Patrick Brown

[Petitions, March 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition today from the Grandmothers for Grandmothers in Africa in my riding. They have collected over 1,000 signatures from Barrie, Ontario.

The petition is focused on increasing foreign aid, in particular the global fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, and for providing lower cost medicines and drugs for developing countries.

It is my pleasure to table this petition on behalf of that very active association in the riding of Barrie.

[Spirit Catcher Award, February 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, one of the most prestigious awards in Barrie is the city council Spirit Catcher Award. The spirit catcher stands high above the city's waterfront and symbolizes the city. This year's recipient was Arch Brown, who is no relation, by the way. Arch already holds an incredible array of honours, including the chamber of commerce's hall of fame, honorary colonel of Canadian Forces Base Borden, a senator of the Grey and Simcoe Foresters, the Queen's golden jubilee medal, and the Order of Canada.

Arch has been a tremendous supporter of the MacLaren art gallery in Barrie and Georgian College. His donation to Georgian College resulted in the building of the Helen and Arch Brown Centre for Visual Arts, and Arch's friendship with former premier Bill Davis also played a big role in the development of Georgian College in the 1970s.

Arch has had a distinguished career with Canadian Tire as its national sales director. He introduced the company's groundbreaking cash bonus program, Canadian Tire money, and set up most of their stores across Canada.

Today I salute Arch as Barrie's 2009 Spirit Catcher Award recipient and I salute the work he has done in building Barrie for the better.

[The Budget, January 29th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I will be a colleague of the member for Etobicoke North on the health committee, and we can focus on how to help Canadians who are most vulnerable.

This budget certainly invests heavily in the Canadian economy as a stimulus to create jobs and help those who are vulnerable. That is exactly what this budget is about. I know that is the threshold it was viewed from. If the hon. member wants to help Canadians who are on the brink, the best thing to do is reinvigorate the economy. That is what this budget focuses on.

[The Budget, January 29th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the opportunity to share some information with him on a part of the budget he may not yet have had a chance to read.

In the budget, $400 million is allocated over two years for the construction of housing units for low-income seniors. That is certainly going to be helpful to Canadian seniors. I am sure it is one of the reasons we are hearing positive feedback about the budget, because it is not just increasing the age credit, but it is actual, tangible action of $400 million. No one can belittle that amount. It is a serious commitment to helping low-income seniors and to construct housing units for persons with disabilities, social housing units and affordable housing units.

[The Budget, January 29th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I find it amusing to hear a Liberal member of Parliament talk about social programs. In the early 1990s, when we last entertained this global slowdown, it was the decision of his party and his government to actually slash, cut and burn social programs as a means of balancing the budget. It is a bit hypocritical.

I note that the tax reduction measures are geared to Canadians most in need. That is exactly the purpose of the budget, and I would encourage the member to read it. If that is what he is concerned about, obviously he will be more content when he supports the budget, as his party is doing.

[The Budget, January 29th, 2009]

Good afternoon, Madam Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you during a critical period for Canada. I would also note that I am sharing my time with our distinguished member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

A synchronized global recession is hitting every economy in the world. Canada, as a great trading nation, is feeling its effects. I have certainly noticed the pain in my home town of Barrie as well. We have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector, as have many towns in Ontario.

It is my sincere belief that the economic action plan delivered by the finance minister on January 27 was an appropriate and meaningful answer to the economic challenges we are facing. It is Canada's plan to stimulate our economy, to protect Canadians during this global recession and to invest in our long-term growth.

Our government built this plan after one of the broadest and deepest consultation processes in Canadian history. We heard Canadians' concerns about their jobs, their savings and their families. We listened to their concerns and took their advice. Now we are taking immediate and meaningful action.

We are giving more tax relief by letting Canadians earn more money before paying higher tax rates. We are building on the benefits that exist for low-income Canadians. The working income tax benefit is being increased as an added incentive for Canadians to join and remain in the workforce.

