Federal Budget Suggestion #1 - The Winter Infrastructure Removal Initiative.

The Honourable Jim Flaherty, M.P. P.C

- Check against Delivery -

Mr. Speaker, another key aspect of our plan to renew our economy is to fight against the falling snow. While the 2006 climate change plan didn't exist, and both plans released in 2007 have all but disappeared, we think that for the immediate time being, relying on climate change to get rid of our snow is not working. It is time for action.

Every winter, millions of Canadians stare out at their driveways, and say "I will do it tomorrow." By the time they get to it, they have driven in and out of their driveways, packing the snow down further. In many cases, they build up a layer of ice that takes months to fully dissipate and makes it harder for them to get to work. Throw a bus strike into the mix, and it is surprising Canadians bother working at all.

Canada's Conservative government is going to attack the one truly unifying enemy for all Canadians: Snow. Admittedly, the people in Vancouver who don't' vote for us anyway won't benefit from this program. The key benefit is that it will reduce the current resource strain on the department of national defence when and if it snows in Toronto. Snow. Budget 2009- which is shovelling a lot more than cash to various industries, wants to make it more affordable to shovel.

We have a plan that will encourage investment in three strategic areas.

Canada's Youth - The first job most Canadian kids have is being responsible for clearing the driveways of their parents and neighbours. There is no standard pay for this task - Canada's poorest families force their children to do this task as a chore, and Canada's middle class offer

Gone are the days of helping our our elders - if they are even in Canada right now. Gone are the "Jesus Christ of latter day saints, Canada edition" commercials of a gang of tuffs clearing old ms' hatchets driveway in exchange for a smile and cookies. Today's kids want cash- and they want it now.

Budget 2009 creates a new program - the Winter Infrastructure Removal Initiative (WIRI). As you know, we are spending a lot of money on new infrastructure projects- this program is in place to ensure that once we build it, we can use it.

The first phase of the program is the Snow Removal Tax Credit (SRTC) which will provide direct incentives to Canadians to hire their children , or their neighbours children, or the children of people living in neighbours on the other side of town - to keep their driveways clear. A full 100% of all capital expended will be tax deductible.

The funds will be recuperated by chances to the Income Tax Act that removes the current exemption to income earned by people under the age of 18.

The second phase of SRTC - is the development of white jobs. We are sick and tired of hearing about green jobs. For further clarity, these white jobs are for rural areas of the country where the economies are particularly hard hit by green job advocates. By clearing the roads quicker and more thoroughly, we can ensure that people headed to the slopes on the weekend can get there more safely. More importantly, truck transportation on the major thoroughfares will no longer imperil smaller vehicles who are forced to reduce speed. We will use existing highway infrastructure programs to get the highways electrified and melt the snow right off of it.

The final phase of the WIRI is the Snow Transportation and Dumping program. We have to put all this stuff somewhere. Knowing how the developing world is straining for new water supply, and given our reluctance to parch their thirst with our 4% of the worlds fresh water, we plan to recycle plastic water bottles, fill them with the snow we push of the roads, and send them to developing countries.

That has to be better than dumping ii into the harbour or piling into giant mountains of snow for children to play - when they should be working to clear it away.