September 2009 Parliamentary Report

Parliamentary Report

 

 

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Recent reports mention that 27,100 jobs were created nationally in August.  This is cause for cautious optimism.  However we must remember that many people remain unemployed.  In Waterloo Region unemployment is unchanged at 9.9%.  In part this is because our labour force  grew by 9,400 in the last year as people came looking for work.

 

GLOBAL RECESSION

The August, 2008 national jobless rate was 5.5%, the lowest unemployment in over 40 years.  At that time our Government was maintaining a surplus of over $1Billion.  While most developed nations entered a recession early in 2008 our actions kept us out of recession until December.  Our tax cuts positioned Canada as the last to enter recession and will help us be the first out of it.

 

ECONOMIC ACTION PLAN

Our Conservative Government responded with an Economic Action Plan by January 27th, the earliest budget in Canadian history.  By skillful compromise, to make Parliament work, Stephen Harper secured h Opposition support to pass it by March 31st.

 

We went to work examining projects to ensure they would involve new spending at the earliest possible date.  We worked cooperatively with provinces and municipalities.  By June, 80% of stimulus spending was arranged.  We also substantially increased Employment Insurance benefits.

 

MY ROLE

As your Member of Parliament, I worked to ensure that Kitchener received its fair share of stimulus spending to boost our local economy.  A recent example was $1.2 million I secured to enhance downtown improvements.  This means more jobs now and a downtown revitalization that will bring jobs for years to come.

 

FRAGILE RECOVERY

Our Conservative Government continues to focus on the economy.  We are not out of the woods yet.  We are committed to pursuing economic recovery measures unless prevented so by a premature election.

 

We are committed to making Parliament work.  That's why Prime Minister Stephen Harper was able to stave off Opposition election threats in June.  While we cannot agree to all Opposition demands, we tried to find common ground.  Despite our best efforts, however, it might be impossible to again avoid Opposition calls for an election this Fall.

 

NEXT STEPS

 Our Government wants to continue implementing the Economic Action Plan.  We will soon know how the rest of the world is recovering.  As it has in the past, Canada will lead the recovery.

 

This year we incurred a deficit of about $50 Billion.  This is a smaller percentage of GDP than past deficits.  Unlike past deficits, this one does not include recurrent spending.  Instead, with wise planning, deficit spending will end as the economy recovers and will be paid back responsibly.  Since our Government paid down $39 billion of debt from 2006 to 2008, Canada's total debt increase will net out at only $11 billion.

 

It is an honour to serve you as Member of Parliament during these challenging times.