I was at the Terraces seniors home in Barrie last weekend for the 90th birthday party of my friend Raymond Blackett. I was told as I left his birthday party to make sure that we did not forget seniors in the budget. I am pleased to say that the budget certainly did not. Seniors will see new support. We are increasing the age credit amount by an additional $1,000, and we are also reducing by 25% the amount Canadian seniors are required to withdraw from their registered retirement income funds for 2008.

The bottom line is that this year and over the next five years, our personal income tax measures will put about $20 billion back into Canadians' hands and back into the Canadian economy to keep it moving forward.

When I think of tax relief, I think of my grandfather. He is very much the typical resident in Barrie. I have dinner with my grandfather every Sunday. He is 92 years old. He has been working every day all his life. He gives me the same message every Sunday: “Tell those folks in Ottawa we pay too much tax”. I think his sentiment is shared by many Canadians. I am glad the budget recognizes that we need to put more funds back into Canadians' pockets.

Let me paint a picture of how tax relief helps the local economy. I give the example of a family in Barrie. Garry Perkins, on Crompton Drive, is a pilot in Barrie. His wife Karen is a local nurse. The Perkins family resides in the north end of Barrie.

Cutting taxes means they will have more money available to support their family. I asked Garry what this tax relief would mean to him, and he gave me an example. Maybe it means he could get his son Andrew a new set of hockey equipment from Garner's, a local sports store on Dunlop Street, so by supporting local business, we are protecting a job that might have been imperilled during the slowdown. The cycle provides tremendous synergy for our economy when we put money back into the pockets of Canadians. Plain and simple, putting tax dollars back into the economy works.

I was particularly encouraged by another aspect of the budget, an aspect that I think is important to note from the perspective of an Ontarian. When I looked at the breakdown of health care across the country, I noticed Ontario is getting a $139 million increase in health care transfers. Canadians coast to coast are seeing an increase as well. It is important to note that point, because the last time Canada and the world faced a significant global recession, the approach taken by the government of the day, a Liberal government, was to significantly cut health care transfers to the provinces. The pain caused by those cuts was quite dramatic. The doctor shortages we are facing today, and some of the catastrophic crunches hospitals are facing, are a direct result of the beating the health care system took during that government's attempt to hide fiscal problems by attacking the health care system.

This government has shown a lot of leadership by managing to continue to increase health care funds despite the economic challenges we are facing, to such an extent that the Liberal Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, actually commended the Prime Minister two days ago for the budget, which he believes is positive for the country and the province of Ontario.

I am pretty excited about that aspect of the budget. I was touring the ER ward at Royal Victoria Hospital with the head of the nurses' union, Tracey Taylor. I talked to a local nurse, Betty, from Dunsmore Lane in Barrie, and they are already working beyond capacity. It would be the wrong choice to cut health care funds at this time. I am glad this government is not repeating the dreadful mistake that occurred in the 1990s when that government made that error.

Housing and renovation are important aspects of the budget to highlight. Our plan gives a shot in the arm to the home construction and home renovation industries. Both are key drivers of our economy. It allows first-time home buyers more flexibility to withdraw from RRSPs to make their purchase and gives them a break through a tax credit on their closing costs.

Our plan also includes a new measure to let Canadians invest in the value of their homes while putting tradespeople to work and giving a boost to businesses that make and sell building products. For the next two years, the new home renovation tax credit will apply to the costs of labour and supplies. It could save Canadians up to $1,350 when they improve their homes. This should certainly create jobs across the country.

I look at this through the lens of the city I represent. Just two weeks ago I was touring the facility of Yanch Heating in Barrie, one of Canada's leading producers of geothermal technology. I went on the tour with company owner Chris Yanch, who told me residents are taking up this notion of geothermal, which reduces energy consumption by 75%. He said the missing link was that there was not enough incentive to make those changes, and he wished we had a budget that would provide a little more help.

