Debates of March 8th, 2005

The Budget

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

No.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Port Moody--Westwood--Port Coquitlam.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to comment on the final note of the minister's speech. He did say that the personal deductions on income tax were going to be raised to $10,000, but that would be phased in over a number of years and would barely keep up with inflation. That is hardly the substantive tax relief that this minister demanded from the government when he was in the opposition, but I guess intensity and passions change when one goes to the other side of the House.

I also want to comment as a comeback to his comment that the questions I asked him, when I had the opportunity to ask questions, did not pertain to his portfolio in public works. That is in part because if he was doing more in public works, frankly there would be more to ask questions about. I am going to instead curtail my speech here to my additional responsibilities as the transport critic for the official opposition. I am speaking of another portfolio that was left out in the cold in this budget.

Before I do that, Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Calgary--Nose Hill.

As transport critic for the official opposition, I must say that the budget, unless it is amended, has been an unmitigated disaster for Canada's transportation industry and in particular our aviation sector. In fact, one member of the House was so incensed by the finance minister's failure to freeze or reduce the rents at our airports that the Liberals charge, he wanted to put the Minister of Finance and his officials on a no-fly list, “so they could reflect upon what was happening in the air sector”.

That speaker was the hon. member for Outremont and he is gravely concerned. After all, Aéroports de Montréal, the operator of the airport closest to his riding, lost $10.3 million in 2004 after Transport Canada increased the rent by 306% to $19.5 million from $4.8 million the year before. If we do the math quickly, we will see that the amount of the increase, $14.7 million, is even bigger than the amount of the loss, so it shows that even by working harder, Montreal's airports cannot easily escape the financial jeopardy of Liberal greed.

It is easy for all of us to understand the concerns of an MP who lashed out at the finance minister for irresponsible Liberal policies that negatively affect major institutions in his or her own riding. However, the hon. member for Outremont is also the federal transport minister. As we all know, it is virtually unheard of for a sitting cabinet minister to attack a cabinet colleague. It is even more taboo for a cabinet minister to attack the finance minister's budget the day after the budget was tabled in the House.

However, I can understand and even agree with the transport minister's outrage. Imagine being a cabinet minister and hearing in a budget speech that the department for which he is responsible is going to threaten the financial viability of a large institution in his own backyard, and that he is powerless or incapable of defending it. I cannot imagine a greater public humiliation or a more profound sense of impotence.

In his latest speech, his latest budget, the Minister of Finance has effectively publicly confirmed the irrelevance of the Minister of Transport. In his 7,000 word one hour and 15 minute speech, the word transport is not mentioned once, and the only mention of the transportation sector is in the context of increased regulation to meet our Kyoto commitments.

In his speech the Minister of Finance praised the “able direction” of his colleague, the Minister of National Revenue, applauded the people in the Department of Public Works and Government Services, and commended the hon. members for Whitby--Oshawa, Huron--Bruce, St. Catharines, Etobicoke Centre and Gatineau for various initiatives.

Furthermore, the night before the budget was tabled, the finance minister reportedly had briefings for the Ministers of the Environment, Industry, International Cooperation, National Defence and Social Development, as well as the Minister of State for Families and Caregivers. Conspicuous by his absence from both the budget speech and the previous night's briefings was the Minister of Transport, a man who doubles as the Prime Minister's Quebec lieutenant. In effect, in this budget the Minister of Finance has effectively sidelined the Minister of Transport.

Airport rent is perhaps the most important issue with regard to the aviation sector, perhaps more important an issue than anything else dealt by the transport minister. In fact, in his very first appearance before the Standing Committee on Transport, the transport minister promised to find a solution to this issue, and then tellingly he said, “I have to go to my colleague, the Minister of Finance, because I'm not for auto-flagellation”.

Less than two weeks later he was back at the transport committee telling us:

Everybody recognizes that we have to correct some inequities in the system...I recognize that I have to move on that. I have to go to cabinet, show them the charts, and show them the reality...I want to move on that. I hope to be able to go to cabinet before Christmas, because we know the new year is a deadline for them, and then be able to move on to a fair and more equitable system.

On December 10 he was quoted in the Globe and Mail saying that he was about to seek cabinet committee support for his plan to freeze airport rents for 2005 as an interim step and then have them permanently lowered. When he was quoted again by the press on February 16, 2005, in the Montreal Gazette , saying that the federal government would likely unveil long awaited changes to airport rents in the upcoming budget, there was reason for optimism.

Presumably, the transport minister's February 16 statement was his way of confirming that the cabinet committee had agreed to his plan to temporarily freeze airport rents for 2005 and permanently lower them thereafter.

So when the budget failed to mention the word transport or any relief or freezing of airport rents, it is easy to see how it demolishes the transport minister's credibility both on a national level and in his own backyard where the local airport is threatened by the increases being imposed by the transport minister's own department, albeit as a result of the finance minister's budget.

