M.P. Gallant marks the End of the First Session of the 39th Parliament

June 22, 2007

On January 4, Canada’s New Conservative Government laid out the priorities for the spring sitting of Parliament. We promised a budget that would continue to reduce taxes, keep spending focussed on results, and restore fiscal balance.

We said we would continue tackling crime to improve public safety by continuing to reform our political institutions to make them more democratic and accountable; work to restore Canada’s role as a major contributor on the world stage and continue developing a comprehensive and realistic plan for controlling and reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Now at the end of the spring sitting, I am pleased to say we have made progress on all those priorities.  Our government passed 26 bills into law this spring. Largely as a result of our tax reductions in budget 2006, tax freedom day arrived Wednesday, four days earlier than last year. With the passage of our second budget we have contributed to making tax freedom arrive even earlier next year.

Budget 2007 also includes the largest investment in our national infrastructure in half a century, and it delivered on our commitment to restore fiscal balance to the federation. It increased equalization payments and brought fairness to the big social transfers by funding them on an equal, per capita cash basis.

Most of the provinces and territories responded positively to these new arrangements, but delivering on our budget commitments is only part of what we have done for Canadians. We have advanced our environmental agenda aggressively and at the recent G-8 summit, we reached agreement that all the world’s major emitters need to be involved as we develop a new strategy to address global warming.

We have also made progress on criminal justice reform.

We have eliminated house arrest for people who commit serious, violent crimes; created stiff sentences for street racers who hurt innocent bystanders; made it harder for gangsters and terrorists to launder dirty money and finance their criminal operations; and finally, moved to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

The bad news is that four other important crime bills, passed at the House of Commons, are bogged down in the Senate. One would protect our children by raising the Age of Protection from 14 to 16. Another would set mandatory prison sentences for gun crime. And, a third would end the revolving door of bail for gun crime. Our bail reforms are backed by police, prosecutors, big city mayors, the NDP, and the Ontario Liberals, but not by the un-elected Liberal majority in the Senate. They have not merely defied the government; they have defied elected Members of Parliament, public opinion and all common sense, by delaying our crime bills and derailing our legislation to reduce senators’ terms from up to 45 years to a maximum of eight years.

Canadians want safe streets and accountable legislators. They should not have to stand for an institution like the Senate that desperately needs to be reformed.

Canadians do not want another election. They want this minority Parliament to continue getting things done for Canadian taxpayers and for all our families. Our country is more prosperous, stronger and more united than it has been in 30 years. My job, and the job of all Parliamentarians, is to keep building on this success.

For More Information Please Call Cheryl Gallant, M.P. at (613) 732-4404