CANADA House of Commons Debates VOLUME 145 Ï NUMBER 005 Ï 3rd SESSION Ï 40th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 185 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, March 9, 2010 The House met at 10 a.m. The first petition calls on the government and Canada Post to maintain and improve its network of public post offices and to consult the public and elected officials. Prayers These several dozen signatures show that citizens in my riding and across Quebec are frustrated about the potential closure of rural post offices. ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS Ï (1005) Ï (1000) EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE [English] Ms. France Bonsant (Compton—Stanstead, BQ): Mr. Speaker, I am tabling in this House a petition that calls for the adoption of my INTERPARLIAMENTARY DELEGATIONS bill, Bill C-343, which would allow victims of crime and their Mr. David Tilson (Dufferin—Caledon, CPC): Mr. Speaker, families to receive their fair share of employment insurance. This pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the petition was signed by more than 800 people in my riding and from House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian across Quebec. delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, re- specting its participation at the 32nd European Parliament-Canada These signatures show that citizens are concerned about the plight Interparliamentary meeting, held in Brussels, Belgium, November 9- of victims' families and that they want the government to act as 13, 2009. quickly as possible. [Translation] [English] Mr. Michel Guimond: Mr. Speaker, I seek the unanimous ASSISTED SUICIDE consent of the House to adopt the following motion: Hon. Judy Sgro (York West, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the present petitions again, following yesterday. I will be presenting House, Bill C-434, An Act to amend the Corrections and thousands of names in opposition to Bill C-384, the bill that deals Conditional Release Act (day parole — six months or one sixth of with euthanasia. I have been asked to present these petitions to the the sentence rule) be deemed to have been read a second time and House of Commons, calling on all members of Parliament to vote referred to a Committee of the Whole, deemed considered in against Bill C-384. Committee of the Whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage, and deemed read a third time HALIFAX CONVENTION CENTRE and passed. Ms. Megan Leslie (Halifax, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am honoured The Speaker: Does the hon. member for Montmorency— to present a petition today from residents of the riding of Halifax and Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord have the unanimous consent of the the surrounding areas about the view from Halifax Citadel National House to move this motion? Historic Park specifically. The petitioners say that if public funds are used to build a convention centre on two specific city blocks in Some hon. members: Agreed. downtown Halifax, the towers would actually block the view. They Some hon. members: No. are asking government not to provide funds for development that would block the view of the centre harbour and George's Island from The Speaker: There is no unanimous consent. the Halifax Citadel National Historic Park. They look forward to the minister's answer. *** ANIMAL WELFARE PETITIONS Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I am CANADA POST pleased to present a petition today on behalf of residents of Selkirk— Ms. France Bonsant (Compton—Stanstead, BQ): Mr. Speaker, Interlake and around Manitoba, asking the government to support a I have two petitions to table. universal declaration on animal welfare. 186 COMMONS DEBATES March 9, 2010 The Budget [Translation] Our plan is ensuring that we will lead the global recovery. Not Mr. Marcel Proulx (Hull—Aylmer, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I would only was Canada at the head of the pack of the G7 countries for like to present a petition with a large number of signatures. quarterly economic growth, we also had the strongest growth in domestic demand. What is more, in the coming year the International The petitioners state that over a billion people around the world Monetary Fund predicts Canada's economic growth will continue to need animals for their livelihood and that many people have pets. be at the head of the G7 pack. They are asking the Government of Canada to support a universal declaration on animal welfare. There is a lot of great stuff that is in budget 2010 and I want to highlight a few of these areas. In the budget we are injecting another *** $19 billion of new stimulus to create and protect jobs. We are securing our economic recovery and sustaining our economic [English] advantage through a number of measures. QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER Personal income tax relief will save Canadians $3.2 billion in Mr. Tom Lukiwski (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of personal income tax. This is happening through adjustments in the the Government in the House of Commons, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I federal tax brackets. We are enhancing the working income tax ask that all questions be allowed to stand. benefit. There are going to be higher child benefits for parents, and The Speaker: Is that agreed? lower taxes for low and middle income seniors. Some hon. members: Agreed. There is also a lowering of the corporate tax rate to 15% in 2012 that is planned through this budget. That is moving toward our goal of having the lowest tax rate on new investment in the G7 at a 25% combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate making us one of the GOVERNMENT ORDERS most competitive countries in the world to have business. [English] More importantly, that lower corporate tax rate also helps all of THE BUDGET our small businesses that are up and down our main streets in our small communities. Those are all family operations, whether they are FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF MINISTER OF FINANCE restaurants, convenience stores or maybe the local hardware stores. The House resumed from March 8 consideration of the motion All those businesses rely on making sure that they continue to have a that this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the lower tax burden. That is going to help them to create more jobs and government, of the amendment and of the amendment to the make them more profitable in the long-term. amendment. We are also improving the taxation on the universal child care Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake, CPC): Mr. Speaker, benefit by allowing single parents to choose to include it in their own Canada's economic action plan is working and is helping to keep all income or a dependent, thereby providing treatment similar to single Canadians working. Our plan is expected to create or maintain earner two-parent families. We are going to continue to support 220,000 jobs by the end of 2010 with an estimated 130,000 created families. or maintained to date already. This does not include the 225,000 jobs that were saved through our expanded work sharing program, a We are going to continue support for the housing market through program that has been used by companies and manufacturers in my the first time homebuyers tax credit and additional access to riding to ensure that they kept their employee base in place. registered retirement savings plan savings to purchase a building or a home. We are in the middle of the largest federal investment of infrastructure over the past 60 years. We are putting Canadians to We are also going to enhance the working income tax benefit work in some 16,000 projects across Canada and are building better which will reduce the welfare rolls by making work pay better for roads, bridges, public transit, colleges, universities, recreational many low income Canadians. There is also $340 million in targeted infrastructure and much more. We are providing the sector help by tax relief in this budget for our seniors. training Canadians who are out of work and helping businesses avoid layoffs to keep Canadians working. I want to jump into what this actually means in the province of Manitoba. In Manitoba we do have a thriving agriculture industry. I Statistics Canada recently announced that Canada's economy for am a farmer myself. I was a cattle producer. One of the main the second straight quarter grew by 5% on an annualized basis in the investments we are making through budget 2010-11 is an investment fourth quarter of 2009. This represents the strongest quarterly rate of in cattle processing facilities. economic growth in almost a decade. One thing that has happened over the last number of years is that Household spending is increasing thanks to our tax cuts for we have been dealing with the BSE situation. Because of that we Canadian families. Spending on homes continued to rebound with have had to have increased SRM removals that go beyond and above help from our temporary home renovation tax credit last year. what other competitors do in the international market so that we can Infrastructure spending increased, supported by stimulus projects have access to more trade opportunities and more beneficial market underway right across the country. opportunities for our cattle producers across this country. March 9, 2010 COMMONS DEBATES 187 The Budget Through the AgriFlexibility fund we are going to give $75 million introduction of new species that are coming into our basin, it is to help our processors look at new technology to deal with things even more important today that we protect the ecosystem that we like the enhanced feed ban, like SRM removal, trying to develop have in our freshwater systems.