Joe Oliver

[Employment, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, while the global economy remains fragile, our government is focused on creating jobs, growth and economic prosperity. Since the depths of the recession we have created 1.2 million net new jobs in the Canadian economy, and we will continue our low-tax plan for jobs and growth.

In contrast, the NDP has a plan to introduce a carbon tax, which is a job-killing plan that would take $20 billion out of the pockets of ordinary Canadians.

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government has provided unprecedented support to low-income Canadians.

We have removed over one million low-income Canadians, including 380 seniors, from the tax rolls. We have increased the amount that Canadians can earn tax free. We created the working income tax benefit, and we increased the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable Canadian seniors.

However, every time, the Liberals and New Democrats have voted against these measures and against low-income Canadians.

Under our government, the share of Canadians living in low-income families is the lowest it has been in 30 years. Low-income families have seen a 14% increase in their real after-tax income since 2006.

Over 40% of all taxpayers pay no net tax. It is no wonder the federal tax burden is at its lowest level in 50 years.

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, as members know, the Prime Minister announced a very important family tax package that will advantage every one of four million Canadian families. The average benefit will be $1,100. The majority of the benefits will go to low- and middle-income families, with 25% going to families earning less than $30,000 a year. Of course, this follows income splitting for seniors. It also includes the universal child care benefit, which will increase from $100 to $160 for families with children under six, and a new $60 a month for every family with children between six and 17. All four million families will benefit, and we are very proud of this progressive measure.

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, since the member opposite is interested in the CIBC report, let me quote what it said. It said that “...for the past year, the number of full-time jobs rose twice as fast as the number of part-time jobs...”.

Philip Cross, who I quoted earlier, said, “In fact, the net worth held by the middle income quintiles rose faster than the top income quintile in Canada...”.

Here is what the Center for American Progress said in a report that the member for Toronto Centre contributed to: Canada has “experienced continuing middle-income growth, while for many [countries] it has halted”. The report also notes that Canada has maintained a close link between productivity and job growth despite low wage competition.

As I said, it is rich for the NDP and Liberals to be criticizing our record on job creation. They voted against every job creation measure our government has put forward, including freezing EI rates, tax cuts for manufacturers, $70 billion in stable and predictable job-creating infrastructure, and more. We are focused on creating jobs and growth. The Liberal leader is pushing a high-tax, high-debt agenda that would threaten jobs and set working families back.

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the member opposite would like me to get on with the work of developing a budget, which is why I have not been able to attend the House as often as I had before. However, there is a different view about the CIBC report. Let me quote Philip Cross, who is a former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada. It is a little harsh, but let us get it in the record.

The number one issue facing this country is not income inequality, as CIBC claims, but the proliferation of pseudo-knowledge and sham data—nonsense free floating in our public discourse, but treated seriously by both mainstream and fringe media and commentators. It is the most important issue because it has ramifications for all the issues society faces and what needs to be done about it.

The point is that there are different views on these statistics, but it is clear that our government is focused on what matters most, jobs and economic growth. The fact is that almost 1.2 million net new jobs have been created since the recession. Both the IMF and the OECD forecast that Canada will have one of the strongest growth records among the G7 in the years ahead.

According to the International Labour Organization, something that might resonate with my NDP colleagues, according to its global wage report, Canada has the second best pay gains in the G20. With a fragile global economy, we must stay the course with our low-tax plan for jobs and growth. Our economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.8% in the third quarter of 2014 and it was higher than market expectations.

It is rich for the NDP members to criticize our record on job creation. They voted against every job creation measure our government has put forward.

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I talked about the fact that the Canadian economy is the envy of the world. However, the NDP wants to sink us back into red ink so it can waste money on its pet projects, while taxing away our prosperity. That makes no sense, particularly when the Fraser Institute released a report on the state of the Canadian economy just this morning, a report which stated that the adult unemployment rate was at the historic low level, and:

—we have seen a marked increase in high-wage factory jobs in Canada in recent years...There are few reasons to think the recent crisis has damaged the key ingredients propelling long-term growth in most of the world...More policy stimulus is not needed in North America at this time

Even worse, the member opposite wants to put all of this wasteful new spending on Canada's credit card, raising our debt, forcing our children and grandchildren to pony up for the bill of his party's big spending dreams. The promise of tax hikes for coming generations to pay for the NDP's irresponsible and reckless plans is not responsible leadership.

