Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House once again on behalf of the people of Crowfoot and to respond to the Speech from the Throne delivered in the Senate chamber yesterday.
This is also my first opportunity to speak in this 40th Parliament on behalf of the voters of Crowfoot. I want to spend a few moments to thank them for the support and the confidence that they placed in me in the last election. I pledge again today to work very hard on their behalf as their elected federal representative in the House of Commons. I am humbled and I want to thank them for their strong level of support.
I want to thank my campaign team, my campaign manager, my board, Steven Snider, Judy Wilson and Gail Nordstrom, three of the main ones in my campaign organization.
Most of all this afternoon, I would like to thank my wife and my family for their remarkable support, not only in the last campaign but throughout my tenure here in the fourth Parliament that I have had the privilege of serving.
I should also say a little personal note. Shortly after the election my wife broke her arm and is today sitting at home recuperating from two major surgeries on that arm. I wish her a speedy recovery as I sit way down here and she sits way back there.
In the last election the people of Crowfoot spoke with a very strong voice. Again, I am proud to be their spokesman in this place. It is an honour to represent people who are so firm in their convictions.
I would like to think that Albertans know a fair bit about what works and what does not work. We try to pay as we go. We also try to save for rainy days. Our communities, like many other communities across the country, pull together when the going gets tough to accomplish large tasks.
I hope in this 40th Parliament that we learn from the lessons of our municipal leaders and our provinces. With the different parties that are represented in Parliament, I hope we learn to pull together because over the next bit, as the global economic crisis increases, we will need all parties to work together where we can to help make our nation stronger.
My riding is predominantly a rural riding consisting of a few small cities, a number of large towns and many villages and smaller towns. I think everyone is now aware of the economic times ahead. Over the past summer, we faced some very difficult times. In fact, in the election campaign, when we began in September, the number one issue was the high cost of fuel.
People drive long distances in my rural riding. There is no mass transit. We drive to work. Our children are picked up by school buses and in some cases transported for close to an hour to get to school. With the high price of gasoline and diesel fuel this past summer, we had a preview of some of the hard and difficult times that our country would perhaps go through, although the economy in Alberta remains fairly stable.
The agricultural sector in my constituency was hit hard as well. Input costs were high. The price of diesel was felt when the tractors were fuelled up in the spring and the combines in the fall. We have high input costs already and this was an added blow to the agricultural sector. People in Crowfoot remain confident and optimistic.
Basically, the constituency is made up of predominantly fiscal Conservatives. We understand that when the going gets tough, we have to batten down the hatches and face what is coming. We do what is necessary to get the job done. We work together.
When I think back over my 10 years in Parliament, I think about different analogies of working together.
In 2002 Alberta faced the largest drought that our country has ever seen. In my agricultural and mainly gas and oil riding the farmers were devastated. We had no feed for our livestock. Members will recall that eastern farmers responded. Farmers from Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia sent 60,000 large hay bales out to Alberta in what we called the Hay West Campaign. I had the privilege of serving as one of the ones who helped distribute that hay in Alberta. We got the animals fed. That is how Canada works. We had come together. We put aside party lines and we ask how we can help when there is a need. We help each other.
The Speech from the Throne states on page 3:
Canada was founded on the belief that, by joining our strength in confederation, our united country would be able to meet and rise above any challenge set before us.
Canadians on October 14, and also in 2006, elected a Prime Minister and a government that were prepared to lead our country through this global economic crisis. There is a plan for our country to survive the coming hard times and emerge as an even stronger nation when things turn around and become more stable in the global economy. Part of the plan was given to us yesterday in the Speech from the Throne.
All countries in the world already recognize that the economic fundamentals have served us here in Canada very well. Many nations wish they would have adopted similar banking systems and regulations that Canada has had the privilege and the pleasure of living under for many years.
These nations also know that since 2006, the Conservative government has paid down close to $40 billion on the accumulated national debt. In the previous Parliament, our government dramatically reduced taxes for businesses, families and individuals. Our government's prudent economic track record is the reason Canadians re-elected us to govern on October 14. Canadian voters entrusted our government with a renewed and a strengthened mandate. Now they are saying that they expect this Parliament to work.
At the same time, the time of extraordinary global challenge, our Prime Minister and my colleagues are mindful of the privilege and the responsibility that we have to govern and that has been entrusted to us. Therefore, in the Speech from the Throne we pledged that we would devote our energy to addressing the challenges that families and businesses faced. Our government is committed to ensuring Canada's continued economic success even in spite of the global economic instability.
The Speech from the Throne lays out the government's plan to protect the economy and the security of Canadians by doing a number of things. I will list five of them here: first, reforming global finance; second, ensuring sound budgeting; third, securing jobs for families and communities; fourth, expanding investment and trade; and, fifth, making government more effective.
What will this plan do? In order to reform the global finance networks, Canada has agreed to work with its allies and trading partners to re-examine and renew the rules that underpin the global financial system. Our Prime Minister already has assured leaders from other allied countries and other counterparts in the international community that we will work together and that we will help them in the current crisis.
We will ensure our federal government sticks to sound budgeting so Canada does not return to ongoing, unsustainable structural deficits. We will be putting all federal expenditures under the microscope of responsible spending. This is what small families, individuals and businesses expect. That is what they are doing right now as they recognize also the difficult times that they will be facing in their business, the same type of re-evaluation at which many businesses are looking.
