Ed Komarnicki

[Poverty, October 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we obviously sympathize with anyone who does not have a job, but the best way to get people out of poverty is to provide jobs for them. We have provided a number of initiatives under our economic action plan. We have created 430,000 jobs. Additionally, by work sharing, we have preserved over 255,000 jobs.

The leader of the member's party, the Liberal Party, would rather impose taxes, increase the GST and put taxes on business, which would cause a loss of over 300,000 jobs. That is the difference between us and them.

[Poverty, October 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we are indeed very interested in helping those who are in need. We have taken a number of initiatives in that regard. We have passed a number of tax measures to ensure there is more money in people's pockets to help them through difficult times. In fact, by reducing taxes, the average Canadian family will have an additional $3,000 in its pocket that it would not have had under the tax and spend policies of the Liberal Party.

[Employment Insurance, October 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we will look after our workers. We will look after them through the difficult times, as we have throughout our program. We ask the member to get behind us and support us in this effort.

We are reviewing the programs to ensure that the best interests of Canadian workers are kept in mind, and that job creators will be there for them.

We will make that announcement in due course. I can assure this House that we will always look after the unemployed during difficult times, unlike the party that would rather put a 45- day work year in place and increase the premiums. That would cause job losses, and we will not do it.

[Employment Insurance, October 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken a number of measures to help the unemployed. If the member was championing the unemployed, he should have supported those five extra weeks, like the long-tenured workers project, like the investments in training and job skills. He did not support those.

We can tell the member this. We will look at the pilot projects and make sure that we get the best results from them. We will have an answer for the member in due course.

[Seniors, October 1st, 2010]

Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise in the House to recognize today as the International Day of Older Persons and the proposed day in Bill C-40 to be Canada's National Seniors Day. In June the Minister of State for Seniors introduced Celebrating Canada's Seniors Act, which passed with the support of all parties in the House.

This Conservative government recognizes the important involvement of seniors in our communities and their valuable contributions to Canada as a whole. They are volunteers, mentors, business leaders and experienced workers.

When I think of a senior who volunteered all of his life in many capacities, I think of my long-time acquaintance and friend, Bob Burns of Estevan, Saskatchewan, who at 80 years of age still umpires ball.

On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I would like to say a big thanks to the seniors of our country.

[Child Care, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have committed $250 million to the provinces each year and they have announced over 62,000 spaces since March 2007, something they did not do under the previous Liberal government.

Taxpayers across the country are better today than they were during the Liberal government. This is what the opposition leader said, “We will have to raise taxes”. He went on to say, “...I'm not going to take a GST hike off the table...”. He described himself as a “tax-and-spend, Pearsonian, Trudeau Liberal”.

The public should be concerned about what will happen if a Liberal government is in place. We have reduced taxes and put more money in Canadian pockets than the Liberals ever have.

[Child Care, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have done a number of things through the economic action plan. Through tax reductions, we have put more money into the pockets of every Canadian family; an extra $3,000 that were not there when opposition members were in government. We have done a number of things to ensure that families have more dollars to work with and can look after their child care needs. We have also invested with the provinces to ensure that spaces are created.

[Employment Insurance, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we took a number of initiatives to help people in difficult times. We extended EI benefits to a number of people by five extra weeks. We invested a number of dollars for training. We did all of those things and members of the Liberal Party opposed those measures. They did not support those measures and now they are asking for extensions to be made.

We said that we would look at those pilot projects to ensure they have value for money and we will make an announcement soon. We would ask the members to be patient and to support us when we put them forward.

[Employment Insurance, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, those were temporary targeted measures to help Canadians hardest hit. We were clear and transparent about that. There are some pilot projects that are ongoing. We are looking at the pilot projects and ensuring they are effective, they provide value for money and what their impact would be on our labour market. Decisions will be made and announced in the near future. I ask the member to stay tuned.

[September 20th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let me talk about the record of the Liberals. It is a failure. Canada experienced, and these are facts, the second highest jump in child poverty among 14 peer OECD countries during the Liberals' tenure.

In 1998 the UN stated that the Liberal government had exacerbated homelessness among vulnerable groups during a time of strong economic growth and increasing affluence.

We will not take lessons from that party. At a time when Canadians are watching their own pocketbooks and making sacrifices, the opposition has banded together to propose billions and billions of dollars in irresponsible spending that will not create a single job or leave a single dollar more in the pockets of Canadians. The opposition only sees these dollars as tools to build their ineffective, irresponsible, ideological big government pet projects. Its plans will raise taxes, kill jobs and inflate the deficit for years on end.

Our record is strong. We are helping Canadians. We are lowering taxes. We are helping to create jobs and train Canadians with the skills they need to get jobs. Our record is one of giving effectiveness and comprehensive help to Canadians and their families. We stand on that record and we will continue to stand on that record.