Check against delivery
Whistler, British Columbia
Thank you. Good morning.
Let me begin by recognizing Jean Perrault for what he’s accomplished as FCM president—and as Mayor of Sherbrooke.
Through his leadership of FCM and UMQ, Jean has been a strong voice for Canada’s municipalities—so thank you, Jean.
Thank you for that generous introduction.
To our hosts this weekend—Mayor Ken Melamed and the Resort Municipality of Whistler—thank you for your hospitality.
You’re going to make our country proud when you welcome the world for the Olympics next winter.
The work that’s going on now is incredible—these days, you drive up here from Vancouver, and when you drive back, the highway’s wider.
You’re going to make Larry Campbell wish he hadn’t taken that new job a few years back.
Larry’s here today, and so are Hedy Fry, Joyce Murray, and Sukh Dhaliwal from our B.C. caucus—Martha Hall Findlay, who’s our Public Works critic—and Gerard Kennedy, who’s our critic for Infrastructure, Cities, and Communities.
There’s what, a thousand people in the room? Fifteen hundred? I want Gerard to talk to every single one of you before you leave town—and get you signed up to our Canada Communities Network.
I don’t care what your politics are, or what part of the country you’re from—we want you to have a seat at the table.
When it comes to working for Canadians, we need trust and respect between all orders of government: federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Aboriginal.
You need to be equal partners—and any government that says otherwise is failing our federation.
When Stephen Harper spoke to your meeting in Montreal three years ago, he told you that, under the Conservatives, the federal government would deal with the provinces, and that’s it. It’s up to the provinces to work directly with municipalities.
That’s not smart federalism—it’s a broken telephone.
We need a better way of doing things.
Because in the cities and towns and communities, you’re fed up with being patronized by the federal government.
You’re fed up with being told that you should just take a number—and complain to the province if you’ve got a problem.
You’re fed up with being called whiners and pothole-fillers.
You’re fed up—and you should be.
Look at law enforcement:
You aren’t a good federal partner when you promise 2,500 new front-line police officers—and then don’t deliver.
Look at infrastructure:
You aren’t a good federal partner when you hold up infrastructure money with red tape and application processes and political delays.
You aren’t a good federal partner when you miss your own 120-day deadline for stimulus by a country mile.
65 percent of the infrastructure in this country is owned by municipalities. 65 percent.
So why is the Prime Minister’s Office stalling municipal infrastructure funding?
Why is the government wasting time flying Ministers around, doing splashy announcements and re-announcements?
Why are we about to miss an entire construction season?
The shovels are ready. And when you’re talking about major building projects, March 2011 isn’t very far off.
So why isn’t the government using the gas tax formula to get the money out the door?
If the Conservatives had followed your advice—and ours—and used the gas tax, there would be $2 billion more in infrastructure funding out the door right now. There would be thousands of new, well-paying jobs.
Instead we’re in June and barely any of the stimulus has flowed.
It’s incompetence, full stop.
We can do better.
If we’re going to be a good federal partner, we have to share the burden.
We have to work with all communities—big and small, rural and urban—to move forward together.
The recession we’re in is making the divide between urban and rural Canada wider than ever. The report FCM released last week makes that very, very clear.
We’re seeing a full-blown crisis in each of the four pillars of the rural economy: forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and mining.
Those industries account for more than half our national exports, and they’re hurting.
Rural communities are struggling:
Kids are leaving the farm and rural communities.
New Canadians don’t start off on the land anymore, because the support networks they need are in the cities.
We don’t want to live in a Canada where big cities have a monopoly on opportunity.
The Conservative have no long-term vision for rural Canada. They’re risking a vital part of our economy, culture, and history.
We can do better.
Here’s how:
We’ll examine every policy proposal, every commitment the Liberal Party makes, through the lens of rural Canada.
Any infrastructure plan will fund rural and small-town infrastructure—like broadband and water treatment and community centres.
Any plan for new jobs will promote rural economic development.
Any strategy for early learning and childcare will include finding innovative childcare models for rural areas.
And any improvements to Employment Insurance will account for limited internet access and physical resources in rural Canada.
