Here’s what Prime Minister Stephen Harper had to say on Friday at the close of the spring session of this Parliament:
… good afternoon everybody. On January 4th, at my residence, I laid out the priorities of Canada's new government for the spring sitting of Parliament. We promised a budget that would continue to reduce taxes, keep spending focused on results and restore fiscal balance. We said we would continue tackling crime to improve public safety, continue reforming our political institutions to make them more democratic and more accountable, continue restoring Canada's role as a major contributor on the world stage, and contribute to – continue developing a comprehensive and realistic plan for controlling and reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Today, at the end of the spring sitting, I'm pleased to say we have made progress on all of those priorities. We passed 26 government bills into law this spring, including 13 that received royal assent today. Largely as a result of our tax reductions in budget 2006, tax freedom arrived Wednesday, four days earlier than last year. With the passage of our second budget, tax freedom day will arrive even earlier next year. Budget 2007 which I should add is the first time in four decades that a minority government has passed two budgets, budget 2007 also includes the largest investment in our national infrastructure in half a century and is delivered on our commitment to restore fiscal balance to the federation. It increased equalization payments and brought fairness to the big social transfers by funding them on an equal per capita cash basis.
Most of the provinces and territories responded positively to these new arrangements, but delivering on our budget commitments is only part of what we have done for Canada. We have advanced our environmental agenda aggressively. At the recent G8 summit, we reached agreement that all the world's major emitters need to be involved in the development of a new international strategy to address global warming.
We have also made progress on criminal justice reform. We have eliminated house arrests for people who commit serious violent crimes, created stiff sentences for street racers who hurt innocent bystanders, made it harder for gangsters and terrorists to launder dirty money and finance their criminal operations, and finally, we moved to ratify the United Nations convention against corruption.
The bad news is that four other important crime bills passed by the House of Commons remain bogged down in the Senate. One would protect our children by raising the age of protection from 14 to 16. Another would set mandatory prison sentences for gun crimes. A third would end the revolving door of bail release for those who commit crimes with firearms. Our bail reforms are backed by the police, prosecutors, big city mayors, the NDP and the Ontario Liberals, but not by the Liberal majority in the Senate. They have not merely defied the government, they are defying elected members of Parliament, public opinion and all common sense. They are delaying important crime legislation and derailing our legislation to reduce senators terms from up to 45 years to a maximum of eight years.
Canadians want safe streets and accountable legislators and they will not stand for an institution that stands in their way. As I said all winter long, Canadians don't want another election. They want this minority Parliament to continue getting things done for Canadians and for all of our families. Today, our country is stronger, more prosperous and more united than it has been in 30 years. Our job and the job of all of us in Parliament is to keep building on that success.