Matt Jeneroux

[The Budget, April 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to share my time with the hon. member for Haldimand—Norfolk.

I am pleased to rise to speak to budget 2016 presented by the Liberal government. However, I would like to waste no time at all though and express my opposition to the direction of this budget and particularly where the Prime Minister is taking the country.

I am here on behalf of my constituents in Edmonton Riverbend, and I owe it to them to represent our views and our vision for the future. I have pledged to view every decision made in the House through that very lens, but this budget makes it so very easy to feel like we have been let down in Edmonton and in Alberta.

This budget took away what hope struggling Canadians had left and failed to explicitly do what Liberals promised Canadians during the 2015 election campaign. The Liberal candidates in Edmonton paraded around the city saying, “Don't worry, it's only a $10-billion deficit,” and “Don't worry, we have a plan to ensure people don't lose their jobs.” These are words that perhaps every Liberal candidate in my city believed, and perhaps even some Liberals in this House still believe. However, this budget is something that should make every member of that caucus go back to his or her riding, particularly in Edmonton, and feel embarrassed. The messages of “don't worry” are certainly worrying Albertans more and more each day.

The unemployment situation in western Canada is dire. Families are struggling to pay their bills, and some are even foreclosing on their homes. Their hardships are made even worse when many are facing layoffs, and the ones who are wondering when it will be their turn cannot simply, as the Prime Minister put it, “hang in there”, nor should they be forced to. These hard-working Canadians deserve a budget that gets them back to work.

The Liberals said, “Don't worry, we'll build bridges, roads, green transit.” However, the infrastructure announcements in the budget go absolutely nowhere to help those in the energy sector. My constituency office phone is ringing off the hook with not only my constituents but those from the ridings of Edmonton Centre and Edmonton Mill Woods asking for my help and if I can talk any sense into the Liberal government, the Liberal members, and the Prime Minister. They want to know where the Liberal government's claim that its spending will create 143,000 jobs over the next two years and boost the GDP by 0.5% in 2016 and 1% in 2017 came from. Bank economists have said that the Liberal budget as delivered vastly overestimates the jobs that will be created, and will only increase GDP by 0.1% to 0.3%. This is a “real” change.

I cannot ignore the major focus of Edmontonians over the past two weeks without addressing the impact of leaving Edmonton out of the EI expansion. Edmonton and area residents were the only region in Alberta that were left out of the expansion and left without any sort of financial relief, even though Edmonton is a region that is uniquely positioned within our country.

It is easy to look at the cold, hard mathematics, as the Prime Minister said, and determine that Edmonton is a very small percentage, below the arbitrary number selected by the Prime Minister for this expansion. However, that is not understanding Edmonton; that is not understanding Alberta, and that certainly is not understanding the energy sector.

Edmonton and the Edmonton area have an immense impact on the energy sector in our province. For example, in my riding I have a number of workers who live in Edmonton Riverbend; however, they commute weeks on and weeks off to Fort McMurray. These people are counted in the Fort McMurray mathematics and not the Edmonton mathematics.

Another example, and a place I had the honour of touring over the last week is Nisku. Nisku, if members have ever visited, is a hub of activity for heavy machinery and industrial work specifically related to the oil sands. This region has been hit hard, so hard that a major company like PCL Industrial does not know where its next job will come from six months from now. That is scary. Denying these workers and these companies the expansion of EI benefits like the rest of the province shows a serious lack of understanding of how our province operates.

When the Prime Minister did come to Edmonton, flanked by two very uncomfortable MPs for that matter, and proceeded to tell us that we should be, and I quote, “thankful”, I was shocked. The previous day I was asked by a number of media outlets to comment on the visit by the Prime Minister. To be completely honest, I was expecting the Prime Minister to adjust his thinking, show up in Edmonton, and say that Edmonton is now included, what a terrible oversight that was, and offer an apology to Edmontonians. I was ready to commend the Prime Minister and tell him he did the right thing, but he did not say what I had hoped he would say, and we are still fighting with his office to have him reconsider the unique situation Edmonton is in.

To further drive home the point of how out of touch the Prime Minister really is, even the provincial New Democrats pulled themselves away from their latest attack on Alberta workers and jobs in the province, to raise alarms on what the decision to exclude Edmonton from the extended EI benefit means to the Edmonton region. Granted, they did it a day too late, as the Prime Minister had already left town, but at least they were making an effort.

Setting this aside, I wonder why there was an EI expansion package plan but no formal road map to get unemployed Canadians back to work. It seems that the Prime Minister would prefer to grasp at the low-hanging fruit and spend money giving a few more weeks of EI rather than providing a necessary job growth plan that would allow workers to be financially independent and generate revenue for the government. Getting hard-working Canadians back to work, not in a decade but right away, should have been the primary objective of this budget. It is jobs that are ultimately going to put money in Canadians' pockets and help to balance the budget without raising taxes.

