Mr. Speaker, before continuing further, I have to take exception to the member's previous statements suggesting that budget 2009 was not welcomed in Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, budget 2009 brought key benefits to the province and continued our government's strong support for Newfoundlanders.
Indeed, for Newfoundland and Labrador, federal support will total $1.1 billion in 2009-10. This support includes $372 million through the Canada health transfer and $164 million through the Canada social transfer.
This long-term support will help ensure that the province has the resources required to provide essential public services. It contributes to shared national objectives, including health care, post-secondary education, and other key components of Canada's social safety net.
Budget 2009 also brought key tax relief to the people and the businesses of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Over this and the next five fiscal years, tax reductions in budget 2009 will provide the province with tax relief of nearly $270 million, including over $100 million in personal income tax relief in the form of increases in the basic personal amount and the tax exempt threshold of the two lowest personal income tax brackets.
Budget 2009 also included key initiatives that will especially benefit Newfoundland and Labrador, such as over $80 million to accelerate the cleanup of federal contaminated sites like Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay or nearly $2 million for wharf construction at the Belleoram Harbour. That is key support for Newfoundland and Labrador and the member opposite should have supported that, but the member did not.
Even before the member and the NDP read one single page of the budget, they announced that they would oppose it. Does that sound bizarre? Yes, and indeed it was bizarre, and people across the country thought so as well.
People like the editorial writers at the Waterloo Record wrote the following on January 19:
Indeed no one, no matter how much a genius that person is, knows any of this today because of one, undeniable, unavoidable fact: The budget has yet to be finished and presented to the public. All this explains why federal New Democrats' dogged commitment to defeating the Conservatives over a Conservative budget the NDP has not even seen is ludicrous. It is either the irrational condemnation of something unknown to the NDP, or part of a self-serving power grab that places the party's interests ahead of the country's...What arrogance...These are extraordinary times that demand extraordinary measures. Politicians of all stripes need to work together for the common good of us all. To their discredit, the New Democrats seem hell-bent on working for their own narrow interest...Few things in this world are uglier--.
I wonder if the NDP member would like to respond to that, or better yet, apologize for it.