Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be given the opportunity to speak to budget 2008, a budget, as in previous Conservative budgets, that has let Canadians down.
As a member of the official opposition, my job is to critically evaluate the performance of the Conservative government and hold it to account, and that is an easy job. It is an easy job to show how incompetent and incapable the Conservative government is. However, only exposing the weaknesses of the Conservative government is not good enough.
I think Canadians expect other members of Parliament to put forward their own ideas, to inspire them and to show a vision and ideas that will advance Canada further and improve the welfare of Canadians.
Therefore, I want to take this opportunity to focus on what I think a Liberal budget would contain. By the way, it is not because I am afraid of being sued by the Conservatives. It is because I think a lot of my colleagues here today have shown and exposed a lot of the weaknesses in the budget, and I have done that in my previous speeches.
Today I want to talk about what a Liberal budget would contain. It certainly would contain a lot of items that would advance Canada and would make it an even better place than it is today. It would pay attention to the concerns with which Canadians deal.
We have issues of the economy, the environment, infrastructure, health care, affordable housing, post-secondary education, smart integration for immigrants and poverty.
Let us start with the economy. There is very little doubt that we are heading toward uncertain economic times. A lot of industries are struggling, particularly the manufacturing industry, especially in Ontario. My riding hires about 50% of the jobs, so it is a very important segment of the industry of our economy, not only in Mississauga but also in the rest of Ontario and across Canada.
What is the role of the government when a sector of the economy faces some challenges? There are two ideologies.
One ideology believes that a government has no role, that it should not intervene and that it should let the so-called marketplace forces get rid of certain industries or fix certain industries. In the meantime, jobs are lost and industries are devastated.
On the other hand, some people believe government can play a positive role in society and can help smooth out transitions and help facilitate economic growth. If one believes in that, one believes the government, during these uncertain times, has a role to play to facilitate the transition or the challenges that manufacturing industries go through.
We know they are temporary. We know they are part of the economic cycles. The best thing for a government to do is to smooth out that transition, so in the future, the manufacturing sector can carry the burden for other sectors that may struggle, and continue to pay taxes and create jobs for Canadians.
A Liberal budget would have contained incentives to create an environment for private investment. It would have created some form of partnership. It would have created tax incentives to attract domestic and foreign investment. Other countries do that. Canada is falling behind. Given the ongoing economic and international economic conditions, our jobs are being transferred somewhere else because the government is not doing what it needs to be doing.
It also would have created a healthier environment for research and development. For example, in our system currently, there are tax credits for companies that invest in research and development, but those tax credits are not refundable. They can only get them accredited against a profit. Currently some of the manufacturing companies are not experiencing any profits because of the downturn. The forestry industry as well is not seeing any profits, again because it is facing some challenges. What does that do? It disincentivizes them from what they need to be doing, which is focusing on research and development and building for the future.
A Liberal budget would introduce some form of partially refundable tax incentive, which would mean that a corporation would get some of the tax credit refunded before they would be able to record a profit to help it sustain that research initiative so it could build for the future.
On the environment, there is very little argument, even from the Conservatives, that climate change is a big global challenge. Canadians expect their government to take a leadership role on that file.
A Liberal budget would introduce measures, not only to set targets for greenhouse gas emissions, but to create incentives for industries and individuals so they would be able to reach those targets. It is a similar to the manufacturing industry. We are going through a transitional period, from our current practices, whether at an industrial or at a consumer level, to a much more conscious level of carbon emissions and environmental footprints. We need a government to play a positive role in the transition period, and a Liberal government would have done that.
We heard a lot over the last while about the infrastructure deficit our country faces. Canadian cities are the economic engines of our economy. It is important that a government supports its cities in providing services, like roads, schools, community centres and bridges, so that the economic engine is sustained and is able to grow.
This is not just important for the people who live in cities. This is important for people who live in Canada. Everybody relies on those economic engines, whether we live in cities or in rural areas. Therefore, it is important for a government to play a partnership role with cities so they are able to confront the challenge of infrastructure deficit and build for the future. We do not want to leave the country worse off to our next generation than we have inherited.
I am proud to say that our leader, the Leader of the Opposition, has made a courageous and innovative announcement about investment in infrastructure. Therefore, again it comes down to what we believe in, whether we believe that a federal government has a role to play in facilitating the economic, social and environmental growth of a country or not. The Liberal Party does and would have introduced in a Liberal budget measures to invest in infrastructure.
On health care, today the medical associations are on the Hill. They have told us about the shortage of doctors and nurses. This is something where the federal government can also play a role in partnership with our provinces. This is an issue to which the Liberal government paid lot of attention to in the past. In 2005 the former prime minister signed a $41 billion deal with the provinces to increase investment in health care. I can assure members that a Liberal budget would have contained a substantive measure to invest in health care.
I know I am running out of time, so I want to talk about an issue that is very much debated, and that is payment toward debt. Canadians discuss this all the time. How do we use the surplus?
This year's surplus was close to $13 billion. A Liberal government, as it has historically done, would have approached it in a balanced approach. We would have paid down part of the debt, but we also would have recognized the fact that the country has severe needs and aspirations. We would have invested in the future of our country. We would have invested in infrastructure, as I said. We would have invested in the environment.
While it is important to keep the debt down, it is also important to invest in the future. Again, it is not only good for us but it is essential for future generations.