Madam Speaker, I am happy to be given the opportunity to participate in this debate and to speak on the prebudget consultation report.
I would like to express my support for the recommendations brought forward by the Standing Committee on Finance, of which I am a member.
I would also like to thank the constituents of Niagara Falls who responded so enthusiastically to my invitation to debate these issues. They provided valuable insight in the consultation process.
During the consultative process we heard from Canadians from all walks of life and all parts of the country. Canadians took the time from their busy lives to tell us how they thought the Canadian economy should progress and what direction it should take.
Canadians told us very openly and sincerely about their values and priorities and how the next federal budget should reflect them.
I support the report. However, one of the recommendations of the report about which I am concerned is increasing the 20% foreign investment rule, which will happen over the next five years. This is supposed to help Canadians achieve a higher return on their retirement savings and reduce exposure to risk.
I question this measure. I believe the Canadian economy is performing and will perform as well or better than foreign economies. In addition, I believe that a dollar invested in Canada creates employment in Canada. Even with the recovering economy, which seems to be booming in all sectors, Canada still needs to create more jobs.
In addition, the Canadian economy is the winner if funds are invested at home. In my opinion, those savings make it easier for domestic companies to raise the capital they need to stimulate economic growth. Growth is vitally important to future pensioners and workers. When all is said and done, it is the gross domestic product of the future which will inevitably have to support them.
People saving for their retirement forgo higher foreign investment returns and thus are making a sacrifice for the benefit of workers in the future.
During the budget consultations, in answer to a question on the subject of opening the door to investment outside Canada, the governor of the Bank of Canada, Gordon Thiessen, replied that at the moment the Canadian economy is undergoing a major restructuring. Canada needs many things, such as investment in new equipment and investment in plants, to make itself really competitive.
It is important for Canadian investors to be able to invest in the rest of the world and, indeed, in growing economies. However, Mr. Thiessen did not think this would occur in the immediate future.
I question foreign investment. Often we import the problems of the host country with the investment. A classic example would be Korea. It is now trying to withdraw its investments around the world, regardless of the problem of unemployment and dislocation that causes. It is often said that capital has no conscience. Certainly foreign capital is going to look at its own country before worrying about others.
In this day and age when there is much movement not only of goods and trade but also investment, it is a concern which we may have to live with. However, I strongly believe that we should watch it carefully. There is an old saying that whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
In the last 50 years important changes have taken place. Some are even reflected in the way the government does business.
One of these changes has to do with the way jobs are created today. Nowadays jobs are created not only by small, medium and big business but by the ideas, thoughts or concepts of people who are going after a niche in the market or are selling their ideas, plans or concepts. In other words, more often than not one of our big exports today is what is set up on a piece of paper or on a computer. This is unlike a few years ago when technology had not yet reached the level it is at today.
We have to bear in mind that the big income earners of the future are found in the minds of Canadians. They are found in the ability to be innovative and thus able to compete successfully within the global economy. Therefore it makes great sense that our resources and a great amount of care funds be directed to the development of the minds of Canadians. This naturally means education.
Education will start at a very young age at the preschool level and progress through post-secondary education. We must start educating our young minds. We have to start providing our youth and our parents with the help and tools necessary in developing their unique resources.
We also have to look very closely at our health care system because you cannot have a good mind without a healthy body. This is one of the oldest proverbs known to man. Therefore the recommendation in the report that calls for increased help for education and health care is to be taken very seriously. I concur fully with the report when it states in order to build a strong society we have to improve our health care system. I also agree with the recommendation that the government consider establishing new approaches to health care in full co-operation with the provinces and health care providers in local communities
As the fiscal dividends grow I am supporting the recommendations directed toward helping children who live in poverty. I support the creation of more opportunities for Canadian youth. It is vital that the federal government in co-operation with the provinces and territories be able to offer students a debt repayment schedule based on income.
As I said before, important changes have affected the way in which government has carried out its business in the last 50 years. Another important change has been in the field of planning. There are those in our society who say that we have gone too far and moved too fast toward an open market. We have learned one thing, that hiring a number of academics, sticking them into the civil service and telling them to plan our economy does not work. Therefore if we are to get any input or planning we must have hearings with the public. It is paramount that we consult with Canadians.
At least if a mistake is going to be made it will not be made by some ad hoc think tank dreamed up by the government and removed from the realities of everyday life. I think it was Chairman Mao who said let a thousand flowers bloom. This thought is the very essence of thinking and it is what we have discovered lately to be within our market economy.
Hundreds of thousands of people thinking and discussing new ideas are very likely to get as good idea to emerge. This is much better than having a few selected experts planning and finding solutions. We encountered all this during our consultations and indeed we find it in our report. The wisdom is out there. It is not in the bureaucracy as this report shows.
We have to remember that to have fertile and aggressive thinking minds we must also continue to support good health care and education systems. Those are the basics of a society.