44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2022 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, we take housing seriously. During the campaign last summer, our government introduced an ambitious plan to increase home ownership, as well as to make the overall housing market more affordable. That included helping cities to increase supply, building affordable housing and converting office spaces into housing, as well as stopping excessive profits from the housing market. These will not only help seniors, but all Canadians. We are looking forward to continuing this work.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Kenora.
I cannot start my speech today without giving some recognition. On this side of the House, we have talked about a plan forward out of this pandemic. We have talked about ending the mandates, so I cannot start today without recognizing my hometown, which I am so proud of: Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Calgary City Council, led by Dan McLean, today announced an end to the mask mandate on March 1 in alignment with the Province of Alberta, so I thank Dan McLean. Dan, of course, is the councillor for Ward 13. It is a ward in my riding, and I am so very pleased and proud of him and city council today for taking that brave action toward advancing Canadians and ending this mandate. I thank them so very much.
As the shadow minister for employment, future workforce development, disability and inclusion, a key portfolio in ESDC, and along with the incredible critic for seniors in my party, the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington, I feel completely obliged and compelled to speak about the matter before us today, Bill C-12, and the reason we are having this debate.
When I heard about Bill C-12, it seemed to me that the situation was familiar and I gave it a bit of thought. When the pandemic hit, the government issued a series of benefits: the CERB and the CRB. Lo and behold, unfortunately when the GIS payments were issued there was a necessity to claw them back. This was a result of the government's lack of competency with the administration and overpayment of the CRB and the CERB, by giving funds to those who were not entitled to them. This is no small matter. It affects 90,000 low-income seniors across the country who are struggling to put food on the table and to heat their homes. They certainly do not need this problem at this time.
I understand that the government has allocated a large sum of funds to this: around $700 million. Yesterday in the House, it actually released the date on which these low-income seniors could start to see these funds. It is April 19. The Liberals were not willing to release that information to me at committee, so I am glad they have finally come forward with it in the House, and have announced a date when seniors can expect to see these funds. They would not give me a date when I pressed them at committee.
As I reflected upon this situation, it occurred to me that this was not the first time we had seen this. In fact, oops, they did it again. Where has this happened before? Where have we seen this lack of administration and competency before? I am going to go all the way back to the beginning of the pandemic and Bill C-2, where we as an opposition tried very hard to work with the government to get Canadians the benefits they deserved.
Our current interim Leader of the Opposition was involved in those negotiations, as was the member for Carleton, who was acting in the capacity of shadow minister for finance at the time. He had the good measure to recognize the lack of oversight that was occurring with the government asking for unlimited spending. I am very fortunate that he saw that and pointed it out.
What happened after that was that we had to come back to the House and amend Bill C-2 as a result of the government's incompetence and mismanagement again. We saw that the Canada emergency wage subsidy came too late. The Canada emergency commercial rent assistance did not work, because it required the approval of landlords as well as a 70% revenue reduction. As well, not a single business received funds from the government's large employer emergency financing facility. We saw it there with Bill C-2.
We saw it again in May of 2020, when the CBC reported that Canadians who did not qualify for CERB were getting it anyway and could face consequences, such as the ones we saw with the GIS, which thank goodness are finally being addressed today.
However, it does not end there. We saw it again with maternity benefits, whereby Canadian women who were pregnant could not receive the CERB or the CRB, again as a result of government error and an oversight. We saw the errors of the government once again having a significant impact on Canadians who needed those benefits at that time.
I wish I could say it ends there, but it does not. In fact, it goes on to Bill C-24, where we had to come back and close loopholes that allowed international leisure and other non-essential travellers to claim the Canada recovery benefit, but that made individuals required to quarantine or self-isolate under the Quarantine Act during the two-week benefit period ineligible to submit a claim.
Do we see the trend here that I am referring to? It is the incompetency of the government again and again. Here we are again with Bill C-12, referring to the errors of the government that deeply impacted Canadians. I wish I could say it ends there. It does not.
