House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 78% of the vote.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, not only did we address that in the last budget by raising it from 69 to 71 when seniors could rollover their RRSPs into RRIFs, we came up with a novel idea, and that was a way for taxpayers to save their money tax-free. That is in the tax-free savings account.
We are encouraging seniors, when they are rolling out of their RRSPs, to open a tax free savings account that they can benefit from tax free.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, this government is very concerned about the plight in which seniors are caught. It is a very serious matter. Seniors are concerned about their futures, their investments and their retirement funds. That is why the minister yesterday wrote letters to all federally regulated financial institutions to ensure that seniors who were transferring money out of their RRSPs into their RRIFs could actually do that without consequences.
The finance minister is ahead of the opposition by a long shot.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, in fact, we have taken many of those measures. It would be good if the hon. member would go back to budget 2008 and recognize what we did for investments in research and development and what we did with the billion dollar community development trust fund for those communities that were struggling at the time.
We will be discussing this in more detail. The finance minister will be tabling the fall economic update next Thursday.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, I welcome my hon. colleague back to the House and congratulate him on his re-election.
In answer to his question, I would suggest that he wait, like the rest of us, until next Thursday when he will see some concrete measures and some improvements on how we can deal with the financial situation that we are faced with right now.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, speaking of failures, I believe that is why we have a Conservative government.
People soundly rejected the policies of the Liberal government, a Liberal government that transferred the costs to the provinces. During the nineties, the Liberal government slashed transfer payments for education, for social programs, for health. That is why we are spending more money trying to rebuild the damage that was created by a former Liberal government.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, once again, I will remind the hon. member that there was no legislated contingency fund. It was a surplus that was driven by Liberal policies that overtaxed Canadians. Canadians do not want to be overtaxed. We heard that loud and clear during the campaign this year. Canadians thanked us for cutting their taxes. Canadians thanked us for taking 700,000 people off the tax roll.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, I might remind hon. members that the hon. member's seatmate in budget 2004 actually increased spending by 15%. The Liberals are making wild accusations about increased spending from this side of the House. The only reason that the government had to increase spending was to pay back the provinces the Liberal government's cuts to transfer payments. That is not fair. We do not treat provinces like that. We do not treat Canadians like that.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, once again, it is not Liberals' money. It is taxpayers' money. The Conservative government does not believe in overtaxing Canadians just to build a slush fund so it can have its March madness as happened in Liberal years. We also will not transfer the costs of a potential deficit of this financial struggle we are in onto the backs of the provinces as the Liberals did during the 1990s.
The Economy November 21st, 2008
Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me welcome you back to the chair. I think it was a wise choice by those who supported you, Mr. Speaker. We are glad to have you back, looking after this wonderful establishment that we call our home during the week.
In answer to the question, this fictional contingency fund that the hon. member speaks of was never legislated. It was on the backs of taxpayers. Once again, Liberals think that tax dollars are their money. They are not. They are Canadians' money.
Mr. Speaker, I would hope that my colleague from the Bloc will recognize the tangible and constructive measures this government brought forward. Including those I mentioned earlier, we have also helped the manufacturing sector with $9 billion in tax relief, including broad-based tax reductions as well as a temporary accelerated write-off for investments in machinery and equipment.
These tax relief measures, along with the community development trust and targeted initiative for older workers, are broad-based measures. Again, our economic plan, “Advantage Canada”, is working for Canadians and Quebeckers.
We are seeing in the May employment data, 18,000 net new jobs in Quebec and there are more positives on the horizon. As Jay Bryan pointed out in the Montreal Gazette this weekend:
The backlog of unfilled orders among Canadian manufacturers has grown strongly in recent months, and is now 20 per cent higher than it was at this time last year.