On Parliament Hill

With Canada Day past, we as Canadians know how blessed we are to live in a free, democratic and prosperous country. One only needs to be reminded of the economic threat the world faces from the financial instability in Greece. This catastrophe reminds us of the importance of fiscal responsibility in government.

As a result of poor economic decisions made by the Greek government, the people of Greece face high unemployment rates and unmanageable government debt that lead to a default on a 1.6 billion Euro payment. According to the OECD, Greece’s unemployment rate in 2014 was over 26% while Canada’s was at 6.9%. Simply put, one in four people in Greece were unemployed in 2014.

Although Canada has been fortunate, we must remember that we are not immune to global economic uncertainty. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada has weathered this economic instability with a plan of low taxes, a balanced budget, economic growth, and benefits provided directly to families. In fact since 2006, our Government has lowered taxes on hard working families saving them on average $6,500/ year. Additionally, since the depth of the recession, 1.2 million net new jobs have been created.

Unfortunately opposition parties in Canada actually support some of the same policies that created the fallout in Greece and even went as far as supporting the country’s default.

Conversely, under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada has made the right choices through the global recession. Now more than ever we must continue with our low tax plan, and not take unnecessary risks with economic policies that have led to the default in Greece.

As the Member of Parliament for Provencher, I support economic policies that help protect hard working Canadian families and build our economy.