SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 57 - Apr/25/22

Mr. Arif Virani (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Lib.)

Apr/25/22 5:13:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook. I am rising today to participate in this very important debate. On an annual basis, when we have a chance to speak about the budget and the plan the government has going forward for the people of Canada, it is a critical time to participate in debate in this chamber and discuss some of the issues contained in the budget and some of the policies that are being focused on. There are about five or six areas that I am going to touch upon, but I am going to start with one that is very close to the residents I represent in Parkdale—High Park. It is the issue of Ukraine. We are now past the second month of the conflict in Ukraine, and we heard the Minister of Finance deliver a budget that she was very emotional about as a woman of Ukrainian heritage. What we have done to support Ukraine with sanctions, humanitarian aid and military aid is extensive. What this budget included very specifically is something that a lot of my constituents have talked to me about. They talked about further military aid and further economic aid to prop up the economy as it comes out of and exits this period of Russian unlawful and illegal aggression. Those are very significant initiatives, and I wanted to start by highlighting them. The second piece dovetails with a commitment we made going back to the campaign and that we concluded just before the tabling of this budget. It is what we are doing to assist people who are raising families in this country. The people who are raising families in my province of Ontario unfortunately had to wait a little longer than the rest of the country because of the obstinacy in some respects on the part of the Government of Ontario. However, lo and behold, even the Government of Ontario got across the finish line, and now we have concluded a deal that will allow affordable child care to be provided to families with children under six in licensed facilities in every province and every territory in this country. This is a terrific day for Canada and a terrific day for families. What does this mean for my constituents? It means direct assistance. Already, in the month of April alone, the cost of child care has been reduced by 25% in licensed facilities. This is just in the past month. By the end of this year, it will go down 50%. The Speaker's riding is in the beautiful province of Montreal and my riding is in Toronto. All of us have very expensive child care, particularly those of us in cities. The cost of child care is between approximately $1,500 and $2,200 per child per month in my riding. That is staggering. To take that in half by the end of this year is equally staggering. To take it to $10 a day by the end of four years is dramatic. That is what we are doing to help serve Canadians. Who does this help? It helps children with their early childhood development, but it also helps women. I specify women because we know the choice is still made in 2022 that one parents has to stay home, and too often and more often than not, it is the woman who is compelled to stay home. It is the woman who is deprived of the ability to stay in the workforce or return to the workforce. That does not help women, does not help their empowerment and does not help Canada's economic bottom line. This policy will, and it is contained in this budget. We are also addressing what we have heard about, rightly, regarding the growing income disparity we have seen during the pandemic and even after the pandemic between the haves and have-nots. What I am talking about is large financial institutions. This is about banks in particular, but includes large insurance companies. There are provisions in this budget that address exactly that. We have proposed that where profits of over $1 billion were made, there will be a 15% tax on any profits above $1 billion in the 2021 taxation year. On top of that, we proposed, and are implementing through this budget, an increase in the corporate income taxation rate from the current 15% to 16.5% on banking income that is above $100 million. That is critical because it helps produce some of the fairness we are seeking to achieve in Canadian society, since some have done very well during this pandemic and some have done very poorly. We are also initiating more investigations and prosecutions of those who use aggressive tax planning to exploit loopholes. There is $1.2 billion dedicated to the CRA to promote just that. Who else are we helping? We are helping people with their broader health care. I am talking about oral health and dental health, which are also contained in this budget. It is momentous. We know that today 33% of Canadians do not have dental insurance. I, like every other member of this chamber, benefit from the fact that we are provided dental benefits, along with other benefits, as members of this chamber. Not every Canadian is so lucky. What we are doing is correcting that situation via a significant financial investment that will go toward the dental health of Canadians and helping with their overall health. How are we doing this? Children under 12 are targeted in 2022. By 2023, it will be children under 18, seniors and those living with a disability. By 2025, there will be full implementation. What does that mean? It means that $5 billion will be spent over five years to ensure the dental health of families with an annual income of less than $90,000. We are targeting this help to those who need it the most. Members have heard me speak many times in this chamber over the past seven years and know that I am committed to a basic premise, which is about promoting equality and combatting discrimination. It is something that I spent 15 years doing as a practising lawyer. It is something I continue to do as a member of Parliament. I am very pleased that this document, this budget that has just been tabled, outlines the next steps in that important fight. How are we doing this? We are reinvigorating the anti-racism strategy, which was launched in my riding by the former minister of heritage during the 42nd Parliament. That national anti-racism strategy is getting another funding injection of $85 million over four years. That will also include a national plan on combatting hate, hate that we have seen too much of, not just during this pandemic but even prior to the pandemic. It has spread online through things like misinformation and disinformation. We are also dedicating two special representatives: one on combatting Islamophobia and one on combatting anti-Semitism. Both roles are critical. Both roles will continue, in