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.