PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH AT CALGARY STAMPEDE BBQ ON 4TH OF JULY 2009

Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you very much for that great Stampede welcome.  Thanks to Al and to Elaine for getting us started tonight and thanks to my successor in Calgary West, Rob Anders, for his kind introduction. And greetings to all of my Conservative colleagues, all dignitaries, but particularly all of my Conservative colleagues here tonight from across the city, from across the province and from right across this country.  I want to thank all of you for making it out tonight, and I want all of you to give them a big hand for the great work they do as part of our great national team in Ottawa. And most importantly, I want to give a special thanks to all you folks here from Calgary Southwest.  You always put on the best barbecue of the Stampede. Great Alberta beef, great western hospitality to go along with the greatest show on Earth, and it is always a pleasure for me to take some time away from Ottawa and be back among friends.  Not that I don't have some friends in Ottawa. But this is still home for Laureen, Ben, Rachel and me.  Now, you've heard me say this before.  You know it is the strength of family that often gets us through the bumpy times in life.  This is as true in public life as in private life, and for Laureen and me, in our private lives… or public lives, I should say, you are our family.  It is your support that sustains us in so many ways.  That's why it's so heartening for us to be here, home tonight, to be with you.  We honestly could not do it without you, so thank you very much.  Give yourselves a big hand.  

Now, friends, a lot has happened since our last barbecue.  We fought and won another election. I've now been elected Member of Parliament for Calgary Southwest four times in just a little over six years.  And of course, thanks in part to all the phone bank work you did here in Calgary Southwest.  We won nationally as well.  We strengthened our Parliamentary mandate and we did it during the worst economic crisis in the world since the Second World War.  

And friends, let us never forget that our Conservative government wasn't re-elected in spite of the economic crisis.  We were re-elected because of it. We were returned to office with a strengthened mandate because of all the parties at a time of great uncertainty, only we inspired confidence in Canadians, only we had a proven focus and record on the economy, and only we have a realistic plan to guide Canada through the global economic storm. Because we've acted responsibly when times were good, we paid down debt.

Because of our strong financial management, with the smallest deficit of the major developed economies, we are enacting the largest economic stimulus program, Canada's economic action plan. And with the collaboration of our provinces and municipalities, we are enacting it as fast if not faster than any country on Earth.  As soon as Canadians return our government to office, we got down to business.  We passed the action plan, the quickest, earliest budget in modern Canadian history.  And now only three months into the fiscal year, over 80 percent of the stimulus funding in our plan has already been committed.  It is stimulating the economy and helping to sustain jobs, but in a way that strengthens the foundations of our long-term prosperity. It is now creating work for thousands of Canadians on over 3000 long-term infrastructure projects right across the country.  Here in Calgary, for example, we've accelerated the ring road project and the Telus World of Science.  Our action plan is also stimulating housing construction, with tax breaks and incentives for home renovation and new home purchases.  It's training Canadians for the jobs of tomorrow instead of subsidizing the jobs of yesterday.  It's building the economy of the future by investing aggressively over $5 billion in scientific and technological research and development.  And friends, it is working.  Just about every major international economic forecasting agency has noted from the IMF to the World Bank to the OECD.  Canada's economic performance remains the best among all the major developed countries in the world. And I've said this before, but friends, we cannot repeat it often enough.  We were the last G7 country dragged into this recession.  We have been the least affected, and when the recovery eventually and inevitably takes hold, this country, Canada, is poised to lead the way out in the strongest position.  

