Debates of Dec. 1st, 2008

Economic and Fiscal Statement

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Mississauga South is absolutely right. We need to have a multifaceted approach to how we solve some of these problems and the first one is to be proactive.

The member was part of a government and he shared those kinds of responsibilities with me that tried to be proactive, to see down the road what would be required.

When the government opposite today says that it has the fundamentals in place, guess what? The member for Mississauga South, myself and other members of caucus put those fundamentals in place. We understand the business of going ahead, moving forward and putting in the architecture that needs to be filled in as need comes along.

A second element of that multi-pronged process is the willingness to be engaged in income substitution if the need brings us to that point.

The third element is to look at the transition. Jobs are changing. As we conduct our debates here, jobs are being transformed because of new technology, because of research and development but also because of people's spending habits. We need to be able to make those kinds of adjustments. We need to invest.

We are not talking about stimulus and stimuli. We are actually talking about making the adjustments in an economy that is going from where we are today to where others are already going. Other people are moving at a much faster pace than we are, which is why we need to talk to industry leaders down south and here to ensure the accountability and performance criteria are met as we go along.

Do we need to make investments? We are darn right. The member from Mississauga South has had the experience to see that it works and works well. We do not want to be looking at crisis management as a quarter of a million people lose their jobs and the only alternative is immediate income substitution. We need to take a look at where we are going to bring those 250,000 people in the next six months.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member wanted to make a few comments about the construction trade and the role it will play, particularly in the infrastructure initiatives. I would ask the member to comment on that.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Mississauga South knows quite well that there are about 1.2 million people who are immediately engaged in the non-residential construction industry. That is not an insignificant number of people. We are looking at 1.2 million people who are experts at a very specific trade or a combination of trades. We need them to build those pipelines in Alberta and Saskatchewan. We need them to bring those pipelines down from the Yukon into central Canada and into the markets further south of their regions.

We also need to keep in mind that these are very high-paying jobs that give us an opportunity to get value-added equipment and salaries. We need to support them.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to stand to talk about our fiscal update. We have heard a lot of talk about how tough things are in Canada and yet we just heard this morning that the third-quarter of 2008 saw the GDP increase of 0.3%.

The global economy is struggling. We know many countries are already in recession but, because of the actions that this government took, we are riding through this troubled time.

We know there is hurt. We know people have lost their jobs but as a government we took the right steps to ensure we stimulated the entire economy.

In our economic update in 2007 and in budget 2008, we put in place the spending, the programs and the tax cuts that would have a long-term benefit for all of Canada.

We paid down $37 billion on our national debt. That was huge, to have $37 billion wiped off the national mortgage. We have made over $200 billion in tax cuts. That is putting money back in the hands of everyday Canadians to ensure they spend it on their priorities and not on the priorities of political operatives.

Tax cuts this year alone are over $31 billion. That represents 2% of GDP that is being given back through tax relief. That is significant and important, and that is helping our families, our students when they are buying their books and paying tuition, and it is helping workers with tools and those who are in apprenticeships. A big part of this is our cut in the GST from 7% to 6% and then 5%. That is a huge savings and it helped stimulate consumer spending.

We have accelerated the capital cost allowance for businesses, allowing them to purchase the tools and equipment to make themselves more competitive, increase their productivity and increase their ability not only to earn profits but to employ more people. I think that is significant.

We also put in place the tax-free savings account which comes into effect January 1. It will be a huge benefit to Canadians who are just trying to save some extra dollars, to put that into their pocket, to generate the dollars that they need as a down payment on a new home, to buy a car or to take a vacation. It is done in a way that encourages them to save the money and I think that is important for all Canadians.

We are hearing a lot, especially with the talk of the potential coalition that is taking place, about eliminating our business tax cuts. That is $50 billion of tax relief for businesses. It puts us as a government in the position to pick and choose who the winners and losers are but allows businesses to generate the profits, to employ more Canadians and to increase their overall scope of business within the community. We just cannot see those dollars just disappearing. When we want to talk about being regressive, removing these tax cuts is the regressive policy that the NDP wants to bring in.

We need to remember that 98% of corporations in this country are small and medium-sized businesses, the self-employed. Two-thirds of employed Canadians work in those small businesses. They benefit from these tax reductions but, at the stroke of a pen, the potential coalition wants to wipe that out. I will not stand for it and I do not believe anybody in this party would support such a foolish idea that would take us backwards rather than moving us forward.

