David Anderson

[Canadian Wheat Board Act, June 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to be here today to speak to the bill. I would like to congratulate the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster for being so forward-thinking in presenting a great and progressive alternative for farmers on the prairies.

As we have listened to the other parties this morning, it is interesting to hear all the reasons why farmers cannot succeed, why they cannot have this and why that would not be good for them. Those are the same people, particularly on the other side, who for 13 years left farmers without hope in their industry. Farmers have turned to us for that hope. The member for Battlefords—Lloydminster has shown courage and leadership in coming forward with this bill.

I want to take a couple of minutes to go over the bill. If we listened to the opposition, we would think that there is an awful lot to this, but it is very short. It is only a couple of paragraphs. It says:

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or the regulations, a producer may

(a) sell grain produced by the producer directly to an association or firm engaged in the processing of grain if a majority interest in the association or firm is held by a producer or producers based in Canada; and

(b) transport grain for the purposes of any such sale.

That would be logical, and:

(2) No fee shall be imposed under this Act in respect of the sale or transportation of grain in accordance with subsection (1).

It seems fairly simple. As producers, we can take our own grain and sell it directly to a processor as long as that processor is controlled by a majority of Canadian producers. One would think this would be something which would already be permitted, but unfortunately in a designated area in western Canada it is not. That is the only part of the country where producers are not free to process their own grains.

There has been a long history in our country. When I thought about the bill, I wondered why our ancestors had come here, why did my grandfather and my great-uncle settle adjacent quarters on the Prairies. There were a number of reasons. They wanted to go there because there was a whole world of opportunity for them to finally have some success and move ahead with their lives. They wanted the freedom to make their own choices, to set up their own little farms and to market their own grain. They wanted an opportunity to succeed. After all these years, those are the things farmers still want. They still want those opportunities. They still want a solid return for the work they do.

It is mainly because of the Canadian Wheat Board and the system in western Canada that western Canadian producers have been unable to maximize their returns. That is why the bill has been brought forward. It gives farmers one more option. It is a huge step in a positive direction for producers.

I am encouraged also by the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster's willingness to consider amendments. He said that if there were some things in the bill that were not as strong as they should be, he would be willing to strengthen them. We wish the opposition would have the willingness to have an open like the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster.

Because the bill is simple and straightforward, we would have expected support for it. Farmers are excited about it. A lot of calls have come in in support of it.

[Agriculture, June 16th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister has stepped up for the farmers in Saskatchewan. We have brought forward a green cover program of $15 an acre, which will cover some of the costs they are experiencing in their province.

It is ironic that the NDP is criticizing us, because it was the agriculture minister in Saskatchewan who asked for the $15 that we provided for the farmers in that province. If the provincial government would step up and do the same thing, perhaps those farmers would have some hope in the future.

[June 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has emphasized many times, the success of the Doha round is important for all of Canadian agriculture. We are going to continue to work closely with other WTO members, with the provinces and with Canada's industry stakeholders, including both the exporters and the supply managed industries, toward completing the WTO negotiations by the end of this year.

The WTO agriculture negotiations are in an intensive phase. Canada is actively engaged in playing an important part in advancing those negotiations. The minister is planning to be in Geneva at the end of the month to continue to work hard for an outcome that protects and advances the interests of all of Canadian agriculture.

As the negotiations progress, we will continue to seek the best possible outcome for Canada at the WTO. As the minister has made very clear, even as Canada faces real pressure on some issues in these negotiations, we cannot and will not walk away. We will stay at the table. We will continue to listen closely to our industry on how to advance Canada's interests. We will continue to seek the best possible outcome for all of Canadian agriculture.

[June 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight in response to a question that was asked by the member on the subject of support of supply management. He did not indicate that he wanted to deal with the issue of the Canadian Wheat Board at this point. It is more likely that we will be dealing with it next week and we look for his support, particularly on the private member's bill, Bill C-300, that is coming in from my colleague from Battlefords--Lloydminster.

I want to address the issue that he asked us to talk about. That is the subject of support for supply management and the WTO negotiations.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to reaffirm this government's commitment to pursuing a positive outcome for all of the Canadian agricultural sectors in the current World Trade Organization agriculture negotiations.

Canada is working hard at the WTO to achieve a more level international playing field through the elimination of export subsidies, a substantial reduction of trade-distorting domestic support, and real and significant market access improvements.

Achievement of these objectives would provide significant benefit to Canada by helping all of our producers and processors to compete more effectively in a fairer international marketplace.

For example, this government recognizes the importance of these negotiations for our exporters. Canada is the world's fourth largest agrifood exporter, with exports of $26.2 billion in 2005, and we want to build on this success.

That is why we are seeking an ambitious outcome at the WTO. We are continuing to push hard for a tariff reduction formula that would offer our exporters the prospect of substantially improved access into key developed and developing countries.

We are also pressing for very significant cuts to the trade-distorting domestic subsidies that countries like the United States and the European Union currently offer their producers. For this reason, we are pleased that the negotiations are structured around the concept of having the biggest subsidizers make the largest reductions.

