Mr. Speaker, I congratulate you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker of the House. The understanding and welcome I have received from you and your staff has made my introduction to the House a pleasant transition, and for this I am truly grateful.
It is with honour and a great deal of humility that I make my maiden speech on such an important issue as the budget, an economic plan for Canada laid before us by the Minister of Finance, a plan that is the culmination of extensive consultations and input from all sectors. That is the main reason I stand to express my support for the budget.
I thank the residents of Scarborough Centre for entrusting me with their vote. I pledge to do my best to represent them and be their voice in Ottawa. They can be assured that the overwhelming mandate of October 25 will not be taken for granted.
One does not arrive here simply by being a candidate. It requires a tremendous amount of hard work and commitment. Please let me use this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all the volunteers who believed in me and worked tirelessly on my behalf during the campaign. They believed in our agenda. They believed in our party. They believed in our program as outlined in the now famous red book "Creating Opportunity". They believed that with its implementation our country would be put back on the road to recovery.
I also acknowledge my predecessor, Pauline Browes, who served Scarborough Centre well during the 33rd and 34th Parliaments.
The United Nations has designated 1994 as the Year of the Family and it is with great pride that I acknowledge my family and thank my wife Mary, my daughter Irene, my sons Paul and Daniel and the rest of my family for the encouragement and the tremendous support they have given me and continue to give.
I would like to pay special tribute to my parents who instilled in me family values, the values of citizenship and hard work and who always urged me to strive for my dreams. My father arrived on these friendly shores as a young man with an innocence and a desire to work hard and diligently to make a good life for his family. I will always remember the story of what he asked for
when looking for work, not how much the job paid but if there was work.
Like many other ridings, Scarborough Centre encompasses people from many different backgrounds and is reflective of the reality of Canada, a reality that has brought people from all around the world and retained the best of their culture and heritage. Added to the Canadian experience, it strengthens and enriches us as a nation and makes us all proud to say that we are Canadian.
The city of Scarborough derived its name from the diary of the wife of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. It was settled by Europeans in the late 1700s. In fact, one of the first homesteads in Scarborough is located in Scarborough Centre and a local collegiate is named for those first settlers, David and Mary Thomson.
Prior to that, the First Nations often settled in Scarborough and there are recorded village settlements dating back to the year 1000 AD. On the edge of my riding is a native burial site uncovered in August 1956 during the building of a housing subdivision. That site has been dated to 1250 AD. The motto of Scarborough is: "The city of the future", and that is what this debate is all about, the future.
This bill has been a source of considerable discussion in Scarborough Centre. My constituents have great hopes for this government and believe that we are the best vehicle if Canada is ever to rediscover that which has made this country great.
A government budget is not just a report on the financial status of a country. It defines the path to achieve change.
The riding of Scarborough Centre has been hard hit during the recession. There are empty store fronts and unoccupied plazas throughout my riding. The people of Scarborough Centre have suffered and are suffering and this budget gives them what we all so desperately need. It shows them the path toward renewal.
To assist job creation the government is prepared to roll back unemployment insurance premiums. Payroll deductions have long been the most punitive burden that small businesses could experience. It removes incentive for job creation and economic growth. The proposed rollback will save businesses $300 million.
I campaigned on family values, on reducing crime and on deficit reduction, but the emphasis was on job creation as a result of economic stimulation. I am very happy because there seems to be a climate of co-operation and understanding in the House, a feeling of wanting to do things right.
We put forward a recovery plan to the people of Canada which they overwhelmingly endorsed. The people know that we intend to keep our promises and commitments to them, but they also know that it will not happen overnight. "Stick to the plan", they have said to me, "show us leadership". I say, through you, Mr. Speaker, to the residents of Scarborough and to the rest of Canada that we have shown leadership and we have kept our promises. We shall make decisions for the benefit of all Canadians.
We cancelled the helicopter deal. We cancelled the Pearson airport deal. We launched the national infrastructure program. We reduced the size of cabinet and cut PMO and ministerial staff. We began the process to replace the most regressive tax this country has ever seen. The GST has hampered economic growth, job creation and is far too complex for small businesses to endure. These are but a few examples.
The government will not put off for tomorrow what it can do today. We have charted a course to prepare our youth, the future of our country. We have charted a course to rebuild and modernize this nation so that we can be competitive and ready for the 21st century. Let us not be shortsighted. Japan, Germany, the U.S. and Ireland are all preparing and investing heavily in infrastructure programs and development.
Let us not repeat the shortsightedness the North American auto industry showed in the past. I have spent the past 20 years of my professional life in the employment industry and I have seen firsthand the devastation of our labour force. I have seen companies turn a cold shoulder to loyal and dedicated employees for the sake of a better bottom line. This cannot continue.
The government has a responsibility toward the improvement of the country and its people. Our country needs us now more than ever before. We need to tell the world that we are one united country. We are dealing with a global economy that changes every day, where trade occurs at the press of a button, where stability swings to instability at the utterance of a single phrase. During these turbulent times we must put Canada's interests first. We must show commitment and co-operation.
I stated earlier that the world is watching us very closely and that we must not allow other countries to determine our national agenda. There is a tradition in our family that family differences are resolved and stay within the family.
In conclusion, allow me to emphasize that the task at hand is to rebuild our country. We must make it once again a beacon of hope to its people and to the world. No one should undermine its stability. If anything we must show the world that we are and intend to be one united country.