We have been very stringent on what we have done in spending to ensure that it is being spent in a way that benefits all Canadians. What we are looking at with the potential coalition, the separatists, Liberals and socialists, is that we will go back to the big tax and spend.

We do not need to see, at this point in time in the economy, more taxes and more crazy spending. I have heard a lot of people talk about what happened under the Mulroney government. We know what happened. It inherited a huge national debt and huge deficit generated by the former Liberal government, the Trudeau Liberals.

I just heard someone mention interest rates and where interest rates are.

In 1984 I took out my first farm loan and the interest rate at that time was 22%. There is no way any government could manage a deficit when it is looking at a national debt with an interest rate of over 20%. There is just no way when 20% of all income coming in would have to go to just paying interest, never mind being able to do any other new spending initiatives. We had to get the economy under control.

Through the work of Don Mazankowski and Michael Wilson, they planted a garden and we saw interest rates come down. We saw that spending was coming into line. All that Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien did was pick the flowers and in the process of picking all the flowers did a lot of terrible slashing in certain spending areas. They cut equalization payments, which hurt the provinces, so they could not deliver health care nor education. This offload was very regressive right across the country.

We also saw them gut our military. They took away all our military spending. We do not want to go back to the times of high spending and slashing away the core fundamentals of Canadian public interests: our military, our schools, our health care. That is what I am afraid we are going to be looking at here.

We do not want to see it go back to the government spending on its own self-interest. All we have to do is remember ad scam, Shawinigate or the David Dingwall school of entitlement. We do not want to turn back that page. We want to make sure we are moving ahead and that is what this government has been doing. We have been making real investments that benefit all Canadians long term.

The $33 billion building Canada fund is the highest level of spending in infrastructure investment that this country has even seen. That is going to generate programs like the private public partnerships where government dollars can be used in collaboration with private interests, municipalities, the provinces, and actually leverage even more dollars to generate not only new jobs but long-term infrastructure that all Canadians are going to benefit from.

There are $12 billion going into the municipal gas tax fund to help municipalities directly in their infrastructure needs. When I talk to representatives of rural municipalities, towns and cities, they love getting this money because now they can make the long-term planning and investments in their communities to generate the type of infrastructure that their citizens expect.

There is also funding for small communities with populations under 100,000. Everything seems to be on a per capita basis these days. We have to have some dedicated funds to help out smaller businesses and communities so they can access some of these infrastructure dollars as well and make the proper changes in their overall infrastructure.

In budget 2007 and 2008 we started looking at some of the problems that we had in the financial sector. This government did not wait until there was a meeting with the G20 to start working on that problem. We acted last year and we were acting this summer. We put $75 billion into the insured mortgage purchase program. This is going to ensure there is liquidity in the marketplace, that banks have the ability to continue to offer loans to small businesses and individuals. It made sure that banks were in a position to keep interest rates low.

With all the turmoil happening in the marketplace and the global economy, we know that a lot of people are pulling in their horns. They are taking their dollars and stuffing them into their mattresses I guess, but we are not seeing them buy mortgage bonds. It is great to know that the Government of Canada is providing that $75 billion, but at the same time we know that these dollars are insured, that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is insuring these dollars so that the government will probably make money on this investment in the long term. We have the Canadian Lenders Assurance Facility which has also helped banks and financial institutions through this difficult time.

That is why we are not in a bank bailout situation like we are seeing in the United States, Europe and Iceland where people are running for cover and wondering whether their deposits are secure. We made those investments. We made those decisions ahead of the curve. The opposition parties are blaming us for not doing anything. For quite a long time we have been ahead of the curve, making sure that Canadians were in a better situation.

If we look at what we have done in military purchases, those dollars are generated back into the economy, whether it is shipbuilding or the aerospace industry.

The community development trust that we announced last year was $1 billion to help communities that were struggling with things like the forestry industry, the livestock sector, and to help those communities transition through those difficult times.

In this fiscal update we announced we were giving another $700 million to the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Export Development Canada to ensure that businesses that were having some trouble getting funding through normal financial institutions in normal commercial ways could come to BDC and get those loans, or those who were engaged in export activities were able to ensure their receivables. That is important for an exporting nation.