These achievements, and also the agreement reached by WTO members to eliminate export subsidies by 2013, will go a very long way to helping our exporters compete successfully at the global level.

At the same time, this government recognizes that Canada has both offensive and defensive interests in these negotiations. Our negotiating position reflects the diversity and strength of our sector and that sector includes both export oriented and supply managed industries.

I have outlined already how we are working hard for our exporters. I want to emphasize that this government strongly supports Canada's supply management system. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has made this commitment very clear. The government believes that Canada's supply management system is a successful choice for our dairy, egg and poultry producers.

This commitment to supply management is evident in how hard we are working in Geneva on behalf of this sector. It is a fact that we are facing significant pressure at the WTO on key issues of importance to our supply management system. Nevertheless, this government remains committed to aggressively defending all of our agricultural interests.

[Grasslands National Park, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Grasslands National Park is in my riding. It is an example of a mixed grass prairie ecosystem that extends through much of Cypress Hills—Grasslands. For the first time in 120 years, prairie bison have been reintroduced by Parks Canada to Grasslands National Park.

Local ranchers are working with Parks Canada and other stakeholders such as first nations to give Canadians a native prairie experience unlike any other in Canada. The return of the buffalo establishes a grazing regime in the park that will complement local ranch stewardship and provide habitat for a large variety of wildlife species.

The Prairie Persists project, one of 11 ecological integrity projects undertaken by Parks Canada across our country, includes the release of the bison and the launch of the Prairie Learning Center educational initiative.

Grasslands National Park, the Chinook School Division and other educational partners are giving students the opportunity to go on site to learn about the native northern mixed grass prairie. This park is making a unique contribution to Parks Canada's mandate to protect and educate.

[Equalization Program, May 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, for 13 years, one lonely Saskatchewan Liberal was able to get himself re-elected to the House of Commons. When he spoke, it was always in grand and flowery language, promising the world but we soon discovered that he could not deliver for his home province. The billions promised through the Crow payment buyout disappeared, farmers went to jail for marketing their own grain, Saskatchewan continued to suffer under consecutive Liberal governments and still he returned and continued his climb until finally he was appointed the minister of finance.

He made a deal with two Atlantic provinces to exclude their non-renewable resources from the equalization formula but when his own province asked for the same deal he said, “No way, maybe later”. Well, later has arrived.

After only 100 days in office, our finance minister has made a decision, one that is great for Saskatchewan. Yesterday he announced that non-renewable resources will be excluded from the equalization formula.

Finally, after 13 years there is a government that is actually delivering for the people of Saskatchewan. What a welcome change.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 15th, 2006]

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, we have a growing problem in Saskatchewan. I would say that the primary reason for it is that we have had NDP governments for 50 years in our province. They have diluted our economy and basically put us in the situation where we are having a very tough time being competitive.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am only too happy to stick to the issues here. I am not sure that we need to get into the name-calling or into basically saying that people are idiots because they do not agree with the Liberals. We have seen too much of that over the years. They seem to have the attitude that they are somehow entitled to be in a position of power here.

I will talk a bit about my area of southwestern Saskatchewan in a short answer to my friend's question. I am proud to represent the good people of Cypress Hills--Grasslands. After 13 years of Liberal incompetence and the corruption and the things that we have seen, people in my riding are definitely not in the same shape they were in when the Liberal government took over 13 years ago.

In fact, the farming sector is in an absolute crisis situation, primarily because the previous government had no interest in helping out Canadians in my part of the world. The Liberals were ready to step up to the plate for their special interest groups, but farmers were not one of them. I have a large agricultural riding, and the folks in my area had basically been left alone by the previous government. Now we have to fill in the gaps and try to prop up the industry so it can get back on its feet again. We look forward to doing that.

There are a lot of other things in the budget that are really good. Members should be thanking us for the child care proposal we have put forward. This government will pay every parent in this country with a child under the age of six $1,200 per year to be put toward the child care they choose. People where I come from tell me this is a good idea. They know full well that the fantasy plan the Liberals came forward with, and which had no results, was not working for them. While the Liberals would spend millions of dollars on their friends and those they liked, the people where I come from, the people in rural communities, were not seeing any money. They were left alone until we came forward with this proposal of $1,200 per child. People in my part of the world are thankful. They say they are very grateful and are glad that we are in power. They say they look forward to supporting this government in the future.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 15th, 2006]

I notice that the members across way do not seem to like to hear the truth. They are a little concerned by it. As usual, when they do not have content, they make up for it with a lot of noise. I guess we are becoming used to that in the House.

It is actually a great treat to be on this side of the House and realize that we are going to be able to implement what we bring forward. We know that the Liberal government had its opportunity. We hear many of the Liberals still making a lot of noise and wanting to continually be after us, but they had their chance. Now Canadians are apparently more than willing to give us the opportunity to come forward with our legislation and our plan.

We are going to increase the basic personal exemption amount. That is something that low income Canadians really appreciate as well.

