For Immediate Release October 18, 2007

Throne Speech Outlines Bold Initiatives that will
Continue to Build a Better Canada

Ottawa (October 18, 2007)- Ed Komarnicki, Member of Parliament, Souris- Moose Mountain

The Throne Speech shares the Government’s vision for Canada with Canadians. It sets some very clear choices and priorities that the Government expects Parliamentarians to implement.

“Passage of the Throne Speech will provide a mandate to move forward on legislation that matters to Canadians,” said Komarnicki. “To put it simply, our income tax burden is too high. The Throne Speech signals broad based tax relief including a further cut to the GST, something all Canadians will benefit from. Tax relief to business will continue to improve productivity that will keep our economy humming.”

Most Canadians believe we should get tough on criminals. In the last session, our Government introduced timely legislation to tackle violent crime. Unfortunately, much of this legislation did not pass. Canadians want that legislation to pass and to pass promptly. We are introducing a single, comprehensive Tackling Violent Crime bill to protect Canadians and their communities from violent criminals and predators. This will include measures that address raising the age of protection from 14 to 16 years, impaired driving, dangerous offenders and stricter bail and mandatory prison sentences for those who commit gun crimes. Canadians want us to get tough on crime, to protect our communities and to stand up for victims and not the criminals.

Our Government will strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act to ensure that young offenders who commit serious crimes are held accountable to victims and their communities. Canadians feel quite strongly that the time has come to implement tougher young offender legislation.

The agricultural sector will continue to benefit from our Government’s new Growing Forward Agricultural Framework and the Government’s plan to enact marketing choice in recognition of the views of farmers as expressed in the recent plebiscite on barley. The Government also indicated its intention to once again introduce legislation to repeal the wasteful long gun registry.

The speech also outlines the Government’s strong belief that there needs to be an effective global approach to greenhouse gas emissions that have binding targets that apply to all major emitters including Canada. To that end, the Government will institute binding national regulations on greenhouse gas emissions across all major industrial sectors with requirements for emissions reductions starting this year. Our Government will also establish a carbon emissions trading market that will give businesses the incentive to run cleaner, greener operations.

“This will have an impact on our constituency that some will see in a negative light, but in the longer term, this will provide interesting and exciting opportunities for us in the realm of clean coal fired plants and carbon sequestration,” said Komarnicki.

Our Government will continue to strengthen Canada’s federation. We will take steps to encourage free trade amongst our provinces, to ensure goods and services can move more readily across provincial borders. The Government has placed fiscal relations with provinces and territories on a principled basis with increased levels of transfers to support quality health care and social services. At the same time, the Government plans to introduce legislation to place formal limits on the use of federal spending power for new shared-cost programs in exclusive provincial jurisdiction. The legislation will allow provinces and territories to opt out with reasonable compensation if they offer compatible programs.

The Throne Speech also provides for strengthening Canada’s sovereignty in the world. The Government reiterated its vision of a strong Artic and its commitment to move forward with an effective plan for Afghanistan that involves responsible debate concerning options that will be available in the future.

Passage of the Throne Speech will be taken as a mandate to govern in accordance with the principles outlined. Notwithstanding that we have passed legislation fixing the next election date for October 19, 2009, if the Opposition chooses to not support substantive pieces of legislation, they could precipitate an early election.

“In the meantime, we mean to govern by implementing the Government’s priorities,” said Komarnicki. “All in all, these initiatives will build a stronger, safer and better Canada.”

As our Prime Minister has stated, “Our principled and focused plan will strengthen the Canada of tomorrow while delivering real benefits for Canadians today.”