May
24, 2006London, OntarioPLEASE CHECK AGAINST
DELIVERYMembers of the London Chamber of Commerce,Honoured
guests of the head table,Ladies and gentlemen,Thank you, David
(Gurnham), for your generous introduction.And thank you all for the warm
welcome today.I believe this is my first address to your
organization,But over the years I have had the opportunity to speak to
chambers of commerce and boards of trade from one end of this great country to
the other.And I am always impressed by the commitment of these
organizations to their communities and your dedication to the debate of public
policy matters.So thank you again for that dedication and commitment and
for the invitation to speak today.This is my first visit to London since
the federal election campaign.And I am particularly proud to be joined
by two colleagues in Parliament who were successful in that
election.First, a veteran member, the MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London and
member of the House Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Joe
Preston.And a new member, the MP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, and member
of the House Committees on Veterans Affairs and Industry, Science and
Technology, Bev Shipley.As you all know, it has been a very challenging,
busy and exciting four months.And things must be going well. Why, the
other day my wife burst into my office and announced that I had just past the
longevity record of John Turner. What's worse is she seemed very
surprised by that.Last week we marked our first 100 days in office.
And I'm pleased to report we have made significant progress --delivering
on the changes we promised during the election.Our approach has been to
keep our legislative agenda focussed on a few key priorities -- and to be guided
by three basic objectives:
Cleaning up Ottawa and creating an accountable federal government;
Changing federal priorities to deliver real, tangible benefits for ordinary
working families and small business;
And strengthening our country at home and around the world.When I
campaigned in London early this year, I spoke of the damage caused by years of
scandals under the previous administration.Of the need to end waste,
gross mismanagement, and corruption. And of the need to clean up
government.Well, that's just what we started doing last
month.When we introduced the most comprehensive piece of reform and
anti-corruption legislation in the history of the Canadian Parliament.The
Federal Accountability Act.This is an omnibus bill of over 200
clauses.This bill will overhaul electoral financing legislation:
By limiting donations raised by federal political parties to individuals and
to a maximum of $1,000 per year.It will end the revolving door between
ministers' offices, the bureaucracy and lobbying firms, By banning
ministers, ministerial staff and senior public servants from lobbying the
federal government for five years after they leave office. It will clean
up the federal government's contracting, polling, procurement and advertising
processes to ensure they are not used simply to reward political
friends.To make sure the system stays clean, we will also give greater
powers to independent watchdogs such as the Auditor General
Who, I might add, just exposed millions more in taxpayer dollars that were
wasted by being improperly diverted to the federal gun registry.The
Federal Accountability Act will not make government perfect, because people are
not perfect. But when things go seriously wrong, the act will provide
ironclad protection to whistleblowers who come forward with proof of
wrongdoing.We're going to ensure truth in budgeting, and assist
Parliament in doing its job by setting up an independent Parliamentary Budget
Office.Our government also remains committed to cleaning up the
appointments process in Ottawa.
Even though the opposition recently voted against Gwyn Morgan and his team
of private-sector executives who were prepared to provide arms' length oversight
to the process
For $1 per year I might add. We will nevertheless push ahead. Some
of the operations of the Public Appointments Commission are already in place and
our government will introduce the following core ethic
With or without the opposition, we will only keep positions that are
necessary,
And we will only appoint qualified people to those positions.The
idea is to replace the culture of entitlement that thrived under the previous
government.And give Canadians good, clean government.Government
that is accountable. Government that treats their tax dollars with
respect.That's what Canadians voted for on January 23.And that
is what we are going to deliver. But what is even more important, ladies
and gentlemen, is that our government has set itself a series of priorities that
are very different from those of the previous government.
Priorities that reflect the real needs of ordinary working Canadians and
their families, including the need to reduce the tax burden they are under.
Ladies and gentlemen, it isn't enough just to clean up Ottawa,
We must also change the priorities of the federal government, so that it
treats the money of taxpayers with respect and uses it to do what is in the
interests of the working families it is supposed to serve.On January 23,
the people of Canada voted for that kind of change.Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty delivered that kind of change in his first budget. A budget
with a surplus.A budget that's responsible.A budget that cuts
the taxes paid by Canadian individuals, families and businesses of all sizes.
