Wayne Easter

[Business of Supply, May 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I have been listening to the remarks made by members opposite. We have been discussing this issue at finance committee for some time. That member's remarks go beyond the pale with respect to energy costs.

What state in the United States has had carbon pricing for the longest time? It is the state of California. Yesterday, it became the fifth largest economy in the world, and it has had carbon pricing in place for a long time.

We have to find the middle ground. I support pipelines, but if pipeline supporters continue to oppose doing the right thing with respect to climate change, we are not going to get them. If environmentalists continue to fight pipelines, then we will never get the carbon policy we need.

For members opposite, let us trump to some common sense and find the middle ground, accept carbon pricing, and push for the need for pipelines to get our resources to market.

[Gordon Brown, May 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is with profound sadness that I stand in the House today to join my voice with others in paying tribute to our dear friend and colleague, Gord Brown. It is also with immense joy that I can share what a wonderful person Gord was in every imaginable way.

First and foremost, on behalf of the Liberal Party, and Liberal members both current and past, I extend our deepest condolences to his wife Claudine and his two sons Chance and Tristan.

I first got to know Gord as members of the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, in which we worked in common cause on Canada-U.S. issues for more than a decade.

If memory serves, our first IPG meeting together was the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers' Annual Conference in Prince Edward Island, when Gord accepted my offer to show him around the island. As everyone knows, while Gord was always willing to work with others across party lines, he was a true blue Conservative through and through. Therefore, for Gord to hop in my red truck and do a couple of tours with me around the island was, to say the least, interesting but a lot of fun. We repeated that experience years later when the Conservative Party held its national caucus meeting in Prince Edward Island. I did not mind driving up to the door of it in my red truck to pick up Gord Brown.

However, I will have to admit that no matter how hard I tried, Gord was not about to change his political stripes. Gord would often speak about his riding, always emphasizing the Thousand Islands and how he could look across his yard and see the United States. He took great pride in introducing a bill to change the name of the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada to Thousand Islands National Park of Canada. The bill became law in 2013 because of his hard work.

Gord served as co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, and he worked tirelessly to make, sustain, and build relationships with our counterparts in the U.S. Congress. In fact, without question, he was one of our strongest ambassadors on U.S. issues, and not just within the IPG context. On more than one occasion, he travelled to Washington to play with the Republican representatives on their hockey team. Some say the Republican team referred to Gord as its “ringer”, and he loved that, and the representatives loved to have him. We would hear, in the discussions when we would meet the Congressional representatives in the U.S., about a number of them, but especially Gord, who played for their hockey team.

Without a doubt, Gord loved hockey, and his son's hockey abilities were an endless source of pride for him. Often he would pull out his phone and show us pictures and videos of Tristan, at a very young age, in full hockey gear, racing up the ice. I imagine many in the House have seen those videos. Gord showed much pride in his family.

In this place, and on trips to the United States, Gord was always respectful of everyone, and thoughtfully considered the viewpoints of others, even though he might not agree. That was the tenor of the man.

Gord set goals and priorities, and set out to achieve them in his political life. However, he was always clear about the importance of family and friends. For him, they always came first.

He will be deeply missed by everyone who had the good fortune to meet him.

Our condolences, again, to his family.

[Norman Peters, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I stand to recognize the death of Norman Peters, loved by all Islanders as the Bearded Skipper. Norman was a lifelong fisherman from North Rustico, serving as president of the North Shore Fishermen's Association for two decades, representing fishermen in many roles in the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association, and serving on many committees for his industry and the province. He was a giant as a representative for the lobster fishery on a trade mission to China.

Norman was loved by all who met him. His image as the Bearded Skipper was seen as a Canadian symbol for the fishery. He inspired the building of a fishery museum in his hometown and ensured that the harbour was in good stead, and his fishing charters were an experience to behold, a fishing trip never forgotten by locals and tourists alike. Norman was active in his church and his community. No matter the cause, he would lend a helping hand.

Our condolences go out to his wife Marie, son Corey, daughter Colleen, and family.