It is difficult to imagine how the finance minister could more artfully have destroyed the transport minister's credibility. We are now left in the bewildering position of wondering what, if any, purpose the transport minister now serves the air industry. In this light, it is perhaps easier to understand why the transport minister would want to put the finance minister on the no-fly list that he joked about.

However, this petty political one-upmanship is damaging to the country. Airports like Vancouver and Toronto cannot play meaningful roles as transit stops on Asia-South America or Europe-U.S. trips if the Liberal's airport rent policies tax them out of existence.

As an MP from the lower mainland of British Columbia, I am very mindful of the importance of transportation and the crucial role that it can play in making British Columbia an essential part of growing China-U.S. trade.

On February 1, just a few short weeks ago, I called the finance minister's attention to the most recent report of the B.C. Progress Board. That blue ribbon panel sees transportation as an economic growth engine for British Columbia and proposes using B.C.'s improved transportation infrastructure to strengthen Canada's global competitive advantage. I am sorry to say that the budget has not significantly embraced any of the B.C. Progress Board's findings.

Moreover, even where the budget supposedly delivers, it comes up short. I was at the Liberal Party convention over the weekend as an observer for the official opposition, and the motto repeated mindlessly and endlessly by the Prime Minister in his speech was “Promises made. Promises kept”. As we all know, during the last election the Liberals made hundreds of promises. I want to look at just one.

In the last election the Liberals promised to:

Decide by this year-end on a plan to provide, for the benefit of municipalities, a share of the federal gas tax (or its financial equivalent).

The Liberals stated that “the amount will be ramped up within the next five years to 5¢ per litre, or at least $2 billion”. In his budget speech the finance minister promised to start at $600 million annually, “then rising as promised to 5¢ per litre, or $2 billion, in 2009-10, and continuing thereafter indefinitely”.

On the face of it, we might be fooled into thinking that this constitutes a promise kept. However, the budget actually proposed to transfer $5 billion in gas tax revenue over five years. During the same time period, gas tax revenue is expected to exceed $26 billion to Ottawa. So the return to municipalities will not be 50% of the 10¢ per litre that Ottawa will collect, but rather 19%. Rather than sharing 5¢ per litre, the Liberals are really only sharing 1.9¢ per litre. It is only a promise kept if we use the Liberal Party's definitions. By any other standard of honesty, accountability, fairness, and what the Liberal's themselves promised in their election campaign, this is a promise made and a promise broken.

From a transport perspective, this budget is an abject failure. There has been no movement to put gas tax dollars into the hands of municipalities right now in a meaningful way as promised in the campaign. There has been no promise to have a freeze on airport rents as the Liberals and transport minister himself promised. There has been no commitment to get rid of the $24 air tax.

There has only been a commitment by the transport minister to look at opening skies with a seven page discussion paper, half of which constitutes rhetorical questions with no real blueprint to get us there. Nothing whatsoever was mentioned with regard to VIA Rail. Nothing was mentioned with regard to increased port security. Nothing was mentioned with regard to increasing competition on our rail lines. Nothing at all was mentioned with regard to transport.

From a transport perspective for the official opposition, we can only give this budget an F and condemn the transport minister for his failure to stand up for the department for which he was assigned, for an industry for which he is responsible, and hope that within the time that we have to debate this budget going forward, the Liberals will come to their senses and recognize that transportation is part of Canada's national infrastructure. It should not be seen as a source of revenue. That is something that needs to be understood by the Liberal government before any progress can be made.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased that the hon. member focused on the Department of Transport in his speech. It has often been neglected in terms of infrastructure and it is costing us dearly. In a number of circumstances it certainly shows that we have missed out on opportunities to create jobs and secure our future with a lack of investment in hard infrastructure.

I would like to ask the hon. member to comment on another issue the Minister of Transport seems to be involved in and the ineptness of the government to fund that department. In the budget speech the minister identified the Windsor-Detroit corridor as probably the most important corridor requiring infrastructure investment for this nation, and possibly the world, as 42% of the nation's traffic in trade goes through that corridor along two kilometres of the Detroit River. Yet in the actual budget itself and presented verbatim in the minister's speech, there is not a single penny for this infrastructure. How does it get fixed with no money?

I would like the hon. member to comment on the seriousness of this situation when his party is committed to a resolution that the city and county have come up with a plan for investing in that infrastructure and ensuring that we have prosperity for all of Canada.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague from Windsor West. I know that he has put a great deal of time, effort and energy into the concerns with the corridor between Windsor and Detroit.

In the Conservative Party we have allocated responsibility for this issue to one member of Parliament to singularly examine and focus on this issue, the member for Essex. I know the member for Windsor West has worked very hard on this issue with the member for Essex.

I think the dollar question that the member raises is apt. Half of the cost of a litre of gasoline is taxation. Half of those taxes go to the provinces; half of those taxes come to Ottawa. What is interesting is that the federal government does not engineer, build or maintain a single kilometre of highway in this country. Municipalities engineer and build roads. Provinces deal with our highways in cooperation with the municipalities. It is not the federal government. The money that comes to Ottawa goes into a general revenue fund and it goes to financing all kinds of other programs.