We are making sure that we protect people's pensions. We made some changes this year to the registered retirement income funds, RRIFs, but we know more needs to be done.

We met with the G-20. We were definitely on the leadership side of what steps need to take place. There are more tools that the government can use. That is what budget 2009 will be all about. There would be proper investments to ensure that all businesses and all Canadians would benefit. We will look at reforming the global finance system, ensuring sound budgeting, not only here in Canada and through the provinces but internationally. We want to talk about securing jobs for Canadian families and their communities. We want to expand investment and trade. We are a trade-based economy in agriculture, automobiles, forestry and energy. It is all based on strong international trade.

We want to make sure the government is more effective, but there will be a requirement for further stimulus. We will need all the tools the government has at its disposal to go ahead in 2009.

I want to stress to my colleagues across the way that as they entertain the thought of a coalition, we are only a month and a half away from budget 2009. We will make sure we have the fiscal packages that people think we may need as things evolve over the next month and a half, especially with a new president in the United States coming into the White House. We want to make sure that anything the Americans are doing to stimulate their economy, that we are in lockstep with them where it makes sense.

There was shock in my riding this week with the talk of a three way coalition. It is creating a great deal of outrage. Western Canada will not buy into this deal that was put together over the weekend by the Liberals in the backrooms. The NDP and the Bloc have been working on this for months. Actually, what may happen here might destroy the country. Do the Liberals and the NDP really want to legitimatize the Bloc separatists? Do they really want to give them that type of power? Canadians will pass judgment at some point in time on this move. I cannot believe that the party of Laurier and Trudeau would want to legitimatize a party that wants to destroy the country. As I said during question period, I cannot believe that Tommy Douglas would ever have envisioned that his party would support and legitimatize separatism in Canada.

While they are doing this, they are also fanning the flames of western alienation. Western Canadians overwhelmingly rejected the NDP and the Liberal Party in the last election. They are already contacting our offices. They just cannot believe what Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the big cities, essentially members of the NDP and the Liberal Party, want to do to the rest of Canada.

I am sure that if we sat down and had a logical discussion, we could find middle ground. But if we cannot, if we have lost the confidence of this House, as everybody has been saying, then let us get on with it, defeat us, and let us do the right thing. Let us go back to Canadians and ask them if they support this coalition. Nobody in Canada voted for a coalition. Nobody even talked about it through the entire campaign. Canadians do not even know who the leader will be, who will be the prime minister if this actually takes place.

We know that when people enter the polling booth, they are not only voting for their local candidate and for the party that has their support, they are also voting for the next prime minister. I do not believe that what we are going to see come out of this is going to, in any way, shape or form, respect the will of Canadians in the last election. This is a coup d'état. There is no question about it.

We have to look at how this is going to affect us long-term. I hope that it is just not all about a money grab here, a grasp for power, a greed. If we really want to act in the best interest of the country and if the opposition parties do not believe that the Conservative Party has the confidence of the House, then the correct thing to do is let us go back and call for an election. I know nobody wants to go back and hit the campaign trail one more time. I have been here for just over four years now and I have been on the campaign trail three times. But if we have to do it again, that is the right democratic response. Forming a coalition is not.

I do want to make sure that we work in here collaboratively as nation builders because anything that we do for short-term gain could result in long-term pain.

I think that this is an interesting time. This is something I never envisioned I would be in a position as a member of Parliament to witness. But let us make sure that we do take the proper steps ahead. Maybe we need to have time to just consult and talk with each other, even just go home and talk to our constituents and see what they really want, and then come back here and look at the budget, which the finance ministger has already said would be presented January 27. It is going to be the earliest presented budget in history. Then we can make the proper assessment as to whether or not that is going to cover us off during these difficult times.

We have already been saying that we are in a turbulent economic crisis and I have always been telling people we have to make sure we put on our seat belts and ride through the turbulence. I sure hope I do not have to go home as we start moving toward something that Canadian voters did not pick and tell them to assume the crash position and get ready for a real big crash, not in the marketplace but in the way democracy is being treated in this country.

I am more than happy to entertain questions and I am looking forward to an upscale debate. I notice my friend from Moncton is anxious to go. So, with that, I will take any questions.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I will try to be as upscale as I can.

