Good morning, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of the committee. Thank you. I am grateful for the chance to appear before you this morning on behalf of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.
Canada is a country with a wealth of resources and possibilities, but it is often impoverished by its own policy choices. There are a few federal actions that would assist Canada's businesses to meet their expansion, innovation, and prosperity goals and to contribute to economic growth in the country.
The most fundamental, perhaps, is the respect for jurisdictional lines and constitutional limitations. To this effect, we are delighted to see that an Atlantic Canadian from Newfoundland and Labrador has been appointed to the high court. As the first voice that rose in this region against putting fresh ideological imperatives before the Constitution, we welcome this development, and we hope for similar outcomes when it comes to taxing carbon.
The second and perhaps most important, in keeping with the sentiments of our Prime Minister, is that policies and regulations be adopted for the sake of the public good, avoiding politicking as much as possible, the case in point being perhaps the EI file in this region. Policies that make it easier for people to work, or, rather, not work, promoting a 14- to 16-week work cycle, when businesses and consumers operate on a 52-week cycle, is certainly detrimental to businesses, individuals, and the community as a whole.
Third, the notion that governments control economies the size of Canada's is simply pure fantasy. A $30-billion infusion into an economy the size of perhaps this region might get things moving, but trying to get the national economy moving, or perhaps preventing it from sliding back, with such careless spending is like trying to jump-start a jumbo jet with a AA battery. It just doesn't work. Economies are autonomous sets of relationships. We would do better to keep away from such grand designs to improve them. The best way to improve economies and foster growth is to promote the right conditions by removing as many barriers to growth as possible and allowing the private decisions of entrepreneurs, investors, and customers to choose what is best for them without state distortions.
Trying to cajole all innovation towards a single market sector, for example, such as the current attempts with clean tech and environmental development, leaves other areas wanting. It does not ultimately advance greater development or growth and leads to further collapses when policy-makers make mistakes—and we often do—or when market conditions change.
Last, perhaps in the interests of time, this Parliament would do well for this region and this country not to impede privately funded projects that have time and time again proven to foster tremendous growth through development and employment.
The provincial governments and federal government must not let themselves be controlled by interests that stop the development of private infrastructure that can provide jobs and economic growth for Canadians, in particular Atlantic region residents, who really need those things.
The Energy East pipeline coming from Alberta through New Brunswick is a vital necessity for our economies and must not be allowed to remain suspended interminably. If there is an immediate economic priority in this country, it ought to be the liberation of this economic factor, with its high-tech jobs, its research and innovation, its air and environmental cleanup capability, and its ability to foster greater economic independence for native and rural communities. Greater energy autonomy for Canada will also mean more affordable energy for those who are most in need.
I think Energy East sums up the core of the recommendations: to stick to the Constitution, to make public decisions with higher goals in mind than ideological dreams or electioneering, to let private enterprise have more economic oxygen through less intervention instead of more and more subsidies, to create wealth and more jobs through native and rural communities, and to avoid favouring any one economic sector to the detriment of others.
Merci.