Hansard
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 12 of 12
View Yves Robillard Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Yves Robillard Profile
2020-07-20 14:56 [p.2609]
Mr. Speaker, over the past few weeks, our government has been working very hard to give young entrepreneurs in Laval the tools they need.
Can the minister tell us more about her department's investment in excess of $3.1 million to strengthen the economy by creating more entrepreneurial opportunities and jobs for young people across Quebec?
View Mélanie Joly Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Laval, the member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, for his excellent question.
It goes without saying that our economy depends on our talented young people. That is why we marked World Youth Skills Day by investing $3.1 million in 14 projects that support youth entrepreneurship.
I congratulate Laval's youth. We believe in their talent and in the talent of all our young people to create good jobs and new businesses.
View Ken Hardie Profile
Lib. (BC)
View Ken Hardie Profile
2020-05-25 14:02 [p.2346]
Madam Speaker, we are reading stories about people in Fleetwood—Port Kells who are stepping up to help in these challenging times. One is Mr. Baldev Bath, the owner of Basant Motors in our Fleetwood neighbourhood. Baldev has kept all of the staff on the payroll, but instead of keeping them in the showroom, he has them packaging food and delivering it to vulnerable people around the neighbourhood.
A lady in her eighties was incredibly grateful. One day not long ago she mentioned that she had no family close by and that all her friends were shut-ins like her. It had been a long time since she had been able to celebrate her birthday, which was coming up. Instead of a hamper, she asked for a birthday cake. Her wish was Baldev's command. He picked up a nice birthday cake, took it over and celebrated with her, of course, at a distance.
Since the moment he arrived in Canada, Baldev has been so grateful for what our country stands for. In these times, he and so many others have become what Canada stands for.
View Mary Ng Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mary Ng Profile
2020-04-20 19:00 [p.2230]
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by joining my colleagues in offering my condolences to all of those touched by the senseless act of violence in Nova Scotia yesterday. I thank Constable Heidi Stevenson for her bravery and dedication in serving her community and country so well, as well as all of the first responders who are on the front lines every day to keep us safe. We join the people of Nova Scotia in mourning this devastating loss, finding strength in each other and offering our support together as we all heal from this tragedy.
I also want to take an opportunity to pay tribute to a wonderful Canadian and a former member of Parliament who sadly passed away this weekend, the Hon. Aileen Carroll. I had the pleasure of knowing Aileen and always greatly admired her dedication to public service. She represented the people of Barrie with tremendous energy and was deeply committed to contributing to the local community, having started her career as a small business owner and a city councillor.
Aileen went on to win three successive elections and served as MP for nine years, including as parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs and then as minister of international co-operation, representing Canada on the world stage. In 2011, Aileen resigned from public life and dedicated herself to focusing on her family, grandchildren and friends, but she remained committed to serving her community through charitable causes. We are grateful for her many years of public service. Her impact will extend right across the country and her legacy will live on. Our thoughts are with her family, her friends and all her colleagues through this difficult time while they mourn.
I would like to acknowledge the contributions made by all the businesses and community leaders who have helped us flatten the curve by staying home and, in many cases, temporarily closing their doors.
I know that Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs are worried. They have worked hard to develop their ideas into prosperous businesses that are the heart of communities across the country and the backbone of Canada's economy.
They have worked hard to turn their ideas into successful businesses at the heart of communities across the country and the backbone of our national economy. To all of them, let me be clear: We will do whatever it takes to support them through this. Our goal is to save jobs and to save businesses. We are taking immediate, significant and decisive action to help Canadians facing hardship as a result of COVID-19.
Through the Canada emergency wage subsidy, we will keep more Canadians employed in businesses of any sizes and in any sector, covering 75% of their wages. We are helping businesses keep their costs low by allowing businesses to defer GST, HST and customs duties payments while also extending the tax filing deadline to June 1 and allowing businesses to defer any payments owing until August 31. This measure will help over 3.2 million businesses and self-employed Canadians.
We are also helping businesses keep up with their operating costs and cash flow through the Canada emergency business account, an interest-free $40,000 loan guaranteed by the Government of Canada with up to $10,000 forgivable if it is paid back before the end of 2022. These loans are available through one's bank or credit union now.
When we heard that many small businesses were not able to access the emergency business account because of the requirement that they have a payroll of at least $50,000, we lowered that threshold to $20,000. Nearly a quarter of a million businesses have already had their loans approved, and our government's recent announcement to expand the eligibility criteria for this program means that even more businesses will qualify.
