Ted Menzies

[The Economy, January 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, this provides a great opportunity to encourage my hon. colleague and all members on the other side of the House to support the budget.

The positions that we took, the stimulus that we put into the fall economic statement somehow, because of a threat of a coalition, seemed to not get passed through the House.

We will be bringing forward legislation that will allow BDC and EDC to help Canadians. I encourage all members of the House to support the budget.

[The Economy, January 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, in our fall economic statement, which was not the budget by the way, we presented to the House the situation that was presented to us that day. Numbers were falling quickly. We recognized that.

In fact, we recognized this so early on as to the economic fall statement the year before where we took pre-emptive action, cut taxes, paid down debt, lowered the GST so Canadians would have more of their own money.

[The Budget, January 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise to emphasize the great investments that our government has put forth in its economic action plan.

This budget will provide tremendous benefits to my constituents in Macleod and to all Canadians.

For instance, budget 2009 introduced a $500 million agricultural flexibility plan that will help farmers in my riding with rising input costs.

Our $50 million investment over the next three years to expand slaughterhouse capacity is key to supporting our beef and dairy industries along with other livestock producers.

Seniors will also see new support through the increase in the age credit amount by an additional $1,000.

As well, the new green infrastructure plan provides $1 billion over five years for sustainable energy infrastructure.

This is a great initiative. I am eager for my riding of Macleod to be able to benefit from this fund, since Macleod is a renewable energy leader in this country.

[The Budget, January 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague and neighbour, the member for Medicine Hat. I also want to recognize that he travelled many miles last Friday to join me in the wonderful announcement at the Blackfoot Crossing. I would encourage any hon. members who are within travelling distance or when they are in Calgary to visit the Blackfoot Crossing on the Siksika Nation.

There was a comment made earlier today by the member for Yukon. I will quote his comment from Hansard. He is referring to the infrastructure funding as compared to the deficit that we will be dealing with. He said, “Some of it could have been funded by the contingency fund of $3 billion”. He went on to say, “It is embarrassing that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance did not even know it existed”.

I would like to get on the record the fact that there was no legislated contingency fund. If there is one, I would ask the hon. member to please table that in the House. I am quite sure that he will not be able to do that because there never was one.

However, because we have been criticized for cutting taxes, I would like my colleague to indicate whether his constituents would rather have tax cuts or would they rather see it in the slush fund in Ottawa.

[The Budget, January 29th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I must take exception to the fact that the hon. member just said I was not telling the truth yesterday in answer to a question.

In fact, if the truth be known, budget 2009 does not change a word or a comma in the accord. I would like that on the record and I would like an apology from the hon. member for suggesting that what I said yesterday was not the truth.

[The Budget, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the simple answer to that is no. Consultations have taken place with all provincial partners. I spoke about that when answering questions during question period.

This government treats all provinces equally. That is why we brought back a balanced approach to equalization, so no provinces could claim that they were winners and no provinces would feel that they were losers.

I can give the member the facts. Quebec's share of equalization has increased 37% through this government. They are pretty hollow suggestions coming from the hon. member saying that it has been decreased. This government recognized that some provinces were falling behind. It recognized that and balanced that.

[The Budget, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Malpeque, Prince Edward Island, the home of my favourite oysters, by the way.

The hon. member talked about spending and the surplus that the Liberals claim they had. In fact, we have heard something about a contingency fund many times. A contingency fund is only as good as the legislation that creates it. I would remind hon. members that there was never a contingency fund created by the former Liberal government, nor by any government, I believe.

We all know that it is ludicrous to suggest to Canadians that paying down $37 billion of Canadian government debt is wasting money. That is what has put this country in the enviable position it sits in today, the leading fiscal balance in the G7. That is what the leadership of this government has done.

[The Budget, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the opportunity to rise today to discuss budget 2009, Canada's economic action plan. With your permission, Mr. Speaker, it is also a great pleasure to share my time with the hon. minister, the member for the beautiful riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent.

It has been said that a crisis presents a moment of opportunity as well as great danger. The global economy is in the midst of a crisis, a crisis of capital, a crisis of credit, and most troubling, a crisis of confidence. While the epicentre of this financial crisis is the United States, its impacts have been global, on countries large and small, from China to Iceland. No country has been spared. However, our American neighbours have suffered the brunt. The human cost has been staggering: 2.6 million Americans lost their jobs last year, the worst job losses seen since the Second World War.

Canada, a major player in the global marketplace, has not been immune. In the last two months of 2008, we saw 100,000 jobs disappear. Behind the numbers are 100,000 worried faces, 100,000 difficult talks around the kitchen table, talks that will likely and unfortunately become more frequent in 2009.