In November, 2021, we found out that organized crime knowingly and actively exploited federal pandemic benefits. Where did these funds potentially go? I will tell you. They went to illegal firearms. Check the borders, boys. They also went to human trafficking and prostitution. Once again, the errors and mismanagement of the government caused problems for the House. They caused delays to those who needed benefits, resulting in new legislation. The House had to consider taking the time of everyone here, taking us away from other important issues and away from work for our constituents, to come back here and fix the government's errors once again.
I know members know what I am going to say. It does not end there. Now, we are finding out that there are problems with the auditing. Even though the government was aware in June, 2020, and by July 2020, it recognized $442 million in double payments, we will not see this auditing be completely done and rectified until 2023. That is three years after the Liberals first recognized that this problem existed.
Again and again, we are seeing the government's incompetence have a significant effect on the lives on Canadians and on everyone who works in the House and wants to focus on other legislation. Unfortunately, we are called back again and again to fix the errors of the government.
It does not end there. Just five days ago, we found out that the federal government sent nearly $12 million in Canada emergency response benefit payments to people with foreign addresses in the first seven months of the pandemic. It is overwhelming the number of—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/15/22 7:10:00 p.m.
- Watch
I know there are questions and answers coming up after. I know we are really waiting to ask those questions. I cannot wait to hear the bit that is going to go on. If we can just finish up on this one, there is a minute or so for the member to finish her speech.
The hon. member for Calgary Midnapore.
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Mr. Speaker, they are just excited about the turkey meatballs, and I do not blame them. I do not know which part of that they are more excited about.
My point is that these are significant problems that have had serious consequences for individuals, never mind leaving cold, hungry seniors sitting in their basements alone by themselves. This incompetency has had far greater effects, which we are seeing here today in the direction of this nation, that I do not have the time to get into, such as Ukraine, as a result of not having a clear, coherent foreign policy, and such as the problems we have seen with the truckers and the convoys, which have resulted in the necessity for the Prime Minister to believe that he has to invoke the Emergencies Act rather than take a number of steps before.
In conclusion, Bill C-12 is unfortunately not the first time Canadians have been made to suffer the incompetence of the Liberal government. Sadly, I do not think it will be the last.
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Mr. Speaker, toward the end of the member's speech, in the last few sentences, she referenced the need for the Prime Minister to invoke the Emergencies Act. I am curious if she agrees with that as a proper measure and if she plans to vote for it. There will be a debate on that, as required by the legislation, in the House. Is she planning to vote in favour of it? Is it the right action to take, or does she agree with the protests that are going on outside?
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Mr. Speaker, I believe in diplomacy. I believe in engagement, and I believe in having the courage to have conversations with Canadians, something the Prime Minister does not. It should have never been brought to this place, and it is absolutely squarely on the shoulders of the Liberal government and its leader, the Prime Minister.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is always passionate, and when she talks about diplomacy, she has the credentials to go with it because she worked in diplomacy for years.
I am interested in hearing what the member has to say about the incompetence of the government in terms of the number of times it brought legislation forward that was in error or needed fixing. In many cases, it was not fixed, and people were falling through the cracks. I am interested to hear her comment on that.
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Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful to be on the same team as the member for Sarnia—Lambton.
Canada has not had a foreign policy strategy direction in six years and it is the result of simple values and principles that the previous administration had at the top, from which everything flowed: democracy, justice and the rule of law. These things have been forgotten under the government. Unfortunately, how one does something is how one does everything, and we are seeing the same lack of planning, direction, values and principles at the top in this situation as well.
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Mr. Speaker, the word that comes to my mind is “wow”. It is truly incredible. I was in opposition when Stephen Harper was prime minister. He increased the age of retirement from 65 to 67 and introduced closure over 100 times in four years in a majority government.
On this legislation, it is not only the government but also an opposition party saying that the bill is really good, and that it is important and we should pass it. The Conservatives, in its coalition with the Bloc, say we should hold back and wait until next week. Who knows how long they want to wait?
Does the member not recognize that this bill would ensure that seniors get money in their pockets? Why is she trying to deny seniors hard cash in their pockets and purses?
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Mr. Speaker, the reason we are here is because the government took money from seniors. Had it not taken money from seniors, we would not be in the House debating this bill today.
