Ted Menzies

[The Economy, October 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to answer that. I think most Canadians know that the Liberals, I believe, were the ones who suggested putting in place the 45-day work year. We heard from businesses that it would not be a good idea and so we made sure that did not happen.

However, we needed to ensure that the EI fund became actuarially sound. We are going to do that. We are not going to do what the previous Liberal government did, which was to borrow that money and not give it back.

[The Economy, October 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, if there is one Canadian still looking for a job, that is too many. That is why we will be voting tonight on our economic action plan part two. We hope that hon. members on the other side will support it.

There are credits in there for small businesses for new hires to get more people back to work. There is a lot more continuation of what we have been doing that is actually working to help create jobs for Canadians.

[The Economy, October 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the only gift that this government has given to Canadians is an opportunity that has provided 650,000 more jobs. That is more jobs than were lost. We have recovered all of the output that was lost.

The hon. member raised the IMF. Let me quote the IMF, other than just her selective quotes. It says that relatively, Canada's healthy economic fundamentals create a sounder fiscal financial position than in many other countries in the world. That is what we should be listening to.

[The Economy, October 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, as part of our economic action plan we put in place reductions in taxes for all Canadians. We have taken almost one million low-income Canadians completely off the tax roll. We have 650,000 more Canadians working than at the end of the recession. That economic action plan is working for Canadians.

I would remind everyone in the House and all Canadians that the NDP voted against every aspect of that.

[The Economy, October 17th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, it is fortunate that all Canadians have the right to peacefully express their views.

Canada does not, by the way, have the degree of economic inequality that we are seeing in other countries that have perhaps started this movement. We have a very progressive tax system that favours the vulnerable in this country. We have a social system that supports the unemployed. We have universal health care.

There is a great deal of difference in what we put in front of Canadians and offer to Canadians that they should be thankful for.

[Taxation, October 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the federal NDP needs to listen to its Manitoba cousins who agree that lowering taxes for businesses and Canadians actually helps create jobs. The Manitoba NDP government actually cut business taxes seven times in the last seven years. The Manitoba NDP finance minister said that if the federal government reduces corporate taxes, it will make a difference for their businesses, and they would be very happy with that.

[Government Spending, October 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the government is actually quite proud to share with Canadians all of the suggestions we have put out, all of the ideas and all of the programs we have brought forward in a number of budgets.

It is our role to make sure that Canadians are aware. Along with our partners we made sure Canadians were aware of, for example, the home renovation tax credit. We had to make sure Canadians knew about that so they could apply for it. We need to make sure that Canadians are aware of the children's arts tax credit that is coming forward now.

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, I have heard my hon. colleague stand in the House and ask questions specifically about the Quebec wage earners who have been caught in one of the most unfortunate situations that any employee can be caught in, which is when their employer goes into receivership.

I am sure he has read the portion of the budget in which we propose to implement a measure called the wage earner protection program. It will help protect those individuals. Going forward, it will help protect employees who work for companies like those in his riding. They will be protected during unfortunate incidents of employers going into bankruptcy or receivership.

We think it is very important for those employees to have this protection and to have it as soon as we can get it through the House.

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, the matter before us today is simply about moving forward with a plan that has been accepted. It was accepted by Canadians. It was actually accepted by the House of Commons on June 16 to move forward. We are now implementing the measures that were approved through the House.

This is second reading. Everyone here is well aware of that. When the bill passes through the House, it will go to committee stage for a full debate there. The other processes will follow that. There will be ample debate after the four days that we have put forward.

[Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act, October 6th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, I am not going to dwell on this. The important thing is that we have had a debate and a discussion with Canadians.

We had a debate when the budget was tabled on June 6 and finally passed on June 16. There was debate during the parliamentary committee process when witnesses were brought to committee to talk about some of the things that are important to their industries and their sectors. The not-for-profit industry supports many of the pieces in the legislation and spoke at committee about what was positive. They spoke about the fact that we need to get this bill passed.

We have debated this. It has been debated on the floor before. It is not as if the budget was just tabled. This is the budget implementation act, part two.

We have had the debate. Everyone has read the bill. It is time that we passed it and moved on to provide this good news to Canadians.