The NDP's so-called economic plan could jeopardize all of the hard work that Canadians have done to achieve the prosperity we have today. We reject this plan, as do Canadians.

There is a better way for Canada, a Conservative way, a low-tax, balanced budget plan for jobs and growth that is working. It is the plan our Conservative government is following, and it is a plan that works.

I would now like to remind the House about the key planks at the cornerstone of that plan: first, the solid fundamentals that come with fiscal responsibility; second, keeping taxes low for families and job-creating businesses; and third, expanding opportunity by cutting red tape and opening new markets.

Let me begin with fiscal responsibility.

Solid fiscal fundamentals start with a principle; that we have a responsibility to spend within our means. Families have to do that every day, and as a government, we must also respect that tried and true principle.

When our government came to power in 2006, the world was a very different place. The markets were flourishing and economic growth was strong. We reduced the federal debt. We lowered taxes for Canadians and for job-creating businesses, and we took on an ambitious plan to renew Canada's aging infrastructure. Then the storm hit, coming from outside our borders.

We all remember the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The subsequent financial crash erased $10 trillion in global market value, destroying the savings of families around the world.

That was how the great recession began, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, a downturn that cost 62 million jobs globally. It did not start in Canada, but it hit us none the less.

Historic action was required so we took historic action. Our economic action plan made unprecedented investments in thousands of infrastructure projects, investments in roads and bridges and in knowledge infrastructure, like research labs, universities, colleges and broadband Internet access for rural Canadians. These investments created the jobs we needed right when we needed them most. They created jobs at a time when jobs were being destroyed everywhere.

Fast forward to today and the evidence is clear. Our plan worked. We have accomplished so much, as Canadians, together. We have created over 1.2 million net new jobs since the depths of the recession. The overwhelming majority of those jobs are full time, in the private sector and in high-wage industries.

According to the International Labour Organization's global wage report, Canada has the second best pay gains in the G20. The Center for American Progress states that Canada has experienced continuing middle-class growth, while for many countries it has halted. A recent analysis done by The New York Times found that after-tax middle class incomes in Canada now appear to be higher than in the United States. In fact, the Canadian middle class is among the richest in the developed world.

Indeed, the very CIBC report that the NDP cites in this motion pointed out that for the past year the number of full-time jobs in Canada rose twice as fast as part-time jobs. This is the reality, a reality supported by objective evidence and real facts.

This reality did not prevent the NDP from voting against all of the job-creation measures taken by this government, such as freezing EI premiums, lowering taxes for the manufacturing sector and investing $70 billion in infrastructure to create stable, predictable jobs.

In contrast, when the time for stimulus was over, we did the responsible thing: we set out on a course to balance budgets. This took hard work and a plan. Canadians know that budgets do not balance themselves, though I hear having a trust fund is a big help. However, for those of us without that advantage, we have to plan ahead. Therefore, we made a plan. Then we followed our plan and it worked. We will balance the budget this year just as we promised Canadians we would, and we will not fall into the tax-and-spend ways of our Liberal and NDP opponents, which brings me to the low-tax part of our low-tax plan. We know that the Liberals and NDP are contemptuous of low taxes. To them, a dollar back in the pockets of families is a wasted dollar, a dollar lost for their big government pet projects.

It was the Liberal finance critic who said that the Liberals believe Canadians will not be bothered by being taxed more and more. It was the NDP author of this motion who called our Conservative government's universal child care benefit a “slap in the face”. The real slap in the face is every vote the Liberals and NDP cast against more money for moms and dads.

We have all heard about the inevitability of death and taxes. Will Rogers once joked that the only difference between death and taxes is that death does not get worse every time Congress meets. That is the kind of Parliament a Liberal or NDP government would deliver. However, that is not the Conservative way. We trust parents to raise their kids better than any social engineer would. We trust Canadians with their hard-earned money, more than the NDP or Liberals ever could. The Prime Minister has the best tax record of any prime minister in decades. Under his leadership, we have provided tax relief over 180 times since taking office. We brought the GST down to 5%. We created the popular tax free-savings accounts. We cut corporate taxes and small business taxes. We made Canada the first tariff-free zone for manufacturers in the G20. Last year we cut taxes for every family with children. Today the overall federal tax burden is at its lowest level in over half a century.