It cuts two dollars in taxes for every dollar in new
spending.Over the next two years, we're going to deliver $20 billion in
tax cuts to Canadians -- more than the last four federal budgets
combined.Sales taxes. Down.Income taxes. DownBusiness
taxes. DownImmigration taxes. Down.Capital and capital gains
taxes. Down.You name it. There are no fewer than 29 different
taxes reduced in this budget.And over 650,000 low-income Canadians will
be dropped from the federal tax rolls altogether.Of course, on Canada
Day this year, the GST will fall from seven to six percent -- a change that
benefits every single Canadian.We are also cutting personal income
taxes.Not just by raising the personal exemption and keeping low-income
rates down. But also by giving an employment tax credit that will especially
benefit middle-income workers.This tax credit, worth up to $500 - and
set to double to $1,000 in January 2007 - will offer working Canadians
relief.These cuts will mean real savings for ordinary
Canadians.Families earning between $15,000 and $30,000 a year will save
almost $300.While those earning between $45,000 and $60,000 will save almost
$650.Money that will help them get a little further ahead.So
they can buy the necessities of life.Or save for their children's
education.Whatever you want.After all, it's your
money.You worked hard to earn it.And you should be able to keep
more of it.The same is true for businesses.We're going to
unleash the entrepreneurial potential of our small business sector.We
will, for example, increase the amount of income eligible for the small-business
tax rate from $300,000 to $400,000.And this rate will drop to from 12%
to 11.5% in 2008 and 11% in 2009. The budget will reduce the tax burden
on all Canadian employers, and it also contains some significant exemptions for
capital gains taxation.For example, there will be no capital gains tax
on securities donated to charity
Which will mean a major infusion of new money to social and cultural
agencies across this country.In fact, it has already sparked a $50
million donation of stock to a charitable foundation here in Ontario.Our
budget also contains new spending initiatives, Now let me just say,
ladies and gentlemen, that I am concerned about how much federal spending grew
under the previous government.In this budget it is way down from the
double-digit increases we've seen in recent years.But spending is still
increasing at least as fast as economic growth.So Minister Flaherty and
the President of the Treasury Board, John Baird, are looking at how we can
overhaul the federal government's expenditure management system - which is not
working as it should.I look forward to receiving their recommendations
in the early fall.But while there are still challenges on the spending
side, our government will not be wasting money on ever-changing and
ever-expanding priorities. We know what we believe.We know where
we stand.And our spending is focused on areas of federal
jurisdiction.Like enforcing public security and the surveillance of our
borders.Toughening criminal justice and re-staffing the RCMP.And
rebuilding the armed forces of Canada.When we do spend, we want to spend
in ways that reflect the real priorities of ordinary Canadians.For
example, we promised a new approach to child care.The previous
government was prepared to transfer billions of dollars to bureaucrats,
advocates and other politicians in the name of daycare.In our budget,
all parents with pre-school children will now receive a Universal Child Care
Benefit of $1,200 directly. Because we believe parents, not governments,
should make their child care choices.We're also investing in our economy
and our future.We're providing more investments into our public
infrastructure and providing tax credits to those who use public
transit.We are offering students new credits for scholarship income and
for text books, and tax relief for the tool costs borne by apprentices and
tradespeople.We're giving seniors the ability to shelter more private
pension income from taxation and helping with the costs of kids'
sports.These are all things we promised to do in the election, and now
we are doing them.Of course, the role of a national government is not
simply to deliver benefits and services, and to do so in an accountable and
efficient manner.It is also to build on the heritage passed to us by our
founders, Macdonald and Cartier and their colleagues
Our great country, Canada, a nation that is strong, united, independent and
free.We are taking steps forward on the fiscal imbalance and national
unity, to move Quebecers and all Canadians past the damage of the sponsorship
scandal. As a first step in our efforts to resolve the fiscal imbalance,
we have increased transfers to the provinces in their fields of
jurisdiction.And finally, some provinces are now running a budget
surplus.Thanks to a federal government that does not have a centralizing
philosophy,
We are already seeing a clear improvement on the national unity front,
including the agreement that gave Quebec an historic role at UNESCO. We
are working to crack down on gun, gang and drug crime and to make our streets
and neighbourhoods safe once again. To do this, we've introduced bills
in Parliament to end conditional sentences for serious crimes
And, for serious offences committed with a firearm, to institute mandatory
prison sentences. We are also acting to restore our special trade and
security relationship with our biggest customer and closest neighbour -- the
United States.We have renegotiated, renewed and passed through
Parliament the NORAD agreement. We also reached an agreement to end the
longstanding, crippling softwood lumber dispute with the United
States.Ladies and gentlemen, this deal is good for Canada and for
Canadian producers.Under it we get:
Back over 80% of the money - over $4 billion US - that had been tied up in
endless litigation;
Guaranteed and stable access to the US market, including no quotas and no
tariffs under current market conditions; and
Protection from cheap exports of wood to the US from third
countries.This shows what can be achieved when we put goodwill and hard
work ahead of crass politics and cheap rhetoric.And this is the same
straight-forward approach we are leading with on other international issues,
such as:
Standing up to the government of Hamas,
Developing an effective international agreement on climate change.
Delivering new aid to Darfur.
And establishing security and democracy in Kandahar, Afghanistan.So
there you have it.Ladies and gentlemen, on January 23 Canadians voted
for change.They gave our party a mandate to lead that change.A
little over a 100 days have passed.And we are determined to
lead......determined to deliver.We promised to clean up government.
And we've introduced the Federal Accountability Act. We promised
to cut taxes and deliver benefits to working Canadian families. And
those are the priorities in our budget.We promised to work to unite the
country, to crack down on crime, to build a more mature relationship with the
United States, and to play a leadership role in the world. And we've
made progress here too.So we're off to a good start.But it won't
be easy.For we have a minority Parliament. Where support can
shift.Where the positions of the parties can change on a dime.We
got a wake-up call on this last week. We agreed to a vote to back our
men and women in uniform in Afghanistan by extending their mission -- a mission
they were sent on by the previous government. We had all-party support
for the process, and we had the consistent support of the Liberals and Bloc for
the mission going back many years.But, on the day of the vote, they
switched their positions on our troops, just so they could vote against the
government. It shows that, in this minority Parliament, nothing is
sacred - not even our troops -- and there is nothing you can take for
granted.So if you want to ensure that the federal accountability act
passes and we make long-term reforms to clean up government in Ottawa, you must
let your Members of Parliament know how you feel.If you believe the
budget should pass, that Canadians should get real tax relief, or parents
receive support for their pre-school children,
Then you must tell your Members of Parliament you want it done.If
you want our country and our military to stand tall in the world,
If you want to end the softwood dispute and secure our trade with the US,
Or if you want criminals punished for their crimes and society protected
from them,
Then you must make your views known. To ensure this Parliament
works, that things actually get passed, Canadians like yourselves must write,
call, or email MPs of all parties to let them know that these aren't just our
priorities, but your priorities as well.Thank you.God bless
Canada.
