Debates of March 10th, 2010

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

It is my duty, pursuant to Standing Order 38, to inform the House that the question to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment is as follows: the hon. member for Windsor West, Foreign Investment.

Resuming debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells.

I would like to extend an invitation to the member for Kings—Hants to visit Estevan, Saskatchewan, my hometown. The Conservative government invested $240 million in a project that will be valued at $1.4 billion with respect to carbon capture and sequestration. It is a project that is perhaps known across Canada and around the world.

In Weyburn, Saskatchewan, which is in my riding, EnCana is using carbon capture and CO₂ for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery and has been doing so for years. It is a world leader in that regard. Certainly it would be a good place to visit to see what is now being done and what will be done in the future and the jobs it is going to create.

This budget focuses on jobs and growth now and into the future. During the good times we paid down debt by approximately $38 billion, and during these difficult times we introduced almost $40 billion of stimulus, of which $19 billion is proposed to be spent in 2010. With the additional $19 billion in stimulus investment across Canada, we are solidifying Canada's recovery by creating jobs and building roads, waterlines and infrastructure projects in our communities throughout Canada.

The stimulus money that our government has been investing through Canada's economic action plan has impacted hundreds of communities across Canada, including a number of communities in my riding of Souris—Moose Mountain. Over $60 million has flowed into Souris—Moose Mountain on the federal side alone through various programs, such as the building Canada fund, the infrastructure stimulus fund, the knowledge infrastructure program, the RInC program and the eco-energy program. In fact, to my knowledge, Souris—Moose Mountain has not seen this level of federal investment ever.

We are building new water plants for communities. We are building roads for communities. We are boosting up sewage infrastructure and sewage lagoons. These infrastructure investments have not been made for many years. In fact, the previous Liberal government downloaded $25 billion to the provinces which got passed on to the municipalities. Indeed, they may have balanced their books, but at the cost of infrastructure that we are only now attempting to mend and there is more that needs to be done.

That said, while government stimulus dollars are being put to work under Canada's economic action plan, budget 2010 focuses on the task of returning to a balanced budget, which is essential to economic growth and job creation over the long term.

Budget 2010 outlines a clear three-point plan to return to a balanced budget. First, we will follow through with the exit strategy built into the economic action plan by completing the balance of the investments; second, we will take action to ensure government lives within its means; and third, we will conduct a comprehensive review of government administrative and overhead costs. These actions are what Canadians want. These are actions we must take. This is something we must do to ensure long-term success and a long-term recovery of the economy.

As the Minister of Finance has stated, we had to run this deficit temporarily because of the most serious economic crisis since the 1930s. Nobody will dispute that, but it does not mean we have to continue with it. Everything considered, in my opinion, the budget strikes the right balance. It is the right budget for this time in our history.

The economy is still fragile and the recovery is tentative, but it is now taking hold. Although a lot remains to be done, much has been accomplished to position Canada for future growth, including Souris—Moose Mountain. At the same time, the people of Canada, including the constituents of Souris—Moose Mountain, want us to get back to balanced budgets but in a logical and measured way that will not harm the economic recovery. That is exactly what we are doing. That is exactly what the budget is addressing.

We said we would not balance the budget by raising taxes and we will not raise taxes. Canadians have been very clear that they do not want taxes raised and taxes have not been raised. I know the Leader of the Opposition has mused openly about raising taxes from the GST point of view, and in fact spending more money. Where he is going to get it I do not know, maybe by driving us further into deficit or raising taxes as he has openly mused. That is certainly the wrong thing at the wrong time and Canadians do not accept it and do not want it.

In the throne speech we said that balancing the nation's books will not come at the expense of pensioners. It will not come by cutting transfer payments for health care and education, or by raising taxes of hard-working Canadians. What we will do is restrain growth in spending by $17.6 million over five years.

Starting this year, the government will freeze the total amount spent on salaries, administration and overhead in government departments, including the budgets of ministers' offices. Legislation will be introduced to freeze the salaries of the Prime Minister, ministers, members of Parliament and senators.

