our children. The environment is important, as I was saying earlier. It is a priority for every constituent in my riding. But the Conservative government's current provisions risk mortgaging our beautiful planet and the quality of life of our children and our children's children even more.

Instead we could be establishing a serious plan of major investments in research and development for a green economy focused on renewable energies. I want to bring hon. members back to the NDP platform again. It has many good solutions to offer to the Conservatives. We could implement a carbon pricing mechanism using a quota exchange system, which would set ambitious emission limits for major polluters in the country, in order to ensure that companies pay their environmental bills, and provide an incentive to reduce emissions.

The NDP has another interesting proposal—to make Canada a world leader in renewable energy. Earlier, an hon. member spoke about electric cars. Fine, but they are still in the early stages; there is much more to be done. The electric car needs a lot of improvements. The money from selling emissions permits could be equally redistributed. These funds would be invested in sustainable technologies, commercial and residential energy conservation, public transit, renewable energy development and transitioning workers to a sustainable economy.

Last week I was at the Quebec energy forum in Shawinigan. The point was made that improving public transit is one of the most important factors in preventing climate change. Public transit is currently being driven by the plans of businesses and contractors. Urban planning needs to be improved in order to have effective public transit. If urban planning is done with the automobile in mind, everyone will use their cars. But if urban planning were done with public transit in mind, it would make sense and be profitable to use public transit. I could list many measures. I want to repeat that the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy reported that climate change will cost Canada $21 billion by 2050. We need to make the necessary transition, and if the Conservative government does not do it, others will have to.

We are ready to take those steps. The environment and job creation are our priorities. A responsible government must invest to encourage job creation, to fight climate change and to move toward a green economy and green energy instead of giving tax cuts to big business and big oil. We have to change how we do things.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I like to ask about things that are not in the budget, so the government can think about these things going forward. I have asked repeatedly about stem cells because they save lives, they save money and they have a critical role to play in the future of Canada.

In December 1999, the editors of Science called stem cell research “the breakthrough of the year”. Since then, there have been numerous announcements about developments in stem cell research and hints of promising treatments for diseases, such as ALS, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, cardiac damage, Parkinson's disease and type 1 diabetes.

Does the hon. member think that the federal government should increase financial support for stem cell research?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question.

I am not an expert on health, but it is clear that investing in research and development is vital for the future. I spoke about this especially in connection with the environment, a subject with which I am somewhat more conversant. We should not believe that the auto industry will be the one to make revolutionary environmental changes. Its research and development must be supported by a responsible government that has a long-term plan. That is also the case for public transit or health. If we want to ensure that we have better health, we must support research and innovation in this sector.

[Tyrone Benskin, NDP, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we hear from the other side that it is about jobs, like it is a magic bullet. Yes, jobs are important, but I think we need to look at the situation in a three dimensional way. Jobs are part of the issue but if those jobs that are being put forward damage the environment, then what is left for our children after that?

I wonder if my hon. colleague could comment on that.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Jeanne-Le Ber for his question.

At present, the Conservatives are boasting that they have created 600,000 jobs. They have actually miscalculated because, in reality, according to the figures I have here, and based on the peak in July 2008, we have a deficit of 250,000 jobs. That is the number required to maintain the same number of jobs proportionally, because there has been an increase in population since 2008.

Not only is there a deficit of jobs but, in addition, existing jobs are often precarious and part-time. Unfortunately, there is no future in the type of jobs being promoted by the Conservatives. It is not true that oil or the oil sands are the future. Renewable energy, such as biomass, wind and solar energy, is the future. That is where we have to invest and what we should be focusing on. That is why I am inviting my colleagues opposite to think about job creation that will take into consideration our society, the environment and the future of our children.

[The Acting Speaker, Bruce Stanton]

We have time for a brief question and a brief answer. The hon. member for Hochelaga.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, does my hon. colleague think that a national public transit strategy could not only be good for the environment, but also create jobs?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief. That is exactly what I think and that is what we must do. We absolutely must create a national public transit strategy. That should be made a priority immediately, and not in five or ten years. We must take care of this right away and stop planning our cities and our society around cars. As long as urban planning focuses on cars, we will continue to travel in cars. We need to rethink it with a focus on walking, cycling, public transit and electric trains. Those are the means of the future. That is what could define us and distinguish us from other societies. We have all the means to do this, so let us do it.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as always, it is a great honour to stand up in this House and represent the region of Timmins—James Bay and the people there who I have such great faith in their common sense.

I am debating a bill on the economy, which is crucial at this time when we see that 700,000 jobs have been lost. The outlook for growth that we are seeing for Canada is not nearly as rosy a picture as the Minister of Finance is presenting.

What we are seeing here from a government is a Minister of Finance who, under his tenure, has been like the cartoon character, Mr. Magoo, who continually steps outside the window and, as he is falling, manages to get onto another plank. He thinks that his rosy forecast will somehow get us through.

What I am hearing in my riding contradicts the spin that comes from the government. For example, when I was at the Tim Hortons, I met a 68-year-old man who told me that he had to go back to working underground at the mine because his Canada pension was not sufficient.

We are in a national pension crisis. The New Democrats have been raising the alarm bells about that. The government stalls, studies, stalls some more and now it has this pooled resource pension poodle plan that will do nothing to help the fact that we need to overhaul the CPP. The CPP is much more efficient, and it knows that, but it would rather that the money go to its friends in the banking sector. It will not go to help people back home.

We are hearing about the need for serious investment in doctors in northern and rural areas. Most Canadians are already realizing what the government does not know, which is that we rank 26 out of 30 in industrial countries in terms of doctor per capita and that we are looking toward a 60,000-person shortfall in terms of registered nurses by 2022 if nothing is done.

