Ralph Goodale

[The Economy, September 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the fact remains that the present government is the first government to increase EI premiums since Brian Mulroney. We reduced them 13 consecutive times.

Across Canada today there are thousands of families whose kids have earned good grades but they do not have the money for college or university so they do not get to go to school. There are thousands of young parents who need to work, so they need child care, but they cannot find a decent space or afford one so they cannot go to work. There are thousands of families without adequate pensions so they cannot retire. Ordinary families are drowning in a flood of household debt. Why will the government not help?

[The Economy, September 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks about EI premiums. The Conservatives are the ones who threatened to drive them up and now we are supposed to be grateful that their increase is only part of what they threatened. I suppose they are also proud of the fact that they are the only ones to increase EI premiums since Brian Mulroney.

For months on end the government denied there was a recession and denied there was a deficit, a deficit that it created before the recession. It even tried to redefine the term “debt” to hide the fact that it is the biggest borrowing, biggest spending government in Canadian history, but nothing for families.

[The Economy, September 30th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian economy not only stalled this summer, it began to shrink. Manufacturing, retail, wholesale, construction, forestry, housing, consumer spending and exports were all down. The one thing going up: the Conservative deficit. Still, the government blows $16 billion on stealth aircraft with no job guarantees, $10 billion on prisons for unreported crime and $6 billion for extra corporate tax cuts on borrowed money.

Why such bad choices? Why so out of touch with ordinary Canadian families?

[The Economy, September 27th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, make corporate tax cuts on borrowed money: $6 billion. Glow sticks, bug spray and fake lakes for the G20: $1.3 billion. Untendered contracts for stealth aircraft, but no job guarantees: $16 billion. Bigger jails to fight unreported crime: $10 billion. There is nothing for child care, nothing for access to university, nothing for home care, nothing for pensions and nothing to help make ends meet for ordinary families. Why not?

[The Economy, September 27th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's large corporate tax rate has already been cut by 35%. It is already the lowest in the G7, except for that in the U.K. It is already 10 points lower than that in the U.S. All of that was accomplished affordably and sustainably while Canada ran a decade of Liberal surplus budgets.

Times have changed. There is now a $50 billion Conservative deficit. The recession killed 150,000 full-time jobs. Families are using half their income to pay their mortgage. Why is there nothing to ease the cost of living for average Canadians?

[The Economy, September 27th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, between 2006 and 2008, while the world economy was still strong, the government increased federal spending by a whopping three times the rate of inflation. It cancelled contingency reserves and made this country more vulnerable. The Conservative deficit began before any recession and now the economy is slowing again with 150,000 full-time jobs lost and not recovered.

Why does the government have nothing for ordinary families except bitter speeches and corporate tax cuts for the big and wealthy?

[G8 and G20 Summits, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, he was talking about money flowing in, not money flowing out.

Typical Canadian families are struggling to meet their living costs. Household debt is the highest in the western world. Families are worried they cannot afford child care, elder care, education or decent pensions.

They see their government blowing $16 billion on untendered stealth fighters, $10 billion on bigger jails, $6 billion on corporate tax giveaways, and $1.3 billion on a G20 photo op with $400,000 for high-end porta-potties.

How can the Conservatives be so out of touch?

[G8 and G20 Summits, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the government is anything but transparent. It did not divulge the embarrassing $200 million in expenses voluntarily. It was forced to do so by the Liberal MP for Pickering—Scarborough East and there is still more than $1 billion in additional spending yet to be revealed. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, for example, failed to answer anything.

When will the government come clean with full disclosure on all the expenses? How much of the non-security spending was sole-sourced, without tender, without competition, against every rule in the book?

[G8 and G20 Summits, September 24th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have saddled Canadians with a $54 billion deficit, a deficit which began before, not because of, but before there was any recession.

So many Canadians were appalled to learn how the government has squandered $85,000 on snacks at just one hotel for G20 high rollers, $300,000 on bug spray, $14,000 on glow sticks, $2 million to rent 37,000 cars, and all of that just for two days.

What is the justification for this orgy of excess?

[Potash Industry, September 23rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the recent experience with foreign takeovers has been troubling and now there is a transaction looming over the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

Will the government make public any analysis it does of the terms of any proposed potash deal, including specifically the conditions it applies? Will it provide practical, enforceable remedies if any of those conditions are breached? Will it ensure that any new potash marketing strategy provides a measurable net benefit to Saskatchewan at least as good as what exists today?