In addition, a review of administrative services will be launched to improve efficiency and eliminate duplication. All department spending will be aggressively reviewed to ensure value for money and tangible results.

That is what Canadians expect. That is what we will do. Once that takes hold, we will be on our way to balanced budgets.

Canadians want prudent governance. They expect their government to set out a clear road map that will bring us out of this downturn in a position of greater strength. Canada's economic action plan is doing just that.

The IMF has predicted that Canada's economic growth will be at the head of the G7 in 2010 and 2011. We are on the right track. We are headed in the right direction.

One of the tools our government has used to keep us on track is lower taxes. Since coming into office in 2006, we have cut over 100 taxes, reducing taxes in every way possible, in every way that the government collects them. We have reduced personal tax, consumption tax, business and excise taxes, and more.

Our current tax plan is reducing taxes on Canadians by an estimated $220 billion over 2008-09 and the following five years. This is the right thing to do. This is what Canadians expect us to do. This is what will get the economy recovering as it should.

What is more, by lowering taxes, our government has sent a strong message to the world, the message that Canada is open for business. Canada will have the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment in the G7 this year, and the lowest statutory corporate tax rate in the G7 by 2012. This is the type of action that will create jobs, boost our competitiveness and increase investment at a time when we need it most.

In my constituency of Souris—Moose Mountain the agricultural sector is one of the key economic drivers. Our farmers play an important role by providing healthy, safe and nutritious food for families in Canada and around the world, but they are facing challenges with respect to commodity prices and so on.

Our government launched various initiatives in 2009 to help the sector adapt to pressures and improve its competitiveness. Canada's economic action plan announced the $500 million agricultural flexibility fund and the $50 million slaughter improvement fund.

In recent months our government also took measures to promote access to foreign markets for Canadian agricultural products through the establishment of a market access secretariat and extended support to the hog industry to assist with restructuring.

The cattle sector in my constituency has been hardest hit. It seems since the BSE crisis there has been one thing after the other that has placed added pressure on an industry that has seen low cattle prices, a high dollar, high input costs and unpredictable market fluctuations. Budget 2010 announces three measures to help ensure Canadian producers continue to have access to competitive cattle processing operations in Canada.

First, funding available under the slaughter improvement program will be increased by $10 million in 2010-11 to support the introduction of new cost-effective technologies. Second, $25 million in 2010-11 will be targeted to cattle processing plants that handle cattle over 30 months of age, something that is much needed and much required. Third, our government is providing $40 million over three years to support the development and commercialization of innovative technologies related to the removal and use of specified risk materials to reduce handling costs and create potential revenue sources from these materials. These measures will be funded from the existing agricultural flexibility fund.

We have also committed millions of dollars to modernize the Canada Grain Act, something that is very important to our farmers.

Looking forward, my riding of Souris—Moose Mountain has a substantial foundation to build upon as our economy grows into the future. We are currently sitting on one of North America's premium oil reserves in the Bakken oil play. As this resource is untapped, it will bring significant economic benefits to our corner of the province, our province and our country.

In Estevan the groundwork is being laid at Boundary Dam for the development of one of the world's first and largest commercial scale clean coal, carbon capture and storage demonstration project. That is world-class technology being completed right in our backyard.

As part of economic action plan, money is flowing to the Southeast Regional College for the development of the new Saskatchewan energy training institute in Estevan.

Mr. Speaker, I see my allotted time is up so I will end my speech here.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide my colleague across the way with a few facts.

The Conservatives announced a $19 billion recovery plan. Let us be clear about this, they are also announcing a $49 billion deficit. They are the worst managers Canada has had in its entire history. Thirty billion dollars as a result of bad management will be added to the debt, incurring interest as well that will have to be paid.

Because of this government, there are citizens who will not get services in the future. The Conservatives cannot make us believe they are good managers when it is clearly not the case.

The Conservatives say they want to eliminate taxes but they do the opposite. Income tax was 15%. The Conservatives raised it to 15.5%. That is an increase, not a reduction.

Now they are proposing a tax on air transportation. They are increasing the employment insurance contributions for workers and employers, as well as the penalty for people who want to retire at age 60 instead of 65.