If we told the average citizens when they were filling up their tanks with gasoline that one out of every second full tank of gasoline is 100% taxes and half of that money is going to Ottawa and absolutely zero of it is going into the roads that they are driving on, they would get angry. They should get angry. When we look at the corridor, when we look at the concerns we have with our infrastructure, that needs to change.

The Conservative Party from day one has been talking about recalibrating that excess taxation that has been coming to Ottawa and putting more money back into the hands of the people in Windsor and that county. The federal government needs to get going with fixing our infrastructure and putting money back into the hands of the level of government that actually makes the decisions when it comes to our transportation.

[Loyola Hearn, Conservative, St. John's South, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the member is well aware that in the 1990s when the airports were privatized, government until then had been providing a subsidy each year. It was a cost to government to keep the airports going. Since that time it has not cost the government anything and the airports themselves have invested roughly $9 billion in infrastructure.

Our own small airport in St. John's has benefited greatly from the privatization aspect. We have seen some real investment which we had not seen when it was controlled by the government. Now it has been informed that this coming year it will have to pay $600,000 to the Department of Transport. How can small and medium size airports be expected to progress? Of course the worst part is that this is downloaded on to the customer. How can we make it possible for people to move throughout this great country of ours and encourage people to come especially to the smaller rural areas, if we are going to hit them with such tax levels at the top where it goes down into the--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is the small and medium size airports in this country that are hit the hardest by the government's airport rents policy.

What is stunning though is that the CEO of the Regina airport authority is getting into the face of the Minister of Finance, who is from Regina, saying, “Are you mad? Your policies are damaging the ability of our airport to increase our services”.

It was in fact just a week and a half ago that Air Canada said that it is going to eliminate jet service into the entire province of Saskatchewan. It is replacing them with Dash 8s. That is Air Canada going on a good business model, but it has smaller planes because there are fewer passengers. There are fewer passengers because the government looks at the air industry as a source of revenue through taxes galore.

The Conservative Party would reform the management of airport authorities to ensure that all voices are heard in the airport authorities. I would prefer a Nav Canada type model imposed on the airport authorities so that all voices are heard, so airport improvement fees are not going through the roof, so there is accountability for the rents that are being paid to Ottawa. Over time, a Conservative government would phase out airport rents, get rid of the $24 air tax, have competition in our skies and put passengers rather than bureaucrats first.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to the budget from the perspective of the senior immigration critic for the official opposition. I will be addressing the immigration measures in this budget, such as they are.

To recap, the budget provides $300 million over five years for settlement and integration, $100 million over five years to “take the next step toward an integrated client service delivery strategy”, and $75 million over five years to accelerate the integration of health care professionals educated abroad. There is an additional $25 million over five years to enhance the multicultural program, $56 million over five years for an action plan against racism, and $25 million over three years to highlight the contribution that ethnocultural groups have made to Canadian society. In addition, refugees will now be eligible for Canada millennium scholarships.

With these figures we will notice that there is about $475 million over five years on practical measures to assist newcomers and $106 million mostly over five years essentially on public education.

I have five points to make in my brief time. The first point I would like to make is that the spending on these measures is pretty much back-end loaded. That means that most of the spending announced in this budget will take place down the road four or five years from now, if ever, I might add.

Think about it. Could any Canadian say today what he or she will be spending five years from now? We do not know what rents or mortgage rates will be in five years. We do not know what food costs will be. We do not know what electricity and heating costs will be. We know that insurance costs keep going up. We do not know how much they will be. There are so many unknowns five years from now. Yet the government presumes to promise Canadians that certain money will be spent five years from now. I would take that with a grain of salt. It reminds me of the old song Promises, Promises . Very little of these millions will be spent this year.

The second point I would like to make is that unfortunately there has been very little realistic assessment or evaluation of previous spending in the areas of settlement and immigration, service delivery and integration of professionals into the Canadian workforce. In fact, the only assessments that I have been able to find are the annual reports and departmental reviews that come from the department itself. Naturally, these are very glowing and positive because they are the people responsible for the money. They are certainly not motivated to be critical, and perhaps are not even very objective about themselves.

Sometimes the Auditor General has the resources to do an independent audit of a particular program or spending, but there are so many. Oftentimes money has been spent and we really have no clear idea of what bang for the buck has been delivered. Because there is no reality check on past spending, it is very hard to know how we should spend the present dollars. In fact there is no clear or communicated plan on how best to spend the new money or even sometimes a clear objective that it is supposed to meet.

For example, let us talk about the $75 million over the next five years, if that in fact ever gets spent, to “accelerate the integration of health care professionals educated abroad”. When I asked how many health care professionals were expected to be reintegrated because of this program and exactly what the cost would be for each professional even in rough terms, the answer was very vague. It is very difficult to find out if there is a clear plan to integrate internationally educated health care professionals. Yet this is an important program for Canada.

