House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2019, with 57% of the vote.
Finance February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the only people who believe that the previous Conservative government left a surplus are the Conservatives themselves.
Canadians will not be fooled. Make no mistake, the Government of Canada is going to run a deficit for the 2015-16 fiscal year, a deficit that will result from the previous government's measures and inaction. That is a fact.
Finance February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her question. I would like to remind her what happened last year when the budget was actually announced far after the traditional season.
This year we are working to listen to Canadians as best we can. We have heard from thousands upon thousands of Canadians. We have had 3,500 submissions. We owe it to Canadians to actually go through those submissions. We are doing so.
We will get to the budget as expeditiously as we can, recognizing our challenging economic environment.
Finance February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for her question. I can say that I have done an enormous number of pre-budget consultations across this country, in actuality from coast to coast.
We have seen people from all sectors of the economy. I have listened more than any minister of finance has ever listened in the history of this country. We have 3,500 budget submissions.
Natural Resources February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, with respect to the hon. member, here is the real problem. The real problem is that the Conservatives were not able to do anything over nine years getting resources to market. On what basis do they have any credibility in asking us how we are going to do it?
We are going to take an approach that is actually going to get resources to tidewater. We are going to make a difference for the people who need us to make a difference across this country, creating real economic growth through getting our resources to market.
Natural Resources February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we find it pretty ironic that members on the opposite side, who were not able to get resources to tidewater over nine years, are talking about what we are trying to do.
We are looking for a way to actually get resources to tidewater. We have been very clear about this point. We are working hard to get the licence required to do that. We are convinced that our approach will make a real difference for people in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and across this country.
Business of Supply February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I believe that the hon. member and I can agree that the employment insurance fund is critically important for Canadians. We recognize, especially in times of economic challenge, that this is an extremely important vehicle to help Canadians be able to deal with challenging personal situations.
We plan to make changes to the employment insurance fund to enhance its ability to act as a cushion for people when they are going through economic challenges. We commit to being transparent in what we do and to ensuring that Canadians understand the employment insurance fund, understand what the advantages cost and how we best fund that employment insurance fund.
We will follow through on that commitment by making absolutely clear what the income is and what the outflow is from that fund.
Business of Supply February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by commenting on the absurdity of the motion before us. To think that one month's worth of information or even six months' worth of information constitutes information for an entire year is patently absurd. It is like people looking at their bank balance before they have paid their bills and saying how thankful they are for a positive bank balance, not realizing that their bills amount to more than what they have in the bank.
Let us just start by telling the honest to goodness truth to Canadians. When the Conservatives prepared Budget 2015, they got it wrong. They made an economic assumption for growth that was incorrect. There is not one economist in this country who believes that the assumption they made was correct.
When it came time for our economic and fiscal update in November, we looked at the true facts of what was going on in our economy and realized that the Conservatives' assumption for growth was just wrong. The revenues were going to be seriously different from what they had assessed them to be in their budget and, therefore, we are faced with the inevitability of a deficit this year based on the actions and assumptions of the government before us. There is no simpler way to state it.
The next thing the Liberals can do is to deal with the real facts. The real facts are that we are in a deficit position. The question that faced Canadians in the campaign was what we should do about it. We presented them with a plan to grow, to actually deal with the real facts and create a new Canada, one that invests in productive assets for the long term, to help businesses and Canadians do better in the future.
Business of Supply February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, we made a real commitment to being open and transparent. We made a commitment to listening to Canadians. One of our very first initiatives in that regard was ensuring we had a pre-budget consultation process that was as open as possible.
We travelled across the country. We went to cities from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast and right up to the North. We went to rural communities and urban communities to listen to Canadians. So far, more than 150,000 Canadians have engaged with us online and we have more than 3,500 submissions, which is almost triple the number that were received last year.
We feel this enables us to get a good sense of what Canadians understand, to listen to what they believe we should do, and to incorporate their thoughts and views as we create budget 2016.
Business of Supply February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we made a commitment to Canadians that we would exercise caution in all that we do. We made a commitment that we would be open and transparent with Canadians in explaining the state of our finances. That is exactly what we endeavoured to do with our economic and fiscal update in November.
We will continue to do that through the course of our term. We will help Canadians to understand the state of our finances, where the money is coming from and where it is not coming from, and we will ensure that workers and everyone in Canada know exactly where the money is coming from.
Business of Supply February 4th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the only people who believe the previous Conservative government left a surplus are the Conservatives themselves. Neither one month nor six months of information make a year. We are looking at the entire year.
Make no mistake. For the budget year 2015-16, we will be in a deficit. It is a deficit that will be there because of the actions and inactions of the previous government. It will not be about the choices made by this government.