Mr. Speaker, one of the astonishing things that the Conservatives learned upon forming government in January 2006 was that our Liberal predecessors would regularly announce their support for particular projects and then refuse to sign supporting agreements and, in the rare cases when they did sign agreements, they would not allocate any funding whatsoever to fulfill them.
I will give one example. The Manitoba floodway is but one example of a shady practice of where the previous Liberal government made a promise but did not allocate the necessary funds to fulfill that promise.
In September 2005, the then Liberal Treasury Board president committed to build a full floodway in Manitoba, a project that would have cost an estimated $665 million. He announced that the Government of Canada would cover half the cost of this project, approximately $332 million. However, when we came to office and started checking the books, we found out that the federal government had only agreed to contribute $120 million, a small fraction of what it had promised publicly. In fact, the $120 million only covered the first of three phases of the floodway.
Last summer, when the second phase of the floodway was to begin, we were facing possible work shortages because no actual money was available. Despite their much publicized promise, the Liberals had not actually budgeted the remaining $213 million to bring that project to fruition.
There is some good news. I am happy that my colleague, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, acted swiftly to come up with an additional $42 million immediately to ensure that tendering and construction would remain on schedule.
As for the remaining $170 million, I want to assure the House that, unlike the previous Liberal government, we will ensure the money is budgeted and is available.
A similar situation occurred with respect to the labour market partnership with Manitoba, another agreement signed with great pomp and ceremony but never allotted any money by the previous Liberal government.
The government is engaged in ongoing discussions with all provinces as to how to assist each with its labour market development and post-secondary training. Unlike the previous government, which would sign agreements without funding, the present Minister of Finance is in the process of serious discussions about how best to restore fiscal balance.
Since forming government in January 2006, Canada's new government has cooperated with provincial governments and private sector partners to see that projects, like the Manitoba floodway project, have the funding that was promised so we can deliver real results for real people.
That is what this government is all about. We make a promise and we deliver, instead of following the ancient practice of the previous government of making false promises that it had no intention whatsoever of keeping and for which it did not allocate a single, solitary red cent in order to honour.