Jennifer McKelvie

“Mr. Speaker, what I was trying to highlight is the fact that Canadians have a very good understanding of what our Prime Minister brings to the table in terms of economic credentials. I think it is important that we take a look at the larger picture. I had the opportunity to ask questions today in debate to the leader of the Conservative Party and the deputy leader. For those who are following the debate, the question I asked the deputy leader was in regard to very important programs. I talked about two programs in particular. I talked about the national dental program that provides support to seniors who are on fixed incomes, as an example, literally tens of thousands of seniors in every region of our country. I highlighted that program, along with the national school food program, which has 400,000 children benefiting from that particular program. I asked her to provide her thoughts on it. Now, I will put the personal shot she took to the side, but she made it very clear that those programs are failures. I was disappointed in the manner in which, in a very clear and concise way, she said that those programs were failures. She should tell that to the senior who is on a fixed income in her own riding or a child who is receiving the benefits in a classroom. That is the type of insensitivity that we see coming from today’s Conservative Party. They talk about affordability, but when it comes to actual actions, the government has delivered a wide spectrum of actions, and I will go over them. What we see is the Conservative Party, time and again, devaluing these programs. I have heard members of the Conservative caucus calling the school food program garbage. Talk about being insensitive to the issues of the day, like affordability. They talk about it; they like to get those clips, but in reality, their actions speak louder than words. We saw that demonstrated today when I posed a question to the deputy leader of the Conservative Party. For those who were around or who followed the speech of the leader of the Conservative Party, they should take a look at what he said. I am sure he will cut and paste, and try to make it look good for the far right. However, if we listen to the entirety of the speech, we cannot help but walk away thinking that Canada has a serious problem and, in fact, that we are broken. Talk about depressing. There is no doubt that there is always room for us to look at ways in which we can improve. We do not question that. However, I say to the leader of the Conservative Party that Canada is not broken. Canada is doing exceptionally well when compared to our peers. We have people, companies, other governments and pensions looking at investing in Canada in a very real and tangible way. They are not going to do that if they believe that Canada is broken. Let us take a look at last month. For the first time ever we had a Prime Minister host the world in Toronto, where we were asking people to come and take a look at what the government had been doing over the previous 12-plus months, and to look at ways in which they might be able to invest in Canada, in those major projects. We had over $500 billion, that is half a trillion dollars plus, that recognized that Canada is worth looking at. That is what they are actually doing. It is a historic amount of money. They would not be doing that if they honestly believed what the leader of the Conservative Party was saying today in his remarks on the opposition motion. I believe that the Conservative Party is way off base. To Conservatives, it is all about the deficit. We have the second-lowest deficit-to-GDP ratio in the G7. If we want to talk about the AAA credit rating, think in terms of the G7 countries. Everyone would like to be a part of the G7, I would suggest, but take a look at those G7 countries. We are talking about the United States, England, France and Germany. There are only two nations, Germany and Canada, that have a AAA credit rating. When I had the opportunity to state that fact to the opposition critic of finance, his response was like, “Well, they don’t know what they’re talking about”. He then went into the reasons he believes that of the credit agencies, which also provide credit reports to provincial entities. He indicated that, “Well, they don’t know what they’re talking about.” I have a lot more confidence in those credit agencies than I do the official opposition, because day in and day out, the Conservatives want to talk down Canada. What is at the core of the motion the Conservatives have before us today? It is hard to believe, but they are saying that, as we have the budget coming down, they are concerned about the deficit. They want to have the Prime Minister go before a standing committee. Maybe the opposition can tell me if, when they were in government, Stephen Harper ever went to a standing committee dealing with the budget. I will save them some time: It never happened. At the end of the day, if we want to do a comparison, the leader of the Conservative Party today, when he was in government, was in the only Conservative government that was ever found in contempt of Parliament. It was the only government in Canadian history. When we start looking at fiscal capacity, what is it with the Conservative Party in terms of not recognizing the potential that Canadians have? There is potential in our resources, commodities, ingenuity and technology, which is there and real in every jurisdiction in Canada. The Conservatives’ response is that they are not prepared to see that sort of investment take place, because they constantly criticize the projects we bring forward. All they say, and focus their