Debates of March 21st, 2013

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the goal of the new Canada job grant is to match people who are seeking employment with training and with employers that will actually result in them having jobs. This is not a complicated concept, but it is one that we need to pursue in order to be successful. The end result that constituents care about, including the constituents of the hon. member opposite, is actually getting the job after the training is completed. That is our goal, that is our plan and we will stay on course. Of course, there will be negotiations with the provinces and territories.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all Canadians, let me congratulate the minister for economic action plan 2013 and for now being the longest-serving Conservative finance minister of a post-war era. I, along with my constituents of Miramichi, thank him for his continued hard work to lower taxes, to keep Canada's economy strong and to help ensure that Canada has both the best job creation and fiscal record in the G7.

I am also proud of our government's strong support for the men and women who serve and have served in the Canadian armed forces. Could the minister please explain what economic action plan 2013 will do to help Canadian veterans and their families?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her question and all of her hard work in Parliament. She is truly the very best member of Parliament that the riding of Miramichi has ever seen. It is a riding that is home to one of the best Irish festivals in North America every July.

Our government, like all Canadians, has the utmost respect for the men and women who put their lives on the line for our freedom. For their service to Canada, we must ensure that when they pass on, they receive the dignified funeral and burial they so rightly deserve. To that end, economic action plan 2013 will improve the existing funeral and burial program by simplifying it for veterans' families and by more than doubling the current reimbursement rate from $3,600 to over $7,300.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want thank the hon. Minister of Finance for his budget today. Let me begin by saying that there are some things in the budget that we have been pushing for. The minister just raised one of them. There are certainly other measures that we have been pressing for, which we see here, such as extending the hiring tax credit for small businesses and extending the accelerated capital costs—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Parkdale—High Park has the floor.

Order. The hon. member for Parkdale—High Park.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is the House of Commons and not the locker room.

Let me say that we have been advocating the hiring tax credit for small business and the accelerated capital cost allowance and pushing for a minister responsible for FedNor, so I want to recognize that there are items in this budget that respond to some of the proposals we made. However, I want to take a broader view, because we have just heard the budget now.

Again the minister and the Prime Minister have promised to focus on jobs as their priority, yet we see the government pushing ahead with job-killing austerity measures. We have no new measures to create jobs. We have a shell game when it comes to training funding. The minister said he would not cut transfers to provinces or individuals, yet he is plowing ahead with cuts to pensions, health care and EI and ignoring the serious threats facing our economy.

Let me make a point that has been recognized by the IMF, by the World Bank and by many economists around the world, which is that we cannot cut our way to growth. The deficit we are facing was not caused by government spending. Rather, it was the recession that caused the deficit, and curing the recession will lead to curing the deficit. Therefore, we need to be focused on jobs, improving wages and getting more taxes into the government coffers through better jobs and more employment—in other words, by putting people to work. There is no need to trample on government services or take serious austerity measures, which can simply make the recovery more difficult and make any downturn even worse.

We are concerned that the government is cutting the money that is going to infrastructure, because it is not taking inflation into account. I appreciate that inflation is low, but there is still an increase to the cost of living every year, and by the time this money is rolled out, it will mean a reduction of the moneys that have already been in place.

I appreciate that the minister has not been great in projecting growth targets—he missed his 2012 target by 35%—and we appreciate that we are in difficult global economic times that present serious challenges. However, we do not believe that the way forward is through austerity. It creates more insecurity. We believe the way forward is through strong job creation.

I do want to more fully respond to the budget, but I will do so later.

Therefore, I move:

That the debate be now adjourned.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Pursuant to Standing Order 83(2), the motion is deemed adopted and the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m.

(The House adjourned at 4:55 p.m.)