To me it is very difficult to get excited and to be positive about millions of dollars being thrown out on the table without knowing exactly what we are going to get for it. I submit that no company that budgeted in this manner would possibly survive.

The third point is that all of this, the lack of planning, the lack of specifics, the lack of even clear objectives is very troubling and unfortunate for newcomers themselves. Their future success may well hinge on the quality and the clearly demonstrated effectiveness of settlement programs and integration initiatives. If we do not know what we are trying to achieve with these programs in very specific terms, who loses? It is the newcomers themselves.

For example, I can talk about the $100 million to take the next steps toward an integrated client service delivery strategy. I am not sure what that means. I would submit that there are hundreds of thousands across the global community who are pleading for any kind of reasonable standard of client service. In fact, most would settle for a modest increase in service levels, rather than some grand scheme of an integrated client service delivery strategy being developed over five years.

The funding for it is over five years. We know it is not going to come any time soon. Yet people are languishing in the queue waiting for their file to be processed. That is not happening. The best the government can do is throw out more money over the next half decade for some kind of new strategy.

This is no professional businesslike way to serve people, especially people that we keep saying we need to come into this country.

The fourth point is that in spite of the big numbers that the government throws around, immigrants and settlement providers see little progress in the area of recognition of credentials, in the area of settlement initiatives. In fact, they often see things getting worse.

More and more people come to this country and are unable to use their skills and experience. They take jobs that do not allow them to make their full contribution to the Canadian economy. They see the waiting lines get longer. The processing times for files get longer and longer. Service providers see their funding cut back or it is short term at best. That is a real problem.

The government has been promising for over a decade to fix the problem of recognition of international credentials and experience. If we look at the throne speeches and budgets from years past of this very government, we see promises and promises to fix the credentials problem. It is no closer to being fixed today than it was a decade ago when these promises started.

The committee heard recently from representatives of the engineering, dental and medical professions who said that the ball is in the government's court. In fact, one of them said, “We are waiting for the government to do a labour market study so that we can decide how to allocate our resources”. There is not even a study being done in some of these key areas of Canada's needs. I cannot believe it. Money is being thrown out as if it were the way to fix all these problems and the problems are getting worse.

The last point I want to make is that the true priorities of the immigrant community are not being met by the Canadian government and certainly not by this budget. There is still no clear process, as I mentioned before, for the recognition of international credentials and experience. This is the number one issue for newcomers to Canada.

The settlement program funding is short term only and keeps being pulled back and forth. The applications backlog is now up to 679,000 people in the queue and that was as of last October. It has probably grown since then.

People are telling us that parents' and grandparents' sponsorship applications are just going nowhere. They are not being processed.

There are so many down to earth, fair, practical measures that are needed to address these key needs and they are not being delivered by the government, so our party has put together a national consultation on Canada's immigration system.

Our MPs will be travelling across the country to talk to immigrants themselves. For a strong plan to get some real results in these critical areas, we want to work together with the people most affected.

This budget is a failure, but we hope we can move forward with new initiatives and leave this government behind, because it does not seem to be getting with the program.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent critique of the budget. Her closing comments addressed the immigration consultation process that is going to be presented to the Canadian public. I have similar concerns with immigration, so I am asking if she could elaborate a little more on the consultation process.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this consultation arose out of the fact that all our MPs, and I am sure MPs on all sides of the House, keep hearing from constituents who are frustrated at the abysmal level of service, the length of time that it takes to process files and the fact that they cannot get their credentials recognized even though they came to Canada on the understanding that we needed their skills and abilities.

It is very clear that we need to sit and listen to these people in an organized fashion, so our party will be holding a series of meetings across Canada in the major centres. Our MPs will be there to listen to the immigrant community and the service providers. We will also have a website on which people can give their comments to the official opposition.

I might add that this is not just a partisan exercise. The House of Commons committee will also be travelling across the country, mostly in April, to talk about the sponsorship program, the provision of settlement services and credentials. There are many initiatives to hear from the people most affected about what they themselves want to see, but unless we have a government that is willing to actually deliver on the solutions that people put forward, the immigrant community will continue to fall behind. We simply cannot allow that to happen.

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Social Development (Social Economy)]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but comment on and ask the hon. member about the recognition of foreign credentials, which is something she mentioned that we have worked on. Let me tell the hon. member that I actually worked on this issue 25 years ago in provincial politics. We all know that in fact it is the order for medicine, the order of engineers and all the professional associations that have a very important role to play in terms of the recognition of foreign credentials. It also involves the provincial governments because of their involvement in education, which is their jurisdiction.

As for always putting the burden on the federal government, we have said that we will be working in partnership with our provincial colleagues, of course, and also with the different professional associations, so it is not like we have not been doing anything. We have been doing things.

I ask the hon. member for her suggestions in terms of ensuring that in fact there are more doctors, for example, who will be recognized by the professional associations when those same associations control the accreditation of those doctors.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what my colleague is saying. If she is saying that the federal government cannot fix this problem, that it is up to the provinces and to the professions, then why promise to do so? If we look at the throne speeches, we see that this government has promised to do something. If it does not have a plan to deliver, then why make the promise? It is irresponsible and actually cruel to people to say we are going to do something and not do it.

