Ladies and gentlemen, the Conservative Party has a great team here, including a great Premier, my friend Mr. Bernard Lord.  Bernard Lord is a progressive and successful premier of an increasingly dynamic province. He is, for all Conservatives, an inspiration and an example.  He not only believes passionately in the unity and the future of Canada – in New Brunswick, he has united people who had different partisan loyalties in the past, reached out to all regions and, of course, brought together English and French. I am thrilled to have the support of such a strong voice for Canada in this election.

Ladies and gentlemen, throughout this campaign, I have been speaking about the need for change.  Canada needs a change to a new government that will get past the scandals, that will bring accountability to Ottawa, and that will get on with addressing the real priorities of ordinary, hardworking Canadians – priorities such as cleaning up government, cutting the GST, cracking down on crime, and building a stronger Québec within a better Canada.

Throughout this campaign, we have announced ideas and policies that will have real meaning to real people like the people in this room – the kind of business leaders who help drive our economy by building vital infrastructure.  I have announced policies like cutting the GST and HST by one percent right away, and by two percent over time – a tax break that all Canadians can count on and all Canadians can see, and that I know will help our construction industry.

I am also talking about policies like our Opportunity Plan for Small Business, which I announced here in New Brunswick, in Saint John, just over a month ago.  The two key components of that plan are, first, to raise the small business threshold from $300,000 to $400,000.  Then, over five years, we will lower the small business tax rate from 12 to 11 per cent.  These two measures will help lighten the load on businesses as they grow to create jobs.

I have also announced a package of policies designed to help support the trades.  We will take steps to help apprentices with the costs of their tools and training, and end the unfair tax treatment of tools for all tradesmen.  And we will create, in the 45 red seal trades, an apprenticeship job creation tax credit for employers hiring apprenticeships.  I know many of you will benefit from these changes.

Today, I am here to discuss our plans to renew Canada’s infrastructure. Infrastructure is a crucial investment in our economic productivity and quality of life.  It is the sinew of our national economy – a web of concrete, steel, and fibre optics that binds our country together, and brings our country to the world.  To harness our economic potential, Canada must address its national infrastructure deficit.

In recent years, governments have focused on the needs of municipalities by agreeing to a transfer to cities and communities of the equivalent of five cents of the excise tax on gasoline.  This is an important commitment, which will help with the development of municipal roads, bridges, sewers, and waste treatment.  But now, Canada needs to go further, to tie ourselves together at the national level to free suburban commuters from sitting on gridlocked highways, to speed truckers carrying vital cargo through our border crossings, and to help achieve greater unity and greater success for our country.  We support continuing to fund improvements to our municipal infrastructure, and I am committed to developing other vital infrastructure outside of our cities including the roads, highways, and border crossings that link us to each other and to the broader North American market as well.  The shortfalls of our infrastructure are well known to everyone in this room. Canada’s national highway system needs to be brought up to an acceptable standard.  It will take many years of concerted effort to make our national highway system what it should be but, under a new government, we will make a strong start.

Here are the measures a Conservative government will undertake to renew Canada’s infrastructure:

We will follow through on the current commitment to transfer the equivalent of five cents per litre of gasoline to cities and communities for municipal infrastructure as part of the New Deal for Cities and Communities. You can count on us on this point, as it has been my view for many years. And we will expand the New Deal.  We will allow all cities and communities, regardless of size, to use these dollars to build and repair roads and bridges.  Furthermore, we will maintain the existing federal infrastructure agreements that have been entered into by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments, and we will renew them when their current terms expire.  These will include the Canadian Strategic Infrastructure Fund, the Border Infrastructure Fund, the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, and the Infrastructure Canada program.

In addition to these existing infrastructure commitments, I am pleased to announce today that a new government under my leadership will also create a stable, permanent Highways and Borders Infrastructure Fund, supported by $2 billion dollars in new federal funding over the next five years.  By 2010, our government will be putting $600 million in new money into roads, highways, and border crossings. With this level of national commitment, we can begin to make a serious dent in the national highways infrastructure deficit.  We will use the new Highways and Border Infrastructure Fund to work with the provinces to generate additional investment to improve Canada’s national highways system, with the Trans-Canada Highway as its centrepiece.

I know Premier Lord has asked for federal assistance in his proposal “Accelerating Greater Opportunity” to upgrade the highways in this province that are part of our national highway system.  And this new commitment today, along with the renewal of existing infrastructure programs, means we will be able to move forward together in securing New Brunswick’s economic future. These projects will contribute to a modern transportation infrastructure for all of New Brunswick that will link this province with New England, Quebec, and Ontario, creating new opportunities for trade, business, and tourism for all New Brunswickers.  And I intend shortly after the election to work with the government of New Brunswick to reach an agreement to invest the funds, on a cost-shared basis, over the next five to six years to upgrade those strategic New Brunswick highways that are part of our National Highways System. Across the country, the Highways and Borders Fund will allow us to make faster progress in modernizing our National Highways System and in cutting delays at border crossings.

Not only will our plan contribute to economic growth, but it will also lead to improved public safety by reducing road fatalities, and it will lead to an improved environment by reducing fuel use and emissions due to improved roads and reduced congestion. The National Council of Ministers of Transportation have estimated that an improved national highways system could save 250 lives and 16,000 injuries from accidents, and could reduce fuel consumption by as much as 236 million litres of fuel per year.

To help ensure accountability for infrastructure spending so that Canadians know whether infrastructure dollars are actually being spent in the most effective manner we are proposing another initiative. A new Conservative government will create a National Road Congestion Index to measure the levels of congestion in our cities and communities. We must be able to measure whether new infrastructure projects are actually helping reduce congestion and gridlock, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce commute times. This index will be based on models such as the index used for U.S. cities designed by the Texas Transportation Index, but will be designed and adapted for Canada.

A new Conservative government will be committed to giving Canada an efficient, safe, environmentally sustainable system of roads and highways right across this country.  We are committed to maintaining the New Deal for Cities and Communities and to maintaining existing federal infrastructure spending, but we believe this must be supplemented by a new $2 billion, five year commitment to highways and border crossings.  And we are going to measure results with a new Road Congestion Index so that citizens will be able to see the impact of infrastructure spending on their daily lives in terms of reduced commute times.  With these kinds of policies in place, provinces like New Brunswick will be able to achieve their economic potential.

So on January 23rd, I urge you to help us bring change to Ottawa. Let’s stand up for change, stand up for better roads and highways, and stand up for Canada.