Mr. Speaker, what a disappointing speech that was by the Liberal member. Nowhere in her lengthy speech did she apologize to the auto workers and their families. Nowhere did she say “sorry” to the unemployed men and women across this country, nor did she admit that the Liberals were wrong. She did not admit this to the entrepreneurs, whether small or large, who are the backbone of our economy.
What is even more sad is that the Liberal member does not even know what she and her leader have done wrong. She does not believe that threatening to throw Canada into an unnecessary election only to quench the Liberals' thirst for power is bad and deplorable as well.
She ignores small businesses, as voiced by Canadian Federation of Independent Business president and CEO Catherine Swift, who in a television interview last week pleaded for the Liberal madness to end. She remarked, “All we need is a stupid election to put things right back in the tank. Elections do not produce certainty. I think with the economy turning right now, though, this is a bad time to have an election”.
While the member demands an election and an end to Parliament, she has the audacity to claim to be interested in the Canadian secured credit facility, or as we refer to it, the CSCF. I will give the House an update, not for her but for those Canadians and members who are actually interested in making Parliament work.
The CSCF is an initiative included in Canada's economic action plan designed to support the financing of vehicles and equipment to stimulate private lending. Indications to date are that this objective is being achieved. The cost and availability of funding for vehicle and equipment sales has improved since the CSCF has been made available.
For example, in June, Ford Credit Canada was able to issue $600 million in ABS in the public markets in Canada without using the secured credit facility, the first such asset-backed security issue since 2007. It is reported that Ford also raised more than $3 billion in private placements over the summer months.
On September 16, 2009, GMAC announced that it was expanding its availability of leasing options to include Chrysler vehicles. The revised pricing and enhanced flexibility of the CSCF announced recently will further improve access to financing for the sale of vehicles and equipment, supporting key manufacturers and stimulating Canada's economic recovery.
We continue to monitor access to financing for groups whose financing needs may not be met through the Canadian secured credit facility. We continue to monitor it to get it right. As the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association noted:
This is an evolving process and you want to make sure that taxpayer dollars are protected. This will make the difference between having a strong [securitization] sector in Canada or seeing that sector shrink back dramatically. But we have to get it right and have it work in a way that we will all be pleased.