There are a few other things that I think are really great. During the campaign, one of the things we talked about was apprenticeship programs and what we wanted to do to try to encourage young Canadians to become part of that. I think this is a really good initiative, as I thought it was during the campaign, and we are moving ahead with it. It has a couple of components.

One is a new tax credit of up to $2,000 for employers who want to hire apprentices. I think that is a great initiative. We are going to set a $1,000 grant in place for first year and second year apprenticeships. Young people who want to get into apprenticeship programs will have the opportunity to access some of these grants.

We are putting in a $500 deduction for tradespeople for costs in excess of $1,000 for the tools they need to acquire as a condition of employment. If I were a young person, this would be exciting for me. I think young people are excited about the fact that they will be able to go into an apprenticeship program and acquire tools and get a tax deduction for doing that. I think this is long overdue as well.

To wrap up, there are many other good things in the budget that help out families, farmers and people who want to get a job. The universal commitment to parents who have children under six is another big issue and a good initiative that we think is necessary. We look forward to moving forward with the budget and enjoying the support of Canadians as we do.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity today to address the budget.

While the Minister of Finance is here, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work he has done. He has done great work on the budget over the last few months. What is truly amazing about the budget is that the Minister of Finance did it on short notice. Last year, when the former finance minister across the way was doing the preparation for the budget, it seemed like it took months and months, and he was running all over the country. After all that time, he still was not capable of coming up with a budget that was acceptable to Canadians.

In the election we saw the consequences of the previous government actually coming forward with three separate budgets during the last year. Those members did not think one was good enough. Last summer they had to make a separate deal with the party to their right physically in the House, but obviously to their left, and they came up with another budget. In the fall, they had to take another run at it to try to bring forward more proposals acceptable to Canadians. Of course, as we moved into the election campaign, we found out how interested Canadians were in their budget proposals. Because of that, they had to turn the government over to what we think is a much more confident and capable group of people.

I would like to talk a little about the budget today. Obviously there are some highlights of the budget. One that I am being told about at home and that is very important to people is the reduction in the GST. That has caught the imagination of people across my riding. They know it is going to have an impact on every one of them. Every single person in the country will be able to benefit from that. People are excited about it.

My area is an agricultural one. The people there are very excited to see the commitment the government has made toward agriculture. A lot of them have waited for many years for a government that would begin to pay attention to them and listen to them when they talk about the problems they find in their sector.

This government has stepped forward. During the election campaign we came forward with what we thought was a good election platform on agricultural issues. That was not good enough for the finance minister. Instead of giving just $500 million, as we had promised, in additional aid to the agricultural sector, he tripled it. He brought it up to $1.5 billion. That brings farm aid this year to levels that have rarely been seen before.

It is an interesting budget, a good budget and an exciting budget. There are a lot of different things about it that Canadians really like.

The budget is definitely a budget of opportunity. It offers comprehensive tax relief for virtually everyone in this country. For individuals there are tax breaks that will be valued at over $20 billion over the next two years. That is actually more than was contained in the last four budgets combined. Canadians are beginning to become aware of the fact that this government is not like the previous government, which promised and promised and talked ad nauseam about what it would do but never got around to doing it.

One of the most obvious places that happened was in agriculture, where often we would hear the same money being announced up to five different times. The Liberal government would come forward with an announcement that would sound like a big deal. It would re-announce the money a little bit later, some of it going into the same thing and some being redistributed. It would come back time and again, re-announcing that same money. We are not prepared to do that. We are going to move ahead. We are a government that keeps our promises and moves ahead. We are doing what we said we would do.

As a result of the $20 billion in tax relief that the Minister of Finance has so graciously brought forward for Canadians, there will be 655,000 low income Canadians removed from the tax rolls altogether.

As I said, the budget delivers twice as much tax relief as it does new spending. It delivers more tax relief than the last four budgets combined. It has 29 separate tax incentives and deductions for Canadians. Whenever I talk to people in my riding about the budget, they tell me they are excited to hear about the fact that virtually all of our deductions have to do with their lives, the things they deal with and their daily issues.

Obviously the goods and services tax is one with which they are familiar. We are committed to reducing that by 1% by July 1, 2006, and then by another percentage point later in the mandate. I have heard some questions about why we did not just cut the GST immediately when the budget was presented.

The main reason is that the business community asked that we wait to allow its members to have the time to adjust their cash registers, accounting systems and those kinds of things to make the change. It has been interesting. The people I have heard from most on this issue have been the car dealers. They think people are actually holding off until after July 1 to buy cars. We might not think this cut is a big deal on a $30,000 car, but people will save $300 and they are excited about that. The car dealers are having to figure out whether they will absorb that loss themselves or if they are going to have people put off their purchases until after the change. It has been fun to see people excited about that.

There are many other things that we are doing. The Canada employment credit we are coming forth with is a tax credit of up $500 on employment income. People who are forced to spend money on uniforms and those kinds of things are going to be able to get a tax credit for what they are spending.

We are reducing the lowest tax rate to 15.5%. Of course, the Liberal government will claim it was doing that, but it came up with all kinds of promises that it never came through on. This budget confirms that the lowest tax rate will be 15.5% from January--