Jim Peterson

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2, October 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to Bill C-28.

The Conservative government is the most meanspirited retrograde government I have ever seen in the entire time that I have been in Parliament. It uses policies for politics, not for good governance. Let me give an example.

The Conservatives financed a cut in the GST by increasing income taxes. Good fiscal policy demands that there be a variety of tax sources. Most jurisdictions in the world have a consumption tax. The beauty of having a mix of taxes is that we are not victims in our fisc of economic circumstances. We can weather storms. This is the reason every single expert, economist, teacher, practitioner said that cutting the GST instead of personal income taxes was wrong.

When we cut personal income taxes, we are giving people options. They can spend the savings, as they can with the GST cut, but they can also have more money to invest and more money to save. That is why the income tax cuts that the Conservatives reversed on us were so important for the ongoing performance of our economy, to give us that money to reinvest in our capacity to compete in a global economy.

What did the Conservatives do with child care? We had meaningful child care spaces for parents in this country, as demanded by all of the groups. What did they do? They went back to something cut long ago, the baby bonus. Anyone with a child gets $100 a month. What does that do?

[Biotechnology Industry, October 24th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, 38% of Canadian women and 44% of Canadian men will be afflicted by cancer. Today, one out of four Canadians die from it and even more so later on as our population ages.

The good news is that great strides are being made in the treatment of cancer, especially through biologic medicines. Canada's biotechnology industry is world class, second only in the number of companies to the United States.

We must nurture an environment in which it will continue to flourish. This means a comprehensive biotechnology strategy stressing innovation, R and D, better intellectual property rules, smarter regulation, effective partnerships, real market access across borders, and most importantly, much greater patient access to new biologics here in Canada.

Cancer and other diseases can be beaten. Let us ensure that Canada's biotech companies remain global leaders in the ongoing battle to alleviate suffering and save lives.

[Kenneth Thomson, June 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Ken Thomson passed away suddenly yesterday in his 83rd year. His impact on Canada is profound.

When his father died in 1976, he inherited the title of Lord Thomson of Fleet and a business empire. He never sat in the House of Lords, but in just 30 years he grew the business some 40 times, to over $22 billion, making him the richest in Canada and ninth richest in the world.

He took the Globe and Mail national and moved into electronic publishing, never interfering but always nurturing his people.

His donation of some 3,000 works of art plus $70 million to the Art Gallery of Ontario was generous beyond belief.

To his wife Marilyn and children David, Peter and Taylor, we send our heartfelt sympathy.

We give thanks for the life of this humble, frugal, caring man whose leadership and philanthropy have done so much to make Canada better.

We thank you, Ken. He will not be forgotten.

[Softwood Lumber, November 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, that would be a real winner and would certainly serve to unite Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

Having said that, we have taken very seriously the plight of the forestry workers in this country. We came out with a package for $356 million earlier. We have a package to help the associations with $20 million. Yesterday we put forward a package of $1.48 billion in order to help the workers, the communities and the companies.

We are standing behind the softwood lumber industry. We are standing behind the workers.

[Softwood Lumber, November 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, everybody knows that all of these investments are subject to the provisions of the Investment Canada Act and must be in the net benefit of Canada.

[International Trade, November 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her interest in helping SMEs.

In the economic update the finance minister made an unprecedented investment in helping small and medium sized enterprises cope with this rapidly changing global economy. In particular, we are going to put a lot more trade commissioners on the ground to help our SMEs in markets such as India and China and we are going to partner upfront with small and medium sized enterprises to help them defer the added cost of going overseas. We are there with them.

[Softwood Lumber, November 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, at the APEC meetings the Prime Minister made it very clear that the world was watching the American administration and whether or not it was living up to the NAFTA. He made a very strong statement.

Second, it is absolutely critical that we have a trading relationship with the biggest economy in the world that is based on rules. We are always ready to make those rules even better.

The hon. member has to remember that fully 96% of our trade with the United States is dispute-free. We want to make it 100% and we want to make that trade even better.

[Softwood Lumber, November 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it very clear in this House and elsewhere that number one, the NAFTA has to be respected. After all, we are a rules-based trading nation. The world depends on respect for the rules, be it the WTO or be it the NAFTA. We insist on it.

[Softwood Lumber, November 21st, 2005]

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

[Softwood Lumber, November 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we have, of course, promised $20 million to the forestry industries to help them meet their legal fees, and we will keep that promise.