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Mr. Speaker, there is some lively back-and-forth this evening.
Bill C‑12 has its merits, obviously. However, there are two categories of seniors whose fate has not been clarified.
When it comes to inflation, seniors in my riding of Trois-Rivières are telling me every day that the money is coming a bit late. What I want to know is whether we are going to treat these people fairly, meaning with equity, or whether we are just going to treat everyone the same, meaning with equality, by which I mean mistreat them equally.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.
I think that the most important thing is that the government continues to ignore the biggest problem Canada is facing. I think that my colleague from the Bloc and I agree on that point. I am talking about inflation.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Calgary Midnapore for splitting her time with me today and giving me the opportunity to join this debate.
I would like to say that it is a pleasure to join the debate today, and to some degree it is, but, unfortunately, it is also a bit frustrating to be here debating the bill before us considering the two years that have gone by since this issue was first brought to light for the Liberal government, which is now taking action to try to rectify it. However, there is some frustration there with the timeline. Of course, we are talking about seniors applying for CERB, reaching out for pandemic benefits and having their GIS clawed back as a result.
I will talk more about the direct issue at hand in just a moment, but I would like to lay out the groundwork a bit more and talk about why this is so important, especially right now with inflation rising at the rate that it is.
The cost of everything is going up. Everyday essentials such as gas and groceries are growing, especially in regions like mine in northwestern Ontario and across the Kenora riding, where the costs are usually higher than in many other regions in the country. It is getting harder for everyone to get by, particularly seniors, who are on fixed incomes and who have worked their whole lives to help build a country. They have paid into the system, but they are now not properly supported. They do not have the support they need in order to keep up with the rising costs of living.
Of course, throughout the pandemic, the government had great, new spending programs, and printed a lot of money for them, which added to inflation and caused the crisis we are seeing right now. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that. The PBO has also said that the rationale for stimulus no longer exists, but that is a bit of a different discussion.
I would like to share what I have been hearing in my riding and across the country. When we look at groceries, food prices overall have increased by about 4%. I believe beef is up nearly 12% and bacon is up more than 19%. As I mentioned, it is not just groceries.
For home heating, natural gas is up 20%. In Canada and northern Ontario, home heating is certainly not a luxury. It is a necessity for seniors to be able to heat their homes. Just last week, the price of gas in Red Lake in my riding was hovering just below $1.70 a litre. Of course, this is in a region that is northern and rural, and many communities are considered remote. The people in Red Lake do not have the option to take other modes of transportation. They need to pay that cost.
A constituent of mine in Sioux Lookout recently shared his home heating bill with me, which showed that he was paying $70 a week in carbon taxes alone. In Sioux Lookout, heating is something that is not a choice, as we have to heat our homes, especially in the winter months when it gets much colder.
We have this cost of living crisis, this economic crisis, coupled with the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is something that has hit seniors particularly hard. Many seniors are at an increased health risk and are more vulnerable to the virus than other Canadians, and for that reason, many seniors had to withdraw from some of their activities that they previously enjoyed.
Many seniors were not comfortable going to the grocery store or doing simple tasks with the threat of the pandemic out there, not to mention the fact that there is an emotional toll to all of this, which I think everyone has felt to some degree. I think every family has been touched with mental health challenges throughout the course of this pandemic because of isolation and not being able to see loved ones. Seniors in my riding have mentioned to me that it has been particularly difficult for them.
We have these two crises that have come to a head at the same time, and that is why many seniors reached out to the government. They looked to the government for support, applying for programs like the CERB to help get them through this difficult time with the rising cost of living and all the challenges COVID brought on.
Of course, these seniors were not expecting the government to claw back their GIS or have it eliminated entirely, and that is the heart of the concern that we are dealing with right now. It is why I am pleased to see the government is now taking some action to rectify that issue, but it has come frustratingly too late for many seniors across the Kenora district and across the country.
I do not have the numbers right in front of me, but there are not many issues that I hear about more in my constituency office, or in my Ottawa office, than seniors' issues with the cost of living and not being able to get by. I have been on the phone with many seniors in my riding.
