House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 78% of the vote.
Goods and Services Tax March 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the only shortfall appears to be the math of the hon. member because transfers have not been cut to Quebec. Quebec's equalization and transfers are in fact at an all-time high. Let me give some numbers. Federal support totalled $17.6 billion for 2009-10 alone.
I repeat that we respect Quebeckers and we continue to support all people in Quebec.
Goods and Services Tax March 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact, Quebec retains full control over the design and application of the Quebec sales tax. It administers the value added tax system as well as the GST. We think it was adequately compensated. Let me also remind the hon. member that federal support to Quebec has increased 37%. We continue to support the province of Quebec and the people of Quebec.
Goods and Services Tax March 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the only disgrace is the fact that the hon. member does not actually understand the process of a harmonized sales tax with Quebec. In fact Quebec did not fully adopt a harmonized sales tax as did Ontario and as did some of the other provinces. The important thing to note is that this government has increased transfer payments to Quebec. We continue to increase them. We continue to increase health transfers and social transfers to all provinces, especially Quebec.
The Economy March 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we do not dismiss any good advice, but that is exactly what we did not get in our prebudget consultations from the Liberal Party. We did not get any advice at all.
Now all of a sudden the Liberals seem to be concerned about job losses. They came forward with no constructive suggestions and no way to help their constituents. They, as a party, did not relay any of their constituents' concerns to us.
We have an economic action plan that will help maintain jobs and provide new jobs for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, sadly, the Liberals have no plan to deal with the current global downturn. Criticizing our plan and talking down Canada's economy is not a plan. Canadians deserve better. Canadians deserve a Parliament that understands that we are in this together and we need to work together. We have faced economic challenges before and we have always come out stronger. I am confident with our Conservative government's economic leadership, Canada will again.
To quote Forbes' annual best countries for business survey just released:
Some countries are in a much better position than others to rebound from the current malaise by attracting entrepreneurs, investors and workers.
Who are they?...Topping the list for 2009:...Canada is up four spots to No. 3,
And that is a good thing.
Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing that the member opposite does not understand the problem at hand. It is also disappointing that she does not truly acknowledge that this is a global recession, one that started beyond our borders.
As RBC chief economist, Craig Wright, has noted, this was not a made in Canada recession.
Or, to quote her own leader speaking at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce just last week, “I have never blamed the Prime Minister for causing this recession. I'm partisan, but I'm not stupid”.
What is more disappointing is that the member will not admit that Canada entered this downturn in a very strong position, something that will ensure we exit it in a stronger than most position.
If the member does not believe me, maybe she should listen to the overwhelming majority of experts, experts like BMO Capital Markets chief economist, Douglas Porter, who recently declared, “Canada did go into this downturn with almost pristine fundamentals and...I think that those pristine fundamentals do suggest that Canada will hold up a little bit better than other economies and probably will emerge a little bit stronger than other economies”.
However, we must also recognize that, despite our strengths, Canada has not been immune from the global downturn and will continue to be affected.
This will be an extremely difficult year for many Canadians. We regrettably have seen and will continue to see sizeable job losses.
While we sympathize with Canadians, we believe Canadians want more from their government than merely sympathy. They want action.
Clearly, a recovery in the global economy, especially the United States, is a necessary requirement for a sustained recovery, which is why we are working with our international partners to help facilitate that.
The finance minister was in London recently with his G20 counterparts for that very reason, and the Prime Minister will continue that work at the upcoming G20 leaders' meeting.
In the interim, we will do everything necessary to help the Canadian economy. After the most exhaustive prebudget consultation with Canadians ever, we introduced the earliest budget ever: Canada's economic action plan, a plan to support job creation now while laying down the groundwork for long term prosperity by: first, reducing personal income taxes permanently; second, supporting businesses through targeted tax measures and investments; and, third, investing in major job creating projects that will improve our roads, highways, bridges and public transit, as well as improving access to financing for Canadian individuals and businesses, investing in electronic health records that will reduce errors and save lives and providing new support and skills training for the unemployed, including five extra weeks of EI.
This is a real plan. Canadian businesses, premiers and public interest groups have all supported our plan, as well as Parliament endorsing it.
It was also endorsed by the IMF, which called it “large, timely, and well-targeted fiscal stimulus...appropriately sized--well above the Fund's benchmark of 2 percent of GDP”.
Infrastructure March 12th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for actually responding to the request that the finance minister put out in late November, early December, asking for all parliamentarians to put forward ideas. That hon. member put forward a good idea. However, I do not make those decisions so I passed it on.
We need to know that the Liberal Party of Canada put forward no suggestions in our prebudget consultation, nor did members of the NDP. In fact, they voted against any one that was put forward.
The Economy March 12th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we do care about all Canadians. That is why we have been working so hard on this side of the House to make sure our economic action plan is put in place as soon as possible.
We have spent months communicating and negotiating with the opposition trying to get this through. We had the most broad prebudget consultation talking to Canadians to find out from them what they wanted us to do.
That is where the economic action plan came from. Unfortunately, we did not receive any good suggestions from the leader of the official opposition.
The Economy March 12th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact, the government actually may have an economic action plan that it can now put into place. We are happy that the senators have decided to move on.
As the Prime Minister referred to, we had lots of time to get this done. There was lots of time for the opposition to show leadership. Instead of playing games, the Liberals could have directed the Senate immediately to at least read the budget. They would have found that in fact EI extension cannot take place until the bill receives royal assent.
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for her strong and continued support of this Conservative government's economic action plan outlined in budget 2009—a budget, I note, that has been met with strong enthusiasm in the Montreal area.
Listen to what the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal said:
[Budget 2009] is on target with measures designed to support companies, including easier access to credit, tax breaks, and tariff relief to stimulate investment...We also welcome the government's plan to devote $2 billion to upgrading facilities at colleges and universities...this measure will directly benefit Montréal, one of whose primary strengths is its first-class higher education system.
I agree, and I agree with this hon. member's support of budget 2009.