As I said earlier, we are doing this while maintaining deficit levels at a fraction of what they are in other major developed countries.  Our debt levels were the lowest in the G7 going into this recession, by far, and coming out of it they will still be the lowest, by far.  And this is important, friends, because while others will have to raise taxes when the recession is over, our taxes in Canada will still be coming down.  
In fact, our Conservative government is taking federal taxes to their lowest level in half a century.  I want to remind you of our record over the past three and a half years, because these tax cuts accumulate.  The GST as promised down from seven to six to five percent, the federal capital tax and the federal corporate surtax, gone completely, the general corporate tax rate down from 22 to 19 percent, and falling to 15 percent by 2012, when it will be the lowest in the G7, the small business tax rate down from 13 percent to 11 percent, and the threshold raised from $300,000 to $500,000.  On the personal side we've cut taxes for everybody, especially low and middle income Canadians.  In fact nearly a million low-income Canadians have come off the tax rolls completely since we took office, and through the working income tax benefit, we've torn down the welfare wall that used to discourage people from joining the workforce.  We've given all workers an employment tax credit of $1,000.  We've broadened capital gains exemptions, and we've introduced the tax-free savings account, which for the first time lets Canadians keep every single dollar they earn from investments free from tax forever.  We've ended the anti-family aspects of the tax system.  We've scrapped the marriage penalty, we've brought in a $2,000 tax credit for dependent children on top of the $1,200 allowance for every preschooler.  For our senior citizens we raised the age limit for converting to RRIFs from 69 to 71.  We increased the age credit by $2,000, doubled the pension deduction, and for the first time in history we brought in income splitting for the pensioners of this country.  There are many other measures I haven't even mentioned.  When you look at all of these measures in total they are enormous.  Friends, the last time the federal tax take was this low the Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker was Prime Minister of Canada.  Taxes are down so far, in fact, that tax freedom day arrived on June sixth this year, three days earlier than last year, and 19 days earlier before we took office in 2006.  And friends, these tax measures, combined with our comparatively stable and strong economy, are beginning to attract attention. In fact, I noticed last week the great Canadian coffee and donut success story announced it was moving its headquarters out of the United States to take advantage of our falling business tax rate.  Tim Horton's is coming back to Canada!  

Now, friends, never think for a moment that accomplishing these things has been easy.  Every day we face not just the crisis of the global economy, but the instability of a minority Parliament, and this combination, the global recession and a minority Parliament is a combination that the three parties of the left, the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc, see as an opportunity to push forward their agenda, and that agenda is tax and spend.  No matter how much stimulus spending we do – and we're spending a lot – they demand more, and not just a little bit more; tens of billions of dollars more.  And the spending we are doing temporarily for the recession they demand be made permanent, and they demand that taxes be raised to pay for it.  Not a week goes by in Parliament where one of them isn't attacking us for not raising the GST, for not raising business taxes, for not raising EI premiums to pay for higher benefits, for not imposing a carbon tax, and there isn't a single one of our tax reductions that they have willingly supported.  Mr. Ignatieff even calls himself a tax-and-spend Liberal, his own words, and he told his party unequivocally that to pay for his plans, and I quote, "we will have to raise taxes. Now, I do remind people that when he said that and the inevitable backlash struck, he furiously back-pedalled.  He said instead that he would only raise taxes as a last resort.  Well, as someone once said, and I quote, "That's a resort we can be sure he'll be checking into."  Friends, we have been reasonable and pragmatic in dealing with this global economic recession, but we will not be pressured by the opposition into doing things like raising taxes or creating a 45-day work year under Employment Insurance, that are not good for this country.  If we stick with Canada's economic action plan, we will lead this country out of recession with some of the lowest tax rates in the developed world.  Canada will be one of the best places in the world to invest and do business.  Canada will be the platform from which to do business in North America.  So let the opposition parties continue to threaten to get together to defeat us and replace us.  We know that hardly anyone wants an election, and even fewer than that want a Liberal government propped up by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois.  And friends, a Liberal government propped up by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, that is the alternative, and that is why this country needs a Conservative government to get us through this recession and on to recovery.  

Friends, we must never forget what a big difference our Conservative government has made to this country during the past three and a half years, and lower taxes are just the beginning.  I ask people to imagine how different things would be if the Liberals were still in power.  Imagine the bloated bureaucracy their daycare program would have spawned.  Imagine what damage their timid and trendy foreign policy would have done to our stature and influence on the world stage.  Imagine what Mr. Ignatieff's carbon tax would be doing to our economy in the middle of a global recession.  Instead of servicing Liberal insiders and elites, our Conservative government has been putting the needs of hardworking Canadian families first.  Instead of using federal surpluses to dole out money to Liberal client groups, we use those surpluses when we have them to cut taxes and to pay $40 billion off the national debt of this country. Instead of the big bureaucratic national daycare plan, we are delivering direct support to families so they can make their own childcare choices.  

