Debates of May 28th, 2008

Finance—Main Estimates 2008-09

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Chair, I will remind the Minister of Finance that it was his department that did the evaluation. It was his ministry that said, not that the NDP is perfect, and I certainly would agree with that, but that he was worse, that the Conservative governments and Liberal governments are worse. Two-thirds of the time over that 20 year period the actual fiscal period returns were in deficit. That is the Conservative record according to his own department.

He has seen the study. He knows the Department of Finance has done that analysis and he knows that two-thirds of the time Conservative governments were in deficit. The only party with a worse record was the Liberal Party. Eighty-six per cent of the time it was in deficit. His own department has made that evaluation. One would expect that he would read that study and learn from it. Most of the time NDP governments balance their budget. That is the reality according to the federal Department of Finance.

I have asked a number of questions and the minister has not actually answered any of them, which is quite disappointing, because as the economic steward of the country one would expect that he would be aware of the fall in real family incomes and aware of the fact that his government is creating part time and temporary jobs that basically come at two-thirds of the wage levels of the jobs that he has lost.

There is no auto sector policy. It has certainly been a disaster when it comes to the softwood sellout. He references the B.C. Liberal Party as if it is--

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. There is only about 20 seconds left in the hon. member's time slot so I will need to cut him off there to allow the minister to respond.

The hon. Minister of Finance.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, while the member opposite is having fun creating figures, Canadians know and I might as well confirm that not only did the Canadian economy generate close to 400,000 new jobs in 2007, the vast majority of them were in high paying sectors.

The loss of manufacturing jobs is being offset by job gains in sectors with equivalent and higher employment quality. That is from the chief economist at CIBC.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Beaches—East York and the member for Mississauga—Erindale.

Since coming to power in early 2006, the Conservative government has broken dozens of election promises. On page 9 of the Conservative election platform it reads:

A Conservative government will:

Eliminate the capital gains tax for individuals on the sale of assets when the proceeds are reinvested within six months.

Has the minister achieved this or is it a broken promise?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, we have created the tax-free savings account. The way that will work, starting January 1, 2009, unless it is defeated by the Liberals because they seem to think the tax-free savings account is not a good idea to help all Canadians save money tax free, but once that money is in a tax-free savings account, Canadians will be able to accumulate capital gains on a tax-free basis.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, I suppose the minister thinks that his savings plan is eliminating capital gains. He does not know the difference.

On page 17 of the Conservative election platform, it reads:

A Conservative government will:

Limit the future growth of spending on federal grant and contribution programs and by federal departments and agencies (other than National Defence and Indian Affairs) to the rate of inflation plus population growth.

Has the minister achieved this or is it yet another broken promise?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, the commitment is to keep the rate of growth of spending within the rate of growth of nominal GDP on average, and that is what we intend to do.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, then why does he not answer why it went up 15%

On page 37 of the Conservative election platform, it reads:

Beginning in 2007-08, we will set aside $200 million annually in the form of federal tax credits to encourage developers to build or refurbish affordable rental units.

Did the minister achieve this or is this yet another broken promise?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, I was just having that discussion today with the minister responsible about issues relating to housing. We transferred, as the member probably knows, $900 million in a trust with respect to affordable housing for the provinces.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

I suppose, Mr. Chair, Christmas is coming as well.

In 2006, the minister committed $400 million to the pine beetle in B.C. for restructuring of the forestry industry and worker adjustment. He did not keep that promise but repeated it again in 2008, two years later.

In the meantime, 10,000 jobs have been lost in B.C. Is this yet another broken promise?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, spending with respect to the pine beetle has been in excess of $200 million so far.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, that was supposed to be $400 million, so I suppose that was a broken promise, and that is called Conservative balancing.

The Liberal government committed funds for the Pacific Gateway by 2008. The minister slowed that date to 2014, an extra six years.

Meanwhile, the U.S. recession has damaged the B.C. industry. We could have been selling lumber to Asia this year. By 2010, every other country would have grabbed the trade deals.

How does the minister explain this to the B.C. towns that are closing down?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, we have actually created a gateway fund.

What the Liberals did is what they usually did during their 13 years. They talked about something they might do down the road. Speeches were given but they never got around to doing it. They never got around to actually advancing the funds.

The road to somewhere is paved with good intentions and they are there now and they earned their spot in opposition.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, on page 11 of the Conservative platform, it reads:

A Conservative will:

Ensure that government fiscal forecasts are updated quarterly and that they provide complete data for both revenue and spending forecasts.

Has Parliament received a single one of these quarterly updates from the finance minister or is this again another broken promise?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, it is done quarterly in the Fiscal Monitor.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Chair, the government has--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Abbotsford may have a chance to ask a question later but right now it is the hon. member for Beaches—East York.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Chair, the Conservative government in both of its last two budgets in particular has been extremely detrimental to women in our country. It has actually been hurtful and damaging.

When the gender based analysis was done by the finance department, it came forward with an analysis that showed it was gender neutral and no problem. However, when we had our own experts at the standing committee do the analysis, it showed the complete opposite. It showed that there was major damage to women in all of the items, which I will list later.

Could the minister tell me whether he in fact got a true gender based analysis before his budgets were tabled?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, gender analysis is done with respect to not only the items that are in the budget, but with respect to various proposals that are considered for the budget, ideas that are put forth, some by the opposition parties and some by people outside of government. There is a process that is followed with respect to all those proposals, including the—

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

We know, we know. Did you do it?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Again, the member is chirping over there. Does she want the answer?

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Vancouver Centre should let the hon. minister answer. It would be very helpful if one member spoke at a time. I know it is difficult at this late hour. I will let the hon. minister have about five more seconds to wrap up and we will go for another follow up.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

The answer is that the gender based analysis is used with respect to budget proposals.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Chair, the only thing I can deduce from what the minister has just said is he received an analysis. If it were true analysis, it would have shown a detrimental impact on women. The minister then chose not to use that information and went ahead in any case.

I will give one example. The $5,500 savings plan, in fact, does absolutely nothing for women because 40.4% of women do not even pay any taxes. The average income of women in general is about $37,000 a year. Most of them do not have the ability to put aside any money. This only helps high income and mostly males in our country.

Could the minister tell me that he then chose not to listen to the analysis when he made his decision?