Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish you and everyone here a happy new year.
Today, I would like to talk about the throne speech. It was not very long and the text was so concise in many areas that I would have liked to have the government provide more details. I will read the passages that are too vague and tell you what I think should have been said.
Let us begin in the section of the speech where it says:
And recognizing that public investment is needed to create and support economic growth, job creation and economic prosperity, the Government will make significant new investments in public transit, green infrastructure, and social infrastructure.
I hope that when the government says “public transit”, it means that all the money will not go just to big cities but that it will be spent in rural communities as well. People in my riding of Sarnia—Lambton have no public transportation to get from the country to the city, and our connectivity to other cities needs to be enhanced.
When the government says “green infrastructure”, I hope it is including support for our nuclear industry in Ontario, which we are dependent on if we do not want to see brownouts. Our nuclear industry can help reduce our carbon footprint at an economical price as well as generate export opportunities for Canada's CANDU technology.
I hope that green infrastructure also includes the infrastructure at universities, colleges, and centres of excellence that promote clean tech. I hope it includes water infrastructure so that all Canadians can have a safe source of drinking water. However, I hope it does not include any more green energy priced at five times the alternate rate.
I hope that in social infrastructure, the government is including rural Internet. We have areas within my riding that have no and slow Internet, and that acts as a barrier to economic development and competitiveness.
I hope that the government is also including housing in social infrastructure. My riding has infrastructure needs, from homeless shelters to subsidized housing to seniors housing, and I am sure that this is true across the country.
One thing not mentioned in this infrastructure strategy to support economic growth are upgrades to trade routes. In Sarnia, we have an opportunity to create an oversize-load corridor to ship large equipment and fabricated modules globally, but funding support would be needed.
The trade corridor in the north will need support as well, as we can see from the most recent Nipigon bridge failure.
I also expected the sections on economic growth to mention science and innovation. I was hoping that the government would provide a detailed explanation of how it will encourage innovation, from basic research all the way to marketing, with a view to creating jobs.
I thought the government would announce targets to focus our efforts and enhance our position as a world leader in strategic research.
I thought that it would do more than just talk about clean technologies, health sciences, and climate change. I thought that it would also focus on the sectors that today represent nearly half of our GDP, namely the agricultural, forestry, mining, fossil fuel, energy, and aerospace industries, not to mention areas where there is a future, such as genomics, nanoparticles, and big data.
I then turn to the page in the throne speech that talks about a clean environment and a strong economy. Having just gone through the section on openness and transparency and hearing continually how the government will consult broadly on issues, I was disturbed last week to hear Perrin Beatty, the CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, say that they do not feel they have been adequately consulted on the plans to implement carbon pricing and that he is concerned about the impact on the business sector.
As a riding that is heavily invested in fossil fuel production, I am also concerned that the government is supporting provinces to implement carbon pricing mechanisms like cap and trade that have been shown to make money for those trading credits but that do nothing for the planet. During a period when this industry is struggling with low oil prices and demand, this could be the tipping point.
When I read that the government will introduce a new environmental assessment process, I was hoping I would see words that would give me confidence that we will see a balance between ensuring that environmental diligence happens and allowing businesses to implement economic development, like pipelines, sometime this century.
Patricia Mohr, who is the chief strategist for Scotiabank on hydrocarbons, has clearly stated that if we do not get pipelines built to the east and the west in this country to export oil, this will become a very poor country indeed.
Moving along to the diversity section of the throne speech, one of Canada's strengths, I am happy to see that we want to make it easier for immigrants to build successful lives in Canada. Hopefully this means that when we get engineers and doctors to come to our great country, we can accredit them from a list of known and approved university and country standards so that they do not have to drive taxis for years.
Hopefully that means that when they apply for permanent resident status, we do not make them wait for years, with multiple interventions from Service Canada once they qualify.
I am glad to see that there will be an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, but I hope that this inquiry will seek solutions instead of repeating what we already know.
In the throne speech, the government said that we must do more to support veterans. I agree, but I would also like the government to think about seniors, those who worked their whole lives here and who are now envious of the medical and dental care offered to Syrian refugees. These people cannot afford that care on their fixed incomes.
Next, I come to the section on security and opportunity. I see that the government plans to strengthen its relationship with its allies. From the lack of inclusion in Barack Obama's list of allies in his latest speeches to the non-invitation to Paris to talk about stepping up the fight against ISIS, it is clear that the Liberal government has to change from its campaign promises based on the new information and the new reality we are seeing.
I would also quote from the speech where it says “And to expand economic opportunities for all Canadians, the Government will negotiate beneficial trade agreements...”. I hope this means that it will successfully sign the TPP and the EU agreement, both of which are being made with countries that share our human rights viewpoint. The government needs to clarify whether we really care about human rights. If so, how can we be entertaining making trade agreements with Iran and China? Either we only care about the jobs and economic benefit for Canada, in which case the government should just say that, or we really care about human rights violations, and we will either not engage with countries that are clear chronic violators or we will impose punitive measures for human rights violation into our agreements.
I want to talk about a few other things in the throne speech.
In his introduction, the Governor General brings this whole speech, the plan for the next four years in this country, as a representative of Her Majesty the Queen. Our Westminster style of Parliament is based on allegiance to the Queen. How then can we allow someone who has lived in Canada for 13 years, who has seen how our government is based, who knows this and wants to be a Canadian citizen, to swear their oath pledging allegiance to the Queen one day and then the next day revoke that allegiance and still retain their citizenship? Will we also allow individuals to revoke the other part of the oath where they pledge to obey Canadian law? My view is that, when people take the pledge to join this great country, they should not be able to pick and choose which parts they like. It is not a buffet.
Finally, the prelude to the throne speech says that Canada succeeds in large part because diverse perspectives and different opinions are celebrated here, not silenced. Is this true? Are we not more and more unable to express what we think because it is unpopular? A male colleague in the House said he was afraid to express his views for fear of being labelled a racist or a chauvinist, of which he is neither. I have heard Christians in our country say they are afraid to express their views for fear of being mocked—in our democracy that is supposed to have freedom of religion. The freedom of speech is so fundamental to our democracy. Although all Canadians may not agree on our opinions, we need to be able to say what we think and allow each other to do that without the punishment of bullying behaviours, but with respect.
The throne speech says that in Parliament all members will be honoured, respected, and heard, and I hope these words from the throne speech at least are true.