Instead of doing a micro-management of the affairs of the provinces, we respect the division of powers stated in the Constitution.  Instead of shackling Westerners to the Canadian Wheat Board, we continue to fight for marketing freedom for our grain farmers. Instead of polling the General Assembly of the United Nations to determine our foreign policy, instead of sitting on our hands when our allies are in peril, we are taking unequivocal, principled position and we are standing for democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law on the world stage.  Instead of leaving the true North unattended and unprotected as it was for 13 long years, we are taking real action to assert Canada's sovereignty in our Arctic. And friends, maybe the thing I'm most proud of, instead of plundering the defence budget, instead of always asking the Canadian Forces to do more with less, we are giving our brave men and women in uniform the resources they need and the respect they deserve.  Tell you, friends, I spend a lot of time visiting with the Canadian Forces here and around the world.  I was in Afghanistan lately and there are no greater Canadian citizens; there really aren't.  Instead of harassing farmers and duck hunters, we are cracking down on those who use guns to commit crime.  Instead of fast-tracking visa applications for Romanian strippers, we are supporting legislation to clamp down on human trafficking. Instead of funding court challenges by left-wing fringe groups, we are supporting victims of crime.  Instead of building a justice system that exalts the rights of the criminals, we are putting the safety of Canadian families and communities first.  

And I want to spend a moment on this.  I just want to name a few of our justice reforms.  We have raised the age of protection from 14 to 16 to better safeguard our children from sexual predators. We've made it easier to keep the country's most dangerous repeat violent offenders behind bars forever. We've done away with house arrest sentences for many serious offences.  Friends we are rebalancing the scales of justice, and we've accomplished a lot, but there is more to do.  There is a lot more to do.  We need to bring in mandatory prison sentences for drug dealers.  We need to crack down on property crime like auto theft. We need to end the faint hope clause that lets the most violent and sadistic criminals get around life sentences. Our government has introduced legislation to beef up these parts of the criminal code.  In fact, we have put 11 more criminal justice bills before this Parliament, but friends, so far only one of those bills has passed.  

Friends, the pattern is this: the Liberals pretend to support our criminal justice reform while their NDP and Bloc Québécois allies slow them down in the House, and then as a last resort, the Liberal majority in the Senate blocks them there.  That is why, friends, I am going to keep appointing Conservative senators until the will of the people is heard in the Senate and these bills are passed.  

Now, sadly, friends, unelected Liberal senators are not the only ones obstructing good government.  As you know, the Liberal leader once again took the country right to the brink of another election last month.  He briefly backed down.  He agreed to work with us on EI, but then less than 17 hours later, he said if he didn't get what he wanted, he would, quote, "reconsider his options," and there's people who are all-out saying they're planning a fall election.  So there they go.  There he goes again.  

Do not doubt for a minute, friends, do not doubt this for one minute: the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois will get together anytime they think they can get away with it, and never doubt for a minute how scary a Parliament under their control would be for the future of our country, especially during a time of global economic crisis.  Canadians have been clear that they do not want another election.  Neither do we.  So we must stay focused on guiding Canada through the global recession.  We must keep infrastructure money flowing. We must keep taxes trending down, keep Canadians working, keep our stimulus spending short-term, and keep our focus on Canada's long-term economic fundamentals and success.  But as a minority government, we must be prepared for an election that could be forced on us at any time.  And when the time comes, Canadians will face a stark choice: a choice between lower taxes and controlled temporary spending, or higher taxes and runaway permanent spending, a choice between a government that serves and supports hardworking, law-abiding Canadians, or one that caters to insiders and special interests, a choice between realizing Canada's full potential or squandering our opportunities.  Now, friends, when that time comes, we will have one big advantage.  Whenever the Liberals, NDP and Bloc force the next election, our advantage will be our Conservative values: respect for freedom, democracy and justice, devotion to family, commitment to country and love of our community and our great Canada.  Our values are Canadian values.  They are the values on which this country was built.  They are the values from which Canada is drawing strength during this global recession, and they are the values that will as always with your efforts and your support carry us forward.  So thank you very much. God bless Canada.