Madam Speaker, I am not really concerned because most Canadians truly know who are speaking out on their behalf.
Taxpayers paid for the trans-continental railway that linked the country from east to west. They got an excellent return for their investment as the railway spurred economic growth, particularly in the west where it facilitated transportation of prairie grain.
I can remember a time not too long ago when branch lines criss-crossed the prairie provinces. I grew up in southern Saskatchewan and feel a great love for the prairie provinces as well as for my new home in northern Manitoba. Grain elevators in small prairie towns all connected by rail were gathering points for communities.
All that began to change when the Liberal government betrayed the Canadian people and sold off CN Rail at a bargain basement price. A few investors got very rich off the corporate welfare measure but prairie farmers have ultimately paid the price. CN Rail has begun ripping up the branch lines taxpayers paid for and selling them off, leaving prairie farmers to truck their grain themselves.
Another aspect of corporate welfare is the double standard when it comes to taxation. Individual Canadians and small businesses carry large burdens primarily from regressive consumption taxes like the GST. Corporate taxes in Canada are among the lowest in the developed world. Yet when the Liberal government decided to balance its budget it cut programs like health and education rather than rebalance an unfair tax burden. It balanced the budget on the backs of ordinary Canadian workers and small business people who suffered the consequences of the cuts while carrying an unfair share of the tax burden. All the while corporate welfare bums made higher and higher profits.
Now that the budget is balanced the government should reinvest in health and social programs and make tax cuts where they are needed, like phasing out the GST and reducing the burden on small business. Instead the Liberal dominated finance committee has recommended a set of tax breaks in favour of high income Canadians.
The New Democratic Party opposes this tax cut. In its place we propose reinvesting in health and other vital programs and targeting tax cuts like a GST cut that will help everyone, not just people making well above the national average income.
I will be supporting the Bloc member's proposal as I feel that it will ensure Canadian municipalities and provinces will not suffer further consequences from the government. It certainly is in the spirit of ending corporate welfare.