Mr. Speaker, that member and members of his party, along with the NDP, voted against successive budgets that contained a number of provisions to help Canadians with disabilities.
We have done a number of things for Canadians with disabilities, including ensuring that there was a fund called the enabling accessibility fund. It was created in 2007 with an investment of $45 million over three years. It has supported over 300 community-based projects across the country, making buildings and vehicles more accessible. Yes, it helped create two comprehensive ability centres, but it has helped Canadians with disabilities all across this country, including, as the member has mentioned, in his own riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour.
I would like to point out that the member is complaining about a program that, if it were up to him and the Liberals, would not even exist. They voted against the budget. They voted against the enabling accessibility fund, a fund that has been so well received that in budget 2010 we announced that we would extend it by a further three years and invest another $45 million to ensure that even more communities were able to benefit.
I do not know what the member has against that, but, yet again, the member and his party voted against the budget containing this program and the significant investments to help Canadians with disabilities. Canadians can learn a lot by looking at the record of the different parties in the House and at the actions they have taken when it comes to supporting Canadians with disabilities.
Let me be clear. No federal government has done more for Canadians with disabilities than our Conservative government. We support Canadians of all abilities all across this great country and the proof is in the action we have taken since forming government and the several investments we have made, in addition to the enabling accessibility fund.
He had better look at the full picture because a number of actions have been taken. For example, our government introduced the registered disability savings plan, the most historic savings vehicle since the RRSP was introduced decades ago. The RDSP helps parents and others save for the long-term financial security of a child with a disability.
We also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have increased funding for training to help Canadians with disabilities join the workforce. We have invested $75 million for affordable housing specifically for persons with disabilities. Time does not permit me to go through all the things we have done.
Al Etmanski from the Plan Institute said:
I believe [this] Government is hands down the most effective Federal champion people with disabilities and their families have ever had.
He went on to say, “the...Government's commitments are impressive”. I guess that is why the organization presented the Prime Minister with a lifetime membership for making a positive difference in the lives of Canadians with disabilities.
Let us compare that to the record of the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour and the Liberal Party. They have consistently voted against provisions that would help persons with disabilities. For example, they voted against the RDSP, the enabling accessibility fund and the increased skills training money.
The record is clear. Our Conservative government is providing unprecedented support to Canadians with disabilities while the Liberals have shamefully voted time and time again against all of our support for Canadians with disabilities and their families. I do not know how they can justify that. Those budgets were clear and they had specific provisions in them but they chose, for one reason or another, to oppose them.
Rather than looking at the big picture and the millions of dollars that have been invested, they are trying to make some political hay out of one factor alone that is neither here nor there. They should have been supporting those initiatives because they are good initiatives and they help Canadians with disabilities. He should get behind them and not oppose them.