Madam Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the motion from the member for Kings—Hants. The motion essentially urges our government to intervene with the American government in fighting attempts to build protectionist walls between our economies. I want to say that I have great news for the member for Kings—Hants.
Our Prime Minister and Conservative government are way out in front on this issue. We have actively been engaging the new American president and his officials in opposing protectionist measures. So, essentially, we are already doing what the motion asks our government to do. Which of course begs the question, why is this motion before the House? I can only speculate as to the political motives behind that.
It is not surprising that our Conservative government would take the threat of protectionism so seriously. Over 75% of all of our trade is with the United States. Any attempts to put up artificial barriers in violation of the NAFTA would pose huge financial challenges for Canadians. That is why our Prime Minister has acted so quickly in engaging the Americans on this issue.
Just so Canadians understand how extensive our efforts have been in addressing the challenges facing our manufacturing industries, I would like to mention a few. As we know, the steel industry is petrified about the posturing of the American government concerning setting up new trade barriers; for example, its buy American proposal.
We understand that the Canadian steel industry is under intense pressure because these are very challenging times for employers and employees. Global economic conditions have deteriorated to the extent that the international monetary fund is forecasting a mere .5% world growth in 2009.
However, there is also a broad worldwide consensus among economists that Canada will outperform all the other G7 countries. Why is that? There is an answer to that question. It is largely due to the measures taken previously by our Conservative government and the sound competitive financial system we have in place in Canada.
Some of the measures that we have undertaken are as follows. We started off by reducing taxes. We started that program back in 2006, shortly after we were elected, and in each successive budget, we have reduced taxes to Canadians. In fact, the total value of the tax reductions is somewhere in the order of $200 billion over five years. That is perhaps the defining distinction between us and the opposition parties. When we ask Liberals in this House, they will say they would prefer to have their hands in taxpayers' pockets, and they actually have spoken openly against the tax reductions that we have incorporated into our economic action plan.
We have also paid down the debt by $37 billion. Now there are some in the opposition benches who have suggested paying down $37 billion was squandering the taxpayers money. We believe it is a wise investment. It is what average Canadians do when they receive little extra money, they pay down their house mortgage. Somehow, that does not make sense to our opposition friends.
Before I proceed, I want to state that I will be sharing my time with the member for London West,
Another thing we have done is establish our “Advantage Canada” plan to make our economy more competitive in the global marketplace. We have given the Bank of Canada additional power to inject liquidity into our lending institutions. We have increased local, regional and national investments by accelerating our massive infrastructure program, the largest such investment ever in the history of our country.
Finally, we have provided more financing for mortgages, and for car and business loans. This is to free up more credit so that our economy can get going again. That is not to say that we are out of the woods. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting negative growth for Canada in 2009. Canada, as well know, is not immune to this global economic situation.
Our government recognizes that the steel industry is a cornerstone industry in our modern economy. In this regard, Canada is no different. The presence of the steel industry has enabled other sectors of our economy to prosper and flourish, and among those industries are the auto industry, the construction industry, the pipe and tube industry, and the fabricated metal industry. All of these purchase steel that is further manufactured into finished goods.
A number of my colleagues have already highlighted how important that steel industry is to Canada. Believe it or not, in 2007, the Canadian steel industry alone employed 30,000 people. It had revenues of a whopping $16.8 billion. The industry has major facilities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
In 2007 the Canadian steel industry also exported about 49% of its total shipments and about 90% of those exports went to the United States. Hence, our concern when our American cousins start threatening to raise those trade barriers again.
Is the steel industry important to our economic well-being? Absolutely. That is why we are not taking protectionist threats from the U.S. lying down. We have been engaged.
What is clear is that the steel industry in North America is highly integrated. That is what happens when different countries work together to cooperate and expand their mutual trade opportunities. This integration has been increasing, thanks to the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This integration has gone even further with the consolidation that the steel industry has undergone over the past three or four years. Our Conservative government has been addressing the steel industry issues for many years, and we continue to do so.
My colleague, the Minister of International Trade, is actively engaged with our American counterparts to address potential trade irritants. These include: unfair trade; government support for the steel industry in various countries, in other words subsidies; China and its steel policies; climate change policy; and the movement of manufacturing out of North America. I would add that our government and the industry have worked collaboratively on these issues in the past, and we expect to do so in the future.
All Canadians know that Canada did not start this worldwide recession. It might take some time for the opposition for that to sink in, but in fact Canadians know that. Our government, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, continues to take steps to cushion our economy against the blows that many countries around the world feel from this economic crisis.
We have responded by providing new powers to protect our banking system. Moreover, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance engaged in broad consultations with Canadians and industry leaders when drafting the economic action plan that was tabled in the House on January 27.
Our action plan proposes measures amounting to $29 billion of stimulus in 2009 alone. That is the equivalent of almost 2% of the size of our economy. This is good news. We have covered many bases. We are reducing taxes. We are spending a lot of money on infrastructure to give our economy a shot in the arm. We are also protecting those who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis around the world. We have enhanced EI benefits and we have enhanced training opportunities for those who have lost their jobs and want to find new places of employment.
Our action plan also includes supporting shipyards with $175 million and the procurement of 98 new Coast Guard vessels. We are getting the job done.
I am excited about the economic action plan. Of course, we are also addressing the trade challenge we have from the United States. I am confident, as we move forward, that we will be able to address those challenges. We have established a working relationship with the new administration in the United States. As we know, the President of the United States will be visiting Canada, his first visit to a foreign nation. I am pleased that President Obama has actually followed a former precedent to do so.
I trust that the opposition will cooperate and collaborate with us as we move forward in building our economy.