Along with many of you, I am concerned with the rising national debt.
Your government has a plan to balance the budget in 2015 and in spite of low economic growth figures, both globally and domestically, we feel confident we will meet our commitment to you.
The president of the Treasury Board, Tony Clement, has cut public service costs, as well as spending cuts in various departments. By reducing travel costs of public servants and elected public servants, modernizing service delivery, cutting the use of paper and cutting programs, we have seen a significant savings of $16 billion.
Also, Gail Shea, Minister of the Canada Revenue Agency, has invested in finding those illegally evading taxes.
We have already collected over $2 billion in unpaid taxes and have committed to do more to ensure everyone pays their fair share. Closing tax loopholes and improving the fairness of the system has also proven to increase revenue as well as cut costs.
Much of your government’s deficit spending has been invested in key infrastructure. To help the lagging economy it was determined to invest now for tomorrow.
The great advantage of this is that, at a time of recession, competition for contracts are very competitive, allowing government to get more for money spent. Investments allow Canadians to see tangible assets for their money.
We, in the Okanagan-Shuswap, have been fortunate to see new highway improvements from Armstrong to Kelowna as well as over $200 million spent over the last three years, on the TransCanada Highway in B.C. Although we incurred debt to do these projects, the asset will be with us for decades.
Canada’s debt to Gross National Product (GNP) is the lowest in the G7, and not by a small amount. Canada’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is around 36 per cent, the UK and USA are 90 per cent and Japan 170 per cent.
This is a testimony to the Economic Action Plan we put in place in 2009-10 to ensure creation of jobs, economic growth, and future prosperity for Canadians.
-Colin Mayes is the Member of Parliament for the Okanagan-Shuswap riding.