For Immediate Release December 21, 2007
“A Year in Review”
by Ed Komarnicki - Member of Parliament for
Souris-Moose Mountain
Estevan (December 21, 2007)—The Government has moved on so many areas in so short a time that even its opponents have to admit that this is a Government that gets things done.
Most families will see more money in their pockets starting in the New Year in 2008. This results from a host of initiatives including cutting the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%, reducing the lowest income tax rate to 15%, increasing the amount Canadians can earn before paying federal tax, implementing a new $2000 Child Tax Credit as well as a targeted tax credit for kids sports and text books.
Just a 1% reduction in GST will save consumers $34 billion over this year and the next 5. Reducing the lowest personal income tax rate will provide Canadians with $8.4 billion in tax relief over this year and the next 5 years. Increasing the basic personal exemption will remove 385,000 Canadians from the federal income tax rolls in 2007. The national debt will have been reduced by $37 billion with interest savings applied to further tax reductions. A favourite among young families has been the Universal Child Care Benefit that provides a $100 per month for each and every child under 6. It covers 1.5 million families and 2 million young children.
Much has been done for seniors and more remains to be done. We raised the maximum amount eligible for the age credit to $5,177 for 2007, and doubled the maximum amount eligible for the pension income credit to $2000. The big item that many will benefit from is allowing couples to reduce their combined taxes by transferring up to half their eligible pension income to the lower income spouse or common-law partner.
On November 21, 2007 the Government introduced legislation to help combat identity theft. The legislation will make it an offence to obtain, possess or traffic in other people’s identity information if it is to be used to commit a crime.
On November 6, 2007 the unprecedented $33 billion Building Canada Plan was announced where our Government will provide long term, stable and predictable funding to meet infrastructure needs across Canada. In Budget 2007, the Government took historic action to restore fiscal balance in Canada by investing $39 billion in the provinces and territories over the next 7 years.
On November 17, 2007 federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Agriculture announced significant progress on programs in the new Business Risk Management Suite for farmers. The Ministers will implement AgriInvest, producer accounts that provide coverage for small margin declines; AgriStability the improved margin based program providing producers with assistance for larger income declines; and AgriRecovery the disaster relief framework which will ensure rapid assistance for producers hit by smaller natural disasters.
The Government has taken steps to give barley producers the right to make their own marketing choices and although this is still a work in progress eventual freedom of choice in marketing appears inevitable.
On a more specific basis we introduced the comprehensive Tackling Violent Crime Act to better protect our youth from sexual predators, to protect our communities from dangerous offenders and to deal severely with drug impaired drivers and those who commit serious gun crimes. A popular move that received a lot of support was increasing the age of consent from 14 to 16. Also popular was the strengthening of the Youth Criminal Justice Act to ensure that young offenders who commit serious crimes are held accountable to victims and their communities. On November 20, 2007 the Government introduced legislative reforms to introduce mandatory jail time for those who commit serious crimes of producing and selling illegal drugs.
The Government introduced legislative amendments to eliminate the requirement for Canadians to register their non-restricted firearms. This Bill would repeal the requirement for businesses and individuals to register non-restricted long guns and require firearms retailers to record all sales transactions of non-restricted firearms, as was the case prior to the imposition of the long gun registry.
We will introduce legislation to guarantee to people living on reserve the same protections other Canadians enjoy under the Canadian Human Rights Act. In addition to working on legislation to improve the resolution of specific land claims, the Government has been actively working on various projects ranging from health to economic development, infrastructure and issue resolution, which will have significant benefits for Aboriginal peoples in many communities across Canada.
We have introduced a national strategy to achieve absolute reductions to green house gas emissions of 20% by 2020. We will establish a carbon emissions trading market that will give businesses the incentive to run cleaner, greener operations.
On December 17, 2007 the Prime Minister announced the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan, a comprehensive set of proposed new measures that will make Canadians safer by legislating tougher federal government regulations. This will include mandatory product recalls when companies fail to act on legitimate safety concerns and making importers responsible for the safety of goods they bring to Canada.
Throughout the year our Government invested heavily in the acquisition of modern equipment, new technologies and training resources to ensure our Canadian Forces are well equipped and trained to deal with the challenges they face.
On April 3, 2007 our Government announced the
Veteran’s Bill of Rights and in October 15, 2007 established
the position of Veteran’s Ombudsman who will uphold the
Bill of Rights and serve as an impartial arms length and independent
officer responsible for helping veterans pursue their concerns
and advance their issues.
We will continue our agenda of democratic reform by limiting
the tenure of Senators to a term of 8 years and giving Canadians
a voice in the appointment of Senators. We have corrected the
Elections Act legislation to ensure that rural voters with box
numbers will not experience any difficulties when presenting
to vote. A Bill to expand voting opportunities will add an additional
advance polling day on Sunday the eighth day before Election
Day and another advance polling day on Sunday, the day before
Election Day.
All in all a good year with a lot of progress and a significant agenda of initiatives for 2008.
