Thank you Kevin. It is good to be here at the Langley Chamber of Commerce dinner. As a former businessman, I love being with business people. After all, business is one of the engines that keep our economy going.
2008 was a year of uncertainty in Canada. Rumours of a federal election became a reality on October 14th, and our government was re-elected. While our Conservative Government is still a minority, we’ve increased our mandate by 19 seats.
Close on the heels of Canada’s federal election was the U.S. federal election, and on November 15th, it was back to the pools for us locally as we held our municipal elections. Congratulations to Mayors Rick Green and Peter Fassbender and their respective Councils on receiving their mandate of Langley’s voters.
But elections weren’t the only 2008 headline-grabbers. The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States caused a financial crisis world-wide.
While Canada is well-positioned economically, we braced ourselves for the inevitable global economic backlash.
The domino effect of the growing financial crisis has had an enormous effect on the commodities market.
And just as investors, businesses, and Canadians were grappling with the economic downturn, along came the threat of a separatist coalition government, led by the Liberals and NDP, and supported by the Bloc. WOW! What a year it was!
I’d like to briefly review some key moments from last year that led us to prorogue parliament, which ended the fall session five days earlier than was scheduled:
On November 19th of last year, the 40th Canadian Parliament began in the traditional way with the Governor General giving the Speech from the Throne.
The next day, November 20th Prime Minister Stephen Harper provided the customary response to the Speech and made it clear that our Government had already taken steps to protect our economy and would take unprecedented measures to hedge against an economic meltdown as we were seeing happen in the US.
At the time, our Prime Minister said, “Our commitment to purchase insured mortgages through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has ensured that our financial institutions would keep lending to individuals and businesses.”
The House of Commons voted and passed the Speech from the Throne, indicating confidence in our government and our plan to guide Canada through these very difficult economic times.
A week later, on November 27th, Finance Minister Flaherty presented to Parliament his Fiscal Update, highlighting the seriousness of the global economic crisis and its impacts on Canada.
Later that same day, the Separatist Coalition was revealed. Suddenly, the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc said they did not have confidence in the government and that they wanted to replace the government. Canadians were furious and most did not support the separatist coalition.
On December 3rd, the Prime Minister addressed the nation, saying, “This is no time for backroom deals with the separatists. It is the time for Canada’s government to focus on the economy.” He went on to say, “I pledge to you that Canada’s government will use every legal means at our disposal to protect our democracy, to protect our economy, and to protect Canada.”
The next day, the Prime Minister went to the Governor General and asked that Parliament prorogue until January 26th, 2009, giving the government an opportunity to consult Canadians and business leaders, like yourselves, to develop a January 27th budget that would help stimulate the Canadian economy. The Governor General agreed.
During this time, Canadians were very unhappy, but so was the Federal Liberal party. Stéphane Dion was forced, by his party and Caucus, to step down and Michael Ignatiff became the new leader of the Federal Liberal party.
We had to prorogue parliament because we heard from Canadians loud and clear--they did not want their democratic rights be thrown away by a separatist coalition. Just weeks earlier, on October 14th, Canadians had re-elected our Conservative government to lead them through these tough economic times…and the times are tough!
11days ago--Statistics Canada released employment numbers for December showing the economy lost 34,400 jobs as the unemployment rate increased to 6.6 % from 6.3 % in November. This labour market report is further evidence that Canada’s economy is facing enormous challenges as a result of the global economic crisis.
We are seeing the effects on Canadians as demand for goods and services decrease. Jobs have been lost in the manufacturing, services, resource, and technology sectors. Our hearts go out to those Canadians and their families who have lost their jobs; this is an issue that really does preoccupy our government.
That is why, through Service Canada, we are providing worker retraining programs, equipping Canadians so they can start working again.
The Prime Minister has said, “no-one should be under any illusion about what the economic projections mean. Like most of our G20 partners, Canada is expected to be in recession throughout 2009. That is why our government is bringing forward an early budget that will make substantial investments to stimulate the economy. It will be a comprehensive budget that will deal with economic challenges, as well as economic opportunities."
The United States, our neighbor and largest trading partner is the epi-centre of the financial earthquake and global slowdown. We have been affected and will continue to be affected by the slowdown. But, we are fortunate to be in a position of relative strength as compared to other Countries.
The media coverage of the economy has been much worse than reality, causing a lot of fear. We know that when people get scared, they stop spending money. Right now, one of the problems we are dealing with is consumer confidence. People aren’t spending as much, so demand for goods and services decreases.
When consumers are encouraged to spend less this adds to the vicious cycle we are in because fear of spending kills the cycle of investment. We need to make sure that the financial machine is restored, and that requires rebuilding consumer confidence.
It’s good to know we have a Prime Minister with an economics background.
Since 2006, our Government, under Stephen Harper’s Leadership has:
- cut sales taxes, income taxes, business taxes and has further tax cuts built into the fiscal framework to ensure Canadians have more money in their pockets;
- we’ve increased social benefits to strengthen the financial security of Canadian families, with the creation of the Universal Child Care Benefit;
- we’ve bolstered transfers to provincial health ministries and post-secondary education programs;
- and we’ve increased the Guaranteed Income Supplement to help our seniors.
Even with a prorogued parliament, our Government has been working non-stop, consulting with business leaders, labour representatives, the Opposition members, and many Canadians on actions needed to protect the Canadian economy. In fact, this Chamber of Commerce has contributed to providing important feedback to the federal government on the national economy.
Over the past few months Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been meeting with senior bankers and the Bank of Canada governor, Mark Carney, looking at ways of increasing liquidity to businesses and Canadians.
