Madam Speaker, at the outset I want to add my voice to say how shocked and saddened I was to hear about the events in India yesterday. It was a terrible tragedy.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak in reply to the Speech from the Throne and I wish to thank the people of Kitchener Centre for giving me the opportunity to speak on their behalf. I am deeply grateful to my campaign team for their dedicated assistance.
We live in interesting times, as the Chinese proverb would observe. To further borrow from that tradition I suggest that we may define our present circumstances with the character for “crisis” that expresses in a single word not only “danger” but also “opportunity”. This Parliament has before it both danger and opportunity, and we have heard a throne speech that recognizes both the dangers and the opportunities.
The Speech from the Throne clearly addresses the economic challenges that define the work of this Parliament. As we speak, with the most recent reports available, Canada continues to enjoy the only budget surplus among the G-7 nations. Our average hourly wage rate has continued to increase by 4.3% in the last year. Our unemployment rate remains near historic lows. For the first time since 1981, we have less unemployment than the United States. In 2008, we have had a net gain of 107,000 new jobs to date. This contrasts with 1.2 million jobs lost by our neighbours to the south in 2008 to date. The fiscal prudence of our government in the last Parliament, undoubtedly, contributed to these advantages.
During the election campaign and again in the House I have heard the opposition parties refer to our government spending as “squandering the surplus that was left to us”. I must say that I do not consider paying down $37 billion of national debt in just two years, reducing almost $200 billion in taxation and investing in infrastructure as squandering anything. These were proactive measures to ensure the health of our economy.
To suggest that the government was wrong to reduce the surplus in this way, is to suggest that we should reverse those actions by raising taxes once again. To suggest the government was wrong to do these things, is to suggest that we should cancel those infrastructure investments. Yet, those are the very actions that have made our economic success known around the world. It is unwise to now suggest that lowering taxes and investing in infrastructure were wrong or should be reversed. Quite the opposite is true.
Those measures provided ongoing economic stimulus. The GST cuts, for example, did not just put more money in consumers' pockets last year, they continue to increase consumer spending power this year and will continue next year and the year after that.
The benefit of these tax reductions and infrastructure investments could not be greater if the government had waited until now to implement them, as have some of our neighbours. Quite the opposite is true. Because we were ahead of the curve, we are already enjoying the benefits and have delayed the onset of a recession far longer than have our neighbours.
However, the dangers remain: loss of stock market value; declining U.S. consumer confidence; reduced demand for our products, especially automotive, from our largest trading partner; and dropping commodity prices. We are all painfully aware of the dangers we face.
We cannot escape the economic downturn. The economic problems afflicting our largest trading partner will inevitably affect us. We are a trading nation. The health of the global economy impacts the health of the Canadian economy.
The government has already demonstrated its keen awareness of the necessity for international co-operation. Our Prime Minister has already met with world leaders and worked with them on general principles which will be implemented by our government with the support of the House. My personal hope is that two approaches will become priorities. I am certain that I speak for the people of Kitchener Centre in expressing these priorities. These in fact are opportunities. The first is an acceleration of investment in infrastructure. The second is ensuring support for those whose livelihood is lost or whose essential savings are lost by the economic downturn. These two priorities are emblematic of the Kitchener traditions of industrious community development and socially innovative concern for our neighbours.
As to infrastructure, the government has already wisely budgeted for $33 billion in infrastructure investment over the next several years. It is now important to provide much of that economic stimulus over the next 12 to 24 months. I am confident that our government will take those measures to the fullest extent possible. This is an opportunity to address real and present infrastructure needs.
It is equally important to ensure that no Canadian is left behind. In Canada, we do not abandon the less fortunate. Clearly, the economic downturn will make itself felt in the employment insurance fund and in provincial social assistance programs. I confidently expect our government’s new budget will address these very important needs.
The throne speech expresses a commitment to ensure delivery of the generous transfer payments already planned for health care and social programs. It promises to ensure that programs for workers facing transition are available for those who need them most. The throne speech also affirms our resolve to extend the homelessness partnership strategy and help more Canadians find affordable housing. These are opportunities to improve our support networks.
How will our government achieve these fundamental goals? How will we as a House in another minority position come together? How can the government reconcile sometimes conflicting needs across 10 provinces and 3 territories? We have a unique opportunity to accomplish this great work in this 40th Parliament.
We have two things going for us. First, we have heard a near universal call for a renewed sense of decorum in this chamber. This reflects a thirst by members of this House and by Canadians across our great land for a sense of common focus. The challenges before us are so great that they compel us to put aside partisan sharpness and find common purpose. This is an important opportunity to improve our public discourse.
Second, we have a Prime Minister who has the confidence to risk an open-minded search for solutions. Confidence leads to open-mindedness. It takes confidence to be transparent. It takes confidence to trust one another. In the last Parliament, our Prime Minister demonstrated his own quiet confidence on a number of occasions. These occasions included an open-minded commitment to secure Parliament’s approval on the Afghanistan issue before acting.
Another good example was the thoughtful and unifying resolution on the nationhood of les Québécois. Another was the heartfelt apology to our residential school survivors. These moments inspired the people of my riding of Kitchener Centre and, I dare say, they inspired Canadians across our great land. Everyone who was here for them can be proud of their work.
Those accomplishments required strength and confidence. Those efforts produced the truly shining moments of the 39th Parliament. Those efforts demonstrated how open-mindedness, transparency and mutual trust, possible only through confidence in our own strengths, can achieve common focus.
The Speech from the Throne lays out a path through a dark forest of economic perils. I call on all of our hon. members to seize the opportunity to confidently put on the cloak of open-mindedness, transparency and mutual trust. Let us travel that path together with common focus on the needs and well-being of all Canadians.