The fact of the matter is that if we cannot fix this problem, then why are we bringing people in under false pretences? People are saying that we need them because they are doctors or health care professionals or teachers, but then once they get here, not before, people say, “Oh, well, I guess the credentials have to be recognized, but we are not really sure how that can be done because maybe the provinces will not help or maybe the professions will not help”.

We have to hit this problem head-on and not pass the buck, because if this problem cannot be fixed, then we should not be bringing skilled workers into this country simply to have them fail in their hopes and dreams. That cannot be done. It is the government that has promised to fix this and I suggest that it had better come up with the solutions instead of asking the opposition for them.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time today with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

I am pleased to participate in the budget debate today, a budget that today was called the greatest budget since Confederation.

Within this budget are the cornerstones of our government's decade-long commitment to the sound fiscal management that has set us apart among the G-7 major industrialized countries, fiscal management that has given us the best job creation record in the G-7, the fastest growth in living standards and the best debt to GDP ratio among these industrialized nations.

The budget also represents our Liberal government's eighth consecutive balanced budget, a feat unmatched since Confederation. What this sound fiscal management allows us to do is to invest back in our communities and assist Canadians in seizing their potential.

Speaking as an Atlantic Canadian and as the Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, I am delighted that our government has confirmed its commitment to building a strong east coast economy by allocating in the budget $708 million over five years for economic development in Atlantic Canada.

These investments include $300 million for a new Atlantic innovation fund, which will continue to build on our R and D capacity. This new allocation builds on the first ever R and D fund that was set up by ACOA in the 2000 budget.

It also includes $290 million to support initiatives that will diversify and foster development in communities across the region, whether through investments in human capital, trade, tourism or accessing investment opportunities.

It also includes $110 million over five years for the National Research Council to continue to build technology based clusters in the region.

Last, it contains $8.4 million in new funds for the community futures program to continue the important work of the region's 41 Community Business Development Corporations, which partner with ACOA to encourage business growth in mainly small and rural communities.

I want to take a moment here to extend my congratulations to my colleagues in the Atlantic Liberal caucus for their hard work, dedication and commitment to the people of Atlantic Canada. The initiatives I have outlined are the result of seven years of work that encompasses two economic development strategies initiated and developed by the Atlantic Liberal caucus.

Back in 2000 our government invested, through the Atlantic investments program, in new and innovative programming in the region. It was a bold move that was initiated by the Atlantic Liberal caucus's “Catching Tomorrow's Wave” document, which provided a blueprint for the region's development.

Now, in 2005, our government, our Prime Minister and our Minister of Finance are once again investing in the Atlantic Liberal caucus's vision and our second blueprint, “The Rising Tide”. Through this funding, our government is providing Atlantic Canada with the tools to build on the successes of “Catching Tomorrow's Wave”: more and higher paying jobs, more trade, more access to capital, more skills training and entrepreneurism, and more R and D. We are fostering and bolstering these achievements through “The Rising Tide”.

Atlantic Canadians are a proud people, proud of our history, proud of our culture and our work ethic, and proud of who we are and the significant contribution we have made to building Canada into the best country in the world. We also know that we are a region whose economy is transforming, moving from one dominated by primary resource based industries to new and innovative sectors.

Our businessmen and businesswomen are driving a transformative change in our economy. ACOA has been there to assist communities during this transformation. We are doing that by providing access to capital and by providing training, strategic community investments and programming for women and youth.

As a result, promising emerging sectors are developing that are strengthening and diversifying the economic base. Knowledge industries are rising to complement more traditional resource driven industries, like the bioscience centre in Charlottetown and the potato genome project in Fredericton. This budget builds on this success.

We are seeing more men and women and young people finding good, rewarding work than ever before. Entrepreneurship is growing and succeeding as never before in Atlantic Canada. We have more businesses and universities working together, more economic development in rural areas and more export and foreign investment activity in the region.

Through the budget we continue to build on this success. In fact, the budget singles out ACOA's Atlantic innovation fund as having promoted stronger linkages between universities and the private sector, which are essential to the development of new, marketable technology based products, processes and services. These partnerships support research and commercialization in key growth areas such as information technology, aquaculture, offshore oil and gas technologies and life sciences.

In the Acadian peninsula, for example, our investments are strengthening the economic viability of the shellfish industry. Through the Coastal Zones Research Institute, new marketable technologies and services are being developed that will lead to the further commercialization of new shellfish products.

In Nova Scotia we are contributing to building a world renowned life sciences cluster in Halifax. At the Brain Repair Centre, which I visited last week with the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, R and D is being conducted for the repair of neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury.

In Newfoundland and Labrador we have invested in tourism projects, such as Lord Baltimore's Colony of Avalon, the archaeological site. The result has been an increase in tourism visits from 2,000 to over 22,000 a year.