The reality is that this government has always increased taxes. All they want to do is be bad managers and cut people’s services.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable. I am not sure if the hon. member was listening to what I was saying, but we cut over 220 million dollars' worth of taxes over a number of years. Families today are far better off than they ever were under the previous Liberal government. They needed to run really hard just to stay ahead of the taxes. What the Liberal Party proposes is to tax and spend. That is not what Canadians want.

On the EI program for instance, the Liberals were suggesting a 45-day work year that would cost billions of dollars. Where would they get that money from? Either through deficit or raising the premiums, which would further cut into jobs, when we froze the premiums to make sure that jobs were created, or they would raise the GST or other taxes.

The leader of the opposition said he would have a national daycare program, something the Liberals have promised for years and years and would cost billions of dollars. How would they do that?

If Canadians want management, good management, they should stay with us.

[Christian Ouellet, Bloc, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of his speech, the parliamentary secretary asked the following question: how can we move toward a green economy without increasing taxes?

Since the budget was tabled and even before, the Bloc Québécois has been trying to tell the government that the money is there. The oil companies have been given $3.2 billion in tax cuts. Could we not get a green economy with this money? We could also go and get a few billion from the tax havens.

It is not a matter of raising taxes, except those of the highly paid who can afford it. But the government does not want to go and get the money where it can be found. Instead they give it to their friends.

I would like my colleague to explain why the government does not get the money out of the pockets of its friends, the oil companies.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, one thing we have done, as I have said, is we have cut billions of dollars in taxes on the average working Canadian to leave more money in the pockets of Canadians so they can decide where they can put those dollars, so they can cause the economy to revive and go forward.

Also, we have made the climate such that there will be investment, not only by corporations and businesses and individuals within Canada, but from without Canada into Canada.

What do investors do when they invest? What do they do when they go into exploration? What do they do when they set up corporate offices? They create jobs and more jobs. What we are doing is making sure that jobs are created so people can indeed contribute not only to our society, but can contribute by paying taxes and creating more jobs so this economy can go upward and forward and not downward as it would under the Bloc.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, public transit is the backbone of our urban economies, but the Conservative government once again refuses to provide dedicated funding for public transit. Without funding for public transit, projects like Toronto's transit city will end up being put on the shoulders of the property taxpayers. It is the same thing when it comes to buying new streetcars.

Potential green jobs are thrown out the window and commuters waste time and energy idling in their cars on clogged highways or waiting for streetcars that take a long time to come.

I want to ask my Conservative colleague why the budget provides no new dedicated funding to operate public transit, given that Canada is the only G8 country that does not provide such funding for public transit--

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I will have to stop the member there to allow the parliamentary secretary 30 seconds to respond.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that urban transportation is important to all of us. If she looked at the economic action plan and some of the major infrastructure projects that we put forward, she would find that millions of dollars were spent to ensure that transportation was looked after, to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure was there to take us forward and into the future.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of the constituents of Fleetwood—Port Kells to participate in today's debate on budget 2010.

Our budget is a responsible plan to solidify Canada's economic recovery, while paving the way to a more prosperous future. This budget builds on Canada's economic recovery with actions to create jobs and stimulate growth, to sustain our country's economic advantages and chart the way forward to budget balance.

Our government has held hundreds of consultations with Canadian workers and businesses across the country. Individual MPs like myself have talked with constituents to discover where people want the country to go. The result is the budget we have before us today, a budget which is a response to the concerns of everyday Canadians about jobs and the economy, with prudent measures to ensure our long-term prosperity.

The budget is about supporting families and communities and helping those who helped build Canada. The budget invests in jobs and growth, helps youth gain lasting employment, modernizes infrastructure and works to ensure our position as an energy superpower with money for clean energy projects and green jobs.

It is a budget for both today and tomorrow that deserves the full support of the House. The budget implements year two of Canada's economic action plan. Canadians across the country can attest that Canada's economic action plan is working and helping to keep Canadians working. Already the plan has created or maintained an estimated 130,000 jobs and is expected to create or maintain 220,000 jobs by the end of 2010. That does not even include the 225,000 jobs that were saved through our expanded work-sharing program.