I am proud of the previous Conservative government's record of prioritizing jobs. Under the Conservative government, 1.3 million net new jobs were created, the most per capita in the G7. These were high-quality jobs, with 80% of them full time and in the private sector. The budget presented by the Liberals is a failed budget attempt and has let down hard-working Canadians who are struggling to pay their bills and seeing their savings dwindle away. It is obvious that the Prime Minister and the finance minister do not truly understand what is happening in western Canada.

However, to be honest, I am mostly disappointed with the Liberal MPs from the west who, in caucus, had a real opportunity to raise these issues on behalf of their constituents and did not. That is something that these MPs will have to live with back home. Perhaps some of them have been too busy over the past few weeks attending JUNO celebrations, hockey games, farewells to arenas, and hosting the Prime Minister in his riding. I can tell those MPs' constituents that on this side of the House, we listen to our constituents. We are here for them, and we will not let hard-working Canadians down.

[Don Getty, February 26th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I bring the House's attention to the passing of Don Getty.

Don Getty was a former premier of Alberta from 1985 to 1992. In 1965, the leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, Peter Lougheed, asked Don Getty to consider entering provincial politics. Don led Alberta for nearly seven years and presided over some of Alberta's toughest economic times.

Mr. Getty represented a large portion of what today is my riding of Edmonton Riverbend. Not only was he a politician but he also had a 10-year career as quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos, whom he led to win two Grey Cups. To this day, the number 27 continues to grace Commonwealth Stadium on the Edmonton Eskimos' wall of fame.

Premier Getty has left behind his wife Margaret and their four children. This is a great loss today not only for Mr. Getty's family but for all of Alberta, who will be in mourning for an exceptional hard-working man.

[Intergovernmental Affairs, February 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am a proud Albertan and I take tremendous pride in our resourceful and resilient province, a province, though, that seems to have been forgotten in the first 100 days of the current Liberal government.

I would like to take a moment to direct the Prime Minister, his government, and in particular four Liberal MPs from Alberta as to where the west is. It is that way.

The foreclosures in my constituency have real meaning and result in families uprooting their lives. People have lost their jobs, and can no longer afford to pay the bills. They cannot simply hang in there.

The hard-working constituents in Edmonton Riverbend elected me to stand up for them in the House. This is why I would like to point out that a previous Liberal prime minister was told that the west wants in. I am here to tell the current Prime Minister that the west needs in.

[Employment, February 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development stood and talked about his yet to be announced investment plan, in typical Liberal fashion, he forgot about the west. The anti-energy Liberal government has gone out of its way to kill jobs in western Canada. How can the Mississauga minister for Alberta, who just voted to kill a shovel-ready, job-creating pipeline, be trusted to do what is best for western Canada?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the hard-hitting question, as usual.

It is important to hear that, of course, we balance budgets, and of course, we are looking at the opposition over here who once ran one of the largest deficits in the history of our country. They are not thinking about future generations when they do that. This is one of things we heard at the door time and time again in Alberta.

We are experiencing it on the provincial side and we are now going to experience it on the federal side. I would ask, beg, and plead with hon. members on the other side to please consider not running a deficit for our kids, their kids, our grandkids, and for future generations. It is important for them and it is important for all of us in this chamber.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have friends in Tofino. I am sad to announce that they did not vote for the member, but he seems like a decent guy.

We need to build the pipelines to get our oil to market because that is what drives our economy. That is what drives the Alberta economy. There are a lot of trains out there as well. We would like to ensure that pipelines are built, because if oil is spilled from trains, it is something we should consider in terms of the environment.

What is particularly disappointing from the Liberal government is that when the announcement was made that Keystone would not go ahead, we had barely a word from the Prime Minister, a Prime Minister who quite frankly loves to say a word or two here and there. However, he was not anywhere to be seen. Now he is quite excited, as we all saw yesterday, to go to his fancy dinner with President Obama.

At the end of the day, we need to make sure that we are fighting for Alberta and for Canada. It is important to fight for Alberta because its oil drives our economy.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, our future is bright, particularly if we make the decisions that were quite present with our previous Conservative government. We made decisions about the UCCB. Our government made decisions on TFSAs and income splitting. I hope that these decisions will be reconsidered by members on the other side because they are things that could help young families and future generations.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, December 11th, 2015]

Congratulations to you, Mr. Speaker. You are now our ambassador both inside and outside these walls. For that, I admire you, and I challenge you to hold our Parliament to one of the greatest parliaments in Canadian history. It will not be easy, but you have my full support. I pledge this to you. If I make the grave mistake in the pursuit of heckling across the aisle, I will ensure that it is done in the most stealthy of fashions so you will never know it was me.

I am here and ultimately humbled, at the age of 34, to have been elected both provincially and federally. Of that I can be proud. However, what I am most proud of are two very smart, thoughtful, and generous little girls, Molly and Lily Jeneroux. These are my girls and my reason for being here. I recognize this is a world where we need people to put service before self and I am proud of who they are at the ages of six and eight, but I cannot wait to meet them as they grow into what I am certain will be remarkable young women.