Testori Americas Corporation, based in Milan, Italy, is now using a location in Summerside and one in Bloomfield in Prince Edward Island. It is a major North American supplier of manufactured textiles, especially for the mass transit industry.

The success stories go on and on in communities across the region. Building on the successes of our communities is what the budget is all about.

With budget commitments for a new Atlantic innovation fund, R and D investment and community and economic development, our government's response to “The Rising Tide” will build on what has already been achieved and move the regional economy into new growth areas. The budget will also enable us to shore up the broad underpinnings of our east coast economy as we move forward under “The Rising Tide”.

The budget invests in health care and in our seniors. It provides reforms to the equalization framework. It provides funding to cities and communities through the gas tax revenues. It eliminates the corporate surtax, which will assist the small and medium sized businesses that are the backbone of our regional economy.

The budget invests in defence spending, providing opportunities for Atlantic Canada's growing aerospace and defence sector. It invests in wind energy, our fishery, the Coast Guard, broader security and the workplace skills strategy. The list goes on and on.

For all these reasons, budget 2005 is a very good deal for Canada as a whole and Atlantic Canada in particular. This budget is a measured, reasoned, comprehensive response to the challenges we face on that score. It provides the right tools at the right time and for the right reasons, and it does so within a balanced budget.

I urge all hon. members from Atlantic Canada, both on this side of the House and opposite, to look at this year's budget, see how it builds on our successes and vote in favour of budget 2005.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a question of the hon. member. It may be a little off topic from what he was just speaking of, but being an Atlantic Canadian he may be in a unique position to answer the question. Frankly, I would like to ask several members of the party opposite the same question. It deals with equalization.

I have seen no mention of equalization in the budget, but coming from Atlantic Canada the member opposite would have an opinion, I suppose. We from Saskatchewan have been arguing that Saskatchewan should receive the same deal that was offered to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador with respect to the elimination of the clawback provisions for non-renewable natural resources.

We see no evidence of any mention of this in the budget, but quite clearly this could be one of the biggest financial benefits to Saskatchewan that we have seen in decades. We have calculated that if Saskatchewan had received the same deal that is now afforded Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, my province, would have received over $4 billion in additional revenues over the last decade.

I wonder if the member opposite could comment on whether or not he believes that the same formula, the same deal afforded Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, should be afforded Saskatchewan.

Let me finish by saying that I know the Minister of Finance has said there is an independent panel being set up to establish and discuss the possibility of a new equalization formula, but my point is that regardless of whether the formula comes into effect, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia were given a separate deal prior to any new formula coming into place. Is that the same sort of situation the member would see for Saskatchewan?

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the member has posed this question in the House of Commons a number of times and he has posed it to the Minister of Finance, who is from the province of Saskatchewan.

As far as the equalization deal, which was struck by the Prime Minister and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, that was fulfilling a promise which was made during the election campaign. Not only was the Prime Minister going to bring in a new deal for equalization across Canada, which he did, he had a further commitment on the offshore royalties that was set up in 1984 by the previous Conservative government but was never fulfilled to the letter. All the Prime Minister did, when he signed the offshore accords with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, was fulfill a promise, which had been there since 1984, on resources revenue that was theirs. They now will remain in the provinces to develop those have not provinces.

It is nothing extra special. Saskatchewan is a have province, and all Canada delights in that fact. The four Atlantic provinces also would like to be have provinces, and deals like this will set the stage for them becoming have provinces.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, first, I wish to remind my hon. colleague from P.E.I. that Prince Edward Island is not a have not province. Nova Scotia is not a have not province. We are have provinces. We have fabulous people and great resources. We may not be as economically strong as other provinces. For a minister from P.E.I. to even indicate that we are have not provinces, gets to me. I am not from Atlantic Canada originally, but I am very proud to call it my home. I have never once considered myself to be a have not citizen in a have not province.

However, here is my question. As the minister for Atlantic Canada opportunities, the recent budget has allocated $275 million to replace and acquire new vessels for the Coast Guard. I would like him to stand in the House and actually commit to, if at all possible, whether he believes the $275 million worth of Canadian tax dollars should go to give opportunities to shipbuilders in Atlantic Canada and for that matter across the country. Should those ships not be--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member is a very proud Bluenoser. What we mean when we say we are have not provinces, is we compare our economies to the economies of other provinces. It is not that we are lacking a great deal. A lot of Atlantic Canadians have gone across the country and have built up a lot of provinces, like Alberta's Fort McMurray. Half the population of Fort McMurray is from Newfoundland and Labrador. They are building a tremendous economy in that very oil-rich province.

