Ted Menzies

[Budget Implementation, May 4th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to point out the strength in Canada's financial sector. Four years in a row the World Economic Forum has said that Canada's banking system is the best in the world. That is something to be proud of.

We do need to make sure that these rules that are under federal jurisdiction are enforced all across the provinces. That is why we continue to make sure that the banks follow the regulations that we put in place, so we can maintain that incredible record that is the envy of the world.

[Budget Implementation, May 4th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, that was very much a fact-free question. I do recall campaigning on jobs, the economy and long-term prosperity for the country. That is exactly what we on this side of the House campaigned on. This is the opposite of the NDP members, who were campaigning on higher taxes to kill jobs.

In the budget we extended the hiring credit for new hires and a benefit for young people. The youth employment strategy, raised in the House many times, is funded in this budget.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I must suggest that my colleague across the way could perhaps have used her time better in actually asking a question pertinent to the budget implementation act, Bill C-38. That would have been very important.

I would love to have had more time to read into the record all of the quotes from associations and from Canadians who support--

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I have never been accused of being the House leader, so I will leave it up to him to decide where the bill goes. I do know it was standard procedure, even back in the dark days when the Liberals were in power, for a finance bill or a budget implementation bill to go to the finance committee.

We are actually expanding that. This is ground-breaking. We are providing another subcommittee that will provide hours of opportunity for witnesses to appear and explain how important the pieces of this budget implementation act are to them.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, my interest in agriculture tells me that the private sector is actually very interested in taking over research in this country, and by doing this, we are providing them an opportunity.

I will give canola as an example. The private sector has funded research on canola, and western Canada and Ontario are increasing their acreage in canola. The reason it is doing so well is that the private sector was allowed to invest in research and development. We are just providing that opportunity to the rest of agriculture.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, that may seem like a small item, but people back home told me after the budget was tabled that we had finally done a common sense thing. They told me we have a majority and we are doing the right thing. We have waited a long time to do the right thing. When we tell Canadians that it costs 1.6¢ to manufacture a penny, they ask why we have been manufacturing them for so long.

Common sense is what this Conservative government is all about.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, with all due respect to my hon. friend, that is quite a bit of time to discuss this bill, especially considering the urgency. We are running out of days before the spring rising of the House, and it is important that this legislation get through so that we can enable some of this, and I referred to FCM's request to get this moving quickly.

I need to remind my hon. colleague that committees are the masters of their own domain, and if they choose to take a more serious complete look at this they can. However, we have also said that we recognize the challenges of the finance committee, a great bunch of MPs, in that time is limited, so we are going to put in a subcommittee to help the finance committee study some of the finer points of this legislation.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, it is nice to have a little levity in the House of Commons this early in the morning, and I thank my hon. friend for that. By the way, I do not have the question sheet; I actually have an answer sheet.

My answer is to provide some more quotes that I would like to read into the record because the opposition seems to think that Canadians are not prepared to move forward on this economic action plan for 2012.

One concern that has been raised is about sustainable development. Let me read a quote from Vicky Sharpe of Sustainable Development Technology Canada:

In these tough economic times, SDTC is pleased to see the Government's emphasis on stimulating the economy through increasing business innovation.

Those Canadians are telling us to move forward. We have seven days of fulsome debate. We encourage people to get to the point instead of arguing over whether or not it is sufficient. Let us use the time properly.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, the convictions that this government has, has always had and will continue to have, are to do what is best for the country. We have put forward three budgets in a row that have focused on jobs and the economy. With this one we now have the opportunity to look longer term.

What have the results been of the previous budgets? Almost 700,000 net new jobs. Those are the results that matter to Canadians. More Canadians are working now than at the beginning of the recession. Not many countries can say that. We are trying to leave the old ideologies of the NDP out of the way. We do not want to overtax those businesses so that they lay people off. We continue to reduce taxes and provide an environment where our businesses can compete and grow jobs.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Madam Speaker, Canadians expect us to debate in the House. They expect us to bring new thoughts, new ideas, their thoughts and their ideas. They do not expect us to just regurgitate the NDP ideology that we should tax everyone more and then everything will be better. We watched that happen in Europe. We watched the NDP policy in Europe. The outcome of that is Greece.

Canadians have told us to continue to do what we are doing. We are bringing low taxes to Canadians, providing them opportunities, reducing the red tape that stops Canadian businesses from being able to compete internationally. That is what we are doing in this budget. We are simplifying the business processes for businesses so they can compete internationally.