This means a small furniture store that usually relies on foot traffic to stay afloat can continue paying the costs of upkeeping its warehouse space. This means that a physiotherapist practice can access the funds to rehire its employees even while it has seen its revenue drop and everyone is working from home.
For businesses with larger operational needs, we have made loans of up to $12.5 million available. These are also available through one's local bank or credit union.
We have also heard from businesses that they need help paying their rent, and that is exactly what we intend to do. As the Prime Minister announced last week, we will introduce a Canada emergency rent assistance program for small businesses. This program will seek to provide loans and forgivable loans to commercial property owners who in turn will lower the rent for small businesses. Rent is an issue that falls under the jurisdiction of provinces and territories. We will continue to work closely with them on this important issue, and we will have more details to share soon.
Our government also recognizes that businesses in different parts of the country may face unique realities and challenges in the face of COVID-19. In order to give equivalent financial support to these small and medium-sized businesses, our government is investing $675 million in Canada's regional development agencies. At the same time, we will ensure that rural businesses and communities have access to much-needed capital by investing $287 million in the community futures network to support small businesses in rural communities. This new financing will help support businesses and their communities so that they can be strong through this crisis.
Together, these measure alleviate enormous expenses and pressures on businesses and on business owners, and will help prime them for recovery, when it is safe to do so, to ensure that they can regain ground much more quickly.
Everything we have done to date is to respond to what we have heard directly from businesses across the country, from helping them keep their employees on staff and supporting them with the funds and cash flow to operate and pay their bills, to keeping their costs low. Our government will remain unwavering in our support for Canadians, our health care system and our economy, and our work is not yet done. No measure is off the table.
Canadians are innovative, strong and resilient. In the face of COVID-19, our government recognizes the need to help innovative early-stage companies and young entrepreneurs. To better support these businesses and entrepreneurs, we are investing $250 million through the National Research Council of Canada's industrial research assistance program, also known as IRAP, and $20 million for Futurpreneur Canada to continue to support young entrepreneurs across Canada who are facing challenges due to COVID-19.
Through this crisis, it has been so inspiring to see Canadians come together in new and amazing ways. In fact, since the Prime Minister announced Canada's plan to mobilize industry to fight COVID-19 a couple of weeks ago, about 5,000 innovative Canadian businesses have answered our call, working to provide our front-line workers with the gear that they are going to need to fight this pandemic together.
These are unprecedented times and I know that Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs are worried. However, we are all in this together and we are all helping each other as team Canada. This is who we are as Canadians and we can all take pride in that.
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
2020-03-12 14:03 [p.2011]
Mr. Speaker, as parliamentary secretary, I meet so many women in business, whether in Montreal or across the country. I want to share with the House what we are doing to help women entrepreneurs. Our government launched the very first women's entrepreneurship strategy, and we have already put $2 billion on the table.
Export Development Canada just doubled the amount available to women-owned exporters. The Business Development Bank of Canada already has a fund devoted to women.
Whether it is through our trade commissioner service that helps hundreds of thousands of women export, or providing access to capital through the BDC, or our women entrepreneurship fund, we are committed to doubling the number of women-led businesses in this country, because a woman's place is at the head of the table.
View Geoff Regan Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Geoff Regan Profile
2020-03-12 14:48 [p.2020]
Mr. Speaker, since 2008, an organization in Halifax, Hope Blooms, has been making a difference. It has had a measurable impact on food security and social inclusion. It actively engages youth to grow food in its 4,000 square feet of organic garden. Through hard work, its members are improving social inclusion and food security. They even appeared on Dragon's Den, where they secured $40,000 to build a new greenhouse.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was in Halifax last week to meet with them. Could she inform the House on how the government is supporting this kind of project?
View Marie-Claude Bibeau Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to meet with extraordinary people last week in Nova Scotia. Hope Blooms is one of the first organizations to receive funding from the local food infrastructure fund. With this funding, it will build eight new cooking stations. This will help an additional 65 families and 70 at-risk youth to stay healthy. This is exactly why we have put in place the first-ever food policy for Canada to ensure all Canadians are able to access a sufficient amount of safe and healthy food.
