Kevin Sorenson

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I think the former Liberal cabinet minister understands the situation.

He talks about not having enough time to debate. There is more time for debate on this budget bill than there has been in the last 20 years. It is longer than any debate on a Liberal budget under their majority governments. Those are the facts.

There are five days of debate on a budget in the fall. This minister makes it sound as though we are cutting this thing very short, but it is longer than they allowed the Parliament of Canada in their majority government.

The aim of today's motion is to provide certainty to the House and to the finance committee so that they can move forward with their plans. In terms of debate, it moves from being debated here to being studied and debated in the finance committee. Then it comes back and then it goes forward again. There will be ample debate on this bill.

I encourage the member to read it and to stand in the House and debate it when the debate is fully under way.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member talked about a number of measures there, and he asked a lot of questions.

Although this bill has been talked about in the House in earlier debate, I am not certain if freezing the EI rates for three years, which is part of what this bill would do, was in the throne speech or not. That measure would give certainty and take away risk. Knowing what it is going to do would give certainty to employers across the country.

They like to call it payroll taxes. We have said that we are not going to raise those. There are those who have suggested raising this payroll tax and that payroll tax and raising taxes in general; we have said that the climate of the economy right now is not one in which we want to raise taxes.

When I travel around my constituency and across Canada, I do not meet any Canadians who say that they would love to send Ottawa more money. They do not believe in the tax, whether it is through income tax, corporate tax, or their $21 billion carbon tax. Canadians are saying that we need to build the economy. It is not going to be built by clobbering them with another tax.

The member talked about some labour issues. There is the labour code and there are labour relations issues. Some of those are included as well. They are a big part of the economy and they are going to be in the budget. You will have the opportunity to debate those issues at that time.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member from Quebec brings out one very small part and asks why it is in the budget implementation act.

We believe this matter needs to be resolved quickly, and this is probably one of the best ways to move it through the House quickly. If we could pass this measure unanimously right now, I would certainly be in favour, but I do not think it is possible for that to happen in the House right now. That is why the budget implementation act was the earliest and quickest way to resolve the matter. The member asked about that one part, and that is the answer.

However, let me say that it is a very small line in a 308-page document. In the past budget implementation, we delivered on our commitment. That is why Canada is positioned the way it is. That is why it is recognized around the world that we have the best Minister of Finance in the world sitting right here, the member for Whitby—Oshawa. We have a Prime Minister who understands the economy and is keeping a steady hand on the wheel.

I am pleased to say that we have been making the right choices for Canadians, for families, for employees, for employers, and for communities. Much more of that legislation is found right here within the budget implementation act no. 2.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, two and a half years ago Canadians elected this Conservative government. They elected it because they wanted the government to help put in place policies that would guide the Canadian economy through some very turbulent waters.

The government came forward with a number of plans, including Canada's economic action plan and infrastructure plans. We came forward with plan after plan. According to every international group, it succeeded. The level of optimism here in Canada is high.

Around the world, people recognize that Canada is one of the best places to do business, so what is this plan? Is it simply to spend money on infrastructure? No. The member brought forward the hiring credit and some other very good policy we have put in place. We saw unemployment rise far too high, so we came forward with a number of different measures, including the job grant and before that the hiring credit, that would give small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to use a credit if they created another position on EI.

That is part of the plan. It is not “the” plan for the economy; it is a very small part of the plan. However, it allows small businesses to move forward, and if they need that extra little nudge, that extra little push into expanding their businesses in this tough time, they have to take some risk, but at least there is a measure that will be a little bit of an incentive to hire another person.

When that individual is hired, it is a job, it means food on the table at home, and it means that the economy expands and grows.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member is talking about the scope of this bill.

It has been common practice in the House to include various measures in a budget and the subsequent budget implementation act. That is nothing new, nor was it new in past parliaments and past governments. It is not groundbreaking. It simply reflects the essential and important role of a budget to a government's agenda.

What constitutes a budgetary item is traditionally very broad. In 2005, the former Liberal government brought in Bill C-43, one of three budgets it brought in that year. Bill C-43, which was introduced in the 38th Parliament, amended dozens of different pieces of legislation. Part of what the Liberals legislated in Bill C-43 was the Auditor General Act, the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada Act, the Broadcasting Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. There were 15 or 20 different acts.

