Tony Martin

[Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act, May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, given the member's long track record of working with aboriginal people in northern Ontario and in Quebec before he arrived here in 2004, how could the model that has been used to put this bill together so successfully be used in the very real challenge that he himself faces in his riding in both Attawapiskat and Kashechewan?

[Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act, May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, let me commend the member at the outset for the work she does on many of these items in her capacity as critic for our caucus on aboriginal affairs. Her background in bringing people together is an asset to much of the work that she does here, as I know from my own experience with her as caucus chair. She works to identify an issue, challenge or opportunity, gathers people around that opportunity or challenge and finds some common ground and a way to move forward.

In this initiative, it is obvious that is what has happened. It would not surprise me if she, despite being the lone New Democrat member at committee, has in some substantial and meaningful way driven this to a place where something positive and constructive could happen. I know that we have a history in this country of governments not finding a way to work with and honour our commitments to our aboriginal people.

I have said this on many occasions, not the latest of which was this past week in Calgary, where we had a national conference looking at poverty. If we are going to have any vision for the future, one of the things we need to do as a nation is amend our relationship with our first nations people. We need to do all we can in our power and use all the resources we have at our disposal to fix that relationship so that we can move forward together.

This seems to be an ideal time to do that. I would like the member to share with us the government's role and participation in this. Did it participate in a positive way? Did it provide constructive support? Is it going to be supportive of this initiative going forward?

[Income Tax Act, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the proposal before us today, which a very good proposal. At a minimum, it gives us the opportunity to speak about some of the challenges that those of us who represent smaller areas and rural communities in Canada have and what we as a national government might do to enhance the possibility of having some of our young people return to work in the areas from which they come. We have put a lot of resources, energy and time into developing our young people and we would like them to return home and participate with the new skills, training, education and intelligence they have gathered over their years of education, if they choose, with some incentive.

This bill is timely given the recession we are in and the difficult economic challenges that are being faced all over the country in large and small areas. Attention is being paid to some of the larger centres with big populations. Areas like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are being decimated by downsizing in the auto industry. There are also small, vital, viable, wonderfully exciting communities across this country that are being hit hard as well.

They should, in partnership with senior levels of government, be able to attract some of those young people who they fostered in the first place back to work with them to develop new economies and take advantage of some of the new opportunities out there that they know about. Many of the young people study these. Many of them travel. Many of them, in their university settings, rub shoulders with folks from other parts of the country and get involved, interested and terribly excited about some of the new possibilities that might be there for all kinds of communities and areas in this country.

We need them to come back home and share their knowledge with their community leadership and work with businesses, social and economic development professionals or folks who exist in those communities. They would begin to not only imagine but actually work on putting in place those new work, business and social development opportunities that will actually put those communities on a proper footing.

The member who spoke previously defended the position of the government and its lack of action where regional economic development is concerned, particularly where smaller communities are taken into consideration. If we were to listen to her, we would yet again come to the understanding that the government really does not know or have any interest in knowing what is going on in big parts of Quebec where there are many challenged regional and rural areas that need not only money and resources to come from various and sundry places but personnel. They need young people. They need that intelligence that they bring to be part of that package as well.

I know that in my own area of northern Ontario and Algoma, surrounding Sault Ste. Marie, we have all kinds of challenges where the economy is concerned. We are taking some of those really wonderful little communities with unique and interesting characteristics and turning them around in these very difficult economic times. We will take advantage of the new economy that we know will come at us if we do the right thing.

Before the fall of the financial institutions around the world, the economy did not serve smaller, rural and regional areas in the same exciting way that it did for some of the bigger centres.

We think that a shift in priority, a shift in the way that we look at economy, a move back from the focus on global and world economy and a move back from the kind of interaction and trade that we hung our economic development and trade hat on for so long would play into the opportunities and the possibilities for some of our smaller communities.

We need to begin once again to focus on domestic economies and on local economies, on the ability of local producers, manufacturers and workers to share with each other, to barter with each other and to work for and with each other to create work to generate the wealth and the money that is needed to keep a local economy going and, by doing that, then to participate from a position of strength and more positively and actively into the larger economy, which is often regional, then provincial and national.

Given the serious challenges facing young people when they come out of university these days, particularly with the loans they have accrued over those years of trying to get an education, it is often not realistic for them to go back to a smaller area where there is very limited opportunity for a job that they are trained in and a job that will pay them the kind of income they need to pay down their loans in a realistic timeframe so they can get on with their lives, consider entering into a relationship and having children. They will often choose to go some place else because of financial considerations and the burden of debt on their shoulders and on their families' shoulders, frankly. Because of that, they often move on to some place else and everybody is a loser.

I think most young people would be excited to go back home and actually create for themselves a wonderful lifestyle in a place where they were known and where they could bring new energy to their community.

In a country like Canada, with such a vast area of rural and remote lands, for us to develop those smaller communities and ensure they are viable and vital helps all of us. It makes our country a better place. Given the resource base of so much of what we do, where our relationship with other countries and trading fairly with other jurisdictions is concerned, it is the way that we harvest and take advantage of those resources in a sustainable fashion, which I believe young people understand much more readily and clearly than we often do. At the moment, our only practical experience and background is in the way that we have always done it. Young people may have new ways of doing things from what they have learned in their education. They may know how we can create an economy not only for today but an economy for tomorrow for our children and our children's children. We also need to do all that we can to protect the very at risk and vulnerable environment that right now that all of us really need to be paying attention to.

