Speaking Notes for The Honourable Lawrence Cannon Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to the Société de développement économique de Drummondville

Drummondville, Quebec
September 10, 2007

Check Against Delivery

Dear friends,

As always, it is a pleasure for me to meet with members of an economic development corporation, and I thank you for your cordial invitation.

Building a city or region, or even a country, is a never-ending process.

Each generation, in turn, needs to make its own contribution.

What you do for your fellow citizens can therefore be just as important as what the pioneers who developed this region did.

People throughout Quebec share certain fundamental values that are passed down faithfully from generation to generation.

Today I would like to say a few words about how Canada’s new government has drawn inspiration from some of these values to make a real change to our country’s political culture.

First value: Honouring commitments

We Quebecers keep our word.

We do like to talk, but we also recognize the value of a commitment.

That’s why I’m proud to be part of a government that fulfils its promises, a government that keeps its word.

When Canada’s new government came to power, the Prime Minister decided to implement five major priorities as part of our electoral platform.

Less than two years later, we have met all our commitments.

That’s why we will begin a new Parliamentary session next month.

With new priorities, which will undoubtedly become new achievements.

We made a commitment to cleaning up government and making it more transparent and more accountable to Canadians.

And, in spite of the obstruction tactics of un-elected Liberal senators, we passed the first Federal Accountability Act in the House of Commons.

It’s a comprehensive Act that substantially modifies 45 other Acts and amends over 100 others.

However, this Act can be easily summarized in two words: Never again.

Never again will we have a sponsorship scandal.

Never again will we have fake reports and invoices.

As promised, we have reduced income taxes and other duties, starting with the GST.

In total, we have alleviated the tax burden of Canadians by over 20 billion dollars in two years.

That’s more than all the tax breaks in the previous four federal budgets combined.

We also strengthened the legal system to ensure the safety of our communities and children.

And we have given parents choices with regard to the care of their children.

Prior Liberal governments believed that politicians, government employees and sociologists were better able to see to the needs of young children.

Our government thinks that the real experts, the ones who are the most concerned for children’s happiness and safety, are parents themselves.

Lastly, we tackled head on the fiscal imbalance created by previous governments, which undermined the operations of the Canadian federation.

That’s what we promised.

And that’s what we’ve done.

Second value: Valuing cooperation

Quebecers throughout the province know about the importance of solidarity and helping each other.

Our ancestors taught us these lessons a long time ago.

Nevertheless, for many years, we had federal governments that were unable to get along with the Quebec Government, governments that preferred futile confrontation to tangible achievements.

However, the Canadian federation was founded on the fundamental principle that Canadians would be well served if the federal government and provincial governments worked jointly to resolve common issues and individually to respond to the specific needs of the population.

Over the years, however, and especially under Liberal governments, the boundaries between the powers and responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments have become blurry.

For too long the federal government abused its financial power to invade the jurisdictions of provinces, especially Quebec.

Our government firmly intends to respect and even strengthen the spirit that led to the birth of the Canadian federation by promoting open federalism.

We have already restored fiscal balance.

We will also settle the matter of federal spending power.

We have kept our word.

And we’re not done yet!

We still have work to do to bring about the real change we promised to Quebecers.

Our new approach to federalism needs to be open and unambiguous.

Our government sees things for what are, not as how others would like them to be.

That’s what we did when we asked the Canadian Parliament to recognize that Quebecers are part of a nation within a united Canada.

And as Prime Minister Harper has said on many occasions, when we’re part of a nation, it’s perfectly acceptable to be a nationalist.

It’s perfectly acceptable to want to preserve and develop one’s language, culture and institutions.

I know that many people here in Drummondville and the area identify themselves as nationalists.

I can assure you that as long as Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party is in power, Quebec nationalism will be able to express itself openly and fully reach its potential!

For us, the Quebec nation is not a mindset.

It’s a living reality that deserves to be supported and encouraged.

Nevertheless, nationalism does not mean separatism.