Not since John Diefenbaker was the prime minister have Canadians paid so little tax to Ottawa. Canada's economic competitiveness has hugely improved, creating new jobs for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. KPMG says Canada's total business tax costs are the lowest in the G7, 46% lower than in the United States. Canada has the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment in the G7. Bloomberg ranks us the second most attractive place in the world to do business. By lowering taxes, we are building a stronger economy for all Canadians.

To that end, we are cutting red tape and opening new markets. We established the one-for-one rule.

Every time the government imposes a new regulation, it must eliminate a regulation.

Businesses now spend 290,000 hours less a year on paperwork, which kills jobs.

By cutting red tape, the government is helping businesses save around $75 million a year, which helps more than 5,000 small businesses.

We know that our approach works. According to a study of 189 countries carried out by Public Works Canada, preparing, filing and paying taxes each year takes 25% less time for a business in Canada than for a business in the United States.

Canada is the only G7 country to rank among the top 10 based on the overall ease of paying taxes. Conservatives know that for Canada to create well-paying jobs, we need job creators spending their time growing their businesses, not choking on red tape and high taxes, but we also know that we have an obligation to open new markets to those job creators. We need to expand their opportunities so they can reach their full potential. Under Conservative leadership, Canada's free trade network now touches every corner of the globe. I cannot overstate the importance of this to the Canadian economy.

When our government took office in 2006, Canada had free trade agreements with five countries. That was not good enough for a country where 60% of GDP and one in five jobs are tied to trade. We now have free trade deals with 43 countries. In 2012, Canada joined the ambitious trans-Pacific partnership negotiations, and in March, the Prime Minister concluded negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, Canada's first in Asia.

The National Post called Canada a free trade empire that now covers the two largest markets in the world, the United States and Europe. This latter deal is a game changer. The European Union is the world's largest economy. This trade agreement is the most comprehensive free trade agreement in the history of our nation, more ambitious than NAFTA itself. The EU agreement will provide more open access to 28 countries, a market of 500 million people, and annual economic activity of $17 trillion.

Mr. Speaker, I will conclude today by reminding Canadians of what is at stake in the upcoming election. The policies I mentioned today work. These are policies that helped our country out of the worst of the recession and that have made Canada one of the most economically resilient countries in the world.

However, with the NDP and the Liberals, we have an opposition that wilfully ignores this success. Our jobs would be at risk, our economy would be at risk, our pocketbooks would be at risk, but with this Conservative government, under our Conservative Prime Minister, Canadians are in safe hands. Under our Prime Minister, we can all look forward to the serious and experienced leadership that Canada needs for these all-too-chaotic times in the world economy.

[Taxation, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud that over 11 million Canadians of all ages and income brackets have opened an account. The average income is $42,000 and the majority of the accounts go to low and middle-income Canadians.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons feels this is an extremely important policy for seniors. This government will protect the interests of seniors, middle-class families and all Canadians.

[Finance, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, as I said many times, there is no housing bubble. CMHC agrees, the Bank of Canada agrees and the OECD agrees.

We have taken a number of measures, which I have just discussed, and we continue to monitor the market very closely.

[Finance, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is worthwhile to quote the IMF directly. It said:

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Canada’s financial system held up remarkably well—making it the envy of its Group of Seven peers. This relative resilience was particularly impressive considering its most important trading and financial partner, the United States, was the epicenter of the crisis.

It further said that:

Over the past several years, Canada has taken numerous steps to reduce the economy’s vulnerabilities through policies designed to keep financial institutions and the financial system as a whole safer.

That is including housing.

[Finance, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, over the past few years, the government has taken measures to ensure the long-term stability of the housing market and to reduce taxpayer exposure. It specifically limited the government guarantee on insured mortgages for homes priced under $1 million. The government also reduced the maximum mortgage amortization period to 25 years and the maximum amount that lenders can provide when refinancing mortgage loans to 80%.

Our long-term objectives are—