For Immediate Release | December 17, 2008
Parliament: A Year in Review
Ottawa (December 17, 2008)— This past year has been a busy year in Ottawa with a number of historic developments on the political landscape as well as on the economic front. The negative shock to world economies has had an impact on many countries including Canada. The Conservative Government has stayed the course and worked hard to deliver results for Canadians. A priority agenda item for the year has been the economy and certainly in recent months, the developments that have unfolded in the global markets have heightened Canadians concerns about jobs, their savings and pensions.
The year began with the Government taking significant tax reducing measures that included an additional one percentage cut to the GST that came into effect January 1, 2008 and additional tax relief for individuals and families. Canadian corporations saw a one percentage point reduction in corporate income taxes and the small business income tax rate was reduced to 11 percent in 2008. This laid the foundation for the tabling of the Government’s 2008 Budget.
Budget 2008 announced a debt pay down of $10.2 billion for the fiscal year, bringing the total debt pay down since the Conservative Government took office to over $37 billion. The budget announced a further $1 billion in support for Canada’s manufacturing sector with an additional three years of accelerated capital cost allowance treatment for new investments. Action was taken for seniors with an increase in the Guaranteed Income Supplement exemption to $3,500 from $500. A significant investment was made for students with $350 million for a new Canada Student Grant Program, rising to $430 million by 2012-13 and $123 million over four years to streamline and modernize the Canada Student Loans Program.
Recognizing the difficulties livestock producers have been facing, the Government acted to improve access to $3.3 billion in potential cash advances under the Advanced Payment Program while making changes to the requirements and delivery of emergency advances. More debt is not what cattle producers need or want and many are requesting a cash injection by the province and or federal government. There is no doubt that more needs to be done in the area of agriculture during this time of economic slowdown and a decline in commodity prices.
One budgetary measure of particular significance for Souris-Moose Mountain in 2008 was an investment of $240 million for the development of one of the world’s first and largest commercial-scale clean coal and carbon capture and storage demonstration projects at Estevan’s Boundary Dam. This project is poised to open the door for Canada to become a world leader in clean energy technology. It will also provide benefits in terms of using captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. This is a great fit given the increased oil production in southeast Saskatchewan.
This past year the Government also announced that it will be introducing the Tax Free Savings Account that will be available January 1, 2009. This is a new measure that will help Canadians save and allow them to watch their savings grow. Canadians will be able to contribute up to $5,000 every year to this special registered savings account and carry forward unused room to future years. There is no limit and no tax on investment income earned, including capital gains.
With respect to legislative measures introduced over the past year, the Government continued its efforts to scrap the long gun registry. While it has remained committed to advocating for Senate reform by proposing a process to elect Senators and to limit the terms of new Senators to eight years, it is now in the process of appointing Senators. In light of the current political landscape, it is incumbent to appoint Senators given that the opposition coalition, if successful, could proceed as speculated by the media to fill the Senate with their own appointments which might include some Bloc members and the likes of Elizabeth May of the Green Party. The Government introduced legislation to strengthen the Youth Criminal Justice Act through deterrence and denunciation measures to ensure that young offenders who commit serious crimes are held accountable. A focus was also placed on implementing a Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan that ensures safe food, health and consumer products in the Canadian marketplace.
Some significant pieces of legislation came into law in 2008. The Government passed the Tackling Violent Crimes Act that contains several key criminal justice measures. The bill increases the age of protection for sexual activity from 14-16 and cracks down on high risk offenders, including repeat sex offenders, as well as those who commit serious gun crimes and drug impaired driving. Legislation was also passed to pay one billion dollars to a Community Development Trust established to provide provinces and territories funding to assist workers and communities that are experiencing hardship due to volatility in the global economy. Some important initiatives were taken in Citizenship and Immigration that included legislation to give Canadian citizenship to those who have lost or were denied it because of outdated provisions in the Citizenship Act. In addition to this, legislation was passed which gives the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration the ability to fast track skilled workers, trades persons and professionals to better align Canadian immigration with the needs of the Canadian economy.
The fall was busy this year from a political perspective. Canadians went to the polls on October 14, 2008 and gave the Conservative Government a strengthened mandate to govern as a minority government. Canadians elected this government to steer the economy through this difficult time and that has been the Government’s top priority. In the Throne Speech and Fall Economic Statement, the Government signaled its intent to address the challenges that individuals, families and businesses are facing during this period.
The opposition parties under the guise of concern for the economy attempted to take control of the levers of power by forming a coalition government through an accord that provided for “a permanent consultation mechanism with the Bloc Québécois” and where the Bloc agreed to neither move nor support any motions of non-confidence. Although the accord identifies some of what this may cost Canada, the real cost to be sure would be extracted over time by the Bloc to whom the Liberals and NDP had become beholden until June, 2010. There is no doubt that a coalition government that provides a permanent consultation mechanism with the Bloc and that ultimately gives the seperatists a veto over legislation, is not an option that is good for Canada.
With the economy being the main concern, the Conservative Government has been doing the right thing by paying down debt, reducing taxes and keeping spending under control. As a result of previous actions taken by the Government since taking office in 2006, Canadians and Canadian businesses will pay $31 billion less in taxes in 2009-10, the equivalent of nearly two percent of Canada’s gross domestic product. This is a significant stimulus and one that will certainly have a positive effect in the coming year.
The Prime Minister and the Canadian Government have been acting to address the concerns raised by the state of the present economy. In addition to billions of dollars injected in tax reduction stimulus-actions that are only now being replicated by other countries, the Government is actively investing billions into building roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure and are doubling infrastructure spending in the upcoming fiscal year. The Government has taken action to protect the Canadian banking system and the Canadian credit market by injecting tens of billions of dollars in liquidity to ensure businesses can get the credit they need.
In addition to all of this, the Government will be proposing additional stimulus measures in Budget 2009 which will be delivered in January. Action will be taken on a sectoral basis, such as in the auto, mining and forestry industry. Whatever action is taken, it must be in the best interests of the Canadian economy as well as the Canadian taxpayer. There will be no blank cheques coming from the Government of Canada and any decisions made must have a sound public policy basis with certain social and commercial outcomes. Although the measures will be wide and broad ranging, the bottom line is, the Government does not want to enter into a deficit that would be permanent and long term.
As suggested by one Chamber of Commerce, it is essential that all MPs focus their efforts in a non-partisan manner towards advancing principles important to Canadians. It is a time as they said to “put Canadians ahead of politics.” In fact, the public mood is such, that they want to see this happen even from reluctant participants who will pay a price should they fail to take heed and an election be called. It is perhaps too much to expect political game playing and posturing to stop all together, but improvement is expected, even from reluctant participants.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has called for immediate and intensive consultations with the business community, other levels of government and key stakeholders, something that that Conservative Government is actively pursuing. They say that priority infrastructure projects should be identified and their implementation accelerated. They are calling for an appropriate level of stimulus to be provided to foster economic growth with a clear plan to avoid a return to long term structural deficits. These are the very things that the Conservative Government is doing.
All in all, it was an eventful year in Ottawa. Much has unfolded and much will yet unfold. The challenges are many and the outcome is uncertain. Only one thing is sure and that is everyone wants Parliamentarians to strive to do what is in the best interest of all Canadians despite party lines.