We can be proud of our region and love Quebec without wanting to break up the Canadian federation.

True nationalists don’t want to destroy

-- they want to build.

True nationalists don’t want to hinder the future of our youth

-- they want to throw the doors wide open.

True nationalists aren’t afraid of the current state of affairs

-- they want to improve it.

Third value: Respecting the environment

Respecting the environment is also part of Quebecers’ values.

It is also a Conservative value.

All Quebecers, whether they live along the St Lawrence, at the foot of a mountain or in the countryside, are rightly proud of the splendour of our landscape.

However, we can no longer look at nature with the same pride as when we were younger.

We all know that our environment is under serious threat and has already been adversely affected.

For the first time in Canada’s history, the government will establish mandatory short, medium and long-term objectives with respect to atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases which will apply to all industrial sectors.

Prior governments spoke at length about the environment. Our government is acting.

As Prime Minister Harper has said, the key to a practical, realistic and effective initiative to fight climate change is based on a balance between sustainable economic development and conscientious management of the environment.

Infrastructure

Previous governments also neglected our infrastructures for far too long.

That’s why, in fact, we will make an unprecedented effort to tackle this problem, which is having an impact on our economic capacity, on the growth of our cities and regions, and even on the safety of Canadians.

Our government will spend 33 billion dollars over seven years on infrastructure, the largest investment in the last 50 years in this area.

I’m currently in the process of finalizing the architecture of these new programs, which we want to announce in the next few weeks.

But since we’re among friends, I can reveal a few snippets of our plan.

All the projects we will start announcing soon as part of the new infrastructure programs will have three priority objectives:

• A stronger economy
• A cleaner environment and
• A safer Canada

In keeping with our desire to promote open federalism that respects the autonomy of the provinces, we will work with our provincial partners to ensure that projects that best meet local needs are chosen.

We also wanted to simplify our procedures to respond more rapidly to proposals we receive.

For example, we will grant basic funding of 25 million dollars a year for each administration, giving the provinces and territories flexibility to respond to infrastructure priorities.

A large share of new spending—8.8 billion dollars over seven years—will be dedicated to the Building Canada Fund, which will include two infrastructure components: one for major strategic initiatives and the other for small communities.

As I said, right now I’m finalizing the program architecture. In addition, over the summer the government held discussions with the provinces, including the Quebec Government. Very soon I’ll be able to unveil the parameters of the Building Canada Fund.

In the meantime, municipalities already have access to Government of Canada funding.

Under the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, we have contributed over one million dollars to Légendes Fantastiques of Drummondville, which every year generates an estimated six million dollars in economic spinoff.

With the Gas Tax Fund, which includes overall spending of 11.8 billion dollars, including a renewal of 8 billion dollars over four years starting in 2010, we are taking concrete action for cities and communities to reach the potential of Quebec and Canada of the future.

This will enable cities and communities to count on a predictable and long-term source of funding.

For Drummondville, this represents over 10.2 million dollars by 2010 as part of the federal-provincial agreement covering the transfer of part of the revenues of the Gasoline Excise Tax and the Quebec Government’s contribution.

In addition, municipalities are continuing to receive 100% of the GST refund, which they can use for their infrastructure needs.

I would also like to emphasize that my colleague, Jean-Pierre Blackburn, as Minister for Canada Economic Development, responsible for the economic development of the regions of Quebec, is doing remarkable work to meet the needs of small local businesses.

In addition, Quebec farmers can rely on a dedicated and energetic supporter in Christian Paradis, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Member of Parliament for Mégantic–L’Érable, which isn’t too far from here.

Will our new infrastructure strategy solve all our cities’ and regions’ infrastructure problems?

Of course not. It’s not easy to fix decades of negligence.

But as Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, I do want to assure you that I, along with my Cabinet colleagues and provincial partners, will do everything in my power to build a more prosperous and safer Canada.

I also want to assure you that our government will never neglect our regions.

Thank you.