We are in the middle of the largest federal investment in infrastructure in over 60 years. We are putting Canadians to work in over 16,000 projects across Canada to build better roads, bridges, public transit, colleges, universities and much more.

The economic action plan is having a direct and lasting impact on the lives of my constituents of Fleetwood—Port Kells by providing federal money to projects and programs. In the last year, there has been $7.3 million for the Fraser River flood protection, $30 million for a new Surrey City Centre library, $1 million for Tynehead Regional Park, over $120,000 for the Surrey Art Gallery, over $800,000 for youth employment, $3.4 million for skills development, $1.7 million for employment services, $2.9 million to help people find work, $345,000 for the Cloverdale Rodeo, over $400,000 for youth crime prevention and $3.5 million for local recreation facilities.

That is money being spent right in Surrey and it does not even include the millions more our government is spending on the Pacific gateway to improve our roads, highways, bridges and ports, or the thousands more pumped into the local economy through programs like the home renovation tax credit.

As we roll out the second part of Canada's economic action plan, budget 2010 will invest $3.2 billion in personal income tax relief. This includes allowing Canadians to earn more income before paying federal income tax and before being subject to higher tax rates. It includes the enhanced working income tax benefit to strengthen work incentives for low income Canadians, higher child benefits for parents and lower taxes for low and middle income seniors.

Budget 2010 will invest over $4 billion in actions to create and protect jobs. This includes additional EI benefits and more training opportunities to help unemployed Canadians.

Budget 2010 will invest $7.7 billion in infrastructure stimulus to create jobs. This will modernize infrastructure, support home ownership and improve social housing across Canada.

Budget 2010 will invest $1.9 billion to create the economy of tomorrow. This investment will help develop and attract talented people, strengthen our capacity for world-leading research, improve commercialization, accelerate private sector investment, enhance the ability of Canadian firms to participate in global markets and create a more competitive business environment.

Finally, budget 2010 will invest $2.2 billion to support industries and communities for affected sectors, including forestry, agriculture, small business, tourism, shipbuilding and culture. This will provide job opportunities in all parts of Canada that have been hit hard by the economic downturn.

In addition to delivering year two of Canada's economic action plan, budget 2010 will also invest in a limited number of new targeted initiatives to build jobs and growth for the economy of tomorrow, strengthen Canadian innovation and make Canada a destination of choice for new business investment.

For example, British Columbia will benefit from the $222 million to be provided over the next five years to strengthen the world-leading research taking place at TRIUMF, Canada's premier national laboratory located at UBC. Communities in B.C. will also benefit from the purchase of a new hovercraft for the Canadian Coast Guard near Vancouver.

Federal transfers support for provinces and territories is at an all time high and it will continue to grow under our government.

For British Columbia, this support will continue and it totals to almost $6.3 billion for the upcoming year. It provides resources for the essential public services, including health care, post-secondary education and other key components of Canada's social safety net. It includes about $3.6 billion through the Canada health transfer, an increase of $231 million from last year, and $1.5 billion through the Canada social transfer.

British Columbia will also benefit from continued targeted support in 2010-11, including $54 million as its share of the community development trust and the police officers recruitment fund and $67 million for labour market training.

Budget 2010 also includes a three point plan to return to balanced budgets once the economy has recovered. First, there is an exit strategy to end temporary stimulus spending measures by the end of next March. Second, we will restrain spending, $17.6 billion targeted saving over five years. Third, there will be a comprehensive review of government administration and overhead costs.

Our government assures that we will not raise taxes and we will not cut major transfers to persons or other levels of government. Under our government, pensions are safe and we will not repeat the mistake of the previous Liberal government that devastated health care and social services by slashing federal transfers to the provinces.

As a result of our three point plan, the deficit will be cut nearly in half in two years and by two-thirds in three years. Budget 2010 will save taxpayers more than $17 billion by freezing the salaries of ministers, MPs and Senators, eliminating 245 Governor in Council positions, freezing departmental operating budgets, reviewing government operations, freezing foreign aid, slowing growth of national defence spending and closing tax loopholes.

