Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate you. You look great in the chair.
I am pleased to rise today to take part in the debate on the Speech from the Throne. I thank the people of Guelph—Wellington for re-electing me for a third term as their member of parliament. It is an honour and a privilege to stand here as their representative. I promise to do all that I can to ensure that their voices are heard in the Chamber and across the land.
The Speech from the Throne sets the course for the future. It outlines the government's vision for Canada. It explains how we will create opportunity for all Canadians in the 21st century. By working together to implement this moderate and balanced plan, all Canadians, men, women and children, will have the opportunity to be the best that they can be in the best country in the world.
Personally I am proud of our achievements as a government over the past seven or eight years, and this plan builds on those accomplishments. We will continue to table balanced budgets, to pay down the debt, to cut taxes fairly, to invest in health care and social programs, to encourage research and innovation, to protect our environment and to help Canadian families.
The Speech from the Throne will have a very real impact in my riding of Guelph—Wellington. In order for Canada to continue to be a world leader in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship, we have to create opportunities for bright minds to learn and share their knowledge.
Some of the nation's brightest minds study and teach at the University of Guelph. The university and our community will benefit from the federal government's commitment to work with other public and private partners and to encourage research and development.
We will at least double the current federal investment in R and D by 2010. We will strengthen the research capacity of our universities, government laboratories and institutions. We will accelerate our ability to commercialize research discoveries. Many of these are made at the University of Guelph.
For example, the Yukon Gold potato was developed by Dr. Gary Johnston, an employee of Agriculture Canada, doing research at the University of Guelph. We will also support more collaborative international research at the frontiers of knowledge.
The University of Guelph, which is well known for its roots in the farming community in Guelph—Wellington as a whole, and Canadians from coast to coast will all benefit from the federal government's commitment to helping our agriculture sector move beyond crisis management. Together we will work toward more genuine diversification and value added growth, new investments, better land use and high standards of environment stewardship.
I am pleased to see the commitment to our farmers and their families. Our agricultural community helped to make Canada what it is today, and we must give it the tools it needs to continue to grow and prosper. Mr. Speaker, as our whip you talked a lot about having a tool box with tools in it so that people could achieve their full potential.
While the well-being of our agricultural community is a concern in Guelph—Wellington, so too is the state of our health care system. In the Speech from the Throne our government reaffirms our commitment to upholding the Canada Health Act. We will work with the provinces to ensure that all governments continue to fulfil their commitment to the principle of medicare. We will work to help Canadians maintain a healthy lifestyle by encouraging physical fitness, combating substance abuse and tobacco consumption, and promoting mental health.
In order for Canadians to have confidence in our health care system they need to understand how it is run. To this end we will create a citizen's council on health care quality to provide perspective on relevant and meaningful measures of how our health care is performing.
We will also encourage active minds by creating registered individual learning accounts to make it easier for Canadians to plan for and to finance their education. We will improve loans for part time students and provide support for young people who have difficulty staying in school or getting their first job.
As the former chair of the Guelph—Wellington County Literacy Council, I am pleased to announce that the federal government will invite the provinces, territories and other parties to launch a national initiative to increase adult literacy.
In the new knowledge economy it is no longer enough to be literate. Canadians must also be computer literate to succeed. The path to national prosperity and personal opportunity travels the Internet. The federal government is committed to building a fast lane for Canada on the information highway by giving Canadians the skills and opportunities they need to become the most Internet savvy people in the world so that we can compete to win.
We will make the Government of Canada the most connected government in the world to its citizens. We will help entire communities go on line and create the framework needed to make Canada a world leader in e-commerce. Getting Canadians on line will not only help connect us to the world but also to each other. We can learn so much about each other if children in Whitehorse can chat on line with students in Gander, Drumheller, Guelph or Halton.
Canada cannot succeed in the knowledge economy unless we prepare our children for success. To this end we will build on our efforts to eliminate child poverty. We will develop new measures to help single parents overcome poverty and to create a better future for their families. We will work with the provinces to modernize laws for child support, custody and access, and to ensure they work in the best interests of the children in cases of family breakdown.
Guelph—Wellington has always been especially concerned with helping our children and with ensuring that they inherit a clean, safe country. We all need clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and natural spaces to enjoy.
The Speech from the Throne commits the federal government to implementing the smog emissions reduction agreement signed with the United States to reduce vehicle emissions by 90%. We will do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We will develop stronger national guidelines for water quality and fund improvements to municipal water and waste systems. We will invest in the creation of new national parks and make our existing parks ecologically healthy. We will strengthen laws to safeguard Canadians from toxic substances.
To ensure our communities are safe we will continue to implement a balanced approach to crime, focusing on prevention and on punishment. We will take aggressive steps to combat organized crime. We will reintroduce legislation dealing with young offenders.
On a final note of good news for Guelph—Wellington, the Speech from the Throne includes a commitment to helping our municipal and provincial partners improve public transit infrastructure. We will stimulate the creation of more affordable rental housing, for which there is a very real and urgent need in my riding and in many other ridings across Canada. My colleague from Halton and I were just speaking of the homeless issue and the things that we need to do and have done as a government to help in that area.
The issues are wide and broad and the needs are great, but the government has worked hard to have a balanced platform. We will continue on that path to do the right thing for all Canadians.