It is common. The Liberal government has done it. Other governments do it. In some of these cases, it is to shepherd or move certain pieces of legislation through in an expedited fashion.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this budget will help small and medium-size business. We have helped create over a million jobs. Granted they were created by small and medium-size business, but we have put measures in place to help build jobs.

The NDP, the no development party, across the way does not understand that. Its members seem to believe that jobs just come and go. When we sit and listen to them, it seems they are almost as satisfied if the jobs go. Therefore, we want to put in place measures that will help small and medium-size businesses create jobs. They are doing a pretty good job of it. Out of all the industrialized countries in the G7 and G8, the most optimism is with respect to this country. That is because we have put measures in place. We have come forward with the budget, half of it in the spring and the other in the fall, which includes measures such as the lifetime capital gains exemption. People are even contacting those MPs about the importance of this legislation.

Let us move this to debate. A filibuster is not debate. I never said that. I said that what happened in committee was filibuster. This is not anywhere on the same level. We want four or five days of debate on this budget. Anyone across the way who wants to speak will have ample opportunity.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member's question, which really was not a question. However, the New Democratic Party is the party of filibustering.

We have sat through a number of minority governments. I have had the privilege of chairing the foreign affairs, Afghanistan, public safety and national security committees. Except in the last Parliament—working together, things had been working better—the filibuster party across the way has made every step almost impossible in those minority governments.

This is not that type of thing. This is a measure to implement the budget, to implement the plan. It is a plan that, again, extends and expands the hiring credit for small business.

I was asked earlier what I heard in the Yukon. Well, I heard in the Yukon what I heard all across the country. Measures like the hiring credit are imperative for us to create other positions in our businesses. It is imperative for us to expand our businesses. This budget allows for that type of legislation to be implemented.

The passage of this budget, BIA 2, that we are discussing right now would allow it to move to committee where it could be discussed, debated and studied, and then return here and be passed. There are many more good measures in this budget that Canadians, their families and small and medium sized businesses are requesting out of this government. It is very important that we move on this quickly, that we finish the debate, that we pass this very important legislation and implement the good measures that are in it.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this summer I was very pleased to travel to the member's riding and into the Yukon and Whitehorse to meet with the chamber of commerce and business folks from there. I was encouraged with the level of optimism there. They understood that the economic action plan was working not only for the Government of Canada; it was working for them, for Canadians and for families. The infrastructure programs were not just helping to put people to work, although that was a mandate and a priority for the government; they saw that infrastructure programs were leading to increased commerce and growth in the economy.

The level of optimism is not only in the Yukon; it is across the country. That is because Canadians realize that this government has a plan. Part of the opposition's concern is that we are trying to implement the plan. Yes, we want this plan to go forward because it affects Canadians.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the fact remains that time allocation is generally moved many times. Debate is cut short, very short, in minority governments. In this debate that could go on forever, we are allowing more time than Liberal governments allowed when they were in a majority government. We have had one day of debate already, and another four days of debate will give ample opportunity for members from all parties to stand and debate the issues in this bill. There are many very good points in the bill.

Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of Canada said that growth is not as robust as initially expected; so there are many different measures brought forward in the bill that will help create jobs; many measures in the bill that are exactly what job creators are asking for. It is important to realize that we have created over a million net new jobs, but there are many more who still need to be working. Let us put these things into the budget, pass it and move on.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, October 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, there were not a lot of questions in the member's minute or two. He used language like “guillotine” and other things that are really not anywhere close to what is happening.

The member would have the public believe that these are extraordinary measures. We had the budget in the spring. This budget implementation bill is the second part of it. It is very important that we move this through the House. We give ample time to debate it in the House. The member did not argue that we were not giving ample time. He argued that we were closing it down after an agreement with the NDP. I have seen agreements with New Democratic Party before.

We are doing this to move the bill to committee. We all need to understand the importance of the fragility of this economy. Certainly this budget debate is going to allow this to be passed. That is what Canadians are looking for.

Canada's economic action plan 2013 is the next step to helping create an environment in which jobs can be created, very simply. The member is asking why we are pushing this through. Far too many people across this country today still do not have work, although we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the industrialized world. We watched it drop from 7.1% to 6.9%. Still, security and the confidence of the economy in passing this bill is an important step.

Canadians are waiting for things that are in this bill. They are waiting for the different measures that will be brought forward in the second part of the economic action plan. We are here today. We want to move as quickly as possible into debate and then get this to committee.