[2018 Paralympic and Olympic Winter Games, March 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have proudly watched the Olympic and Paralympic athletes represent Canada at the Winter Games in South Korea. While I congratulate all competitors, especially those from P.E.I., I do want to single out Mark Arendz, who stood on the podium six times.

Mark lived on a farm in the next community to mine, and I remember vividly the day word spread about the seven-year-old losing his arm to a grain auger. His family, his parents, and he accepted the challenges before him, and Mark insisted on learning all the life skills that came with being one-handed. Sport became his therapy, the biathlon shooting range his meditation. The results are individual gold, individual silver, three bronze, and one mixed-relay silver.

Mark Arendz now holds the record for the most medals won by a Canadian in a single Paralympic Winter Games. Being selected as Canada's flag-bearer for the closing ceremony added to the honour. Mark is an inspiration and I congratulate him.

[Interparliamentary Delegations, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, three reports of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group.

The first concerns the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region's 27th annual summit held in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., from July 23 to July 27, 2017.

The second concerns the 71st annual meeting of The Council of State Governments' southern legislative conference held in Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A., from July 29 to August 2, 2017.

The third concerns the United States congressional meeting held in Washington, D.C., United States of America, from November 27 to November 29, 2017.

[March 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, on this point of order, the member was here when the motion was moved, but the member left before the vote, so the motion should stand.

[The Budget, March 20th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I want to make some comments on one part of the member's speech. He must have read a different document than this budget document, which talks about equality and growth. He is certainly off the mark on so many of his points.

This budget is all about growing the economy, assisting small businesses, assisting researchers, and increasing exports, and it is equal across the country.

The member laughed about the Minister of Agriculture. I am a bit insulted by that. The Minister of Agriculture strongly supports supply management, which is key in the province of Quebec. The Minister of Agriculture was not in India, but negotiations were done and we enhanced our market opportunities in that market.

This budget would increase research spending on agriculture institutions. I have seen several announcements where funding was increased for researchers at agriculture research centres across the country, the very areas that your former government cut.

What you are seeing is—

[The Budget, March 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, if there was ever a budget that emphasized women and their potential in the workforce or in being entrepreneurs or researchers, this budget is certainly it. I would just refer the member opposite to page 110 and the things talked about on that page: “helping women-owned businesses grow”; “increasing access to capital” for women; “enhancing data and knowledge” for women entrepreneurs; “improving access to federal business innovation programming”. Those are all our areas.

Last week we had the opportunity to meet with people involved in the skills trades. There is pre-apprenticeship training for women who are involved in those areas. It goes without saying that this budget goes a long way to giving women more opportunities in the economy and in the business world.

[The Budget, March 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, just yesterday morning in my office I was going through some of the proposals that have come forward for the Canada summer jobs program. There are always more proposals than there is money available to assist. However, I want to say how important the Canada summer jobs program is. This government, early on, increased the funding for the Canada summer jobs program so that we could get more young people getting that experience in the workforce and the chance to get a leg up so that when they go to apply for jobs later on, they will have not only an education but experience. What I have seen with Canada summer jobs in my riding is that because of the efforts of this government, this Minister of Finance, and this Prime Minister we are able to add many more people who gain that experience as a result of the Canada summer jobs program than was the case in previous times.

[The Budget, March 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles.

I am pleased to speak to budget 2018, which lays out the government's plans to build on its previous budget and invest in our people, our communities, our resources, and give our citizens the best opportunities to drive economic growth going forward.

I was privileged to chair the finance committee as it held pre-budget hearings across Canada in the fall. I want to thank all members on that committee and those from all parties who subbed in, for their work, their research, their witness selection, and their resolve to make recommendations to the government. Not always do members on committees agree, but we did have many good discussions and everybody's heart was on making the best report we could for the government's consideration.

I would like to give special thanks as well to the many witnesses who spent endless hours preparing briefs and the many who appeared before committee. We heard over 300 witnesses in our pre-budget consultations. While travelling across the country during these consultations, we saw Canada's tremendous potential.

Both the federal and all provincial governments have a role to play in assisting businesses and people to give them the best leg up and the best policy format on which to build economic growth.

