House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 78% of the vote.
Equalization Payments January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, those comments are quite inaccurate. We should clarify that Newfoundland and Labrador will still be receiving a projected $1.2 billion in offset payments between 2009-10 and 2011-12. This is $1.2 billion on top of the $2 billion upfront payment that Newfoundland and Labrador receives. As I said before, this government treats all provinces the same.
The Budget January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the former Liberal government on dealing with fiscal stimulus, dealing with the economy.
We are actually hoping that the Liberals will support this budget. This is a budget that deals with a very serious economic crisis that has been brought on this country not by anything that is attributed to Canada.
We would encourage all members of this House to look very seriously at what we are dealing with right now, and that is our new plan to get Canada back on track.
The Budget January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I guess the hon. member did not hear the answer to the previous question. The Liberals obviously did not pay attention. They do not look back in history to see what is the Liberal tradition, and that is, booking what is likely to be an asset sale.
There is no time set on this. The Government of Canada owns a tremendous amount of assets. For the first time in 15 years we are actually looking at the value of those assets and looking at whether the Government of Canada should still own them. This is in line with our expenditure management review that is dealing with taxpayers' dollars.
The Budget January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, if it is indeed called cooking the books, then I guess we got a cooking lesson from the Liberals because, as a matter of fact, when Petro-Canada was put on the books, it was a Liberal government that actually booked $2 billion in asset sales in the budget prior to that.
I might suggest that when one knows a company is for sale and one knows the value of it, that is cooking the books.
The Budget January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, it would take an Ottawa Liberal to suggest that paying down debt is foolish. That is not what we believe on this side of the House. That is why we took early action and we paid down $37 billion in debt. That is the reason Canada is in the good fiscal position that it is in going into this global economic recession. We are better able to fight it. We are better able to adapt to what Canadians need. We will come out of this even stronger.
The Budget January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, Quebec's support through equalization and transfers has increased 37% during our government, as a matter of fact, $8.3 billion in equalization, which is a 70% increase over three years ago. We are not leaving out any sector of this country.
The Budget January 28th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, despite the comments from my opposition colleague, Quebec's equalization and transfers are at all-time highs and growing. That is a fact opposition members seem to neglect when they talk about how Quebec was left out. In fact, this government treats all provinces equally. When we are putting stimulus into this country, it is shared across this country. We are concerned about jobs and people's livelihoods across this country.
The Economy January 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. friend from Edmonton—Leduc not only for all the hard work he has done on committee but also for all the pre-budget consultations he did within his riding and across this country.
Before I answer the question, I would like to clarify a statement that was not exactly correct. I was asked about the number of new jobs. In fact, there have been 807,000 new jobs since this government has been in place.
However, to answer the hon. member's question, the Speech from the Throne leads into an incredibly valuable budget that I would also encourage all members to--
The Budget January 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, our minds are made up that Canadians expect this government to lead. That is what this government will do.
It is very important that we take a very serious and hard look at this budget. Many members in the House of Commons spent the entire Christmas season out talking to their constituents. I recognize the importance of the Christmas season. A lot of members gave up their Christmases to consult with Canadians. At least they deserve the respect to take a serious look at the budget. We would ask for their support in passing this budget.
The Budget January 27th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of openness, there was an awful lot of numbers floating around and we felt that it was only appropriate to share some of those numbers.
Canadians are genuinely concerned about the economy. They are genuinely concerned about their future and about their jobs. It is highly disrespectful to Canadians to suggest that one is not even going to read the budget before one votes against it. That is what we are hearing from the leader of the NDP.