Urban and rural, East and West, French and English, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, rich and poor—we are one country, and we need policies that unite us, not divide us.
And in a recession, we need to get help to the people who need it most, no matter where they live.
That’s why the Liberal Party is pushing to reform Employment Insurance.
Right now, half the unemployed can’t qualify for EI because of where they live.
We’re facing one single employment crisis—with 58 different regional standards of EI eligibility.
That doesn’t make sense. It isn’t fair. And it’s wrong.
And that’s why you voted to support a national standard at your plenary yesterday.
Because right now, the system is hurting everyone—from big cities to rural communities and small towns that need help but can’t apply for the big-ticket stimulus funds.
The quickest, most effective way to get stimulus flowing into the communities that have been hit the hardest by this recession—no matter where in the country they are—is to put money in the pockets of Canadians who have lost their jobs.
And that’s why we need a fair national standard of EI eligibility, for as long as this crisis lasts.
We’re trying to make Parliament work. We don’t want an election—Canadians don’t want an election.
But it’s hard to work with a government that keeps showing itself to be uncaring and incompetent.
Look at the mess they’ve made of Chalk River. The reactor is down indefinitely. We’re facing isotope shortages across the country.
The government didn’t have a plan, and 5,000 Canadian patients each day aren’t getting the care they need because of it.
Look at our public finances. These guys haven’t got a clue.
In September, the prime minister said there wouldn’t be a recession.
In November, he promised a surplus—remember that?
By January, we were looking at a 34 billion dollar deficit. And in April, when the Bank of Canada and every economist in the country was questioning that 34 billion number, Jim Flaherty stood by it.
“We’re on track,” he said.
Then last week, all of a sudden, the deficit was “more than 50 billion dollars.”
Oops.
How do you work with a government like that? How are municipal governments supposed to partner with a federal government that can’t handle the public finances of the country?
This week, TD Bank said that the Minister is off on his 5-year deficit projections—by 70 billion dollars.
Canadians can’t count on a government that can’t count.
And the scariest thing for provincial and municipal governments is that the Conservatives are going to make you pay for it.
You know that sooner or later these guys are going to wake up and look at the mess they’ve made and say, “we can’t afford this. The country can’t afford this.”
And that’s when they’re going to download their 170 billion dollar deficit onto you.
You can’t trust the Conservatives to get us out of this mess, when they still can’t tell us how they got into this mess. Or even how big of a mess it really is. More than 50 billion dollars. How much more? They can’t—or won’t—say.
And for what? Stephen Harper’s 50 billion dollar price tag doesn’t come with a plan for our future. It doesn’t come with a vision.
It comes with a whole lot of zeroes.
Even in an economic crisis, the federal government should be making strategic, national investments that will make us a stronger country tomorrow.
And I’m not just talking about national highways and inter-provincial power grids and high speed rail.
I’m talking about national priorities that get played out in every city and community in the country, large or small.
National priorities like accessibility and transit—so that Canadians with disabilities have access to Handi-Vans, whether they live in small towns or big ones.
Like affordable housing—because if you don’t think homelessness in the Downtown Eastside is a national issue, wait until the Olympics come to town.
We can’t treat affordable housing as a fair-weather priority. It’s not something we can let fall off the table when times are hard.
We need a national housing strategy.
Housing. Transit. These are national challenges. We have to face them together. And we will.
It can’t happen all at once. Building for the future means paying our own freight. We can’t leave our children and grandchildren to pay our tab.
We need to be fiscally responsible in Ottawa so we can be a stronger partner for municipalities.
Because we need your leadership now more than ever.
We need an approach to federalism that makes municipal leadership possible—an approach that’s based on respect and co-operation.
And we need a commitment to work together to build better and smarter communities and the better future for Canada that we all know is possible.
A hundred years ago, the great founder of my Party, Wilfrid Laurier, said that 20th century would belong to Canada.
We need to have the boldness—the audacity—to say the same thing about the 21st.
And we can.
The 21st century can belong to Canada, but only if we dare, only if we act, only if we work together.
And together, I know we will.
Thank you.
