Mr. Speaker, I am profoundly honoured and grateful to the Prime Minister for this opportunity, in my maiden speech to the House of Commons, to move the motion in reply to the Speech from the Throne.
For this opportunity of a lifetime, my greatest thanks go to the voters of Mississauga South who I hereby commit to repay by serving them to the best of my ability with integrity, humility and hard work. I am proud to represent the kind and wonderful people of Mississauga South. This beautiful waterfront community is my home, and I will always be grateful for this opportunity to represent and to serve them.
The voters of Mississauga South elected me to represent them in this House as a member of the Conservative government for the same reasons that I chose to seek election as a candidate for the Conservative Party. For the last five years, our government, under this Prime Minister, has provided Canada with steady, capable and competent leadership. Despite the constraints and uncertainties of minority Parliaments, the government has been true to the Conservative principles and objectives that won the trust of Canadians in 2006. The dozens of government bills passed since then collectively represent a body of legislative achievement that compares favourably to the record of any government, majority or minority, in Canadian history.
If I may invoke a hockey metaphor, which seems appropriate with the whole country riveted on the Stanley Cup finals, the success of our Conservative team rests first and foremost on our great chemistry. It is true that we are little short of left-wingers but our members from communities in every region of the country have excelled at every position, and our captain, as the best ones do, has raised the game of all of his teammates.
When Canada was dragged into the worst global recession in a half century, our team showed great poise. We stuck to our long-term game plan for low taxes and economic growth. In the short term, we successfully finessed the recession with a balanced attack of stimulus spending on public infrastructure, support for the hardest hit workers and communities and skilful stickhandling of our financial system through the international banking and currency crisis.
As a result, Canada was the last major economy dragged into the recession. We were the least affected by it and we are coming out of it in stronger economic shape than our main competitors. We have the lowest debt and deficit levels in the G7. We have the best job creation track record of most industrialized nations. We also have had seven consecutive quarters of modest but consistent economic growth.
Some of the other teams in this tournament, including traditional powerhouses, have not fared so well. Their recoveries have been slowed because they are badly out of fiscal shape, carrying way too much debt. We take little comfort in this victory on these terms because, unless and until those sovereign debt levels are seriously addressed and significantly reduced, the global economic recovery will remain at grave risk, and, once again, Canada could be dragged into an international economic crisis through no fault of its own. That is why our government must, and will, proceed with the next phase of our economic action plan, our low-tax plan for jobs and growth.
On Monday, my esteemed colleague, the member for Whitby—Oshawa, the world's best finance minister, will re-introduce budget 2011. It will continue our focus on job creation and economic growth by maintaining a stable and low tax environment, nurturing a highly-skilled and mobile workforce, supporting scientific and technological research and development, reducing red tape and expanding international trade.
Continuing with the singular focus on a broad-based tax reduction, which has been a hallmark of our government since 2006, the budget will introduce new tax credits for individuals and families and continue with business tax cuts to stimulate job creation.
To ensure Canadians of all ages can take full advantage of these job opportunities, we will provide more support for mid-career skills training, remove age barriers for older workers and help young people to acquire the skills they need to get ahead in the workplace.
In an age when more and more Canadians are building careers in the information and other technology sectors, we will create the optimal conditions for growing the sector with a digital economic strategy. It will improve digital infrastructure and encourage businesses to expand digital technologies and hire and train employees to achieve that goal. Moreover, copyright legislation that balances the interests of creators and consumers will streamline transactions and stimulate growth in the digital marketplace.
As a leader in the international fight against protectionism during the global recession, Canada will leverage its reputation as a free trading nation to expand an evergrowing list of trade agreements. At the top of the list are negotiations with two of the world's largest economies, India and the European Union, which both represent phenomenal opportunities for expanded trade investment and economic growth.
The United States remains our largest trading partner so our government will continue to work with the Obama administration on a continental security and economic framework that will ensure safe and streamlined trade and travel between our countries.
All these initiatives will stimulate greater foreign investment to fuel our economic growth, as will our efforts to make Canada a low tax destination for international business and investment and our plan to streamline corporate regulation with a new national securities regulator.
Among Canada's strongest comparative advantages in the global economy are its relatively low deficit and debt levels. That is what gave us the fiscal flexibility to deal with the recession as effectively as we did. However, now it is time to get back to balanced budgets so we are ready for anything the future holds.
Given the many uncertainties hanging over the recovery, it is crucial that we eliminate the deficit and start paying down the debt as soon as possible. That is why we have accelerated our timetable for returning to balanced budgets from 2015 to 2014.
The new cabinet subcommittee,which will lead a strategic and operating review of government spending, is mandated to reduce the cost of government without cutting essential health, pension and education transfers to the provinces and individuals. Its work will help restore balanced budgets and create the fiscal room that will allow for more debt paydown, more tax cuts and more investment in key priorities.
In the meantime, we will proceed with other benefits for families and seniors, including a permanent increase of the guaranteed income supplement that will boost nearly 700,000 of Canada's most vulnerable seniors, a new family caregiver tax credit to make it much easier for Canadians to look after aging or infirmed loved ones, and a new children's arts tax credit to help parents nurture the artistic and musical talents of their kids.
Recognizing Canada's aging population trends, we will also continue to expand options and incentives for retirement savings. Our tax free savings accounts were an important step in this direction and we plan to follow up with the pooled registered pension plan to help all Canadians plan for a financially secure retirement.
An aging population will also place greater demands on the health care system so we will maintain the 6% escalator in the Canada health transfer and continue working closely with the provinces to reduce wait times and renew the national health accord.
By definition, the mandate of Canada's national government is to focus on national issues and the national interest. However, within that mandate we have an obligation to help create the social and economic conditions that will allow regional communities and the industries that sustain them to prosper and succeed. Sometimes that means correcting past legislative mistakes that unfairly burdened certain communities. That is what was done to Canada's rural farmers and hunters under the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry, which is why we will introduce legislation to scrap it.
That is also what was done to western farmers under the single desk marketing system of the Canadian Wheat Board, which is why we will legislate to restore their freedom to sell wheat and barley on the open market.
That is what was done to Canada's aboriginal peoples when, in the name of protecting their land, customs and culture, they were locked behind legal barriers to full social and economic participation in the mainstream of Canadian life.
Our government will work with aboriginal communities to take down those barriers through new investments in first nations land management that will improve access to clean water and clean energy technologies.
Working with the provinces and territories we will also take concrete action to improve aboriginal elementary, secondary and adult education. We will also end gender-based discrimination on reserves by ensuring first nations people have the same matrimonial real property rights as all Canadians.
I am immensely proud of our government's record during our first five years in office. I am thrilled to now be a member of a government that will build on its accomplishments with the program outlined in the Speech from the Throne.
Therefore I move, seconded by the hon. member for Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, that the following address be presented to His Excellency the Governor General of Canada:
To His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada:
May it please Your Excellency:
We, Her Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the House of Commons of Canada, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Excellency for the gracious Speech which Your Excellency has addressed to both Houses of Parliament today.
