House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2019, with 57% of the vote.
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.
The Economy February 23rd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we are starting with a deficit we inherited from the Conservatives. Furthermore, we have an additional $150 billion in debt. That is what we are starting with, but fortunately, we are in a position to invest in our economy because, as a result of the measures taken by the government in the 1990s, our debt-to-GDP ratio is the lowest in the G7. We will invest and this ratio will grow at a lower rate than in the past 10 years.
The Economy February 23rd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, our objective remains a balanced budget, but our priority is to make investments in Canada for Canadians and the middle class. We know that they chose our plan to grow the economy, and that is exactly what we will do.
Taxation February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we made important commitments to Canadians during the course of our campaign.
We said we were going to invest in the middle class. We have already started on that. We told Canadians we want to add a Canada child benefit for the most vulnerable. We also said we were going to invest in infrastructure and an innovative economy.
We will be putting forth, in our 2016 budget, in just four short weeks, a program and a plan that will show Canadians how we are going to have a more innovative economy going forward.
The Economy February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I would like to repeat to this House that, this morning, we put out an economic update for Canadians to see. Our goal is to be open and transparent, so Canadians understand where we are at today and where we are going.
What we have told Canadians is that the Conservatives left us with a deficit. Unfortunately, they are picking and choosing, month by month. At the end of the year, that is what we are left with.
We are going to work to make the right investments, so we can grow this economy for the first time in a long time.
The Economy February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I would like to repeat to this House what I said before. One month or two months do not make a year.
What we can see is that the revenues of the government go down in the last couple of months of the year, and the expenses go up. It is clear to us that the Conservatives, through their actions and inactions, left us with a deficit.
That is our starting point, the Conservatives' deficit, and the $150 billion additional debt they left for Canadians.