I am refreshed that the member uses the memories and the nostalgic throwback to men like Douglas, Laurier and Trudeau. I suggest had that side used those names and those men's thoughts more often, we may not be in the situation we are today.

I really caution my friend about using words like coup d'état when the Constitution of this country and our conventions, which are part of the Constitution of this country, will be followed in all cases because we have a Governor General system of government.

He does say that Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the big cities are ganging up on western Canada. That is not quite fair. Let me tell members something. In Atlantic Canada, the Conference Board of Canada predicted a 1.3% growth for P.E.I., a .7% growth for Newfoundland, a .5% growth for New Brunswick and a 1% growth for Nova Scotia for 2009. Those are not good figures. They do not in fact support the economic update foundational information. As one western journalist, who is not friendly to Liberals, said, the figures in the economic update were carved in cotton, and they appear to be. That is not a rosy picture in Atlantic Canada.

What I want to ask my friend very pointedly is, if he had an economic crisis in his home, in his community, in his province, would he wait from September, when the Prime Minister campaigned saying there was no problem, until the end of January to do something about it? Is that reasonable? Is that not why the other people on the other side are in the position they are?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ensure that my colleague has read the fiscal update. A number of different scenarios has been laid out as to overall GDP growth in Canada and how that would affect the overall position of the government. Those numbers are all there. He can look at it, on pages 101 and 103, which have all the data. Because we are in this turmoil, and no one knows for sure where we are headed, a number of different outcomes have been given as to where we are now and we have come down in the middle with the overall fiscal update.

Talking about fiscal problems and crises in my riding, we are a ranching community. I am a rancher myself. We have been living it for the last five years. We are lucky we had a number of fiscal interjections by the Government of Canada through farm programs to help out, but more can be done. There is never enough.

However, we know the stability of the country is based upon the stability of the government as well.

The member may talk about conventions of the Governor General. We know the convention is to go back to the people for a vote, not to form coalitions in backrooms. It is about moving ahead with democracy, not moving backwards.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the question I would like to put for the member for Selkirk—Interlake is on his presentation, which gives me pause to be very concerned about his interpretation and definition of the democratic process. He is castigating the members on the other side of the House for going outside of the democratic processes.

I welcome his feedback on whether he thinks the economic update is the time and the moment to be reopening the debate on the rights of women and workers. Is that really the proper forum for discussing democratic reform? My constituents have elected me to come back to the House and to discuss these things with all members in the House. Does he truly think the economic update is the time to be opening up all the democratic reforms that have been made over the last five decades and should we instead be concentrating on immediate stimuli to help our communities and get the green infrastructure going?

That is what my constituents told me this weekend.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I guess the real question should be this. Did this new member from Edmonton go out and campaign that she was going to be forming a coalition with bunch of separatists. Did she go out and truthfully say the NDP wanted to grab power and it would do it with the support of the separatists. The behaviour we see from NDP members is bizarre.

I have to caution them that this approach will cause a great deal of unrest in western Canada. Her being from Edmonton, from western Canada, she should know how many people are looking at this whole talk of a separatist supported coalition. That would not fly very far with western Canadians.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government has put the stimulus into the economy already through tax cuts for businesses and for individuals. That is to encourage consumption.

My constituents tell me they are using the money to enrol their children in programs and to purchase equipment for things like hockey and soccer. Businesses are using the opportunity to purchase new equipment.

Other countries are now following our lead. They are imitating our actions. They wish they had done in the past what we have already done.

Could the member talk about what the stimulus package is doing for the constituents in his riding.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Newmarket—Aurora on her election win and in joining us here in the House of Commons.

There is no question that the stimulus package we put in place in budget 2007 and budget 2008 and in our economic update in 2007 has already generated benefits in my riding. We have seen local businesses, small based manufacturers, buy new modern equipment and then quickly depreciate it under the new rules. That has made them more productive and competitive and they have hired more people. This has been significant and it is important.

We know families through the tax relief have been able to put their kids into hockey and into organized sports. We are looking forward, as we campaigned, to the same type of tax credit being extended to those kids who want to be in the arts, whether it is dance or music.

We want to ensure that our families not only remain strong, but that they have all the opportunities to fully participate.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in this time of economic crisis, what Canada and Canadians need is a Prime Minister who will take leadership on this front and on this file. Instead the Prime Minister, who once talked about firewalls in Alberta, and who has been somewhat of a separatist himself, now is attacking the agreement that has come forward, an attack on Parliament.