I am very pleased to be able to call that company and say that a resident in Barrie or anywhere in Canada who wanted to install geothermal would now get $1,350 more. We are helping people become active environmental stewards of their own homes.

On that same note, I remember meeting in the summer with people from another company in Barrie, Dommelvalley. They produce solar panels, and they also said that they could do so much more if there were a little incentive to help Canadians make these retrofits to their homes.

This budget does just that. It is important, and Canadians should certainly take the government up on it and make these changes. This incentive supports local businesses, creates jobs, benefits the value of people's homes and benefits the environment, particularly if they choose some of the new technologies available.

Another aspect of the budget that is particularly encouraging is the record investment in infrastructure. From 2000 to 2005, prior to my election to Parliament, I was a city councillor in Barrie. For two of those years I was the finance chair. When we were doing budget every year, I remember how constrained municipalities were with infrastructure needs that existed in Canadian municipalities.

A government that gets it and acts is a tremendous step forward for municipalities. Make no bones about it: this is an all-time record investment in infrastructure, and it is going to make a tremendous difference by not only creating jobs through the construction that this infrastructure will entail but also by helping and strengthening the vibrancy of municipalities in this country.

As Canadian families take steps to build infrastructure in their own homes, we are taking action to build infrastructure across the country. We know that getting shovels into the ground today will create jobs for Canadians now while providing the framework for Canadians to grow upon in the years to come. We are building and renewing municipal, provincial and territorial infrastructure, our post-secondary research and health infrastructure, and our key federal assets. This money will flow quickly, and the shovels will hit the ground quickly. We will see a smoother approval process for projects, and less bureaucracy and red tape.

We are talking about infrastructure that people generally identify quickly. Barrie has several shovel-ready projects, and I see examples that could turn into job creation projects in the future, such as the Allandale train station and even Georgian College, since part of this budget allocates $2 billion for college and university infrastructure upgrades. This budget is a win on numerous fronts.

I will quickly add one last point. The fund available for rinks will be a boon for Canadian communities that could not afford outdoor or artificial ice rinks. Barrie tried a few times, but the money was not available. Now communities like Barrie will be able to have that recreation. This is a tremendous budget for Canadians. It is going to make our communities stronger and I am excited to support it.

[Economic and Fiscal Statement, December 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, has the member from the NDP taken into consideration what economists and investors are saying right now?

The Canadian Press stated that uncertainty in Ottawa “could send financial markets and the loonie...even lower”. This was according to economists.

Economists say the uncertainty plaguing the political scene could send financial markets and the loonie sinking even lower amid growing economic tumult.

“If we don’t know who the government will be, markets tend to be a little more unsettled and foreign investors in particular are not going to be comfortable investing in a place in which the leadership is unknown,” said Eric Lascelles, an economist with TD Securities.

Canada’s main stock index, the S&P/TSX composite, fell more than 725 points halfway through the trading day Monday as the Liberals and NDP worked to firm up details of a potential [coup d’état].

Why would the NDP member imperil jobs at this time? He is listening to economists saying this and he is seeing the effects on the market. At the same time, I--

[Economic and Fiscal Statement, December 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on the topic of deficits and economic statements, it is interesting to hear the NDP provide lectures, given their record when in power in Ontario. During that time Ontario's economy took a devastating hit from the NDP's spending spree and the cuts they made to essential services. I note on infrastructure that it was the NDP government that actually cut GO train service to the Simcoe-Muskoka area when it was in power. I can tell members that was the wrong approach. Cutting infrastructure spending at the time of a slowdown was a foolhardy act by the Ontario NDP government of the time, and right now that approach certainly would not be right nationally. That is why it is fantastic that our finance minister wants to accelerate infrastructure spending and help rejuvenate the Canadian economy.

In terms of seniors, I would like to mention to my colleague, the member for Trinity—Spadina, that it was a Conservative government that actually created a cabinet minister for seniors' issues, thereby recognizing the importance of seniors and the role government has in standing up for seniors and protecting them.

