Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the people of the great riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, to rise in my place to speak to the many benefits contained in the 2015 federal budget and the importance of having our Conservative government directing the Canadian economy.
First, I congratulate the Minister of Finance, the best member of Parliament the voters of Eglinton—Lawrence could ever have, on the tremendous job he is doing on behalf of all Canadians. Canada's Minister of Finance comes to the job with real financial expertise. He is an example of how deep the Conservative bench is when it comes to talent and experience. He has been the observation of the more thoughtful political commentators; the opposite is the case on the opposition benches.
As noted, the former part-time drama teacher, the last great hope of the third party in this place—Ritchie Rich to his closest trust-fund skiing buddies—would not understand the importance of balancing the finances of Canada. The balanced budget that is being brought forward by my Conservative colleague is a signature achievement.
On behalf of the almost 3,000 employees working at Chalk River Laboratories, I personally thank our government for the continued ongoing support that we give to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Canada's premier centre for science, research, and development.
Economic action plan 2015 proposes to provide up to $72.3 million in 2015-16, on a cash basis, to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to maintain safe and reliable operations at the Chalk River Laboratories.
Canada is the world's leader in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Nuclear power is recognized as environmentally sound, producing no greenhouse gas emissions in the generation of electricity, at an affordable price.
I invite the opposition parties to get their heads out of the sand when it comes to nuclear and join the 21st century.
There is some exciting research, science, and development occurring in the nuclear field in Canada. I was proud to participate in the opening of a new $16-million laboratory, a hydrogen laboratory, at Chalk River.
Our government recognizes that we must do the science, and nowhere is it more promising for the environment in the future than in the hydrogen economy.
This budget is all about balance, avoiding the type of extreme, ideological opposition parties' policies—the same as the ones that are bankrupting Ontario.
Canadians are looking for balance, balance in their personal lives when they balance the family chequebooks and balance in how our nation is governed.
What we have today in Canada is a fiscal position that is the envy of the world. Ours is a balanced approach to complement our balanced budget. An important example that differentiates our balanced approach to jobs and economy from the extreme approach of the opposition is our Conservative government's support for manufacturers.
Federal budget 2015 contains a number of important measures to support manufacturing jobs. Among specific examples is a beneficial change for manufacturers, which would be a 10-year extension of the accelerated capital cost allowance, ACCA provisions that were set to expire this year. The ACCA allows manufacturing companies to depreciate, for tax purposes, the value of newly purchased equipment and machinery at the accelerated rate of 50% per year, reducing their taxable income in the first few years of owning the asset. This, in turn, allows the business to keep more of its income to pay down the debt that was incurred upon purchasing the new asset. New assets are necessary to enhance productivity, which allows a business to remain competitive and, in the long run, hire more employees.
Manufacturers in my riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke tell me they appreciate the 10-year extension that replaces the previous two-year time period. By providing predictability for an extended period, businesses have a more suitable time horizon with which to plan. The tax savings and the regulatory certainty that come with the 10-year time period prompt business to make new investment plans. Growth means new employment, and Canadians know that jobs and the economy are our priority because taxpayers have told us it is their priority.
Smaller companies will benefit from reductions in the small business tax rate that begins in 2016. Our Conservative government understands and supports small business, unlike the opposition that is calling for additional payroll taxes on small businesses and employees. Payroll taxes, as any business person will say, are job killers.
Our support for the Canadian manufacturing sector is very different from what we hear from the opposition, which believes Canada should be, quoting the leader of the third party, “transitioning away from manufacturing-based employment as a driver in the economy”. For the opposition in Ottawa, clearly it was a moment of weakness in that interview with the London Free Press to reveal to Canadians how the Liberal Party really feels about the many hard-working families who rely on manufacturing to put food on their tables. The decision by that party not to support manufacturing jobs is based on its extremist version of the so-called green ideology, the kind practised in Toronto that is bankrupting the province of Ontario.
The person who helped write the greed energy act in Toronto is now the principal advisor to the green leader of the third party in Ottawa. His filthy green fingerprints are all over this and many other of the extreme left-wing policies that will throw our economy out of balance. It is all about balance. Canadians should not be forced to lose good, well-paying manufacturing jobs on the altar of environmental extremists. With the right balance and the balanced approach of our Conservative federal government, we will have an efficient economy and a healthy environment.
While the trust-fund child would like to talk a mean game about the middle class, which is defined by the member for Wascana as earning almost $140,000 per year, the truth of the matter is that manufacturing jobs are the middle class, the middle-income jobs that sustain Ontario. Instead of defending those jobs, as we have done in our balanced federal budget, he would rather campaign with the Ontario Liberal premier, for whom he makes excuses, ignoring the loss of 350,000 manufacturing jobs in Ontario thanks to high electricity prices and a hostile provincial employment environment.
The junior opposition even directed its provincial wing in Toronto to bring in a carbon tax, and that job killer is aimed at manufacturing jobs in Canada, particularly in the automotive sector. The so-called green jobs are a myth that only exist with huge taxpayer subsidies. The industrial wind turbines that blight the landscape in Ontario are a prime example of that. Take away the government handout and nothing is left behind.
The high electricity rate policy of the Toronto Liberal Party has led to the exodus of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs to American border states like Michigan and Ohio. Those American states are paid to take subsidized electricity from Ontario—yes, I know it is hard to believe for anyone listening to this debate who does not live in Ontario.
Ontario used to have the most vibrant automotive manufacturing sector in North America, but not any more thanks to the ideologically driven policies of the Liberal Party and the Green Energy Act. If we want to see what would happen if the opposition members were in power, all we have to do is look to Ontario, and what we see there is what we would get out of them.