He has also met with members from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation consulting with them about the potential for more tax cuts.
The Prime Minister said, “You can’t sustain economic activity without having stimulus for the middle class. Since the middle class is paying most of the freight, the middle class has to share in the stimulus program and we will be making sure that is the case.”
Because our government has paid down $37 billion on the national debt, Canada now has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, giving us greater fiscal flexibility than many other nations.
For the past three years, despite being a minority government, we have cut the fat, and presented sensible, workable fiscal packages to strengthen our economy and gain advantage in our position in the global marketplace.
In the past month we have held pre-budget consultations in Vancouver, Saskatchewan, Toronto and Atlantic Canada. The Prime Minister has also put together an 11-member economic advisory panel, to seek their advice on taxation, credit availability and of course, the types of stimulus needed for the Canadian economy.
This 11-member advisory panel includes of some of Canada’s most prominent leaders such as Jim Pattison and former B.C. finance minister, Carol Taylor.
Minister Flaherty has said, “This year's federal budget will have a substantial deficit in order to deal with the effects of a synchronized global recession; however, even though the deficit will be substantial, our Conservative government will not undertake long term deficits."
The Conservative government took an unprecedented step for Canadians when it created the historic $33-billion infrastructure plan, called the Canada Fund. It is the largest commitment any government has made to provincial, territorial, and municipal infrastructure in the last 50 years.
Our priority is to focus on targeted infrastructure spending. For an example that affects us locally, Premier Gordon Campbell and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, last week announced the start of construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road.
This billion dollar project will create 7,000 new jobs in B.C., and will help improve the efficiency of trade through Canada’s Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor. It will also provide significant economic development opportunities and benefits for British Columbians.
To ensure that projects like this will help boost our current economic situation, last week the Prime Minister, with the Premiers and Territorial Leaders, endorsed two key amendments to the Agreement on Internal Trade at the First Ministers’ Meeting.
Each amendment marks significant progress towards eliminating internal trade barriers, by enhancing labour mobility in Canada.
Also this month, the Minister of International Trade, Stockwell Day, announced funding for a variety of new transit vehicles when he was in Vancouver. The addition of these transit vehicles will also provide employment opportunities for British Columbians.
Since 2007, under the Canada-BC-UBCM Agreement on the Transfer of federal Gas Tax revenues, the Gas Tax Fund has delivered infrastructure funding to local governments. We’ve now made the Gas Tax Fund permanent, to be used for capital projects that lead to cleaner air, cleaner water or reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
As your federal representative, I have been working with our local governments, looking at their priorities for water, sewer, and roads in both Township of Langley and City of Langley. We have also benefited from the Gateway projects with shovels already in the ground.
Canada’s economy is only as strong as its workers and families, so we remain committed to strengthening tomorrow’s work force by investing in Canadians today.
That’s why this morning I made a funding announcement on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. This funding in the amount of $3.17 million goes to Myert Corporation’s, Community Employment Resource Centre. CERC delivers employment assistance, placement and support services in the Fraser Valley, including Langley.
In addition, the Youth Employment Zone has received a further $1.21 million dollars. These funds will provide employment assistance services to 1,200 unemployed, job-ready youth in the Lower Mainland.
Together, these projects, totalling $4.38 million dollars, will help over 13,000 unemployed individuals in Langley and the surrounding area prepare for, obtain, and maintain employment.
Even with all the funding and projects we are working on, we have a lot more to do.
Yesterday, Industry Minister Tony Clements announced that the Business Development Bank of Canada will receive a $350-million injection from the federal government in next week's budget to free up lending to small-and medium-sized businesses.
The funding will include an immediate $250-million capital investment to increase the bank's term lending activities, as well as $100 million to top up lines of credit. This investment will act as a lifeline to struggling businesses.
Canada is in a recession because of the global economic crisis, but we are not the U.S and we do not have the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. We have a different set of rules and regulations acting as guidelines to our financial sector and therefore we have bypassed the U.S. housing crisis.
Right now, Canada has a unique opportunity to define and shape its future, by selecting where to invest billions of dollars. Our government is committed to targeted infrastructure spending that will create lasting jobs and strengthen the economy.
Our Government is looking at accelerated infrastructure spending that will quickly create jobs, help our economy, and provide a better quality of life for Canadians.
All levels of government need to work together to get projects up and moving quickly. We need the continued help and support of the Premiers, Mayors and community leaders to cut the red tape and accelerate the infrastructure projects.
The fact is Canada is a nation that is rich in natural and human resources. Canadians work hard and we have so much to be thankful for. I believe we will come out of this economic crisis stronger than ever.
Yesterday was Dr. Martin Luther King day. He was a man who had great hope, even in the midst of hard times. Dr. King said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose hope.” What he was saying is, difficult times will come for a season, but it will pass, and we must never lose hope.
Our Prime Minister is an expert economist who began working towards making Canada’s economy stronger well before the US crisis hit. He could see the economic storms clouds years ago and began positioning our economy accordingly.
I am thankful that this Chamber provided your feedback to me.
You asked us to eliminate red tape that is duplicated in government regulations;
You asked us to reduce taxes to make Canada more competitive internationally;
You asked that we spend money on infrastructure projects that create jobs quickly; and,
You asked us to be careful with your money so when we come out of this cycle, your business will be in good shape ready to reap in the rewards.
I couldn’t agree more. I have already sent your recommendations back to the Minister. I leave in a couple of hours to catch the Red Eye fight back to Ottawa and look forward to working with you as we go through this wild economic ride together. Thank you. I have time for a couple of questions.