I would suggest that two financial concerns exist today for seniors. The first is the impression that assets in RRIFs must be sold to meet withdrawal requirements. The second has to do with the recent drop in the market value of some of those assets. Our finance minister has made it clear to financial institutions that they should either accommodate in-kind transfers of those assets at no cost or offer another solution that would achieve the same result.

To help seniors cope, the economic statement proposes a one-time change that would allow RRIF holders to reduce the required minimum withdrawal by 25% for this tax year. This measure would mean that seniors would be under less pressure to withdraw assets at a time when those assets are at a low point in their market value, another fact that highlights how this Conservative government is standing up for, and protecting, Canadian seniors.

[Economic and Fiscal Statement, December 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear my colleague from the Liberal side of the House talk about debt. We are certainly very well aware that it took a Conservative Prime Minister to provide real action to reduce the Canadian debt. The $37 billion paid down during the last three years under this government is a noteworthy figure. It is a record debt repayment.

We have seen a real change in the approach to debt compared with what happened in the past. Every year the Liberal Party would blow $5 billion, $6 billion, $7 billion at the end of the fiscal year on whatever project was its whim. Instead of having these massive surpluses that Liberals blow in a short period of 30 days on whatever project appeals to them in the winds of change that week, it is a much more prudent approach to pay down the Canadian debt, and that is the approach taken by this government.

I appreciate the member's raising the issue of debt, because that is certainly one of the reasons Canadians rewarded the Conservative Party when they increased and strengthened this minority government.

[Economic and Fiscal Statement, December 1st, 2008]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is obviously important to note that the person who presided over the cuts to health care and medical enrolment in Ontario during that period was the member for Toronto Centre. Scary as it might be, it would not be surprising if he ended up as a minister in a coalition government with the separatists. He may choose to continue the ravaging of health care in Ontario that he started.

Our economic and fiscal statement is taking steps to help Canadian seniors. Our seniors built this country. They deserve to live with dignity and respect.

Registered retirement income funds, or RRIFs, and their associated withdrawal requirements are of particular concern. Last year our government raised the age limit for converting a registered retirement savings plan and an RRIF from 69 years of age to 71.

This government is proposing a one-time change that would allow RRIF holders to reduce their required minimum withdrawal by 25% for this tax year. For example, an individual who would be required to withdraw $10,000 from an RRIF in 2008 would see that withdrawal reduced to $7,500.

On top of the $2 billion increase to the borrowing authority of Export Development Canada, the finance minister has also planned for a $350 million equity injection that would support up to approximately $1.5 billion in increased credit for Canada's export business. That should be applauded by all members in the House who are concerned about Canada's export business.

The export sector has been hit hard by the financial crisis. EDC will now be able to add to the nearly $80 billion in exports and investments it helps make possible for Canadian enterprises, including $4 billion for the auto sector alone.

This government will move forward quickly on the securities regulation front. Our cumbersome and unwieldy system of having 13 security regulators is a glaring flaw in Canada's world-leading approach to promoting financial stability.

This government came to office looking years down the road. Our country is better off today thanks to that approach.

On October 14 Canadians chose a Conservative government to deal with the economic crisis facing the world. I am pretty sure that when Canadians went to the ballot box, they did not pick a Liberal-NDP-Bloc Québécois government. If the rumours are correct, this coup d'état, this non-election, this takeover of democracy, would certainly misrepresent the views of Canadians.

We will deal with these economic challenges in a way that protects Canadian families, in a way that Canadians asked of us and expressed by their opinions at the ballot box. Our plan demonstrates restraint and respect for Canadian tax dollars. It forces governments and politicians to cut back before asking ordinary Canadians to tighten their belts.

The Conservative government's economic plan will reform global finance, ensure sound budgeting, secure jobs for Canadian families and communities, expand investment and trade, and make government more effective.