Shelly Glover

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance has conducted a costing analysis of Bill C-463. Based on Statistics Canada data on existing travel patterns in Canada, it is estimated that the cost of the measure proposed in Bill C-463 would be about $215 million in 2017, the year in which the proposed travel deduction would come into effect. It is unclear to what degree the proposal would induce individuals to travel more or change their travel plans, but any increase in eligible travel would increase this cost.

We are not aware of any costing done by other government departments.

[Employment Insurance, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we will not speculate on what is to come, but I must say that I am very proud of this government's record on skills training. In fact, I have to point out some things the NDP has voted against that have led to some fantastic numbers in February: 50,000 net new jobs created, in fact.

The NDP voted against every job creation measure put forward by this government. It voted against apprenticeship completion grants. It voted against students who need those apprenticeship grants. In fact, in the spirit of International Women's Day, I hope that those women who took those apprenticeship grants remember that the NDP voted against them.

[Employment Insurance, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is fair to say that this government has done a lot to help people acquire the skills they need to find jobs.

Here are some of the programs we created: the apprenticeship completion grant, which the NDP voted against; the apprenticeship incentive grant, which the NDP voted against; and the apprenticeship job creation tax credit, which the NDP voted against.

In addition, this government has just created 50,000 more jobs, for a total of 950,000 net new jobs in Canada since the recession.

[Retiring Senator, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful, dedicated senator who is now retiring after two decades of service to Canadians and Manitobans. Senator Stratton has been a personal friend and an invaluable mentor to me. We share many of the same interests and passions.

This includes the French language.

Senator Stratton spent the early years of his career as an architect, and after working many years in that field, he became an instructor at Red River College. His commitment to our community evolved and he served on many boards, including the University of Winnipeg and the United Way of Winnipeg, and in March 1993, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada.

For the last 20 years, Senator Stratton has worked tirelessly toward the betterment of Canada, often sacrificing personal and family time in his service to this country. He has done us all very proud, and I am sure I speak for all of my colleagues in this House when I say that he will be greatly missed. I ask the House to join me in thanking Senator Terry Stratton for his years of service and in wishing him all the best in retirement.

[Intergovernmental Relations, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our government has a good record when it comes to skills and skills training in all regions.

On the contrary, the Bloc has voted against a number of training measures we have introduced. The apprenticeship completion grant, the apprenticeship incentive grant, the apprenticeship job creation tax credit: the Bloc voted against them all.

We will continue with our plan to support workers.

[Pensions, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working hard to improve Canadians' retirement security. For instance, we cut taxes for seniors and pensioners by over $2 billion annually, including pension income splitting. We reformed the framework governing federally regulated pensions to better protect pensioners.

As we have said many times before in this place, CPP reforms continue to be examined by ourselves and provincial governments. We and many provinces want to ensure that any modest reforms reflect the current global economic reality.

[Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012, March 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I find it absolutely incredible what the member for Vaudreuil-Soulanges just said about not knowing about this until it hit the paper and about bringing it forward for debate. In fact, we have heard from witnesses in the finance committee who have said repeatedly that this has been introduced nine different times. A witness said that just two days ago. It has been consulted on hundreds of times.

I am quite perplexed to understand why the NDP continues to delay for the sake of delay. In fact, I have heard from every single witness in finance committee that we need to get this through as quickly as possible. In fact, they have said that it is well supported. It is uncontroversial.

The NDP and the Liberals received early binders and unlimited access to briefings from officials. Why on earth they have not taken the opportunity to do that is beyond me. The truth of the matter is that the NDP wants to force this government to act on behalf of taxpayers by using time allocation, and we will continue to do that, because the taxpayers deserve better than the delay tactics of the NDP just for the sake of delay.

Could the minister tell us if she has ever heard from a stakeholder, an individual or a Canadian who has asked for a delay in the bill being passed?

[The Economy, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is worth repeating: today Stats Canada announced that the Canadian economy grew by .6% in the fourth quarter of 2012. While modest, this is, in fact, the strongest growth among all G7 countries in the quarter. This further underlines that Canada has become a leader in the turbulent global economy.

As mentioned, the global economy does remain very fragile. That is why the upcoming economic action plan 2013 will focus on positive initiatives to support job growth and long-term prosperity while keeping taxes low and returning to balanced budgets.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, March 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said many times, our priority is economic growth, job creation and our country's long-term prosperity.

I am very proud to say that Canada posted an economic growth rate of 0.6%, the highest rate among all of the G7 countries. We are proud of that fact.

If the NDP had its way, it would waste $56 million. We will not do that. We will continue with our plan.

[The Economy, February 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is indeed being recognized around the world. Here is what the CEO of Cisco Systems, a leading global enterprise, had to say about the economic leadership of our Conservative government:

The easiest place in the world to do business is Canada. Their prime minister gets it. They make it easy for me to invest and do acquisitions there; they have a great education program and they have a great immigration policy.

While our plan attracts investment and creates jobs for Canadians, the NDP will harm that with the $21 billion--