View Angelo Iacono Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Angelo Iacono Profile
2020-03-10 14:03 [p.1879]
Mr. Speaker, we celebrated International Women's Day on Sunday, March 8. Although we still have a long way to go, progress toward gender equality is measurable and visible. In Alfred-Pellan, women excel in all areas, from art to high technology, from sports to medical research, from education to business.
Women are striving, and not even the sky is the limit.
I think of the story of Vyckie Vaillancourt, who took over the family farm and founded O'Citrus, the only company specializing in citrus fruit grown in Quebec.
I think of the Imbriglio sisters who evolve in the mechanical engineering industry and the manufacturing of precision parts for machinery. These women set an example that professions and jobs have no gender. Passion and perseverance are all one needs.
Ladies, wherever you are, I tip my hat to you. Thank you for being women.
View Brad Redekopp Profile
CPC (SK)
View Brad Redekopp Profile
2019-12-13 13:01 [p.412]
Mr. Speaker, I want to inform you that I am splitting my time with the member for Calgary Centre.
It is my honour to rise in the House today for my maiden speech. I first want to thank the voters of Saskatoon West for putting their faith and trust in me as their representative in this House of Commons for this, the 43rd Parliament. I am humbled and honoured and grateful that they would trust me with this privilege. My pledge to them is that I will do my very best to represent them here in Ottawa and bring their views to Ottawa.
I want to thank my election team of Sunny, Braden, Alex, Kaitlyn, Donna-Lyn, Josh and Jared. I offer a special shout-out to the University of Saskatchewan Campus Conservatives club, which helped with a lot of door knocking. I offer big thank you to my friend the hon. member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek and her husband, Milton Block, for all of their encouragement, and to so many volunteers and donors who made this all possible.
As everybody in here knows, family support is critical to our success, and so I want to thank my parents, Alvin and Irene Redekopp; my sister, Gaylene Molnar, and her family; my two wonderful sons, Kyle and Eric Redekopp; and of course my beautiful wife, Cheryl Redekopp. I could not have done this without them.
It is for these people and for the 75,000 other people who live in Saskatoon West that I am replying to the Speech from the Throne today.
Unfortunately, I cannot and I will not support it.
This throne speech calls for “unity in the pursuit of common goals and aspirations.” The Prime Minister talks about listening and about parliamentarians working together, but the throne speech says almost nothing about the aspirations of people from Saskatoon. Not only that, the Prime Minister brings in policy after policy that targets the people of Saskatoon and our economy.
Let me explain the economy in Saskatchewan. If we think of a three-legged stool, the first leg is agriculture: wheat, canola, barley, oats and things like that. The second leg is mining: potash, uranium, gold and diamonds. The third leg is oil and gas. Last year, in 2018, these three sectors accounted for 36% of our GDP in Saskatchewan. The seat of the stool is manufacturing and construction. We manufacture machinery, industrial equipment and food products, while construction is the infrastructure that supports all of that work and all of the people. In 2018, those two sectors were 14% of our Saskatchewan GDP. Taken together, the legs and the seat of the stool account for 50% of Saskatchewan's GDP.
The other half of our GDP is the services that support our residents: things like stores, restaurants, education, health care and everything else. These things all sit on the stool, but the legs of our stool, the foundation of our GDP, are mining, oil and gas, and agriculture.
We all know that these three sectors are suffering in Saskatchewan.
In terms of the oil and gas leg, the no-more-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, has restricted capacity to ship our oil to markets. The selling price of oil is down, investment is down, and therefore there are fewer jobs.
The mining leg is also affected by Bill C-69. It politicizes the impact assessment process and adds significant time and uncertainty to the approval process. Companies no longer see Saskatchewan as the safe, stable place it once was to invest. Therefore, investments are going elsewhere and jobs are disappearing.
On the agricultural leg, the Liberals' continuing relationship failures with China have hurt our canola producers.
What does all this mean to the people of Saskatoon? When the legs of the stool are crippled, everyone suffers. Unemployment is up and people are struggling to pay their bills. During the election, I talked to many households and many families who were struggling to make their monthly payments, and on the campaign I spoke to many of the people we talk about who are short $200 every month.
I want to provide some vignettes of some real people and how this affects them.
I think of a young man who used to work on an oil drilling rig. He drove seven hours from Saskatoon to work in Drayton Valley, Alberta. He worked a two-week shift of 12-hour days, made really good money and spent that money in Saskatoon on vehicles, restaurants, stereo equipment, etc. I know this because this young man is my son. In 2015, the Liberals came to power. They introduced the no-more-pipelines bill and the no-more-tankers bill, and this drove down the price of our Canadian oil and reduced our investment. As a result, my son lost his job, and there was no more spending in Saskatoon.
Another example is a manufacturer who supplied components to the mining and the oil and gas industries. The manufacturer employed 140 people in Saskatoon. Those were well-paying jobs supporting 140 families in Saskatoon. I know this because my brother-in-law works at that company. Because of Bill C-69, investment in resource projects decreased, and the result was that people were laid off as the company adjusted to decreased business.
Fortunately, Saskatonians are resilient and creative problem-solvers, so they looked elsewhere and found business to keep the company going, but the business is smaller than it would have been had the oil and gas market kept going strong.
Let us think of an entrepreneur who build new homes for families, directly employed four people, indirectly hired 40 different contractors to complete all the work required and created several million dollars of economic spinoffs in Saskatoon. I know this because this was my business. Because of the Liberals' mortgage stress test, new homebuyers are forced out of the market. Because of changes in building codes, the cost to build a home significantly increased, and as a result, construction activity in Saskatoon has significantly slowed down. In fact, housing starts are at the lowest level in 14 years. Many good people in the construction industry are suffering or have lost their jobs.
What did I expect from the Liberal government throne speech in the spirit of working together? I certainly expected support for western Canadian jobs. After all, two days after the Liberals were reduced to a minority in October, the Prime Minister said he clearly has more to do to earn the trust of people in Saskatchewan. I expected support for oil and gas, mining and farmers.
What did I actually hear?
I heard a vague reference to natural resources and farmers, no mention of the Trans Mountain pipeline, no mention of a national energy corridor, nothing about repealing or even making changes to Bill C-69 and Bill C-48, and certainly no concern for our rapidly growing and dangerous debt. I think Rex Murphy said it best when he said the Speech from the Throne “is a semantic graveyard, where dullness and pretentiousness conspire, successfully, against the life and lift of our two wonderful official languages.”
Housing was mentioned in the throne speech, and I hope the government will follow through on that issue. There are many people in my riding for whom good, stable housing is out of reach. As a former home builder, I call upon the government to relax the mortgage stress test, as this has had a significant negative impact on construction in Saskatoon.
One thing barely mentioned in the throne speech was the word “job”. The Liberals are quick to offer money to Canadians for this or that and to offer handouts to make up for their lack of action on the economy, but let me tell members something about people from Saskatoon: We are proud, hard-working folks, and we do not want handouts; we want good-paying jobs.
Saskatoon is also filled with entrepreneurs, people willing to take great risks in order to employ others and build our economy. Entrepreneurs do not want handouts; they want a stable playing field with reasonable regulations and the freedom to work hard, succeed and then enjoy the benefits when success does happen.
There were two other words conspicuously absent from the throne speech: “balanced budget”. I am gravely concerned that the Liberal government has chosen to spend seemingly unlimited amounts of money on every kind of program, with no concern for the underlying economy that pays for all of this. We are burdening our future generations with debt that will have to be paid back at some point. I call upon the government to at least plan to return to balanced budgets.
Finally, Saskatchewan people care deeply about our environment. All three of the stool legs I spoke of earlier are rooted in our land. No one is a better steward of our land than people from Saskatchewan. We all understand that healthy land, water and air are critical to our long-term success, but we cannot adopt a zealot-like approach, assuming that the only way to have a healthy planet is to stop human development and to stifle innovation and economic growth. We cannot sacrifice the agriculture, mining, and oil and gas industries of Saskatchewan and Alberta in exchange for a photo op with Greta. We cannot stifle economic growth and continue to increase taxes on our people.
This throne speech made it clear that the government intends to continue to raise the carbon tax. Taxes will rise, with no meaningful impact on carbon. This will hurt ordinary Canadians and business owners.
In conclusion, Canada's Conservatives are focused on the aspirations of everyday Canadians, like the good people of Saskatoon West. We are the party of the middle class, and we will continue to present real and tangible ideas that will allow people to get ahead and get the government off their backs.
As I close, I want to congratulate and thank the leader of my party for his tireless dedication and work over the past 15 years. I also want to wish everyone in this chamber a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
View Lyne Bessette Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Lyne Bessette Profile
2019-12-12 15:06 [p.352]
Mr. Speaker, November 19 was Women's Entrepreneurship Day. It was an opportunity to reflect on the advancement of women entrepreneurs. We still have a lot of work to do, but the future is promising, as 39% of the new businesses created in 2018 are led by women.
Can the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade provide the House with an update on the women's entrepreneurship strategy?
View Mary Ng Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mary Ng Profile
2019-12-12 15:07 [p.352]
Mr. Speaker, as this is my first time speaking in the House, I want to thank the people of Markham—Thornhill for their confidence in me to represent them here.
Our government is committed to the success of women entrepreneurs and women-led and owned businesses. It is why we invested $2 billion in the first ever women's entrepreneurship strategy. This investment is going to add up to $150 billion to the Canadian economy by 2026.
We are proud to double the number of female entrepreneurs, helping them export and create more good jobs for middle-class Canadians.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, through you, I wish to congratulate the member for Nipissing—Timiskaming on his election as Speaker. I am very happy for the member and I know he will do a wonderful job for everyone in the House.
I am pleased to speak during the opening days of the 43rd Parliament to respond to the government's Speech from the Throne.
I would like to begin this speech with a big thank you.
I thank the residents of Vaughan—Woodbridge for placing their faith and trust in me for a second term. The citizens in my riding humbled me with a strong vote of confidence in my ability to represent them, tripling the margin of victory and achieving over 50% of the votes cast that evening. It is a wonderful vote of confidence and I wish to thank them.
The results speak to a lot of hard work and an unwavering commitment to my constituents that I always will represent them to the best of my capability and will always be their strong voice in Ottawa. Whether it is through visiting residents in their homes and listening to their concerns and issues, or always being available to our wonderful seniors, whom I love dearly, or listening to the opinions of the dynamic, entrepreneurial and very successful business community, which over the last five years has created over 60,000 new full-time jobs in the city of Vaughan, I will ensure their voices are always heard.
My team of volunteers, those individuals who canvassed, put up signs, sent positive vibes and made the phone calls that count are an inspiration to me. I say a gracious thanks, merci beaucoup, grazie mille.
My wife, Rose, and my children, Natalia and Eliana, are watching today. I love them so much and thank them every day for much patience and love while I do this remarkable job here in Ottawa.
The Speech from the Throne, in my view, is analogous to a blueprint, a blueprint for a more prosperous and inclusive Canada for all Canadians, a blueprint to move the country forward and ensure that we are facing not only the challenges today, but as important, preparing for the ones that may come tomorrow to this beautiful country we call home.
As MPs we have many duties and fiscal responsibilities to fulfill. I believe the most important responsibility we have as members of Parliament is to advocate for policies to provide Canadians with what I call equality of opportunity. Let me elaborate.
It is the utmost responsibility for every single MP to ensure that every Canadian, every citizen, has the opportunity to fulfill their capacity as individuals. That can only be achieved through one thing and one thing only. We ourselves need to demonstrate leadership, but leadership only comes from when we serve. Every single member of Parliament is a servant. As noted by Martin Luther King, Jr., life's most important question is: What are we doing for others? Writer and businessman Max De Pree said:
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.
It is time for all 338 MPs in this wonderful House in the 43rd session of Parliament to be servants, to listen, to act with humility and to ensure that we build a stronger, more inclusive country for all Canadians from coast to coast to coast, one that leaves a healthy environment as well as a prosperous and optimistic future for our children and all the children across this wonderful country.
The throne speech laid out a number of themes that our government will focus on together working with all parties. These include fighting climate change, reconciliation, making life more affordable while we continue to strengthen the middle class, all much important work. I would like to focus my remaining time on the last theme, about the middle class and strengthening our economy.
Capitalism in the 20th and 21st centuries created enormous wealth across this world. It lifted billions of people out of poverty across this globe and allowed innovation, an exponential increase in agricultural yields, advances in technology, medicine and social innovation to occur. The world is more connected than we ever knew it and who knows what will happen in the years to come, but it is a very exciting future.
We as a government will continue to ensure that our policies are based on the values that we fundamentally believe in and care about in this country and are in place to grow the Canadian economy and create good jobs and an optimistic future for Canadians.
Continuing from our first mandate, we will encourage competition, encourage risk-taking and investment by entrepreneurs. We will give Canadians the skills to respond and adapt to an ever-changing global marketplace. We will provide for tax fairness to put more money in the pockets of Canadian families with that goal that we as a government continue to strengthen the middle class, create a more optimistic future and remain the envy of the world.
We saw the results over the first four years with over one million jobs created, primarily full time in where I like to see them, the private sector. Over 800,000 Canadians were lifted out of poverty including over 200,000 to 300,000 children. Those are real stories across Canada. We can pick a province or pick a city and we will see there are Canadians who benefited directly from the policies that we put in place in our first session.
As we did in 2015, our government will again provide tax relief for millions of Canadians. We did it once and we are going to do it again. A promise made will be a promise kept, with a tax cut aimed at those Canadians who need it the most. All Canadians who earn income, whether it is income earned at work, pension income or even investment income, will see a rise in the basic personal exemption amount. This is something that I argued be put in our platform and it is great to see it there. The amount we earn before paying federal taxes will be increased quicker than would happen naturally, from $12,000 to $15,000, while remaining to be indexed. For taxpayers in Canada who earn approximately $15,000, that will mean $300 more in their pockets to spend on the things they deem to be important. Whether they are saving for their kids' future or paying for everyday necessities, it is their money and we are going to give it back to them. This tax cut will provide over $5 billion annually in tax relief to Canadians.
I am proud to be part of a government that is focused on lowering taxes for middle-class Canadians. I am proud to be part of a government that will provide tax relief to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. The first time, nine million Canadians benefited from our tax reduction of approximately $20 billion over five years. Over the next two to three years, we will see $15 billion to $20 billion of tax relief dedicated to those families who need it the most, not the wealthiest 1%, not those earning over $200,000 or $300,000. Average middle-class families in Canada earning $70,000 or $75,000 will see over $600 more in their pockets. That to me is great news.
I am blessed to represent a riding that is defined by dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and a can-do attitude. It is an attitude I see every day in the nearly 12,000 small businesses that are located in the city of Vaughan and the approximately 4,000 that are located in my riding. It is a spirit of asking what they can do for this country rather than the opposite. It is a spirit of hiring and growing our economy, a spirit of getting to work and making things happen. These business owners and entrepreneurs have my utmost respect. Their success is not due to luck but due to hard work and perseverance.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs and private enterprises in this country are in my riding. I know first-hand that we must focus on policies that encourage investment, but also provide for what I call inclusive growth, which is when growth occurs, all Canadians benefit.
That has been the focus of our government from the beginning. It is a focus on returning money to Canadians through our middle-class tax cuts, a focus on the Canada child benefit, where eight or nine out of 10 families in Canada were made better off. In my riding, every month, $5 million arrives tax-free to the families in my riding, helping almost 18,000 children and over 10,000 families. That is real change. That is the change that Canadians elected us on in our first mandate.
In this session, I am glad to see in our platform further adjustments to the Canada child benefit that will help families not just in my riding but, more importantly, from coast to coast to coast. We will continue lifting children out of poverty. We will continue creating those good, full-time jobs in the private sector that we saw in our first four years. In fact, for the last 12 months, starting in November 2018 to today, almost 300,000 new full-time jobs have been created in Canada. We still have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world, depending on how we want to use the measurements. However, if we compare apples to apples, we are among the lowest.
I spent over two decades working in global financial markets. I grew up in a small town and worked at a pulp mill, a grain elevator and McDonald's, which was one of my first jobs, I know the value of hard work. Hard work is what defines this country. It is what defines the constituents in my riding. That is why we as a government will continue to listen to the hard-working Canadians from coast to coast to coast. We will continue to put in place policies that grow our economy.
I see some of my colleagues from the opposition parties who reside in the beautiful province of Alberta. We will make sure the TMX pipeline gets built. It is being built. This will bring our resources to new markets and make sure we are capturing that full price and lower that differential between oil prices which has hampered the economy of Alberta for the last several years. We need to make sure we get full price for our products and our resources.
I look forward to working with all my colleagues from all parties, in the 43rd Parliament.
One of my hallmarks of the 42nd Parliament was to reach out to individuals from other parties, to say hi, to become friends with them and get to know them. If many of us in this House do that, we will see a much more congenial place and a nicer attitude. I see some smiles across the aisle.
Mr. Speaker, through you, I would like to say good morning and bonjour à tous. I would also like to say a special good morning to my kids, and tell them to stay strong, that daddy loves them and he will see them soon.
With that, I look forward to questions and comments.
Results: 1 - 12 of 12

Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data