In our parliamentary system, we do not elect governments. We elect parliamentarians. We elect Parliament. It is the government that has the confidence of Parliament, which is in charge and is the government of our country. I think the Prime Minister has forgotten this, that in a minority situation, he has a duty to consult, not to attack unionists and labour movements, not to attack women's rights and the Pay Equity Commission, not to attack all sorts of fundamental rights that we have gained in our country. Instead, he decided to take very partisan, cheap shots at all those minority groups across the country. This is why he has lost the confidence of the House.

I invite my hon. colleague, whom I admire quite a bit, to tell me why Canadians should trust a Prime Minister who keeps saying one thing and doing something else?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Davenport knows full well that the convention of the Governor General on these issues is to go back to the polls. What those members are attempting to do is all behind the curtains.

We are not here to play a shell game. This is not a charade. We have to be responsible and take the right position. We have done that with this economic update. We know more needs to take place and that will come out in the budget to be presented on January 27.

I know my colleague loves Canada and this is why I shake my head in disbelief, that he is prepared to have the separatists on side with the new coalition and how that will hold the rest of Canada hostage. I just cannot believe it.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to inform you that I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert.

We were told last week that the Minister of Financewould table an economic statement. The Prime Minister had triggered an election that, by the way, cost $300 million. He did this because an economic crisis was looming. He said he had to have a clear mandate to deal with the problem. The first step that the Conservative government took was to deliver an eagerly awaited economic statement. There is no doubt we have serious economic difficulties in all parts of Quebec, and especially in my own riding.

But what did they come up with? People thought there would be interesting initiatives to assist our companies and citizens, but there was nothing. It was an ideological statement. I listened to the Conservative member who spoke before me. He referred to the coalition and asked whether anyone had mentioned it during the last election campaign. What I want to know is whether any of the Conservatives mentioned anything during the campaign about denying rights to federal public servants and removing their right to strike? Did any of the Conservatives say anything during the campaign about restricting the right of women to pay equity? Did any Conservatives mention cutting the public funding of political parties? Nobody mentioned that. Now we are faced with what we are calling an ideological statement because the emphasis is on these issues rather than on the measures we expected to help our businesses and citizens ride out the recession.

The government was so blinded by ideology that it did not even realize how urgent it was to act. We need action now, right away. That is why the Prime Minister called an election. There are a lot of inconsistencies in this situation.

At a time when virtually all the governments on earth can see the need to act and are drawing up plans, our government proposes cutbacks for women, public servants and political parties. That does not make sense. It is completely out of touch. We need a different take on the difficulties we are experiencing.

I said earlier that I live in the riding I represent. Like many others, it has major economic problems. For years and years it has lived primarily off forestry and manufacturing. In Quebec we have lost, especially in the last two years, nearly half of all the jobs lost in manufacturing. The people in my region are affected by this, the people in Shawinigan, in La Tuque, and everywhere. The people in small rural municipalities, in the RCMs of des Chenaux and Mékinac, are affected as well. They are in some difficult situations. These people really expected to see some major initiatives to kick-start the economy. But no, the government preferred ideology. What it has done is create a democratic crisis for purely partisan reasons. The government decided to attack working people by suspending their right to strike and to attack women by making pay equity negotiable. That does not make sense. It is a huge step backwards, and the people of Quebec will not stand for it.

Furthermore, there is another major issue for Quebec, one that resulted in a unanimous resolution by the National Assembly. I am speaking of the creation of a single securities regulator.

In Quebec, this decision was not well received and the government cannot claim ignorance. They were told. Motions and questions about this matter were introduced. We addressed the matter often and the government knows it. It even has the unanimous resolution by the National Assembly of Quebec which reiterates its intention to oppose such a measure. Nevertheless, it was in the economic statement and that is a direct attack against Quebec.

In the throne speech given upon the opening of the House, we heard the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance ask the opposition parties for constructive suggestions to the economic crisis. We submitted a structured and organized plan, which included measures that could have allowed the government to help workers, individuals and businesses affected by the crisis. We submitted several measures that could have been used by the government but none of them were in the Minister of Finance's economic update.