The member who spoke previously said that this was a very expensive attempt to attract young people to do some local and regional economic development. I suggest that we make political choices here every day that talk about how we spend the money that we collect from taxpayers.

For example, the government has chosen over the last two and a half years to give back to big corporations, oil companies, banks and wealthy Canadians, some $250 billion in tax relief. That is a lot of money. If we take one small percentage of that and use it in a way that helps young people to return to their communities and stimulate local economies, I think our country is better off in the long run and it is a more intelligent investment in our young people. It says to them that we appreciate and put value on who they are and the education they have received, that we want them to come back and that we are willing to be there with them and help them financially.

[The Economy, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it does not matter how we cut it, there is not enough stimulus money out the door, there are no jobs on the ground and poverty is on the rise.

At poverty hearings this week in Halifax and Moncton, agencies and individuals painted a bleak, dire picture. Families are more in debt and have less savings than ever before and the safety net is not there.

When EI is not there or runs out, what is the government going to do? Where is the government's poverty plan?

[Infrastructure, May 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, today's PR tour by the Prime Minister does not change the reality that less than 5% of stimulus funds have gone out the door. The government has spent a lot of energy on glitzy announcements, but little energy on getting money to municipalities.

In Sault Ste. Marie we are still waiting for funds for the International Bridge, Algoma University and Sault College. We cannot fight the recession by only making funding announcements. How much longer must communities like mine wait before the funds begin to flow?

[Poverty, May 13th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I believe the stars are aligning for a poverty plan for Canada.

This week I was in Halifax and Moncton for parliamentary hearings. We met hundreds of individuals who are struggling to keep people's heads above water in their communities. What they are looking for from us is leadership and a partnership.

Also, yesterday here the Canadian Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada hosted a forum on a sustainable economy that would include everyone. We see the religious right and left converging on calls for a real poverty plan. We need the same from our political parties.

We can come together around the dignity of the person, the common good, human solidarity and being good stewards for our planet. We can deliver for all the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter and a fair wage.

Ontario has just passed, unanimously, anti-poverty legislation. We need national leadership to harness the excellent work happening in several provinces.

[Northern Ontario Communities, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my riding of Sault Ste. Marie, like many places, is facing hard times with this recession: layoffs, questions about pensions and belt-tightening. While we work hard to recover, I was reminded while attending a number of events this past weekend of the resiliency of our people and our communities.

Friday night, a full hall turned out for the United Way volunteer recognition banquet. Saturday night, the city's highest honour, the Medal of Merit, was presented to four recipients: Celia Ross, Patti Gardi, Dennis O'Reilly and Don Watson, and the Police Association honoured its retirees at a dinner.

Tonight, in Sudbury, Sir James Dunn music teacher, Mark Gough, will receive the Best Engineer award at the sixth annual Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards. Another nominee is fellow Saultite, Rusty McCarthy.

As New Democrats work for real solutions to this recession, I also want to celebrate the resiliency of our people and those making outstanding contributions.

[Business of Supply, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for Windsor West on his comments. He certainly speaks for all of us who represent border communities. A really challenging environment has been created by many Americans who do not seem to understand the facts.

In Sault Ste. Marie, for example, 800,000 vehicles a year cross the bridge back and forth between the United States and Canada. People cross the border for a myriad of reasons, trade, business, school or work. It is a relationship that has been built up over a number of years that used to be very friendly and easy. As a matter of fact we were moving to a place where there was hardly any disruption in travel back and forth until 9/11 happened. We all know the impact that 9/11 has had on the whole of the world and how that might have an important impact on cross-border activity.

People have come into my office after they have experienced this thickening of the border and the very thorough review they have had to go through in meeting with the customs agents on the other side, and frankly, people just do not want to cross the border any more. That is not helpful. Certainly trade between the U.S. and Canada is important, but so is friendship.

I was wondering if the member's own day-to-day experience is the same as ours in Sault Ste. Marie.

[Petitions, April 23rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the same Standing Order, I seek permission to present two petitions that have come into my office over the last few months. They are of extreme interest and importance to folks who serve in the interest of the public good in this country. The petitions are in support of the Governor General's volunteer service medal being introduced.

The two petitions include a significant number of names of people from Sault Ste. Marie who support the creation of a new Canadian medal, the Governor General's volunteer service medal. It is not a UN or NATO medal, but a Canadian medal.

The petition has been circulating all across Canada and is gaining momentum as many Canadians are happy to see that something is being done to honour many veterans who have never been formally recognized or honoured for their service to our nation.

Since the beginning of March 1947, thousands of young Canadians have served for a number of years in the forces and have absolutely nothing to show for it. This medal would give therm something to recognize that the country appreciates their efforts.

[Volunteering, April 21st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, every day in my riding, hundreds of men, women and young people volunteer, bettering the lives of others and the communities in which they live.

This being National Volunteer Week, I salute them: farmers doing business plans for an abattoir; 450 people signing up for the Scotties national curling championship; Rotary Club and Sault College volunteers baking cookies for Easter Seals; neighbours building school playgrounds; hospice, soup kitchen, minor sports, and church volunteers; and the list goes on and on.

Volunteer Canada notes that volunteering is crucial in a time of economic crisis. I wonder how many realize that our federal elections bring together the largest experience of volunteering in the country. I salute those volunteers from all parties that nurture our democracy.

Volunteers help build our social fabric. They create a vital sense of belonging to a society where neighbours care about each other and work for the common good.

I thank our volunteers. Let us invest in the voluntary sector.