attention on, are two things. One is character assassination, whether it is the Prime Minister or other ministers. The other is the deficit situation, but we have been very careful in demonstrating that everything is, in fact, under control. It is by making these investments that we are going to create additional revenue in the future. All one needs to do is to take a look at the projects that are on the table. There are a couple of quotes I would like to share, and then I will go on to some of these projects I made reference to. In regards to the Minister of Finance, I thought he made it very clear the other day in dealing with the financial issue. He said, “The International Monetary Fund just said that Canada has the strongest fiscal position in the G7 and the second-fastest growth in the G7, almost twice that of Germany and Japan.” I see that as good news. The Minister of Finance would reinforce some of the statements I have made, if not all the statements, such as that AAA credit rating. When I talk about having our finances in order and the financial capacity to look at building a stronger, healthier Canada that works for all Canadians, I would suggest it would be irresponsible of the government not to take advantage of that. It pleases me greatly to be able to say that we very much have a proactive Prime Minister who really understands how an economy works and has the relationships not only in Canadian borders but outside of Canada in order for us to advance that. I do not say that lightly. Let us look at the things we have done as a government that led up to the Investment Summit that Canada hosted just last month that I commented on earlier with regard to half a trillion dollars. If we want to support small, medium-sized and large businesses, we need to find customers. In the last federal election, when people were genuinely concerned about Trump’s tariffs and trade, the Prime Minister made a commitment to Canadians in that campaign that we would look at ways to expand trade opportunities that went beyond the Canada-U.S. border, and that is exactly what this government has been doing in good part. We have signed 20-plus trade and security agreements. It is probably 22 or 23 at this point, with many more in the works. Whether it is the Minister of International Trade, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade among the provinces, there are numerous ministers, led by the Prime Minister and supported by every member of the Liberal caucus, out there in the world encouraging and promoting trade opportunities. That is why we are seeing the types of trade numbers today in terms of opportunities gained, at least in good part, working as a team with small businesses, provinces and indigenous people. This is what is making the difference. We have the opportunity to grow the economy, but it means we have to also be prepared to invest in it. Earlier today, representatives of CentrePort in Winnipeg were in the government lobby, and I had a chance to have a very brief chat. I thanked them for what they are doing in building a stronger economy in Manitoba. It is both private and public investment that is feeding that growth because they know they can count on the federal government, the provincial government and private businesses investing in CentrePort. That is exactly what is happening today, which is creating jobs and opportunities into the future. That is a very small example, which is important to my province, of investment that takes place. We can take that snapshot and apply it to every region of our nation. That brings me to the whole thought we have been talking about, which is how we can build, build big and build now. Since the last federal election, we have been working collaboratively with provincial governments and indigenous leaders at ways we can build and expand the Canadian economy, and at the same time protect our environment. There are many projects. In the past, I have talked about the premiers and Prime Minister working, virtually from day one after the last federal election, to build one Canadian economy, and the federal government has done its part in passing the legislation that was necessary to enable that to happen at the federal level. We continue to work with the provinces so that more provinces will take down some of their barriers, because Canadians made it very clear that they want one Canadian economy. They also made it very clear that they want to expand the economy, and expanding the economy means major projects. Let me try to summarize the major projects. We can go from coast to coast to coast, from Arctic sovereignty to what is taking place in B.C. We can talk about LNG phase two and of billions of dollars of investments. We can talk about MOUs in Alberta with a Conservative government. We can talk about copper mines and about the canola issue in the province of Saskatchewan. I already talked about CentrePort, in Manitoba, but we can also talk about the Port of Churchill. We can go into Ontario and talk about nuclear power. We can talk about, in the province of Quebec, something the Conservatives often bring up, the port of Montreal or about the expansion of hydro in Atlantic Canada, among other major projects. From coast to coast to coast, we have a federal government that is working with provinces to make big projects happen and work, and we will all benefit from that. This is one of the ways we can secure more financial resources coming into the country, and if it takes time to be able to secure that, we will put in that time, because we want to make Canada the strongest and healthiest nation in the G7, and that is what we are fighting to achieve.”