The government has no desire to invest. That is one of the commitments. Its idea is to give a tax break by moving people around. It will simply move some doctors from urban areas or small communities into rural areas and that will somehow alleviate the problem. People know that will not alleviate the problem.

What we are seeing are a series of smoke and mirror incentives. The government promised incentives that it actually never delivers on. For example, the compassionate care benefits program has a budget of $190 million annually and yet it only spends 5%. There are people back home who need compassionate care, and it is not as if they are not applying. What the government does is it promises but it does not quite deliver.

In order to keep us not focused on the economy, it throws out the red meat to its base. All day long, I have heard about how it is a principled party that does not believe in subsidizing partisan schemes with electoral dollars, taxpayer dollars, that it is the party that opposes subsidizing the electoral machine.

However, among the first two senators picked was Mr. Gerstein, the Tory bagman, and Doug Finley, who ran the Conservative campaign. The Conservatives put their people in there, people who worked for them. They get paid by the taxpayers until they are 75 years old.

I will quote Mr. Gerstein's opening speech in the Senate just so people know what a great politician he is. He said that he was proud to be a bagman, that he proclaimed it. He went on to say, “Oh, by the way, I love politics, I just never had the time to become a candidate”. He said that on November 27, 2010. He just never bothered to become a candidate. He never bothered to go out and actually participate in the democratic process. Senator Gerstein is a bagman. What he does is he collects money for the party.

I do not have a problem with him being proud of it but it is funny that he gets paid by the taxpayer until he is 75. What are Mr. Gerstein and Mr. Finley's great contributions to Canadian political life? They were two out of the four who were charged and had to plea bargain in the biggest case of electoral fraud in Canadian history.

Let us look at what they were involved in in terms of ripping off the taxpayer. They would take these dead dog ridings the Conservatives had out in the middle of nowhere where they could not get any votes and they would funnel money from the central party through those ridings. Then they would get those ridings to go and demand the rebate, so that the taxpayer was paying for this scheme.

That is not to say that all Conservatives are corrupt because a number of Conservative riding associations said that they did not want to participate in money laundering, that it was not something they were going to do. However, a number of them did.

They had to plea bargain when they finally ran out of road. Both Mr. Finley, who again we pay for until he is 75, as well as his staff and his benefits to work for the Conservative Party, and Senator Gerstein, who we will also pay until he is 75, as well as all his staff, had to plea bargain. The Conservatives have never answered the question about when they will pay back all the money they received from the in and out scheme before they were busted. That was money that went directly from taxpayers.

When we see this party get up and talk about how its members will be clean on this, when they had to plea bargain in the biggest electoral fraud scheme in Canadian history, it is a little rich. It is a little too rich for the Canadian taxpayer who is having to support and subsidize this party in its continual undermining of the parliamentary system.

We have talked about the Conservatives' lack of plan for pensions, health care and jobs. Of course they have no vision with respect to real investments, so they are making massive across the board tax cuts. In a time of recession we are seeing very large corporations sitting on their cashflow. They are not moving it.

The New Democratic plan was to actually target our investments, so that corporations would get tax incentives if they actually create jobs. If they reinvest in the economy, they would get an investment from us in support. However, if they just want to sit on that cash, then they would not get any.

The Conservatives' idea of job creation was to build a pipeline and ship raw resources to a refinery in Texas. This was such a crackpot idea the Americans did not want anything to do with it. Our colleagues over there had no clue that the Americans were not interested. They wanted to ship raw bitumen to a refinery in Texas and tell Canadians that this was somehow to their benefit.

We saw the government's lack of plan for resource development. I saw it in my own region in Sudbury and Timmins. We saw it in Thompson, Manitoba, when the now Muskoka minister allowed the takeover of Falconbridge and Inco. The first thing that they did was to start shutting down the refining capacity, just like they shut down the refining capacity in Montreal, because they didn't want the competition.

Now in Ontario we do not have any copper refining capacity left. It was shut down. The government thought that was a good idea. It thought that allowing one of the greatest mining companies in the world, Falconbridge, that had an international reputation, to be taken over by a corporate bandit like Xstrata was all right. It allowed Inco, the greatest mining giant Canada ever produced, to be taken over by Vale and have the resources stripped and high-graded.

Now what we are seeing is this lack of plan for investments. Therefore, we should not be surprised that the government would think that the best idea for job creation is to build a pipeline to ship raw bitumen to Texas where it will be refined to the benefit of Americans, and that will somehow build an economy.

We believe that we have an immense ability, with our resources, to create jobs and if we are to create those jobs, we need to develop and refine the resources here. We are not like the Conservative Party who believes that the idea of being open for business is, “Come and take us for a ride”. That is the Conservatives' notion toward all resources. That is why they rolled over on the softwood lumber deal when Canada had won trade after trade disputes at the WTO. We found ourselves completely handcuffed by the fact that they undermined our position. That was back at the international trade level.

This is a government that believes resources should be given away for free. In a country as rich as Canada is in resources that is not a long-term strategy.

We need to reinvest. We need to do it in job training. We need to support businesses that actually want to reinvest in our economy. We need to make the most out of our resources. We need to ensure that our northern and rural areas have access to doctors. We need to ensure that every Canadian has a proper pension plan; not some kind of makeshift plan that the Conservatives have come up with but something that will ensure that CPP is there for the next generation just like it was for the last generation.

I am more than proud to take any questions.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, although I appreciate the comments from my colleague on the opposite benches, I obviously disagree with them 100%. When the member tells his constituents he will vote a certain way on the gun registry and then votes the opposite way once elected, is he misleading his constituents before or after he was elected? Which is it? I am not sure what he considers ethical in his position.