Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.
I am very happy to make this presentation. We have spoken at length about the economy recently in this House. With the drop in the price of oil, Canadians are concerned about the economic health of our country, and with reason. The situation really shines a light on the Conservatives' mismanagement.
Because of a failure to invest in innovation and diversification, our economy is now vulnerable to shocks like this to natural resource prices. It is time for things to change, and Canadians should not have to wait until the next election for solutions.
In the NDP, we have a plan to repair the damage caused by the Conservatives. The motion moved by my colleague, the member for Parkdale—High Park, proposes three concrete steps the government can take today in order to boost our economy and support the middle class.
Our first suggestion is to stimulate job creation in small businesses by extending the accelerated capital cost allowance by two years. The second is to reduce the small business income tax rate from 11% to 10% immediately, and then to 9% when the economic situation permits. Finally, the third suggestion is to introduce an innovation tax credit to support investment in machinery, equipment and property in order to further innovation and increase productivity.
Clearly, our proposals focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, the real creators of employment in Canada, and they are very easy to implement. Between 2002 and 2012, in fact, 78% of new jobs in the private sector were created in SMEs. That is not surprising. Furthermore, 98% of all Canadian companies are SMEs: companies with fewer than 100 employees. They account for 40% of Canada’s GDP and employ nearly 8 million Canadians across this country.
However, the Conservative government does not seem to have gotten the message. It continues to pay no attention to SMEs. Since 2010, Canada has lost over 1,500 of them, mainly because of measures like the elimination of the small business hiring credit. Meanwhile, the Conservatives had ample resources to provide tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks to large companies. By constantly serving the interests of the Conservative Party and its friends, the government has lost sight of the interests of Canadians. They are out of touch with reality.
Personally, I have just completed a tour of the SMEs in my constituency. At ground level, it is very clear that the economic reality is difficult for SMEs. They constantly have to find new approaches and new ideas in order to remain profitable. I was truly impressed by the creativity and tenacity of the entrepreneurs I met with.
I am thinking, for example, of the Créagora initiative, a co-operative workspace in which a number of entrepreneurs work under the same roof. This space enables professionals to work independently, while sharing their resources and ideas. It is brilliant. I am also thinking of APICA, a group of business people and SMEs in the Aylmer sector who are constantly innovating and support numerous activities locally. Their contribution is not limited to creating jobs; they contribute their energy to our community. I congratulate them on what they are doing.
I should also say that one thing that came up often in my conversations with entrepreneurs is the fact that they often do not have the resources to offer full-time jobs to their employees. Part-time jobs can be useful, for example, by enabling students to balance working and going to school. However, people know as well as I do that you cannot live on a part-time job. As a result, in many cases, employees are just passing through such companies. It is truly difficult to build a succession in such circumstances.
Many entrepreneurs also tell me that government cuts have had a negative impact on the business climate in the Outaouais. That is not really a surprise. In the Outaouais, we know that the presence of the federal public service has a major impact on our economy.
That is one of the reasons why the NDP wants to make sure that at least 25% of investment in the national capital region takes place on the Quebec side of the river.
Since 2013, we have seen a clear deterioration in the job situation in our area. According to a study commissioned by the Gatineau chamber of commerce, the Outaouais lost 4,000 jobs in 2013, whereas the rest of Quebec posted an increase.
According to the study, job cuts in the federal public service are the direct cause of this poor performance. We can see that it is the entrepreneurs and families in my constituency who are paying the price for the ideological cuts made by this government. However, after shaking the economy of our area, the Conservatives have folded their arms and are refusing to support the entrepreneurs who are trying to diversify the economic structure of the Outaouais.
I was discussing this very subject this morning with Antoine Normand, who chairs the board of the Gatineau chamber of commerce. I must thank him for making himself available. It is always a pleasure to talk with him. He is always very open and helpful, which is very pleasant.
He was telling me that diversification should be a priority for sustainable economic development in the Outaouais. There is a huge potential for jobs in the Outaouais. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business ranks Gatineau among the most dynamic Canadian cities in terms of entrepreneurship.
We have the highest rate of bilingualism in Quebec and one of the highest graduation rates per capita. To put all this potential to work, it is time the three levels of government started working together to develop and fund a strategy to develop and attract businesses.
As Mr. Normand said, we have to support our businesses directly in terms of both research and development and facilitating imports. He proposed establishing a business mentoring program.
At present, there is not much mentoring of this kind in the Outaouais, for one thing because of the lack of leadership and resources from the federal government. He is nonetheless convinced that this kind of program could help businesses that are starting up to make it through their first five years of existence. Those first five years are a critical period, and we really have to help them get through that time to make sure they survive.
What the job creators in the Outaouais are asking for is not extravagant. They are not asking for business opportunities to be handed to them on a silver platter. These are people who are not afraid of hard work, and I can attest to that. In addition to meeting with SMEs, I come from a family that had a small business, and I saw my family work really very hard to help the employees and make sure that services were provided to the community and that at the end of the year they had saved some money and there was money to pay the taxes.
It is sad to see such extreme deterioration where we live in the Outaouais and see the government failing to meet the needs of small businesses to diversify the economy and make sure that someone can step in after the federal government’s budget cuts.
What these people really want is for the federal government to do its fair share to contribute to the economic development of our communities.
As I said, we in the NDP agree with them. We understand them and we support them. We believe that the government can take measures, starting today, to help SMEs do what they do best: create jobs. We have to support them in that effort.
I therefore urge my colleagues on both sides of the House to vote for this motion and start the work. This is a program that could be implemented very easily and very quickly.