I know many of my staff members have as well. Two in particular are Jordyn Ham and Madison McSweeney, who are working in the Ottawa office. I hope they do not mind me mentioning them here in the House. They have done an amazing job reaching out to those constituents, having conversations with them and helping them try to get through these difficult times.
It has been tough. It has been tough for us. We have had seniors come into our office in tears. They are frustrated. They are not sure how they are going to heat their homes or if they are going to be able to put food on the table, and it is clearly an issue that is of the government's creation. That is why the government must act to prevent another clawback, and that is why I am pleased to see the Liberals are moving forward on this.
However, I think it was the critic for seniors, the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington, who noted that this has been an issue for two years, and we are now just getting to the debate. That should be frustrating to everybody in the House, and everyone should take issue with that.
Another thing I have been hearing from seniors in my riding is that they need a guarantee. Seniors need to know that this payment will not be taxable. They need to know that further changes and solutions the government actually comes up with are going to have the effect they need. I think there is a bit of distrust, given what has happened previously, and I have been heartened by what I have heard here today in the debate. I think most people in the House tend to be on the same page, and I hope that will give some level of comfort to the seniors in the Kenora riding as well.
With the limited time I have, I just want to make it incredibly clear that these seniors are not tax cheats. They are not people trying to game the system. They are struggling and facing such a hard time in their lives, after paying into the system and doing everything right to try to provide for themselves. It is incredibly important that we move forward to give them the support they rightly need.
To seniors who may be watching or following the debate, I want them to know that the Conservative Party has not forgotten them. The Conservative party is going to have their backs, and we are going to be continuing to advocate for them to ensure that the government follows through and that the government does not claw back any further benefits.
I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate today, and I am looking forward to any questions or comments that my colleagues might have.
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Mr. Speaker, the member spoke well, as he always does. He is one of the youngest members in this House, if I am not mistaken, but he is also one of the most thoughtful I have had the chance to work with.
That is why I was surprised, when he spoke about inflation, that there was no reference made to the global situation and putting inflation in a global context, the way the pandemic, for example, has impacted supply chains around the world and the effect that has had for countries like Canada, in terms of inflation. I know the member will make reference to quantitative easing and the impact that has had, but at best, according to most economists, that impact has been minimal, in terms of inflation in Canada.
Why not focus on the global reality, in terms of its impact on inflation?
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Mr. Speaker, it is an important question. There is no question that what is happening globally is to a degree playing out here in Canada as well. I think everyone can agree with that. However, as the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed, the stimulus spending that the government carried out contributed drastically to the inflation we are seeing in Canada, and the greatest rise in inflation that we are seeing is in items that we produce right here in Canada, such as natural gas, beef and pork.
I understand the member is coming from the global perspective, but I do think it is important to note that in a lot of ways the cost of living crisis is very much a homegrown problem.
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Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I was concerned about from a process point of view was that the Liberals wanted to just whiz through all the parliamentary processes to get this thing done. The Conservatives brought forward quite a reasoned amendment through the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington to say that we agree and that we want to see the seniors get this money as soon as possible, so let us get to committee, have the Minister of Seniors there to answer all the questions and then move forward right away. Does the member agree that this would have been a reasonable compromise for all of us to agree to?
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Mr. Speaker, that is an important question. The short answer is yes, absolutely, that would be a reasonable compromise.
In my view, it is not the job of the opposition or any members of this House to prioritize the government's legislation. That is the government's job, and unfortunately, despite having this issue brought to its attention two years ago, the government was quite slow to act to address it. It had time to call an election in between, and unfortunately that is why we are still debating it here today.
To the member's question, I absolutely would agree that the amendment that was brought forward would be very positive and strong, and I hope that we will see all members in the House support that reasonable proposal.
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Mr. Speaker, the member referenced how his riding is specifically in the north and is remote and rural. I imagine that this GIS clawback on seniors in his riding would have had even more significant impact on these Canadians, who are really left to obtain their necessities in their local communities. I am hoping the member can elaborate on that and even provide more context as to the struggles that his citizens, seniors in particular, have faced throughout this pandemic.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that question from my colleague because it is something I was hoping to mention in my speech, but I neglected to do so.
