Bill Morneau

[Taxation, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for that very kind invitation to stand and tell people that we support innovation, because we absolutely do.

We know that supporting innovation in this country is a rather complex job. It involves more than just one tool in a toolbox. We are going to make investments in basic science that will make a real difference for future innovation in this country. We are going to make investments in innovation clusters that will make a real difference, attracting companies that want to do research in our country.

We are going to make a real difference for innovation and productivity in this country through multiple measures that can help Canadians now and in the future.

[Taxation, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, what I would like to announce today is that we have an absolute commitment to making our country more innovative.

We have an absolute commitment to dealing with the productivity challenge in this country. We are moving forward to do what has not been done for the last decade, and that is to invest in innovators, invest in innovation across this country.

I will be delighted to present my budget in just a few short weeks to give more details on this subject.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to answer this question.

We made promises in the last election to make investments. We made promises to help the middle class. We have already moved forward. We also made promises to help those who are most vulnerable.

I am proud to say that we will be moving forward with our Canada child benefit in budget 2016. This is an historic decision to make an enormous difference for people in this country. We are going to help 9 out of 10 Canadian families with children. We are going to bring hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, helping the most vulnerable.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we made a promise to Canadians. We promised to be open and transparent.

Yesterday, I explained that our current situation is difficult. The economy is volatile, and that is why we used a lower level of growth for next year than we did in November. It is a good starting point, and it allows us to consider how to prepare a budget for the future.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member opposite that something really important happened on October 19, 2015. Canadians had a choice. They had a choice between dealing with a low-growth economy and investing or making cuts so that we would actually have a more difficult situation.

Canadians made the right choice. They chose to invest. We are making investments in the middle class, we are making investments in infrastructure, and we are making investments in innovation, so that over the next period, the next generation we will have a stronger Canada for Canadians.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal plan is to invest, invest, invest.

Unlike the Conservatives, we were not left with a surplus. The Liberals left the Conservatives with a $13 billion surplus. They turned it into $150 billion of additional debt for Canadians.

We are going to spend to increase our growth rate, to make Canada better for Canadians.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, our budget will be tabled on March 22. We have a plan. Our plan is to invest in the middle class across Canada. Our plan is to invest in infrastructure, innovation, and the country's most vulnerable people. Our plan is to grow the economy, and we are going to start right away.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure there was a question, but what I can say is that six months, two months, does not make a year. We looked at the entire year and we saw that the Conservatives left a deficit. In the last three months of the year, there was less revenue and more spending. That means the Conservatives ran a deficit.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the quote because it is a quote that I stand by today. Our commitment to Canadians is to actually do something about the low growth bequeathed to us by the previous government. We are going to make investments that will make a real difference for Canada, investments in infrastructure, investments in innovation. We are going to do things for the middle class that will include giving them tax breaks and improved growth for the future. That is exactly what we will do while being prudent along the way.

[Finance, February 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I was deadly serious. What the people on the other side of the House said was that what they wanted to do was to balance the budget at all costs immediately. What that would mean is that we would have, right now, tens of billions of dollars of cuts, cuts that would increase our unemployment rate, that would reduce our ability to be flexible, that would certainly put us in a very difficult situation.

Our plan is to make an investment to actually improve our rate of growth in this country for the middle class and those most vulnerable.