Mr. Speaker, I welcome this opportunity to speak today on what our Conservative government has done to ensure that Ontario's economic vitality remains vibrant and robust with a special focus on what we are doing to assist Ontario's manufacturing sector and its workers.
Ensuring the enhanced prosperity and well-being of all Canadians, including Ontarians, is a key priority of our government and we are delivering. Canada's economic fundamentals are solid. We are the only G-7 country not running a deficit. We have reduced the federal debt by $37 billion. We have had over a decade of sustained economic growth. Inflation remains low and unemployment is near its lowest level in 30 years.
However, there are clearly some sectors that are not benefiting from today's prosperity largely due to variables beyond our control, indeed beyond our own borders.
A volatile global economy, a weakening U.S. export market, the strength of the Canadian dollar against a weak U.S. dollar, high energy prices along with fierce competition from emerging economies like Brazil, China and India, have left several sectors located in Ontario struggling.
Canada's manufacturing heartland in Ontario has been negatively impacted with significant job losses. While we have seen job gains in other well-paying sectors to offset them, manufacturing job losses are nevertheless a concern.
Before continuing, I will note that the instability in the manufacturing sector is not a recent phenomenon but one that has been lingering well before our government came to power. As the United Steelworkers national director Ken Neumann recently observed, “The crisis didn't just start when the Conservatives took office...The Liberals had 12 years to deal with this stuff and they did nothing”.
Unlike the former Liberal government that ignored the plight of Ontario manufacturers, we have taken aggressive action to help create a more competitive and productive business environment, measures in the best interest of job creation, growth and investment.
For instance, we have provided tax relief in every way the government collects taxes that will total almost $200 billion. Yes, that is correct, $200 billion over this and the next five years, ensuring Canada's corporate taxes will become among the lowest in the major industrialized economies.
We are proud to note our actions have been roundly applauded by a wide range of organizations such as the Canadian Bankers Association who declared that this Conservative government “continues to take steps to establish a solid financial foundation that will allow Canada to generate further economic growth and remain competitive in a global economy”.
What is more, since 2006, over $9 billion of that tax relief will help the manufacturing sector meet current economic challenges and ensure their long term success, such as: reducing the corporate income tax rate in 2008, followed by ongoing reductions that will bring the tax rate down to 15% by 2012 from more than 22%; introducing a temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for investment in manufacturing and processing machinery and equipment that will provide $1.75 billion of assistance to the manufacturing sector; increasing the capital cost allowance rate to 10% for buildings used in manufacturing and processing and to 55% for computers; eliminating the corporate surtax for all corporations; eliminating the federal capital tax; reducing the small business income tax rate to 11%; providing greater accessibility to the enhanced scientific research and experimental development tax incentive program, while also improving administration of the program.
We are also providing more direct support to help the manufacturing sector and affected workers adjust to ongoing challenges: for the automotive sector a $250 million automotive innovation fund to support large scale research and development projects to develop innovative, greener and more fuel efficient vehicles, thereby helping our automotive industry to maintain its leadership position.
In addition to the automotive innovation fund, we have provided substantial funding for an access road to the new Windsor-Detroit border crossing to promote E85 fuel commercialization along with an enhanced EDC export guarantee program to increase guaranteed coverage to 90%.
I note such measures, all contained in budget 2008, have been very well received by the sector. General Motors of Canada praised them remarking, “Directionally it's very, very positive...they've really shown they're listening and they're moving forward”.
Leading industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers highly commended them, stating that together with previous budgets they revealed that the feds actually dedicated a significant amount of resources and political capital to the automotive sector and that, for the most part, this government was taking a proactive and positive approach to helping this industry.
We have also undertaken similarly targeted measures to assess the forestry sector. For instance, we are investing $127.5 million in the forestry industry's long term competitive initiative to support innovation and assist the forestry sector to shift toward higher value products to tap into new markets.
We have established a $25 million forest communities program that will assist 11 forest-based communities to make informed decisions on the forest land base.
We are also providing $10 million over two years to Natural Resources Canada to promote the forestry sector in international markets.
As Avrim Lazar of the Forest Products Association of Canada recently attested to during a recent appearance at the finance committee, when it comes to the forestry sector this Conservative government “--has done many positive things in the past and we're looking forward to many positive things in the future”.
While the previously mentioned examples of targeted support will help sectors generally, we also recognize that workers and communities affected by a changing global economic landscape also need assistance.
That is why we are simultaneously putting in place measures like the targeted initiative for older workers, a program that supports provinces in helping unemployed older workers who live in vulnerable communities stay in the workplace, a program we extended in 2012 in budget 2008 with $90 million in funding.
Similarly, we have also introduced a $1 billion community development trust to provide provincial government support to assist communities and workers affected by global economic instability. Ontario will receive $358 million under this trust.
I will point out that Ontario has already committed all of that federal funding for programs to support workers and communities in agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing, including the automotive sector, for initiatives such as new, up-to-date skills training for unemployed Ontario workers, including those communities in northwestern Ontario that have been hard hit by layoffs in the forestry sector.
Ontario's Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty has expressed his appreciation to our Conservative government for working cooperatively with his government to help Ontario adjust to new global economic challenges, stating the trust was “--good for the people of Ontario. [The Prime Minister] has done something which we've been asking of him”.
Let me just say here that the premier has rightfully been talking about the need for the two governments to partner more together. Partnership is an important aspect in our federation, but partnership works both ways.
In my riding of Niagara West--Glanbrook, fruit farmers have been eagerly awaiting money from a transition program designed to help them grow more profitable crops. Earlier this year I had the pleasure of announcing the federal portion of the program on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, but we are still waiting for the province of Ontario to partner with us.
Other provinces have reached agreements with our government including British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec, and I urge the premier of Ontario to move quickly to join with us in this important program.
Clearly, we have demonstrated our Conservative government's commitment to helping Ontario's manufacturing sector and workers. We have a shared interest working alongside the government of Ontario in this regard.
We also believe the provincial government has an important role to help create the right economic conditions through lowering the tax burden on Ontario businesses.
Moreover, it is important to note that the federal government is not alone in such suggestions. Economists and business leaders have been at the forefront of this charge.
As I conclude, I am actually rather surprised that the sponsor of today's motion and his Liberal colleagues, alleged proponents of lower corporate taxation, are now suggesting that the calls for lower corporate taxation in Ontario by the federal Minister of Finance are somehow wrong.
Consider the Liberal member for Kings—Hants who has stated, “There is no better tax reform in terms of its ability to attract investment and improve productivity, prosperity and the standard of living than corporate tax reform”.
Consider the leader of the Liberal Party who has proclaimed, “A low corporate tax rate is not a right wing policy or a left wing policy. It is a sound policy--”.
Consider the Liberal member for Markham—Unionville who has declared, “corporate tax cuts are one of the best strategies to attract investment and help manufacturers battered by the high Canadian dollar--”.