It was very difficult for seniors in my riding. Given that we are living in a rural northern area, there are limited services. It was more difficult for many seniors to be able to connect to government sites through the Internet. Of course, CRA phone lines were jammed with calls from many seniors across the country, so it was quite difficult, and being in the northern remote region of the Kenora district made it that much more difficult.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Scarborough—Agincourt.
I am very pleased to participate in this debate, but I must admit that I am wondering why we are debating this motion tonight when we could quickly take action. If there is one time when members should be unanimous, it is this evening on this bill.
We are here to debate Bill C-12, an act to amend the Old Age Security Act to provide a guaranteed income supplement exemption. I would like to explain this to the Canadians who are watching at home. Usually when we study a bill, it involves a rather complex process. To make amendments to a law, often many changes are needed here and there. We must be certain of the changes to be made. In this case, it is very simple.
In the French version of the bill, only five lines were changed. Those five lines will change our tax system to eliminate a problem for seniors. All political parties in the House of Commons recognize that this problem must be fixed.
My wonderful colleague from northern Ontario just expressed his approval. Earlier today there were speeches by Bloc Québécois members who indicated their support. The NDP members have said they support it. I cannot figure out why we are still debating this motion. We may even end up straying from the topic because some of the parties like playing political games.
We really have to meet the needs of Canada's seniors. That is why I am urging my opposition party colleagues, especially the Conservative and Bloc Québécois members, to approve this. I hope that, once they have read these five lines, they will give their approval so we can get on with it.
We know how we got to this point. The pandemic hit. Unfortunately, some seniors who had been working part time or full time to earn extra money had to stop working. The pandemic caused problems for everyone in Canada. People lost their jobs overnight. Everyone did their part to stop the spread of the virus.
They had access to some substantial programs that we created to support Canadians and our businesses. They received money from the Canada emergency response benefit, or CERB.
As my colleagues know, our public pension benefits and the guaranteed income supplement are calculated every year based on income received the previous year. These people will unfortunately be affected by this change, but amendments will solve this problem.
I want to take a moment to explain exactly how it works. As many of my colleagues have already pointed out, these people will be penalized for this tax year, and we do not want that to happen, as we have heard from many people who have contacted our offices. We need to address this issue, and that is exactly what we are proposing to do.
That is why I think it is important for us to take swift action, and that is what I am prepared to do. It is almost 7:40 p.m. eastern time. If everyone were to agree right now that no one else will speak to this bill, we could proceed directly to the vote. That would be a good thing for Canadians and would reassure them that we are finally going to fix this issue. The bill is a short one, with just five lines.
That is why I think we need to take action, and I hope to convince my colleagues to join me.
I want to be clear and remind everyone what Bill C‑12 will do. The bill will prevent the guaranteed income supplement and allowances from being reduced come July. That is it. This bill will stop a problem from happening. We all agree that pandemic-related benefits should not be considered income for the purposes of calculating the guaranteed income supplement. If we all agree, that is what Bill C‑12, a bill that is five lines long, will do. It is short, simple and clear. Let us get moving.
We are moving quickly because we know that these supports need to be put into place quickly. As I have already mentioned, the system changes that are needed would be put into place by our incredible public servants, who are going to make sure that this happens in time.
Seniors who have had to access these benefits to make ends meet during a public health crisis might be penalized because their Conservative and Bloc representatives are incapable of setting partisanship aside and are trying to thwart the process. That would be unfair.
Once again, this should not surprise my colleagues. Unfortunately, the Conservatives have shown every step of the way that they are not there for Canadians, despite what the member who rose before me said:
“We have your backs.”
That is something the Prime Minister often says. If the Conservatives want to borrow our words, I encourage them to also get on board with how quickly we want to take action.
On behalf of seniors, I hope my Conservative and Bloc Québécois friends will join us in supporting this motion without amendment, so we can deliver for seniors who need this support, seniors who have given so much throughout their lives.
I know my colleagues support seniors. I encourage them to join us in getting this bill passed quickly so we can be there for Canadians.
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