Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in the House today and offer my comments on the recent budget speech.
Preparing a budget, whether it is for a household or a nation, is a delicate balancing act of many worthwhile competing priorities. As a member of the Liberal Party, I have consistently advocated for support for Canadian families while promoting fiscal responsibility in building a solid economic foundation for the future.
The Conservative government's first federal budget presented on May 2 fails to provide a sound economic vision for the future and it also brings Canada dangerously close to being back in deficit. I find the budget to be irresponsible and short-sighted and I will not support it in the House.
Let me be clear. I support affordable tax cuts. I was proud to serve in a government that instigated Canada's strong economic growth with eight consecutive balanced budgets, $61.4 billion shaved off the debt and more than $100 billion in tax cuts, which was a historic record for the country. It was through fiscal prudence and responsible spending of Liberal governments that Canada eliminated its deficit and went on to build one of the strongest economies in the world.
The Conservative government's plan to cut the GST will benefit Canada's wealthiest while leaving lower income Canadians with very little benefit. An average Canadian two-earner income family with children currently earns about $72,000 a year while 48% of Canadian families earn less than $40,000 a year. Canadians earning less than $45,000 a year would have to spend 100% of their disposable income on taxable goods and services in order to save $320. This does not include the money that families would have spent on groceries, prescription drugs, rent or tuition and education.
I cannot in good conscience support a budget where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Lower income families work hard. They make sacrifices to make ends meet and income tax reduction puts money in their pockets. Income tax reductions give them a chance to change their financial situation so they too can flourish as part of our Canadian economy.
Canada as a whole has the potential to flourish in the 21st century global economy but we need to invest in our people and in our brainpower. Waterloo region has become synonymous with technology, innovation and education. The technology triangle contributes to the local prosperity and to job growth.
It is a huge disappointment that the Conservative government is unwilling to partner in research and development as evidenced in its recent budget. Its budget contains virtually nothing to help Canada go forward and to put us at the front of competitiveness, knowledge and innovation.
In my region of Waterloo, we are proud to be the home of several of our country's finest post-secondary education institutions. We have a thriving research and development and technology sector. Our region has reaped the rewards of an economy that is driven by ideas, innovation and technology.
The federal government must be a partner in this growth through investments in research and development. Tomorrow's jobs can be found in today's technologies. We cannot put our nation's future prosperity at risk by abandoning these economic issues.
My constituency of Kitchener Centre has seen a significant decline in employment in the manufacturing sector. These good paying jobs are hard to replace in my riding. I implore the government to revisit its plan. I implore it to develop a strategy for investment in research and development. We are a nation of ideas. Let us support our innovators and our researchers by enabling these ideas to get to the marketplace.
All residents of southwestern Ontario are acutely aware of the challenges of climate change, extreme heat waves contributing to air pollution and smog days. These pose serious health risks to the residents of the area.
Given the reality of climate change and the profound effect it will have, not only on our lives but on the lives of future generations, Canada needs a federal government that will be willing to address the impact of climate change and what that impact will have on our health and well-being.
The Conservative government has chosen to abolish several effective climate change programs and it is set to pull out of the Kyoto accord. A responsible government would recognize climate change as the crisis it truly is and it would increase, not slash, funding to mitigate its impact. The detrimental effects of climate change are expected to increase over time. This in turn will hurt future generations of Canadians.
I cannot support a budget that does not do everything possible to ensure the health and well-being of our children and our grandchildren.
It was a proud day for me when Canada committed to the Kyoto protocol. Good climate change policy contributes to a better quality of life and better health for Canadians today and for future generations. Canadians overwhelmingly support actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, they expect all sectors of our economy, governments, industry and consumers, to be part of that process.
All Canadians got a wake-up call last summer on the quality of life of Canada's aboriginal peoples when we saw the evacuation of the Kashechewan reserve. The Liberal Party responded to that crisis with a historic landmark agreement between first ministers and aboriginal leaders in Kelowna, British Columbia. At that meeting, the government of the day committed to over $5 billion over five years to close the gap between aboriginal peoples and other Canadians in such significant areas as education, health, housing and economic opportunities.
The Conservative government has forsaken this agreement. Not only has it forsaken it but it has provided a mere $200 million to address these very important aboriginal issues.
The Conservative government has disappointed Canadians with a budget that falls short of addressing the real needs of families. It has cut programs essential to the prosperity of our country. It has canceled a national child care plan. In one year it will back away from provincial agreements that our government had forged with all provincial governments. It is cutting virtually all the funding to environmental programs like EnerGuide and REEP, programs which, from the evidence I have from groups in my riding, are effective and have not only taken greenhouse gas emissions out of the air but have saved home owners on average $750 a year.
The Conservative government has raised taxes of lower and middle income families. It truly does have a trickle down mentality, whether it comes to social programs or the economy. It intends to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It is not ensuring that all Canadians can thrive with the prosperity that Canada now enjoys.
Canadians deserve much better than the first Conservative budget and the things that have been omitted. For all those reasons, I will not be supporting the budget.