With these measures budget 2010 charts a course to bring Canada's finances back to balance over the medium term and well before any other G7 country.

Our jobs and growth budget continues a plan that is working. It will help solidify Canada's economic recovery and sustain our economic advantages now and for the future.

Unlike the Liberals, our government will not raise taxes. Unlike the Liberals, our government will not cut spending on health care, education or support for seniors. Together we will create a stronger Canada and a stronger economy now and for the future.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells for making a very passionate speech. She mentioned the Asia-Pacific Gateway. Of course that was a Liberal initiative and I am very proud of that.

On the other hand, she is concerned about low and middle-income seniors. I can see she is coming from the greater need in the Surrey and Delta part of the world.

In the federal buildings there are two plants that cost taxpayers $975 each, $1,000 for the door bell and six spotlights installed at a cost of $5,300. If the government would have spent this money wisely, that money could have been used to provide better services for low-income seniors. Does the member agree with that?

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, our government believes that seniors, after a lifetime of building Canada, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Since 2006, our Conservative government has taken significant steps to improve the financial security of Canadian seniors.

Overall, Canada's economic action plan is working and helping Canadians to keep working. Our plan is expected to create or maintain about 220,000 jobs by the end of 2010. That is a big step.

[Gérard Asselin, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we must remember that between 1984 and 1993 we had a Conservative government under Brian Mulroney. In 1984, Canada’s debt was about $212 billion, and when the Conservatives lost power to the Liberals in 1993, the debt was $550 billion.

If my father had been here and had heard what was said, he would have said they have an awful lot of gall. How can the Conservative members rise in the House and say with a straight face that they are cutting taxes and have reduced the GST? All that time they have been paying for the groceries with a credit card, they have been borrowing to pay for the groceries. So where are we going to end up?

Remember that in 1993, Canadians threw the Conservatives out. Only two Conservative members were elected.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, all of us on this side of the House are very proud of the fact that we are putting Canadians to work in some 16,000 projects across Canada to build better roads, bridges, public transit, universities and colleges. Our government is doing a great job and all of us are very proud of that.

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, what the member forgot to say in her speech is the government is shifting the tax burden from the corporations to ordinary Canadians. In fact, it was pointed out by one of my colleagues today that the corporate tax rate in the United States is around 35%. When the government is finished reducing the corporate taxes, it will be around 15% in Canada.

There is no need for it to be half the corporate tax rate of the United States when we have Nordic countries that are in the 50% range. Someone has to pay. Someone has to make up the tax deficiencies. The government is planning to rake in over $19 billion more in EI premiums than it pays out over the next few years. In that way, the citizens of Canada have to make up the shortfall in revenue that the corporations should be spending.

How is this fair to Canadian workers?

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, while the Liberals would like to hike the GST and the NDP would increase the job-killing business taxes, we will not raise taxes. Our Conservative government believes in lower taxes. We are leaving more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians. That is what we believe in.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak to the budget, which I will refer to, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois.

At the end of the year, once the 2009 audits are complete, Canadians will have a record deficit somewhere in the neighbourhood of $53 billion, according to the numbers in the budget.

This is a record deficit for which the Conservatives can take much of the credit. Their election promise to reduce the GST cost $14 billion per year. Their decision was political. The Conservatives' last GST cut, which cost $7 billion, came just a few months before the crisis, even though they were told, in the middle of the election campaign, that the crisis was coming. They refused to acknowledge that the crisis and the recession were around the corner.

To those who think that the Conservatives are good managers, this is how my colleague from Manicouagan described Brian Mulroney's Conservative government: a government that knows how to grow a deficit. The current government is yet another typical Conservative government that knows how to run up a deficit.

The Bloc Québécois is the only party in the House that proposed measures to the government. Our measures focused on finding revenue, not on investment. The Bloc Québécois is responsible. When it proposes spending, it also tells the government where to find the money.

