Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Cape Breton—Canso for his speech. I have known him for quite a few years and I have no doubt of his sincerity. However, I take a lot of issue with what he said and the track record he had.
He said the government will be there to help. One of the most dangerous phrases for people in the west is “I'm from the government and I'm here to help”. That does not instill a lot of confidence with us westerners.
One of the solutions we know will help address the jobs crisis in Alberta, and Saskatchewan, and many parts of British Columbia and the prairies, is just for the government to get out of the way. We do not need the government to come and offer more EI benefits. We do not need the government to come and start manipulating the economy and trying to interfere with the market. We would just like the government to get out of the way.
Approve northern gateway. Let those energy workers do what they do best, and get their energy products to port. Energy east is so woefully delayed because of the government's mismanagement of the NEB process.
We saw the Liberals' approach to the economy this week. There is a private sector solution to Bombardier that the Liberals have blocked by not allowing the Toronto Island airport to be expanded, which would allow Porter to buy the jets, which would mean that taxpayers would not have to be on the hook.
My question for the member is: What ideas does he have where the government can just get out of the way, allow the private sector to solve this jobs crisis, and stop making it worse?