Bill Morneau

[Finance, February 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected us on October 19 because they had confidence that we were ready and willing to put forward ideas that could make a real difference in their lives.

We are facing the past 10 years of low growth. We now realize that the economy is more challenging even than we expected when we were elected. We are moving forward with a plan that will prudent, that will remain focused on reducing our net-debt-to-GDP ratio over time, and that will aim to get us to a balanced budget over the term, recognizing how challenging that will be in our economic environment.

[Finance, February 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect us to take actions to make their lives better. We recognize that middle-class Canadians have not had a fair increase in income for many years. The most vulnerable really need to be helped in our society.

We have put forward ideas that we know we can put into our budget in 2016 that will make a real difference for Canadians. We know that we can deal with an economy that is more challenging than we expected, and that is what governing is all about.

[Finance, February 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we have put forward a plan for Canadians. It is a plan that will be laid out in more detail during the course of our upcoming budget. What we have told Canadians, especially those middle-class Canadians who want to do better, is that we have a plan that will make a real difference in growth. We will do it by being fiscally prudent along the way. We will do it by making sure that our level of debt to GDP over time reduces. Yes, we aim to get to a balanced budget over time, recognizing that our economy makes that more challenging. That remains a very important goal for this government.

[Finance, February 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind the hon. member that we were elected on October 19 by Canadians who elected us on a plan to grow the economy. We made it very clear what we were going to do.

We said that we were going to reduce taxes for middle-class Canadians, who needed tax reduction. We have already moved forward on that. We said that we are going to move forward with a Canada child benefit that would help nine out of ten families and hundreds of thousands of children. Then we are going to move forward on infrastructure investments that are going to help us grow this economy, all the while by being very prudent with our expenses along the way.

[Pensions, February 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, during the course of our campaign, we talked about the importance of helping people to retire in dignity. We talked about the importance of helping those people who have already retired.

We are looking toward making significant progress on helping Canadians to retire in dignity over the course of this year through a CPP enhancement. We are also looking toward measures in budget 2016 that will help those Canadians who are currently retired and facing a difficult situation.

[Intergovernmental Relations, February 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to answer this question. We were very pleased to deal with the situation in the northern territories over a couple of months of discussion. Statistics Canada changed its calculation method which left it in a difficult situation. We found a way to improve that situation.

Happily, what we have also done is found ways that we can help people in other provinces through the plan we put forward. We are going to be making real investments in the Canadian economy through investments in infrastructure, investments that will help people in the middle class and those most vulnerable. We believe that our plan has the best shot in improving our economy for all Canadians.

[Finance, February 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the only people who believe that the previous Conservative government left a surplus are the Conservatives. Canadians are not fools. Make no mistake, the Government of Canada will post a deficit for fiscal 2015-16, which is the result of the Conservative government's actions and inactions. A fiscal monitor for a given month is a snapshot of that time. It does not tell the whole story.

[Finance, February 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we were elected with a plan to grow the economy, and we have already begun to do so. We began by cutting taxes for the middle class, and nine million Canadians have more money in their pockets.

In budget 2016, there will be other measures to improve our economic growth. We are going to introduce the Canada child benefit and make significant investments to grow our economy.

[Finance, February 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we have the right plan to grow the economy and we have already started. We have started by reducing taxes on nine million Canadians, and we will have measures in budget 2016 that will make a real difference for the most vulnerable and help us to grow the economy.

I will take no advice from the members across the way, who left us with an additional $150 billion worth of debt. What do we have to show for it, but the lowest growth since the Great Depression, a couple of gazebos, and a fake lake.

[Finance, February 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we will be making smart, necessary, and long-overdue investments to grow our economy to make a real difference for the Canadian middle class and those most vulnerable. That is our plan. It is the plan that Canadians elected us on, it is the right plan for Canada, and we look forward to budget 2016 to give more details.