Mr. Speaker, as I have done a number of times in the House, I would like to give a balanced presentation and mention some of the things that are good and some of the things that are not so good in the throne speech.
The Liberals, when we were in government, paid unprecedented attention to the north. There was $120 million as a down payment for the northern strategy. There was $90 million for economic development. There were four different infrastructure programs. There were lots of exciting initiatives such as the beautiful facility for the Canada Winter Games. From the economic development money we helped out with advertising across Canada, which can still be seen on airplanes, advertising and marketing of the north.
I was excited about the many infrastructure programs such as the recreation centres in Mayo and Marsh Lake. Recently a footbridge was opened at Carcross. With the assistance of that money, a very important road is being built which will go from my area near Copper Ridge and Arkell and Granger down to the highway, which will provide an alternate exit. This initiative has been talked about for years.
When the new Conservative government came in, some of the attention to the north was dropped. There was no mention of the northern strategy for a long time. Northerners convinced the Conservative government that it was very important, and I am excited to see the northern strategy framework finally coming back.
All the Conservatives did at first was make two promises to northerners, one for icebreakers and the other for a northern port. As everyone knows, the government broke the first of those promises, taking away the tens of millions of dollars that had been promised. We went through two budgets and a throne speech without any mention of the port, so we kept pushing and the government finally mentioned it. Many people decried the lack of consultation on that port and the best location for it. I do hope that port actually comes to fruition.
I have to congratulate the government for mentioning housing for first nations and Inuit people in the throne speech. I have talked about this issue a number of times.
We have talked about a world class Arctic research station, and I am always supportive of that. Fifteen years ago I coined a phrase that we needed more research in the north, for the north and by the north, that we needed more researchers in the north. I decried the lack of scientific infrastructure in the north last summer when I visited Sweden with Arctic parliamentarians and saw how much other countries had. This summer in my article on sovereignty in The Hill Times I mentioned that one of the ways to advance sovereignty is by doing more science with both the infrastructure and operation and maintenance in the north. I am delighted to see the proposal for a world class Arctic research station. We have been working for a long time for a northern research station in Whitehorse that would look at climate change at a time when it is so important for the north.
I was happy to see seabed mapping mentioned in the throne speech. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of details. Once again, I am not sure if this is like a number of other items that are in the throne speech that are already being done either by the Conservative government or other governments and are just being reannounced. Seabed mapping was put in place a long time ago by the Liberals.
I am hoping that mention of this means that the Conservatives will accelerate the schedule. The schedule is so tight right now that it is going to end right on the last day. We cannot afford to lose part of Canada if the mapping is slowed down by mechanical failures or the climate. Hopefully this means that the government has accelerated the schedule and the mapping is being done right now.
I was astonished to see the government put the slush boat scandal into the throne speech. That took money away from northerners by replacing icebreakers with patrol boats that can go through one metre of ice when many people know that the ice can be as much as 18 metres thick, including old ice in that area. For a good portion of the year those patrol boats will not be able to patrol the north.
I was delighted that tourism was mentioned in the throne speech but, like a number of other items, there were no details. The jury will need to remain out on that issue.
We all know that during the Conservatives' term they have made some tremendous cuts to tourism. Cuts were made to the tourism marketing funds that were available, taking away the GST rebate, cuts to museums and students. Some of those programs have been reinstated but they still have not reinstated all the GST rebate, for instance, for individuals. That is more important for my riding than perhaps any riding because it is the largest private sector employer. I am glad that it is there but we will see what it means.
On infrastructure, I will follow up on what my colleague said and what I said earlier today, which is that it is good that infrastructure is there. I am speaking on behalf of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Association of Yukon Communities, the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, the Northwest Territories Association of Communities and all municipalities in Canada when I say that the municipalities must get their fair share and a percentage of the funding they had under the four Liberal infrastructure programs which helped them so much.
As everyone know, we have a skills shortage in the country. I heard about this at length at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce meeting last week. I am delighted that there was money in the budget or discussion in the budget of increasing funds for aboriginal skills training so they can take advantage of opportunities in the north. This is one way of solving the skills shortage.
I would liked to have seen additional emphasis on other ways of solving that problem as well related to immigration, older workers, improving the integration of immigrants into the workforce, integrating disabled people into the workforce and so forth.
I was very happy to see a water strategy, which is very important for Canadians, but once again we will have to wait and see exactly what that means. I would definitely congratulate the Prime Minister and the government for proposing Canadian citizenship in the throne speech for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi which has been unanimously supported by the House. I would also like to thank MPs and senators from all parties who are members of the Parliamentary Friends of Burma and had this on their agenda since May. I am delighted that the government has agreed to granting her honorary Canadian citizenship.
I will now discuss the things that are missing for the balance of my presentation.