Speaking of remarkable young women, I am also incredibly lucky to have the most beautiful, thoughtful and most kind person in love with me, my partner in life and all things, and soon to be Dr. Elizabeth Clement.

I also want to recognize the former member of Parliament for my region, James Rajotte. He is a man of great principles and dedication to our country. I am deeply honoured and humbled to be following him in this chair. He is a man who knows how to work hard, and that is a trait I plan to carry forward to represent our nation's best constituents, those from my home in Edmonton Riverbend.

However, this is where I would like to stop talking about me. Quite frankly, there are much more important things to talk about. I would like to focus this time—my time—to speak on what the Speech from the Throne means to our future generations. I thought it might be interesting because, quite simply, I get both excited and scared for our future leaders. I am excited because I truly feel there is nothing they cannot accomplish, but also scared because we are a country that is admired by so many in this world for its freedom and prosperity. It is the decisions we do not make today that could put all that at risk.

However, we are only a generation away from losing this way of life that we have worked so hard to achieve. I want our future generations to have a better life, a successful life. Let us take the message forward together. Deep down, we all have a dream for what Canada can become in the next 20 to 50 years, but we need to take responsibility for that dream. I challenge our future generations to make their dreams for our country a reality. I challenge them to say “yes” to their dreams, not to settle for mediocrity, and to work hard. Things in this life are not easy. They are hard. Do what is hard. Trust me that it will be worth the work.

There are many distractions in this world: Facebook, Twitter, social media. However, for our future generations, they should focus on their goals and dreams. They are responsible to our country to do just that.

Our future generations are certain to face many difficult challenges in the years to come. However, I want them to remember, each and every day, to embrace the Canada they want to see. There will be thousands of people lined up around each and every corner to tell them no, but they should not listen. I want our future generations to push themselves to do better, to be better for this world, and to be better for us. It is hard to push oneself, but that is the point: do what is hard. Their integrity and their honour are what define them. They should never let anyone tell them they cannot do something. If they want something, work hard. It is honestly that simple. I want our future generations to remember these words, as what we do inside this chamber for all of them is not something any one of us should ever forget.

I want to focus my remaining comments on my home province of Alberta.

I have grown up in a province that has taken action, a province that does a lot of the heavy lifting for the economy, but a province that is under attack both by its own NDP government and the federal Liberal government. I am fearful for our future there. If people do not believe me, the very decision to remove the responsibilities for the west and roll them into a minister from Toronto does not sit well with everyday Albertans. There are decisions like giving up on pipelines and tankers on the west coast. I ask members to please not take these decisions lightly. These decisions impact the lives and futures of many. I also ask members to please not make a political decision. The west is truly Canada's land of opportunity during economic hardships and we can be that way again.

We need a government that will join with us across the aisle and fight to ensure we have the jobs, the people, and ultimately the support to bring forward the next era of the golden west. We have been the strongest economic region in North America for the past 10 years. For the men and women who have lost their jobs in the oil patch, this Conservative team is here for them. For the farmers feeling threatened in their way of life, this Conservative team is here for them. For the working moms and dads who are now bracing for the burden of more debt, I pledge to them that this Conservative team is here for them.

I will be bold and I will make this promise on behalf of the 99 incredible Conservative MPs. We will all be here to fight with every last breath we take while we are here.

However, our time is limited here and I want to ensure we are all here considering our future leaders. I want all members of this chamber to ensure we are making the best decisions in here that will enhance their way of life. Decisions being made here already are being based more on political ideology and electioneering, more so than thinking of our daughters, sons, grandkids, and my kids.

With references to marijuana, CBC funding, and electoral reform all outnumbering jobs in the Speech from the Throne, I am concerned and downright disappointed that the Liberal government has already failed Canadians, not giving any opportunity or chance to enhance our way of life.

Finally, I would like to end with the challenge to the members on the government side to work hard as we build on what our forefathers have left before us. It will not be easy, but this job should not be easy. Future generations are watching and future generations rely on the very decisions we make.

We are all humans put together to make up the House of Commons. We will forever be bonded together. Let us not forget that. It takes courage to work together. I want our country to do better and be better because I was here. Quite simply, that is why I am here as the member of Parliament for Edmonton Riverbend.

I move:

That the motion be amended by adding, after the words “tax burden for Canadians”, the words “and back away from its undemocratic plan to scrap Canada's current voting system without consulting Canadians in a referendum first, as most democratic minded governments, such as the Governments of British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have done”.

[Natural Resources, December 9th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, oil prices continue to decline and jobs in my province in the Canadian energy sector are being lost, yet the Liberal government is abandoning the global consensus on temperature targets. Instead, it is supporting a radical environmental policy that would kill even more jobs.

Even the Alberta NDP had to pause briefly in its attack on farmers to comment that this decision is extreme and will displace emissions and chase good Canadian jobs to other parts of the world.

Why will the government not listen to Canadians in its mission to destroy our energy industry and the jobs that go with it?