Since the resumption of proceedings, we have pointed out a number of times in this House that one way to find money is to begin by eliminating access to tax havens. During today's question period, the leader of the Bloc Québécois and the finance critic stated clearly that the banks had made huge profits of over $5 billion over the past three months. We have the figures, because the law requires the banks to report in their financial statements the amounts they save in taxes when they transfer funds to or invest in tax havens. In the banking sector alone, these savings amount to some $2.3 billion.

The banks are stating openly that they are making economies of scale. The Minister of Finance even told us today that the banks are the best in the world. That is not hard to understand—they do not pay taxes.

The banks do not contribute to society. They are allowed to invest in tax havens and thus save taxes to the detriment of society as a whole. What is terrible is the way the Conservatives repeatedly encourage the rich, so as to better crush and stifle the poor.

The situation is the same for the $3.2 billion in tax credits for the oil companies. It was quite something to hear the parliamentary secretary tell us that the government was creating jobs. What he does not see is that the tax credits increase the profits of the oil companies. They do not have a quarterly deficit. They pay their shareholders dividends. Their shareholders make profits. This is because the government gives the oil companies $3.2 billion in tax credits. We have suggested to the government that it recover this money.

The government could recover $3 billion as well by eliminating access to tax havens. The Bloc has proposed a surtax on society's top wage earners, 2% on those who earn $150,000 and over and 3% on those who earn $250,000 and over. This measure would have meant the recovery of $4.8 billion. Those who come out furthest ahead in a time of crisis should contribute to the overall spending to help society's disadvantaged.

We suggested to the government that it review its military spending policy so as to recover $1 billion. It chose to slash $1 billion in a review of military spending policy, a suggestion the Bloc had made.

We asked it as well to save $1.5 billion by putting an immediate end to the mission in Afghanistan. In addition, we suggested it reduce operational spending by $5.4 billion.

Like me, my colleagues no doubt saw the excesses revealed by the media this morning. When $1,000 is spent to change a doorbell and $5,000 on replacing six lights, significant amounts, in my opinion, can be recovered. The Bloc Québécois suggested that $5.4 billion be recovered from the government's operating expenditures. We showed the government how to save $18.9 billion. It chose simply to close its eyes, except with regard to the billion dollars earmarked for military spending. These savings would have meant that Quebeckers could have been given what they were requesting.

According to the figures appearing on page 259 of the budget, despite the deficit of $53 billion in 2009-10, $9.718 billion was paid out to the automotive industry and $62 million to the forestry sector.

Seen from the standpoint of a Quebecker, it is quite clear that, despite the government's accumulated deficit, much of the money was not invested in Quebec. We have always criticized the Conservative government on this spiteful way to get Quebeckers to pay. We have seen it all in the pages of this budget.

The decision to help the nuclear industry create energy—to produce electricity from nuclear power—will give rise to a new competitor for Hydro-Québec. That is the reality.

The government has decided to help the nuclear industry in order to create, with government money, a new competitor for Hydro-Québec. Quebeckers pay 23% of the bill.

The same can be said about the decision to invest $10 billion in the automotive sector, but only $62 million in the forestry sector. What this means is that 23% of Quebeckers' money is invested in the automotive industry. I would like to point out that automakers closed all their plants in Quebec. That is the reality. There was no compensation in this budget. In 2010, no additional investment is being made in the forestry sector to compensate for investments. However, $108 million will be invested in the forestry sector, bringing the total for 2009 and 2010 to $170 million compared to $9.7 billion for the automotive sector. There has been no compensation for the aerospace sector either.

What happened in the infrastructure sector is even worse. Most mayors of Quebec cities asked the government to extend the March 31 deadline for completion of work because elections were held in Quebec. It was the only Canadian province that held elections in 2009. In the midst of the Conservative government's infrastructure program, the cities asked that the deadline be extended because elections had delayed work by three to six months, depending on changes in municipal councils. Once again, the minister decided to ignore them.

That is just like the Conservative Party, to decide to make Quebec pay for something it did not do.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

It being 5:15 p.m., it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of ways and means Motion No.1.

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

[Some hon. members]

Yea.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

All those opposed will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #3