Chris in the News: Responding to the Speech from the Throne

In many ways, the Speech from the Throne confirmed what I told my constituents as far back as last December, when the government prorogued this Parliament. At the time, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said “Now is the time to engage with constituents, stakeholders and businesses in order to listen to Canadians, identify priorities and to set the next stage of our agenda.” Except, as I told my constituents on Hamilton Mountain, that agenda was already set. In fact, it was set in stone, and the pretence of needing to engage in public consultations was simply an effort to mask the government’s growing unease about the scrutiny it was receiving in this House on issues like its inadequate response to the devastating job losses that were mounting in all regions of the country, and the treatment of Afghan detainees.

In fact, in a year-end interview, the Finance Minister was already on record stating that the government will usher in a period of frugality marked by broad program cuts and privatizations. So much for consultations. So much for helping hard-working families and seniors survive this recession.

On the contrary, the Finance Minister boasted “I’ve done it before. I did it in Ontario.”

Those of us in this House who are from Ontario remember only too well what he did to our province. As the Finance Minister under Mike Harris, he took an axe and cut deep. To this day we haven’t recovered. Hospitals are saddled with debt and are cutting services. Schools have shut. Urban infrastructure needs remain unaddressed, and cities like Hamilton are drowning in the cost of the downloading.

And now that same axe is going to take a swipe through federal government programs as well. I defy any member of this government to prove that this is the agenda that Canadians were clamouring for when they were allegedly consulted during the prorogation period. I think not.

And I can say with absolute certainty that it is not what my constituents on Hamilton Mountain told me.

On the contrary, their message was diametrically opposed to what we’re hearing from the government. They want us to be united behind an over-arching progressive vision of Canada. They want us to fight for something bigger than specific policy issues, because they share the profound belief that the pursuit of the common good, through our governments, enables us to achieve a good greater than any we can achieve alone.

The message was clear: building a strong, sustainable and equitable economy can only happen if we believe in using our governments as a constructive and compassionate force for the common good. The federal government must take the lead and define a vision of where we want to go with our economy and how we’re going to get there. That vision must be based on Canada’s finest and most enduring values such as justice, democracy, opportunity, responsibility, fairness, compassion, diversity, and equality.

So despite the fact that many of my constituents have been the innocent victims of the recession that devastated not just our nation, but countries around the globe, they still possess a resilient optimism that Canada can develop a new economic approach – one that avoids the failed policies of the past. In fact, they see the economic crisis as an opportunity to finally get the kind of fair and sustainable economy we’ve always wanted.

Buoyed by that optimism, I returned to Ottawa looking forward to making Parliament work by embracing that vision. After all, a new Throne Speech means a new agenda, and it ought to be an agenda for Canadians.

Yet, when I got here and listened to the Speech from the Throne, I knew that my constituents, and indeed Canadians from Coast to Coast to Coast, were once again profoundly disappointed. Instead of seizing the opportunity to position Canada to come out of the recession stronger than ever, the government’s myopia created a narrowly focused agenda that can only be described as same old, same old.

I suppose that shouldn’t have come as a surprise since, as I said earlier, the Conservative agenda was already cast in stone long before the House was prorogued. But still I had hoped that the euphoria of the Olympics might have inspired a national pride that would allow us to think big, to aim high, and to know that with a little support, Canadians can and will excel.

Sadly, the government has failed to seize the moment.

Staying the course is not good enough. The free market formula of smaller governments, cuts to social programs, fewer regulations on corporations, tax cuts for the wealthy and free trade deals is what brought our economy crashing down on us in the first place.

Staying the course is not good enough for the 1.5 million Canadians who have lost their jobs. To spur job creation, the government must maintain the economic stimulus that began, belatedly, with last year’s budget. The government’s ambiguous musings regarding infrastructure funding and the need “to use it or lose it” are, to put it mildly, disconcerting, and have led to uncertainty among economic actors. The distribution of previously budgeted investments must be guaranteed, even if this means extending deadlines. And one deadline that we know already must be extended is that for the Home Renovation Tax Credit. The HRTC is crucial to bolstering the housing and construction sectors, and can play a pivotal role in encouraging renovations to improve energy efficiency. We don’t have to choose between a strong economy and a clean environment.

Staying the course is similarly not good enough for laid-off workers who are struggling to pay their bills and keep their heads above water. The government’s first order of business must be to stave off the crisis awaiting Canada’s 810,000 EI recipients who are poised to run out of benefits in the coming months. Benefits must be expanded. Failure to act will mean that the majority of unemployed Canadians will wind up on welfare rolls or worse. But instead of offering help, the government is planning to take another $19 billion from the paycheques of every Canadian worker by increasing the Employment Insurance payroll tax. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Staying the course is also not good enough for seniors and pensioners in this country. The rate of seniors living in poverty doubled from 3 percent in the mid-1990s to 6 percent in the mid-2000s. The maximum GIS benefit – intended for the lowest-income seniors – was approximately $650 a month in 2009. That’s only $50 more than it was in 2005. And the maximum annual Old Age Security and GIS benefits are approximately $14,000, which is $4,000 below the poverty line in most cities. We can, and must, lift Canadian seniors out of poverty by improving the GIS. And we must expand the ability of Canadians to have access to an enhanced CPP.

Lastly, staying the course is not good enough for Canadian women and children. While the Prime Minister mused about the need to address maternal and child health in the upcoming G8 Summit, he’s failed to protect, strengthen and expand public services such as health care, education, child care, elder care, affordable housing and community-based social services here at home. Yet it is precisely such investments that would not only strengthen families, but create jobs and boost our economy as well.

Perhaps the only constituency for which staying the course is good enough is Canada’s big banks and most profitable corporations. The Conservatives’ handouts to corporations cost Canada $5.3 billion last year, and will cost an estimated $12 billion this year. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates a $19 billion structural deficit in 3 years - $15 billion of that deficit will be the cost of corporate tax cuts. In fact, since Liberal and Conservative governments started cutting corporate taxes 10 years ago, individuals are carrying 61% of the cost of government programs, while corporations now pay only 15%.

Like most Canadians, New Democrats recognize that in the long term, we cannot spend more than we collect. But the Conservatives have not only attempted to deny the existence of a structural deficit, but have aggravated the imbalance by reducing revenues through corporate tax cuts despite the absence of any evidence that those tax savings have led to investments in jobs for Canadians. The government’s unbalanced corporate tax policy is exacerbating our over-reliance on oil extraction, and contributing to a higher dollar, which in turn hampers job creation and exports in the value-added sectors of manufacturing, forestry, aerospace and others. It’s time to put an end to additional corporate tax cuts.

It’s time to recognize that it isn’t economic logic but narrow ideology that keeps the Prime Minister on his same old course. It’s time for something new. It’s time to start getting help to those who really need it, and it’s time to invest in those hard-working Canadians who are eager to build our country. It’s time to map out an agenda that serves all Canadians.