Not all of our great ideas in the pre-budget consultations or policy suggestions were put into our report or in fact into the budget, but they do provide food for thought for both this budget and for future developments, whether it is policy or budgets in the future.

I certainly want to thank the Minister of Finance and Finance Canada for seriously considering the recommendations we did put forward. Many are woven through the budget proposals that are in the budget itself and will assist in achieving equality and growth, as the budget is titled.

The budget proposes to invest. It looks to make Canada a leader on a number of fronts. It provides a good foundation for our kids and our grandchildren going forward.

In our pre-budget consultations, we heard a lot about investing in science research, which really became to be known as the Naylor report. There was not one stop the finance committee made that the issue was not raised. The witnesses wanted us to expand on research.

I want to quote from the budget itself, because this is one of the most fundamental policies put forward in the budget, “Canada's Fundamental Science Review, led by Dr. David Naylor”. It states:

While Canada spends more on higher-education research and development (as a share of gross domestic product) than any other Group of Seven (G7) country, the Review identified a number of challenges that require urgent attention. These include declining funding per researcher and the need to fundamentally shift how, when and where Canada invests—encouraging more global collaboration, fostering more interdisciplinary research, and better supporting research that has the potential to be groundbreaking....In response, the Government is proposing measures to make Canada’s research environment more responsive, agile and modern in order to attract the world’s best researchers to Canada and take Canadian research to new heights

In the budget, historic investments are proposed to support researchers. This includes more than $1.7 billion over five years to support the next generation of Canadian researchers through Canada's granting councils and research institutes.

It also includes $1.3 billion over five years for investments in laboratory equipment and infrastructure that researchers rely on to this day. What we said in our pre-budget report was to use the Naylor report as a framework for the long-term support of science and research. We also added agricultural research into the mix.

I went through that somewhat long explanation because I really think that is where some of Canada's greatest potential is. We have always, as a nation, been good at research and somewhat poor at commercialization. We are innovators, and we need to certainly get on top of the commercialization aspect. That investment will make a difference in our children's future.

Not necessarily in the budget but also announced by the government, and tied to this whole research component, is the announcement of the development of superclusters in a number of areas, ranging from oceans research to agricultural research. That builds on the potential this country has. I think it is another great move.

The budget has, as well, established programs to address the gender wage gap and to make progress toward equality in the workplace. It is another good move to find that potential in terms of getting others into the workforce, bringing more equality, and expanding our workforce and our business community and giving them them the opportunity to grow, develop, and strengthen our economy. That is another good move in this budget.

Simply put, the government is investing in Canadians in a responsible way. These growth-generating investments in people, communities, and the economy are being balanced by sound fiscal management. We are investing while at the same time driving down the debt ratio as a percentage of the economy. The government is taking the next steps toward equality and a more competitive, sustainable, and inclusive Canada, where science, curiosity, and innovation are working to drive economic growth.

This past week I happened to attend what was called the Globe Forum in Vancouver. The theme was “The Leadership Summit for Sustainable Business”. Over 4,000 people attended, and the thrust of the conference was climate change and economic leadership. I bring this point up in the budget debate because what struck me at the Global Forum was the need to find balance. I also raise it because at that conference, there was a lot of talk about the oil and gas industry and renewable energy.

One of the things that struck me at the conference was the desire to use our current natural resources as we have, in terms of being so fortunate to have oil and gas in this country, while always striving to build better technologies, with less greenhouse gases, etc., and to use those investments and returns to also improve on renewables. Although it is not really a part of this budget, it is part of the government's philosophy that we need to use what we have to build for the future.

I see that I am running out of time, because there is so much to talk about in this budget, especially as it relates to Atlantic Canada. There are improvements in broadband, pre-apprentice training, skills development, and assistance for the regional development agencies, which are extremely important in my area in terms of assisting the business community and communities themselves in gaining economic opportunities and growing business in the future. In fact, last week I announced that the Thompson Potato Company has a new technology that will add value to its potato product as it goes to market.

That is what this budget is all about: strengthening our economy and giving businesses and people the opportunity to grow the economy for the country as a whole and for themselves as businesses.