House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 58% of the vote.
The Economy December 7th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, Canada's economic recovery remains our government's number one priority. We must stay the course and pass Bill C-47 in order to ensure that we sustain Canada's economic recovery.
This is a recovery that has been the envy of the world, with over 440,000 jobs created and five continuous quarters of economic growth. What is the opposition's plan? Higher taxes and to kill 400,000 jobs.
Questions on the Order Paper December 6th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), the Department of Finance prepares a range of memorandums for the Minister of Finance, including the David Dunlop Observatory; however, such memorandums serve as advice to the minister.
In response to (b), this is not applicable.
In response to (c), the subject matter of the memorandum was David Dunlop Observatory.
Finance December 6th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we remain on track to balance the budget by 2015-16, but I can assure the member opposite that if his proposals for our next budget are to spend more on this and spend more on that, there will be no balanced budget in Canada this year, next year or any years in the future. We have to be fiscally responsible in this country.
Finance December 6th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite and his party supported the stimulus program. They particularly supported the infrastructure program in Quebec. In fact, day after day they were getting up in this House saying that not only was the stimulus program a good idea, but it should be extended.
Now, because of the reasonableness, flexibility and fairness of the Ministry of Transport, it has been extended, so I wonder now whether the member opposite, my critic, is serious when he says that we ought not to continue with the stimulus program to the end of the program.
The Economy December 6th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, the member for Kings—Hants now comes here and says that he is opposed to the deficit that was created by the necessary stimulus spending to save and create jobs in Canada during the worst recession since the Great Depression that came from outside our country.
Here is what he said before. He said, “The Canadian stimulus package undoubtedly created economic activity and jobs”.
That is what he said in October 2010, not what he says today.
The Economy December 6th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, of course we remain on track to balance the budget in 2015-16. Nothing has changed. We have the lowest deficit in the G7. In fact, our deficit for this year is lower than originally forecast.
Since July 2009, since the end of the recession, we have created, and now the number has gone up, 440,000 new jobs in Canada.
The Economy December 2nd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we have always said that we would be fair, reasonable and flexible. Nearly 90% of the infrastructure projects across the country, more than 20,000 of them, will be completed on time by the end of March.
We have begun planning for the next phase of the economic action plan. It is becoming clear, though, that some projects, a relatively small number, will not be finished on time for various good reasons.
Therefore, we have extended the deadline through another full construction season to help create jobs and ensure these projects are completed.
The Economy December 2nd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as I have already indicated to the House today, leading independent private assessors, forecasters and analysts have looked at this, including the University of Toronto, the Conference Board of Canada, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the National Bank Financial Group.
They all came to the conclusion that we have created or maintained about 220,000 jobs as a result, strictly, of the economic action plan. Of course, we have had economic growth as well in the past five quarters, resulting in nearly 430,000 total net new jobs in Canada since the end of the recession.
The Economy December 2nd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, since the end of the recession, that is since the end of the second quarter in 2009, the end of July 2009, the overall job creation has been 430,000 net new jobs in Canada.
This is more than the total number of jobs lost during the three quarters of recession that we suffered through.
Infrastructure December 2nd, 2010
Mr. Speaker, our partners, the provinces and the municipalities, have done a terrific job. Nearly 90% of these infrastructure projects will be completed by the deadline. We are talking about more than 20,000 projects across the country. That is why so many jobs have been created across Canada. Nearly 90% will be completed on time. One more construction season will be allowed for the rest of them to be completed because we are being fair, reasonable and flexible.