Mr. Speaker, in my address in terms of the implementation of the budget, I will show what will happen in northwestern Ontario, particularly in Thunder Bay—Rainy River. There should be several good things, and rightly so, as the government inherited one of the best financial situations of any provincial or federal government in recent memory.
Nonetheless, when we think about what is good, what is bad, what is missing or what the Conservative government has adopted in continuing previous government policies, the first thing that comes to mind is how offensive the raising of the income tax rate for the poor is. People all across the country are offended, hurt and indeed embarrassed by hurting the poorest classes.
The cancellation of the early learning and child care agreements in northwestern Ontario means the loss of 1,400 spaces that were desperately needed. Of course, Ontario and indeed all those provinces across the country that uploaded the child care support will now be facing the fact that they will have to download them again and raise property taxes in those municipalities. When that starts happening, people will really know the serious effect of this.
The slashing of the forestry agreement from $1.5 billion to $400 million is of concern to many northwestern Ontario companies that have been struggling over the past number of years, and in particular are paying the penalty of not having a chance to get that $1 billion of illegal duties paid back to them and only get 78% of that. For example, the Ontario industry has paid 12% of all the duty submitted and of that provincial portion northwestern Ontario companies have paid nearly 60% of that total. That is nearly $300 million out of the communities in and around my riding of Thunder Bay—Rainy River.
When asked about how good the softwood deal was, yes it has been rejected many, many times in the past number of years and indeed the reason the previous deal was never accepted is that it is not going to help us. For example, no money will likely be returned in less than nine months, but more important to the people of northwestern Ontario, the provincial and federal governments will not be permitted to change forestry policies in any manner that could be interpreted as assisting the forestry industries because of the terminology of the anti-circumvention measure. This means that for northwestern Ontario producers who are pushing for regional energy, as we call it, once that became implemented by the provincial government, an American company could simply overrule it and roll that back.
When we talk about the impact on tourism of the passport restrictions, there are no programs in the budget to assist border communities and no funding to educate Americans and Canadians about these changes. Indeed for communities such as Morson in my riding which depend heavily on tourism, because of the FedNor program we were recently able to expand cell tower and broadband services. This will greatly enhance tourism because tourists can use their cell phones and computers. But tourists will stop coming. That has already begun to happen and we have to be on full alert about this. Many people in the United States actually think that the passport requirement is a Canadian program. On top of all of this, significant progress had been made by American legislators, mayors and reeves of border communities, and the tourism industry, so we did not have to roll over on this one.
In terms of the Trans-Canada Highway, the previous agreement signed last year with the province of Ontario should allow us to continue with federal-provincial funding for a national highway program. We look forward to that.
In terms of agriculture, my riding has a considerable amount of agriculture as it spans a seven and a half hour drive over two time zones. The beef, dairy, and grains and oilseeds farmers are somewhat dismayed that they will get less this year than they did from the previous government. That is a concern for them, particularly when we know full well the impact on the grains and oilseeds right now during planting season.
I congratulate the government for continuing the FedNor program. I believe the Conservatives understand its value and I thank them very much for that. We hope that the program will also allow the people of the town of Fort Frances and the Rainy River district to benefit with the purchase of the privately owned bridge. With the FedNor contributions and the ministry of transport's assistance, we are looking forward to some kind of help for the town of Fort Frances.
From the health perspective, the regional cancer research centre has received support already from the municipality, the province and the private sector. All it is waiting for now is the federal contribution so hopefully that will come shortly. The minister is welcome to come to my riding and make that announcement at his convenience.
Environmentally there is a very high degree of awareness in Thunder Bay, very cost effective programs and a great deal of community buy-in. The loss of a program such as EcoSuperior was a dramatic hit. It was enlisting strong community based support for environmental programs and awareness.
When talking about the hopper car deal, the FRCC, the people of Thunder Bay, the port authority and I had been looking forward to an agreement. Now that the deal has been turned back to the railways, this will hurt all the communities along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, and particularly the port of Thunder Bay. That has been greeted with considerable dismay.
We are also concerned about the lack of identification of the continuance of regional programs for such organizations as the CBC. This would greatly take the pressure off that station which services an area larger than France and a couple of other European countries put together.
If we have a goal of becoming the most literate nation in the world, support for literacy programs is conspicuously absent in the budget, particularly support for aboriginal literacy. I am hoping that is perhaps a small print item that we will hear more about in the next little while.
Ridings such as mine have considerable distance and travel times. The Conservatives have previously campaigned on and made many overtures in the House about lowering gas prices. The fact that nothing has been mentioned about that has many of my constituents calling me. Even people who had supported that party in the last election have expressed considerable dismay and have referred to articles quoting the current Prime Minister and many members of that party about gasoline pricing.
The absence of mention of health care in the budget is something which many people have mentioned. If the government will be continuing the health care accord, then that is very significant. It would be an understanding that that was a significant achievement and that the current government understands how well the previous prime minister and former minister of health had done in bringing people together to come to an accord. It was historic and appreciated indeed by the whole nation.
I do not have time to dwell on many other topics, but there are some that I would like to mention. The government deserves credit for the apprenticeship programs for small business. If there are plans to build a prison for $500 million and $500 million worth of operating costs, please put one in my riding. We would be glad to take it.
When we talk about a budget we cannot just be negative and cynical. Every budget tries to put the government's best foot forward. I hope that I have identified some of the shortcomings, some of the good things, some of the things that are missing. I hope that members in the House today understand that when we make a point it is to try to make improvements. If there is a shortcoming, members should not get all defensive, negative and hostile. They should just know that someone is trying to make it better and I would ask hon. members to understand that.