How can we trust a government that asks for help and proposals but, three days later, rejects those proposals out of hand, saying that it cannot be done when we know very well that the time for action is now. Furthermore, we asked for a one-year deferral of the mandatory repayment of the HBP, Home Buyers' Plan. We know that such a measure would help young families affected by the crisis. In fact, when they withdraw funds from their RRSPs, have to repay quickly and experience financial difficulties, many of these young families have trouble making ends meet. The government could have given young families a helping hand by relaxing the rules temporarily. They could have adopted some of our proposals, but they did not.

The government did not respond to our suggestion of a development fund for affordable housing. This is the time for a government to be investing—in the middle of an economic crisis. It is the government that controls the purse strings and that can introduce measures to revitalize the economy. In Quebec we have always said that when construction is fine, so is everything else. They need to get construction going again and provide funding for affordable housing. They can kill two birds with one stone by creating housing and kick-starting the construction industry. However, these are not the measures we are seeing.

Another place they could have killed two birds with one stone is in funding for home renovations to improve energy efficiency. That would bolster the renovation industry and fight climate change. The objective would be to introduce a number of programs for homeowners who want to insulate their homes and undertake renovations that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The government would have sent out two messages at the same time. However, once again, it did nothing. It has completely forgotten that we made some interesting proposals; they are nowhere to be seen in the economic update.

As well, we talked about full respect for the equalization formula. Once again, the government came back to the House and said that the equalization formula would be amended, which would be very detrimental to Quebec.

In short, there was nothing in this update to make us trust this government. It asked us to put forward proposals, which we did in good faith, but what we realized, after hearing the minister's economic update, was that it was an ideological update that in no way helps Quebeckers or the businesses and people in Quebec's regions.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for the overview he gave from the perspective of his riding. He outlined in very compassionate detail the impact on his riding of the decline of the forestry sector. The member also talked about this structured and organized plan. He talked about young families who are depleting their RRSPs. He talked about a fund for affordable housing. My colleague related residential rehabilitation to dealing with climate change. He also talked about dealing with the equalization formula, something which Ontario also is concerned about. These are issues that transcend the normal partisanship that comes around separatist issues.

I wonder if he would like to comment further on the fact that the finance minister thanked the Bloc for the plan it put forward.

Does this not suggest that a coalition could be established on fundamental programs that are extremely important to Canadians and bring the country together? The coalition would not address the separatist issue but would address the essential issues that are of concern to all Canadians.

Does he think that the direction he outlined in that strategy is the direction in which all Canadians, including Quebeckers, want to see a government going?

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I was elected to represent the people of Saint-Maurice—Champlain, who have twice placed their confidence in me. I would like to thank them for that. They elected me to convey the message that the current economic situation is extremely difficult. Hundreds, even thousands, of people in my riding have lost their jobs.

I was talking about the forestry sector. I was first elected in 2006. I have lost track of the number of times members have asked or told the government to listen to the regions of Quebec, regions that are experiencing serious crises. The manufacturing and forestry sectors have been severely affected. Hundreds of people have lost their jobs, some temporarily, others permanently. There have been countless questions about this. The government has said, repeatedly, that it would come up with a plan, but it has not done anything.

People re-elected the Bloc Québécois because they knew that we would do a good job of representing them and standing up for their interests, and that is what we intend to do.

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservative government decided to call an election, we saw it as an opportunity to go back to our roots, to our fellow citizens, to the people. All members of the Bloc Québécois carried out that task admirably. At the same time, they were told many things that most people already know: we must act now, we must respond to the people's needs now, and, above all, we must come up with solutions now.

The Conservative government did ask us for solutions, and we responded. Earlier, the member for York South—Weston told my colleague from Saint-Maurice—Champlain that the Minister of Finance had actually considered the Bloc Québécois' proposals. But earlier, I heard the Minister of Finance answer the member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain's question. It was clear that the Minister of Finance had not read the proposals, so he could not—

[The Deputy Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

I must allow enough time for the hon. member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain to give his response.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.

Indeed, the minister can thank us for the proposals we submitted to him, but that is precisely the problem we have with him. We gave him our proposals, but he did not listen to them. He did not even read the proposed text. If he had read it, we would have seen some measures in the economic statement, useful measures for the people and for businesses. We would have seen a real economic statement. The plan we proposed contained many such measures. He could have used some of them. Instead of saying that he is happy to have received some suggestions, he is simply saying that they will not be implemented and that we should wait for the budget, but I think that—

[The Deputy Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I heard the Minister of Finance present his so-called economic update. As he was unveiling it, I was wondering if it was really an economic update. Was it a mini Speech from the Throne or an economic update that was not really one?