For the first time in a long time, the Coast Guard is getting money which it deserves and requires in order to do the jobs that it is commissioned to do. For the first time in a long time, the budget puts substantial amounts of dollars in the budget so the Coast Guard can have the vessels it needs to patrol our offshore resources. It is a complaint that member has worked on for many years. I know in special debates in the House he has advocated just what we did in the budget, which was to provide resources for the Coast Guard to build up the vessels so it can do its jobs.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on a budget that I am extremely proud of as a Liberal, mainly because it does exactly what Liberals do: we achieve a balance.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition said immediately following the budget speech that this was a miracle, that we had achieved a balanced budget. A miracle is something that happens rarely and perhaps only once in a lifetime. When something happens repeatedly every year for eight years, it becomes a trend. It is not a miracle anymore. Those trends can only occur when there is extremely good fiscal management. It is based on prudent management and long term financial planning. We have achieved eight years of miracles, year after year.

The combination of sound fiscal policy and funding for enhanced social programs create opportunities for all Canadians, no matter where they live, to achieve their fullest potential is at the core of good Liberal public policy. The budget recognizes the essential links in a good economic and social policy. It recognizes that investing in skills, in health, in education and in early learning provide the tools that are necessary for productivity, for economic growth and quality of life here at home and for competitiveness globally. We know that by investing in those thing, we are investing in people who will be the engines of growth for any government over the 21st century.

Again, I am proud of this strong and visionary Liberal budget.

We have heard many members speak of these elements in the budget. Many Liberal members have spoken proudly of it. I will not go over all the elements of the budget about which many people have spoken. I want to highlight some aspects of the budget that are especially exciting for me mainly because they are issues that are of personal interest to me and are of interest to my constituents, and they are issues on which I have worked for a long time.

I want to speak as a physician. I am very proud of the $41.3 billion. At the first ministers conference, it was agreed to stabilize the health care system and to put in place the changes needed in the structure of health care to make it sustainable over the long term.

A lot of that also has to do with new planning in health. We always have heard people say that it is not only good enough to deal with people when they are sick, but we want to prevent them from getting sick. The budget has money in it for public health, for health promotion and for disease prevention.

Also $5.5 billion of that money will go toward dealing with a decrease in waiting times, working closely with the provinces and territories to do so. Some of that money will be used for research. Good research informs us as to what we need to do in the future and it tells us when we are achieving our outcomes. Therefore, we are developing indicators with that as well. Of that money, $110 million will go to the Canadian Institutes for Health Information to develop databases and information on performance of some of the issues of wait times.

Part of decreasing wait times has to do with health and human resources planning. If we do not have the people to deliver health care, then we know wait times will increase.

Of that money, $250 million over five years will go toward working with the provinces to support actions in the areas of health human resources and to develop those human resources. This means doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, lab technicians, all the people who work in health care, the team who makes health care occur. The money will go toward developing those new human resources. It will deal with wait times initiatives. It is obviously will deal with performance reporting. As the great Yogi Berra once said, “if you don't know where you are going...you might not get there”. We need to develop good indicators and good benchmarks. This money will do that.

The budget also provides $75 million over five years to accelerate and expand the assessment and integration of internationally educated health care professionals to address not only wait times, but to address many things such as the critical shortages that we face in health care and to deal with the fact that we have Canadians and immigrants who trained somewhere else who are unable to work and are either unemployed or under-employed in their professions.

I heard the hon. member across the way from Calgary—Nose Hill speak to this issue. It really saddens me that the hon. member has not taken the time to look at the complexity of the issue and to understand it well. This is not a quick fix. We are dealing with many stakeholders.

We are dealing with provinces that have jurisdiction over human resource development and over the hiring of human resource personnel. We are dealing with regulatory bodies that define standards of practice and assessment and getting people into practice models. We are dealing with labour. We are dealing with private sector businesses. We have to deal with language training. We know that recognizing the credential and getting the piece of paper alone is not enough. We have to have bridge to work initiatives. We need expanded language training.

In the 2004 budget we put in $68 million for bridge to work initiatives for foreign trained workers. We put in $20 million a year for enhanced language training.

The budget now builds on that. It has put in an extra $78 million specifically to deal with bridging to work, which means internships and all those things such as working with the provinces to put foreign trained persons, once they have been assessed and done their exam, into spots of internships and residencies where they can develop competence and skills pertinent to Canada's expectations and quality of care and need. That is an important step.

Also, $100 million of the $280 million that has gone into citizenship and immigration for integration will go specifically to developing a portal so that future immigrants who wish to come to Canada can assess themselves before they get here. They can look at the things they need to do to upgrade their skills, working with universities here and in their country of origin, so when they get here, they can go straight into a job.

This is forward thinking. This is dealing with immediate issues, with mid-term issues and with long-term planning. That is what makes the budget so extremely exciting.

When everyone expects people to waive a magic wand and suddenly do things, they do not understand that we need to respect our stakeholders and our partners and work with them so we can develop the right kinds of answers.

There are other things that excite me about the budget.

We have been giving a fair amount of money to help nurses move into developing their practice competencies, to deal with developing a whole lot of benchmarks on how to plan for human resources, how to deal with the global pandemic, with home and community care and with current nursing placement capacity.

That is money which goes to practical solutions. It will make things happen. It is not airy-fairy. These kinds of things can only be developed, good practical solutions, when we work respectfully with our stakeholder partners to develop good public policy, and not decide it can be done alone just because we happen to be government and can waive a magic wand.

