Stephen Harper

[Employment, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the minister tabled an excellent plan and has the record to prove it. That is the best job creation record in the G7.

What are the proposals of the NDP? That we should shut down our resource industries, because they are a disease; that we should block all trade agreements, because they are against trade; that we should bring in a carbon tax and raise taxes on Canadian consumers and businesses.

The reason Canada has such an outstanding job creation and growth record compared to most other developed economies is precisely because we do the opposite of what the NDP proposes.

[Democratic Reform, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the allegation about my own donors is completely false.

The point I would make is that these kinds of fraudulent allegations are exactly what we get when a party loses an election.

[Democratic Reform, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this refers to people who have been long-time donors to a political party, which is a very small percentage of the electorate.

I point out the hypocrisy of the leader of the NDP. His own party, when it established internal spending limits on its campaign, made an exception for fundraising for its political candidates.

It is not reasonable. It is reasonable that those expenses would be paid entirely by the party, and unlike eligible expenses, would not be claimed for reimbursement, as the NDP would like to do.

[Democratic Reform, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the main problem is that the NDP decided to oppose this bill before they even read it. The NDP critic even admitted it. The reality is that the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada has very important duties in the conduct of elections. According to his report, there is a lot of work to be done to improve the system and we encourage Elections Canada to do its job.

[Democratic Reform, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this reform is to ensure that there is an independent commissioner of elections who can conduct investigations. It is essential that this office have all the necessary tools for dealing with electoral fraud.

[The Economy, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party leader's economic analysis is off. That is not enough. If we want to keep taxes low, we need more than just economic growth. We also need to control the growth of spending.

That is exactly what we are doing on this side, controlling our expenses, making sure we are not raising taxes and making key investments while balancing the budget, not all by itself.

[The Economy, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the record of the government's economic action plans is very clear.

This country, coming out of the recession, has the highest growth rate among major developed economies. It has the highest level of job creation. It is one of the few with a AAA credit rating. It has the strongest financial sector in the world. It has, by far, the lowest debt among the major developed economies.

That is our record, year after year after year. Crazy statements about “the budget will balance itself” come from the Liberal Party year after year after year.

[Veterans Affairs, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this government, even before the budget, has made record investments into precisely those kinds of health services for our veterans.

I was delighted to see the Legion support yesterday for the extension of the Last Post Fund.

It is passing strange that the leader of the Liberal Party would ask me about someone else's comments on the budget when yesterday he said that we should not balancing the budget in this country because, according to him, “...the budget will balance itself”.

I will let him explain that.

[Democratic Reform, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we discussed this matter with organizations like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

There was a deficit in the employment insurance fund during the recession. Now we are balancing that fund. Our system is based on the idea of keeping that fund balanced over the long term.

[Democratic Reform, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. All Canadians, including elections officials, have every responsibility to report any evidence of wrongdoing to Elections Canada and to the commissioner of elections. That is what we do on this side. Certainly, we want to make sure that, when there are incidents like the cheating the NDP did with the union donations, all of that information is made completely public, as it should have been.