After evaluating the measures it contains, I eventually came to understand that it is a mixture of all of this. More than anything, these were ideological measures that had never been mentioned during the election campaign, which ended on October 14, or a month and a half ago. He had never before announced the measures contained in the update. Less than a month and a half after the election, he announced them out of the blue.

It was not an economic update; it was an ideological update. While every other government in the world is actively concerned and working to address the crisis, this government is doing the exact opposite. It has yet to present a plan to revitalize the economy that includes real measures to help the manufacturing and forestry sectors. That has not happened. It has not breathed life into the businesses or organizations that need it. Instead, it has decided to suffocate the economy. It is abandoning businesses, regions, people and artists. I will talk about that more later. The Bloc Québécois cannot accept that.

The Conservative government has decided to create a democratic crisis. As if having no economic plan were not enough, it is opting to take a laissez-faire approach. What it is telling people is that it is every man for himself.

What is more, the government is creating a real democratic crisis by deciding to suspend public servants' right to strike and to attack women, without telling us why. The Conservative Party's militant base is demanding these sorts of right-wing measures. The government is attacking women by doing away with pay equity. In the hope of imposing his own ideology more easily, the Prime Minister wants to muzzle political parties, unions and women, in short, any form of opposition.

He is attacking Quebec by repeating his intention to create a federal securities regulator. He is threatening Quebec by capping equalization. It was time for compromise, openness and action. The Bloc Québécois even made constructive, realistic, necessary proposals.

My colleague from Saint-Maurice—Champlain talked about the Bloc Québécois' economic recovery plan, which was designed to help the forestry and manufacturing industries—where the need is great—and workers, regions and families. This so-called economic statement does not contain any of our proposed measures. Yet the Conservatives had said they were willing to work with the opposition parties. They completely rejected the Bloc Québécois' proposals. This afternoon, in this House, the Minister of Finance rose to answer a question and admitted quite frankly, as if it were no big deal, that he had not yet read the recovery plan that the Bloc Québécois had drawn up and presented to all the journalists on the Hill. That is arrogance.

During the election campaign, the Bloc Québécois had told Quebeckers not to trust the Conservative Party, not to trust this government, which above all must not be allowed to have a majority. Today, fortunately, the Conservatives are in a minority position. We can only imagine the sort of mess we would be in and the sort of damage they could do if they had a majority. It would be scary. They would take away all unions' right to strike, not just the public service unions' right. They would do things we cannot imagine today, just as we could not imagine last week that they would come up with such an indescribable ideological statement. They would really have messed things up if they had had a majority. They would have gone even farther.

We must be suspicious of them in every way. I would like to thank the 78% of Quebeckers who voted against the Conservative government. I am extremely proud of them.

As it turns out, we discovered that instead of being called an economic and fiscal update, the document should have been called “Introduction to our Hidden Agenda”. That is really what it is. As my colleague said earlier, it is full of measures that are not in line with Quebeckers' interests and values. Quebec cannot accept that.

But it is in line with the wish list of the Conservative Party's militant right-wing base, as I witnessed in Winnipeg when I attended the party convention. It included many measures, three of which stand out. Conservative militants voted for three resolutions that would undermine the status of women, including a resolution on pay equity. The resolution asked the Conservative government to change the great “equal pay for work of equal value” principle. They succeeded in having it changed to “equal pay for equal work”, which means that a secretary will never be paid as much as a technician, even though they have the same training and responsibilities.

As an aside, Conservative spin doctors have pushed the message that the main reason we oppose the economic statement is that it cuts funding for political parties. True, we do not like that measure, but we have to put things in context and understand why there was once a government that decided in this House to grant funds to political parties. That happened after the sponsorship scandal. The maximum amount of money an individual could donate to a political party was reduced. If I remember correctly, it was reduced from $5,000 to $1,000. Today, it is $1,100, but it was once reduced to $1,000, and corporate contributions were prohibited.

