Happy First Anniversary

January 24, 2007

This week marked the first anniversary of the Conservative Government’s election victory and there is plenty to celebrate. What a year it has been!

In just 12 months, our Conservative Government has done more to reflect the values of Prince George-Peace River than the former Liberal Government could muster in its’ 12 years in power.

Reviewing our accomplishments over the past year was an eye-opening exercise, even for me. I knew we had been busy but I was surprised by the sheer number of reforms and enhancements we have brought to Ottawa in such a short period of time. Below is a brief overview, but the list is virtually endless:

We delivered 29 separate tax cuts, including a one point drop in the GST, and put $20-billion back in the pockets of hard-working Canadians – where it belongs. We gave tax breaks to students, tradespeople, seniors, small businesses and employees.

We empowered families to make their own choices about how to raise their children with our Universal Childcare Benefit of $1200 per year per child under six.

By reviewing each and every federal spending program – some which hadn’t been examined since being created – we identified $1-billion in savings, much of it simply by ending overlap, redundancies or outdated operations.

We delivered $1.5-billion in new funding to farmers, along with $755-million to enhance and accelerate Grain and Oilseed Payments. We also introduced the Enhanced Spring Credit Advance Program, doubling interest-free loans for spring credit advances to $100,000 and extending the repayment period.

Farmers will also benefit from our decision to increase the renewable fuel content in gasoline and diesel fuel to five percent by 2010.

We introduced a transit tax credit to increase the use of public transit; reduced the use of mercury in vehicles; banned harmful chemicals found in stain repellents and fire retardants; reduced base metal smelter emissions to reduce pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and metal pollutants; and, we set new emissions limits for motorcycles, scooters and mopeds.

And last week, our Conservative government announced our ecoENERGY program which offers incentives to develop and use renewable energy, such as wind, solar, and biomass energy, and to promote energy efficiency among Canadians.

We made our communities safer by cracking down on street racing and taking action against money laundering by organized crime and terrorist groups.

We ended the eight-year Liberal injustice of denying federal compensation to all Canadians infected with Hepatitis C-tainted blood.

We began the process of regaining our proud standing on the international stage. At gatherings of world leaders in Mexico, New York, St. Petersburg, Bucharest and Vietnam, we forcefully defended and advanced Canadian interests, and Canada’s values.

We engaged the Americans – respectfully but forcefully – and together we resolved the softwood lumber dispute, returning $5-billion dollars in duties to Canadian producers.

We started rebuilding our long-neglected Canadian Forces, stood 100% behind our troops in Afghanistan, and paid tribute to our veterans.

We did all that and more in just one year … with a minority government. Can you imagine the incredible accomplishments we will achieve in the year to come?