Eric St-Pierre

“Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to address Bill C-31, the budget implementation bill. It is important, at the very beginning, that we recognize Bill C-31 was put in place to, in essence, bring forward the government’s agenda, making sure that we have the finances to deliver for Canadians. Just over a year ago, about 16 or 17 months ago, Canadians went to the polls and elected a new Prime Minister, a Prime Minister who had huge ambitions of delivering for Canadians in every region of the country. Coming out of the last election, all of us have been very much aware of what those issues are. There was a great deal of concern with regard to the issue of Trump tariffs and trade. I have made reference to that in the past. The Prime Minister has made a very clear commitment to Canadians that we want to deal with Canadian sovereignty in different ways. The budget implementation legislation, much like the budget itself, is how we deal with the issues that the Prime Minister took out of the election. Let me give some tangible examples. Since the last election, we have had, I believe, over 24 trade and security agreements with nations beyond the U.S., countries such as England, Indonesia and many others. When I think of the trade file, Canada is the only G7 country that has a trade agreement with all G7 countries, and we are looking at expanding that. I am hoping that later this year we will see trade agreements between Canada and the Philippines and between Canada and India. We will also continue to pursue expanding the relationship between Canada and the European Union. Let us talk about a specific example. I would like to highlight the pork industry, which is very much alive and well in three provinces in Canada: Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. If I was to focus on the province of Manitoba and on creating job opportunities and enhancing export opportunities that go beyond the Canada-U.S. border, I would highlight the company HyLife. HyLife employs hundreds of Manitobans in the community of Neepawa, bringing life back to Neepawa in many different ways. As a company, 90% of its product is sold to Asia, in particular to countries like Japan. That is the type of international trade opportunity that allows Canada to grow. This is the type of company that we could give examples of in every region of our country. When the Prime Minister, the Minister of Industry, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of International Trade and, to a lesser extent, the Minister of Immigration talk about trade opportunities, it excites all members of the government caucus, because we see the reality and recognize that Canada is very much dependent on trade. That is just one file in a much larger picture. We can talk about investments and building big projects. Earlier, a Bloc member was trying to give the false impression that Canada neglects the province of Quebec. Nothing could be further from the truth. I gave the example of the port of Montreal in the province of Quebec. That is well over three billion dollars’ worth of investments. We are talking about thousands of indirect and direct jobs as a result of major projects and investments. Over the next five years, we are going to see close to half a trillion dollars in major projects, in co-operation with provinces, municipalities, indigenous leaders and many other stakeholders. That is very real. It is tangible. Back in September, the Prime Minister held a summit, the first of its kind, where we invited investors from around the world to come to Toronto. Historic amounts of money were being looked at to invest in Canada, half a trillion dollars, which is unheard of in Canadian history. These are real, tangible investments. When we talk about budgets and the implementation of the government agenda, we need to look at the larger picture. That is why it is being forecast that Canada will have the second-highest growth in the G7 this year. We are not settling for that. Through the Prime Minister and this government, we are aiming to make Canada the strongest and healthiest economy in the G7. That goal is achievable. All one needs to do is look at the bigger picture and what the government is putting forward. That flowed from listening to what Canadians were asking not only of this Prime Minister, but of all members of the House. Every Liberal member of caucus understands that and continues to build and work toward a stronger and healthier economy because it matters. Along with that, on the issue of affordability, we put in place programs that are meant and designed to assist real people in our constituencies. Last Friday, I made reference to the national school food program, which feeds 400,000 children in schools across every region of our nation. I have talked about the dental program. Imagine a senior on a fixed income being provided the opportunity to get dental services. Every member has constituents who have benefited immensely by that. When I say “constituents”, I am talking about hundreds of constituents in every riding across the country. We can look at the turmoil from Trump tariffs and trade. Even on the unemployment and employment issue, there has been a net gain of over 150,000 jobs in Canada since the last federal election. Some may be able to point to some months being lower than other months and some months having higher employment numbers, but the bottom line is that it is a net gain. People need to appreciate the situation we are in around the world, with a war in the Middle East and what is taking place in Russia and Ukraine, the illegal occupation. We are still able to deliver. I look at the minister responsible for crime. We have brought forward numerous bills to deal with making our communities safer. We are talking about a generational number of pieces of legislation to deal with that. All of this is being done through collaborative federalism, led by a Prime Minister who understands that we need to work with people in order to make things happen. There are so many things that one can talk about. Earlier, we had a critic talking about the military. Within six or eight months, we met the target of spending 2% of GDP on military expenses. The Conservatives can try to justify it whatever way they want, but at the end of the day, our military personnel got pay increases. We now have a procurement process being put into place that is very solid and will ensure more accountability and transparency. I have run out of time. There is so much more I could talk about. I look forward to any questions.”