To make up for that, the government was allowed to compensate. It was a compensatory measure for the two major restrictions that were being imposed on political parties. If someone in this House really wanted to eliminate this contribution and be fair, corporate funding would have to be restored or the maximum individual contribution would have to be increased. But as we have seen, this is not desirable, as demonstrated by the sponsorship scandal. Furthermore, the current situation was agreed upon by all.

As we all know, and as we have often heard, the only reason the Conservatives want to cut subsidies to political parties is that they are sitting on $18 million. So, their party managed to accumulate $18 million. Of course it is easier for a party when it is in power, but the Conservatives want to suffocate and destroy their adversaries, and ensure that there is no opposition. I will refrain from saying what I call a country that has no opposition; I do not wish to look like a demagogue.

There are many other ideological measures in the economic statement, and we must remember that it contains nothing for culture and nothing for artists. This government cut $45 million from arts and culture for no reason. No one knows why. It says it has some studies, but no one has ever seen them.

How the Minister of Canadian Heritage can rise in this House and defend those cuts is beyond our comprehension. In fact, what he is saying is false. He is not familiar with his files. He mixes up the programs. He talks about the promArt program, although when he mentions $7 million, he is clearly referring to the trade routes program, a program that does not fall within the jurisdiction of his department.

It is therefore very worrisome. It is absolutely crucial that the Minister of Canadian Heritage show us these studies, so we may try to understand exactly what is happening to culture and to our artists. Otherwise, we can only deduce that this is nothing but hostility, pure and simple.

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert. She is very interested in heritage and culture. Today and in previous days, we heard the minister's answers to her questions, and we always hear the same speech. It is obvious that the minister is misinforming us.

For the benefit of the minister's colleagues, who have also been misinformed, I would like my colleague to tell us what transpired.

When the minister says that the Department of Canadian Heritage has received huge budget increases, he believes that these amounts were automatically allocated to culture. For the benefit of the Conservative members who are still here, I would like my colleague to explain the situation because we see that the minister did not do his duty and that his colleagues are in the dark. Thus, she should enlighten them a bit.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his excellent question, which is truly very pertinent. It should be understood that, although the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages rose in this House and stated that the budget of Heritage Canada was increased by 8%, the budget for the arts and culture did not increase. The Department of Canadian Heritage has a broad range of responsibilities such as sports, the Olympic Games, amateur sport, as well as national parks and the status of women. Heritage covers a number of things. The minister stated that the Department of Canadian Heritage budget was increased and that is true. But it was increased to plan and help with the Olympic Games to be held in Vancouver in 2010.

Cuts were made to cultural programs and programs to help artists travel fairly inexpensively throughout the world resulting in appreciable economic benefits. The amounts cut were allocated to the Olympic Torch Relay, which will be a big powwow—if I may use the term—that will criss-cross Canada over 40,000 km, half of them on the ground. $45 million was taken from artists to organize all types of activities—mainly sporting activities—along the route of the Olympic torch relay. When we consider the billions of dollars spent by this government, when we consider the $18 billion spent on Afghanistan, $45 million for artists represents barely 15 minutes in Afghanistan.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I heard my colleague from Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert say that the economic update contained nothing in terms of support for the manufacturing and forestry sectors. I know that, particularly in her riding, numerous businesses rely on the aerospace industry and they were hoping that the update would contain measures to help them.

I would like the member to tell us more about the numerous businesses that are facing difficulties. There is nothing in this economic update for them. I would like her to talk more about this.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Saint-Maurice—Champlain for his excellent question. Business people, business leaders from Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, came to see me because they are being severely affected by the economic crisis and the crisis in the manufacturing industry, as well as the crisis in the auto sector.

I always call Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert the “aero” region because it has an airport, the Canadian Space Agency, the National Aerotechnical School, or ENA—one of the few colleges of its kind in Quebec—Pratt & Whitney, which makes engines, and Héroux-Devtech. Hundreds of sub-contractors in Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert are there not only because of the aerospace industry, but also because of the auto industry.

One businessman in particular came to see me because GM is one of his clients. As you can imagine, GM is not putting in any orders these days, and has not done so in a long time. None of his other auto sector clients are putting in orders either.

These are people we are talking about. Beyond the economic crisis, the businesses, the fact that there are no more orders coming in, no more suppliers, and beyond all of the fancy calculations, this is all about people, and 120 employees—

[The Deputy Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

Resuming debate.

The hon. member for Edmonton—Sherwood Park.