Harper Government highlights accomplishments as fall legislative session comes to an end

December 11, 2009

Delivers Real Results to Canadian Families

OTTAWA – The Harper Government ended the Fall session of the House of Commons by highlighting the accomplishments the Government has delivered to Canadian families.
 
“Over the past few months, our Government has continued to deliver real results that Canadian families have come to expect,” said Canada’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, John Baird.  “Our priority has been to help Canadian workers and their families during the global economic downturn by implementing Canada’s Economic Action Plan.  While there are tentative signs of a recovery, now is not time to change course. Our Government is committed to fully implementing our two-year plan to ensure recovery fully takes hold.”
 
Minister Baird was joined at a news conference today by the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development;  the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada; and the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Public Works and Government Services.
 
The Harper Government successfully implemented an ambitious agenda responding to the priorities of Canadians and also tabled its 4th Report to Canadians indicating that 97 per cent of Canada’s Economic Action Plan is complete.
 
Another important accomplishment during this session was increasing the supplement earnings of low-income workers through the Working Income Tax Benefit.  When combined with other tax measures, such as the Home Renovation Tax Credit, the Government is taking action to help Canadian families, workers and those affected most by the economic downturn.
 
The Government is also helping to make communities safer from violent criminals and predators by introducing important legislation that will protect children from online predators and protecting all Canadians from white-collar crime.
 
During the session, Canada also strengthened its leadership role and asserted Canadian values on the world stage.  Specifically, the Government opened up new opportunities for Canadian businesses in emerging markets such as India and China.
 
“We have accomplished much during this past session, but our work is not complete,” said Minister Paradis.  “We must follow through on our plan, including fully implementing Canada’s Economic Action Plan, to help those who need it now and to lay the foundation for future growth.”



BACKGROUNDER

The Conservative Government remains committed to getting results on the things that are important to Canadians.
 
Here are just a few accomplishments that government has made for Canadian families over the past few months:
 

• Taking action for Canadian workers and their families by:
• Delivering our Economic Action Plan which has resulted in 12,000 projects across the country, and 8,000 projects having already begun.
• Committing 97 per cent of our Economic Action Plan.
• Offering self-employed Canadians additional security through voluntary access to Special benefits in the Employment Insurance system including maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits.
• Providing long-tenured workers who lose their jobs with additional Employment Insurance support by increasing the benefits they are eligible for by up to 5 and 20 weeks.

Delivering safer streets for law-abiding Canadian families by:

• Cracking down on identity theft by making important changes to the criminal code to put in tougher penalties on those who steal personal identification to commit fraud.
• Stopping criminals from exploiting loopholes in the justice system by ending the practice of getting 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 credit for time served either before or during their trial.
• Protecting our vulnerable children and cracking down on child pornography by making it mandatory for Internet and e-mail service providers, as well as social networking sites, to report suspected child pornography being delivered through the Internet.
• Ensuring that criminals who commit multiple murders do not receive volume discounts by ending the practice of concurrent sentencing for criminals found guilty of murder.
• Protecting Canadians from white-collar criminals by creating a 2-year mandatory minimum sentence for those who commit fraud over $1 million and requiring courts to examine restitution for victims where possible.
• Ensuring that criminals serve the sentences they have been given by stopping the practice of Accelerated Parole Review for those who have only served one-sixth of their sentences, and ending the practice of full parole after they have served just one-third of their sentences.

Protecting consumers and helping to keep our families safe and healthy by:

• Introducing tough new legislation on consumer product safety, important legislation that has been gutted and delayed by an unelected Liberal Senate.
• Defending Canadian families against unfair financial practices by introducing a new Code of Conduct for the Canadian Credit and Debit Card Industry.
• Taking action to protect the safety of Canada’s food supply by implementing the recommendations of an Independent Investigator, providing for improved coordination between the federal government and the provinces when a crisis arises.

Opening up opportunities for Canadian businesses by:

• Expanding international business opportunities through the negotiation of Free Trade
• Agreements with the European Free Trade Association and countries like Jordan, Colombia, Peru, and Panama.
• Opening doors for Canadian business in China with the opening of six new trade offices.
• Providing new pathways for business in India by rebuilding the Canada-India trade relationship, and taking action such as opening a trade office in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in addition to Canada’s existing seven trade offices in India.
• Opening up new opportunities for young people to gain valuable international work experience through Youth Mobility Agreements with Poland, Spain and Slovenia.

Working to create new and better jobs for Canadians by:

• Increasing the eligibility for the Automotive Innovation Fund which will help to increase investment in research and development of environmentally friendly vehicles, in turn helping to create new, better jobs in the Canadian automotive industry.

Taking action for Rural Canada by:

• Protecting honest farmers and hunters by supporting legislation that will scrap the failed long-gun registry once and for all.
• Ensuring continued access to rural postal delivery with a new Service Charter for
• Canada Post which protects postal service to rural regions.
• Increasing real capacity in the meat packing industry for beef and pork farmers with a $50 million investment in the industry.

Helping vulnerable communities dependant on forestry by:

• Working to expand international market opportunities for Canadian wood products through the Canada Wood Program to Southeast Asia and other markets.
• Working in partnership with FPInnovations and provincial governments to support the development of new and improved Canadian-made wood products and manufacturing processes.

Helping Canada lead on the world stage by:

• Standing up to Iran’s dangerous agenda by staging a walkout of the Iranian President’s speech last September at the United Nations.
• Rebuilding the Canada-India trade relationship that had deteriorated under the Liberals by signing important trade agreements on the Prime Minister’s recent trip.
• Taking part in an important state visit to China and building important relationships with one of the world’s economic powerhouses, while ensuring that a frank dialogue on fundamental values like freedom, human rights and the rule of law is maintained.
• Playing a key role in institutions like the G-8, the G-20, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
• Announcing that Canada will be hosting the important G-8 and G-20 summits in 2010.