I also wanted to touch on something else that is exciting about the budget. My riding is home to a large number of seniors and disabled persons. The budget has taken this issue and looked at it in a very thoughtful and careful manner. As I said earlier, the Liberal government not only thinks about putting programs into place. Those programs are aimed at assisting Canadians to have the tools they need to realize their potential.

Therefore, we have put into and given $6 million in capital to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to help it digitalize its collection and extend its library services. Therefore, the visually impaired will have access to information and learning which is key to assisting them play their role in Canadian society and to realize their potential.

I could go on as I am so excited about this budget. It deals with caregivers. It talks about how to assist the sandwich generation, like myself, who deal with seniors, with parents, with children who are disabled, with the chronically ill. It helps them with the tax structures in which there are tax credits for some of that work.

One thing we know is the money for the GIS and for the seniors horizons program will help seniors live a good quality of life. It will help them to have access, to be mobile and move forward.

I want to quickly touch on the arts. The arts community will be given $860 million, which will build infrastructure in the arts.

Not only is the arts the soul of this country, it is the fourth largest industry, hiring over 900,000 Canadians each year. This means that we are balanced in our planning. We are looking forward to the future and helping more Canadians play their role in that future.

[James Rajotte, Conservative, Edmonton—Leduc, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to the hon. member with regard to citizenship and immigration. It is a file she should know something about, particularly as it relates to the people in my community in Edmonton.

We have not had a citizenship judge since the beginning of July 2004 when the contract of the then citizenship judge, Judge Bhatia, was not extended. He is a remarkable individual. He welcomed new Canadians to this country with a graciousness for which I have nothing but a profound respect. His contract was not extended by the government. That is the government's decision and the government's right to not do that, but the government has not made the decision to appoint anyone. It has been flying in judges from all over the country at great cost. Apparently the government cannot make a simple decision like this. There is a backlog of over 2,000 people in Edmonton waiting to be sworn in as new citizens.

I wrote to the last minister in September 2004 and never even received an acknowledgement on that issue. I wrote to the present minister over a month ago and again received no acknowledgement on this issue.

The people of Edmonton who are waiting to become citizens deserve some respect from the government which they are not getting. When will the people of Edmonton finally have a citizenship judge, or will the government simply extend the contract of the current one, who frankly does a fantastic job?

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the member spoke so highly of the citizenship judge to whom he was referring.

I have been to citizenship ceremonies across the country and all the citizenship judges are compassionate and generous. They are very welcoming to new citizens. They understand what they are doing and they are a credit to Canada.

Hon. members across the way are always telling us that we pick people randomly and it is all about getting our friends into positions. We have set new structures for appointing people to these very important positions. Those new criteria and new structures mean we do a search for the kind of people who will fulfill the criteria.

Members cannot have it both ways. They cannot ask for criteria and for an objective process and then say to do it tomorrow.

[Bev Desjarlais, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary has made a point of indicating that there is a trend with this government. I want to mention another trend. As she is with citizenship and immigration and being that the original citizens of this country are aboriginal people, I want to indicate a trend in the area of aboriginal peoples as well.

“The government will forge a new partnership with aboriginal peoples”. That is from the 1994 throne speech.

“One of the tests of Canadian values is our ability to incorporate the aspirations of Canada's aboriginal people”. That is from the 1996 throne speech.

The government will “develop relationships with aboriginal people based on the principles of partnership, transparency, predictability and accountability”. That is from the 1997 throne speech.

“The government is committed to strengthening its relationship with aboriginal people.... And it will work to ensure that basic needs are met for jobs, health, education, housing and infrastructure”. That is from the 2001 throne speech.

“The continuing gap in life conditions between aboriginal and other Canadians is intolerable. It offends our values and we cannot remain on our current path”. That is from the February 2004 throne speech.

“We must do more to ensure that Canada's prosperity is shared by Canada's aboriginal people”. That is from the October 2004 throne speech.

In the government's last budget, only 1.3% of spending went to aboriginal communities. Those who are most hard done by in this country, those who have the greatest needs with respect to health, housing and infrastructure got nothing.

There is a trend from the government and it is not a good one for aboriginal people in Canada.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I could make all sorts of quotations, but I will say that if we look to the leaders of all the aboriginal communities in this country, they all had nothing but good things to say about the budget and what is being done by the government.

What is typical of the NDP members is if we do not throw a chunk of money at something we are never going to fix it. That is their policy.

It is not just about money. It is about developing strong respectful relationships. The Prime Minister has worked very closely with aboriginal communities to develop those strong relationships. It was a Liberal minister of aboriginal affairs over three years ago who first brought forward the idea of aboriginal people having the ability for self-determination and self-government.

We do not change these things on a dime. We are working with the communities so that they can define the ways in which to govern themselves and determine their own future, not to have the arrogance as a government to say that we know what is best for them. That is the old way of doing things. That is not done around here any more. We develop strong partnerships. Money in this--