In all this it is important to maintain perspective, difficult as it may be at times. The fundamentals of Canada's economy have remained strong leading up to the crisis of today. We as a people and as a government have made the prudent decisions to ensure our strength.

As Don Drummond, chief economist with the TD Bank, bluntly remarked the other day, “We have to hasten to remind ourselves that we are not the country that tanked the rest of the world. The rest of the world tanked us”.

Indeed, anticipating a faltering American and global economy, our Conservative government took preemptive and aggressive action to cushion the blow in October 2007 in our economic statement. Reading verbatim from page 7 of that document, available online for all to see:

--[T]he world economy is experiencing turbulence and increased uncertainty.

Given this global economic uncertainty, now is the time to act. Our strong fiscal position provides Canada with an opportunity that few other countries have--to make broad-based tax reductions that will strengthen our economy, stimulate investment and create more and better jobs.

The economic statement would go on to detail a package of $60 billion in tax cuts, consumption, personal and business, that would help protect Canadians through 2008.

As the IMF World Economic Outlook declared in April 2008:

A package of tax cuts has provided a timely fiscal stimulus.... [The Canadian] government's structural policy agenda should help increase competitiveness and productivity growth to underpin longer-term prospects.

Supporting that assertion is the plain fact that despite the significant job losses we have suffered in the last two months of the year, Canada still managed to create over 98,000 net new jobs for 2008 alone. As comforting a statistic as that may be, we must be under no illusion; all it is is a statistic, a historical fact.

The crisis has grown. The danger to Canada, its economy, the jobs it sustains and the families those jobs provide for has grown at a pace much more rapidly than anyone was predicting.

Enter budget 2009, Canada's economic action plan, a plan to stabilize and protect our economy for the short term while growing it in the long term. It is a plan informed by unprecedented exhaustive consultations with Canadians to a degree that has never been seen previously in our history. Never before has a government attempted to make the budget process as open, public and inclusive as it was for budget 2009.

I am proud to say that at the request of the Minister of Finance, I was personally engaged in this process. We invited the ideas of provincial and territorial governments, economists, academics, labour and non-governmental organizations. We sought out the input from everyday Canadians through online consultations and town halls. We formed an economic advisory council of private sector business leaders, some of Canada's pre-eminent business minds and most successful business leaders, who unselfishly gave of their time out of a desire to help their country in a time of tremendous need; a desire I believe that is shared by most members in the House.

We wrote to all members of Parliament, regardless of party affiliation, and asked them to provide a written submission reflecting the priorities of their communities, from Saint John to Montreal, from Thornhill to Saskatoon, to Victoria. We listened, we heard and now, after careful consideration, we act.

Canada's economic plan is so named for a reason. It reflects consensus, not ideology. It promotes the interests of people, not the bureaucrats of government. It is Canada's plan, our ambitions for today and the future ahead, ambitions both short and long term that will represent substantial costs that will cause Canada to fall into a deficit position. We do not enter this without concern. That is why we have put in place a plan to return to surplus. That is why prior to the current turmoil our Conservative government paid down $37 billion in debt. That is why we are laying out a five year plan to move back into surplus as the economy recovers.

Many Canadians recalling the legacies of deficits past will have reservations and concerns, and I understand that. However, before making a judgment, they should also read budget 2009, as taxpayers and as good citizens. They can read it online at wwwbudget.gc.ca, or call their local MP's office to obtain a copy.

Combined with the 2007 economic statement stimulus measures the economic action plan in budget 2009 is estimated to boost real GDP by 2.5% and create or maintain about 265,000 jobs by the end of 2010. This budget will be voted on soon by the learned members of the House. It is an absolute duty for all members to read the document and make an informed decision in the best interests of the Canadian people, not the narrow lens of partisanship.

I firmly believe that in doing that, this House will endorse budget 2009 and turn the crisis of today into the opportunity of tomorrow. We as a country have faced challenges before and we will face them again, but we are a strong people, resilient, tough and determined. We work together when times get tough. We grow stronger and more confident. We will endure the difficult times today with the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

This is a shared responsibility of all members of this place.

[Equalization Payments, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it was this Conservative government that actually recognized the inadequacies in equalization and fixed that. The Liberals sat on that issue for many years. We realized there was a problem; the Liberals denied it and said it did not exist. It is this government that has made all provinces equal.

[Equalization Payments, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no change to the offset agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, our estimates show that $1.6 billion of offsets will flow in the next three years. That will keep Newfoundland and Labrador on track with all of the other provinces. As I have said many times in the House, this Conservative government treats all provinces equally and with the same respect.