The Prime Minister's plans outlined in the throne speech will also secure jobs for families and communities by encouraging the skilled trades and apprenticeships, and supporting workers facing transition.
The Prime Minister gave us an appetizer as to what we may be doing with apprenticeship programs, but I think it is important that we understand that the key to a strong economy in these difficult times is to continue to educate our workforce, to continue to ensure it is trained, and that it is ready to face the onslaught that is coming.
We also stated that we will expand our investment and we will expand our trade with the United States. We want to work on addressing the shared challenges that we have with our largest trading partner and our closest neighbour. We want to also encourage new trade agreements with European countries, Asia and the Americas. I am very pleased to see that the Minister of State for the Americas recognizes the importance of continuing this, together with our trade minister.
Finally, we want to make government more effective by reducing red tape, fixing procurement, improving program and service delivery, and improving the management of federal agencies, boards, commissions and crown corporations.
The Speech from the Throne states:
Hard decisions will be needed to keep federal spending under control and focused on results. Grants, contributions and capital expenditures will be placed under the microscope of responsible spending. Departments will have the funding they need to deliver essential programs and services, and no more.
As Canadians begin to tighten their belts, watch their wallets closely, streamline business and cut out inefficiencies, our federal government will be doing the same thing. Given today's economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever that our government keeps our sights fixed on responsible fiscal management.
The throne speech also sets out our government's plan to build on the work that we did in the previous Parliament. We are making a difference in the lives of Canadians. Besides recognizing this economic global unrest, besides recognizing what came out of the United States and that has affected the entire world, this government has recognized that people and families are still the main reason that we work here in this place.
Besides working to face this crisis, our government wants to secure our energy future, tackle climate change and preserve Canada's environment, expand opportunities for Canadians and also keep Canadians safe. We highlighted contributing to global security and building stronger institutions.
I want to talk not so much specifically in great detail but just a bit on each one of those.
In terms of reducing our energy future, we want to develop our rich energy resources and pursue new, cleaner energy supplies. This includes further development of natural gas resources in Canada's north. Although we have talked about many different aspects of Canada's north, the importance of our sovereignty, the importance of using it or losing it, the natural gas and the resources that are in the north will definitely be a huge part in our coming out of this downturn and securing our future.
We will tackle climate change and preserve Canada's environment by continuing what we brought forward in the last Parliament, by reducing our gas emissions 20% by the year 2020. We will ensure that 90% of our electricity needs are met by non-emitting sources by 2020.
My constituency office still receives letters about the sale of Canada's fresh water. I think it was the Prime Minister again today who very clearly said that we will ban bulk water exports. We will protect Canada's fresh water and our environment. To underscore that, this is part of the plan in the throne speech.
We plan to further improve the universal child care benefit, increase access to maternity and parental benefits under employment insurance, and take action to help Canadians who care for loved ones with disabilities. Those who were in the previous Parliament know that these were all issues that were brought forward and we continue to work toward.
In terms of the security of our country, we pledge to keep Canadians safe by strengthening the sentences for serious criminal offences. Canadians need to be assured that they are safe in their homes and in their communities. We want to strengthen our criminal justice system in key areas, such as youth crime, organized crime and gang violence. We need to continue to focus gun laws on ending smuggling and stronger penalties for gun crimes.
The throne speech says that our government does not support criminalizing law-abiding firearm owners. This again remains one of the most responded to issues in my constituency, the long gun registry. I was very pleased when I heard the Governor General mention this while reading the throne speech and our commitment to ending the long gun registry.
We will continue to contribute to global security by ensuring that our foreign policy is based on Canadian values. We will continue to rebuild Canadian Forces with the best possible equipment.
Again, we find that Canada is involved in Afghanistan, that Canada is taking a leading role in the most difficult part of Afghanistan, the Kandahar region, and we will again commit to being certain that the mission moves toward reconstruction and development as time goes on. We continue to help train the Afghan military, work with the Afghan police, and build institutions in Afghanistan. But the mission in Afghanistan continues to change.
Finally, we will not only improve the institutions in countries and nations far away but the institutions in our country. This includes moving toward representation by population in the House of Commons and in those provinces that are seeing a large growth in population, specifically British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
We also want to introduce fixed terms for our senators, allowing Senate nominees to be selected by voters. I should mention that Senator Bert Brown from my constituency sits in the other place down the hall and he is there because the people of Alberta elected him to that position.
In my riding the Speech from the Throne is good news on a number of fronts. We responded to many of the concerns that are facing our agricultural sector. We understand the difficulty that the beef industry is facing at the present time. In fact, while I was in Ottawa, my wife rounded up the cattle and sold our calf crop that I thought I would sell in January. I understand the difficulties that the agricultural sector is facing.
What was also mentioned in the Speech from the Throne was the fact that western Canadian farmers have asked the government to move toward a place where they could have more choice in how they market their grain. Again, we are committed to ensuring freedom of choice for grain marketing in western Canada and I look forward to moving toward that.
I encourage all members to sit back and take a look at the times we face. Where can we work together? There is a global economic crisis and Canada is very well positioned to come through it with far less pain than many other countries around the world. We have the opportunity to emerge from this crisis stronger than before, and I hope that this Parliament will take the opportunity to build on that so that Canada will continue to be strong and that Canada will continue to prosper.