perpetuity, going forward with the funding we have announced. Last is something that is very germane to my riding, because one of the lead proponents of this initiative is a U of T law professor who is my constituent. That man is named Anver Emon. He started something called the Muslims in Canada archives. What is that all about? Why am I talking about the Muslims in Canada archives in the middle of a budget speech? I am talking about it because if we want to address Islamophobia, we need to do short-term things, like promoting people's safety at mosques, and we also need to do medium- and long-term things. How do we do that? We change the narrative. We disabuse the stereotypes. We change the perceptions and generalizations, giving positive imagery to replace negative imagery. We get rid of the tropes and stereotypes, and we replace them with positive history about Muslims and their contributions in this country. That is what the Muslims in Canada archives will do. That is what is being funded by this budget, to the tune of $4 million, so that, whether Muslims live in Quebec, Alberta, the Maritimes, Ontario or anywhere else in this country, their stories can be told, shared and spread throughout the community so we can cure the pernicious impacts of Islamophobia. It is something I am very proud to stand by, and that is what is in this budget. There are two large components to this budget: the housing component and the environmental component. In the last couple of minutes I have, I will just draw on a few specific points under each heading. On the housing front, I am very pleased to represent six different co-ops in my riding of Parkdale—High Park. What I am even more pleased by is that in this budget, for the first time in several decades, we are injecting new funding to further expand the breadth of co-op housing that exists in this country. This is critical for people who desperately need and deserve adequate housing. That is on top of the rapid housing initiative investments and on top of the housing accelerator, which will build more units. It is a critical thing to address a very basic need. On the environment, we are talking about a number of things that dovetail with our emissions reduction plan, but what I will focus on in the brief time remaining is ZEVs. I am pleased at this point that when we turn on the television, we see things like Ford trucks being advertised that are going to be electric. I am pleased that people are talking to me more about charging stations and vehicle charging infrastructure. That shows that the idea is taking hold. We are transforming an industry. We are transforming work for those who work in the industry through things like the just transition. We are also transforming things in terms of the quality of air in the environment that we all have for our families, for our children and for our children's children's families. That is critical in terms of getting to net zero. We are doing that with yet another commitment to furthering zero-emission vehicles in terms of providing the critical minerals for the batteries that they need, providing the charging infrastructure and continuing the rebates for those cars. I started off by talking about the Government of Ontario. I will return to talking about the Government of Ontario. On June 2, there is an election coming up. What is unfortunate is that there was a previous government that coupled our rebate on zero-emission vehicles with its provincial rebate, but that was summarily dismissed by the government of Doug Ford during his first couple of months in office. It has not been restored, and he is not even campaigning on restoring it. We all need to get to net zero. Doug Ford's constituents, like mine, are longing to purchase a zero-emission vehicle but could use some help in doing so. I think it is incumbent upon all provincial governments to join us in providing similar rebates so that we can get to that net-zero future together. That is what is contained in the budget. I am happy to defend it in this House.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Apr/25/22 5:23:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member spoke about certain actions with respect to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and the appointment of special envoys. Certainly, in the Conservative caucus, we are very supportive of action on those issues. Last summer, dozens of churches were either burned down or vandalized in western Canada, including the complete destruction of a Coptic church in Surrey, for example, and the burning down of a 100-year-old historic francophone church close to my house. We are seeing increasing acts of violence targeting churches and other people of faith in this country. Unfortunately, we did not see a single statement from the Prime Minister on any of those actions. In fact, his former senior adviser Gerald Butts called this violence “understandable”. I wonder if the member could explain to people who are wondering what the government is going to do about acts of violence targeting the Christian community. At least will it issue a statement? Let us start with that.

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Mr. Arif Virani

Apr/25/22 5:24:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am not surprised to see the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan on the first day back after Easter participating in the debate. I will say, unequivocally, that any act of violence toward a place of worship, regardless of the religion or faith, is unacceptable. That is point blank. I will say, proof positive to that, when the Our Lady of Lebanon church in my riding shockingly had the statue of the Virgin Mary beheaded on Queen Street, I was there, with members of the official opposition, to participate in the prayer service with the congregation that dealt with showing solidarity after an attack on the Christian community. I would also say that there is a lot of angst among my constituents, and among Canadians writ large, about the role of the church in terms of indigenous residential schools. What we are seeing from the current Pope is a step in the right direction toward healing that rift. That is a step that needs to be taken by the church and by Canadians together so that we can overcome these types of acts of violence.

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Ms. Monique Pauzé (Repentigny, BQ)

Apr/25/22 5:25:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, at the end of his speech, my colleague talked about the importance of breathing clean air and how important that is to our health. Let me make another connection. The Government of Canada provides the most subsidies for fossil fuel, including oil and gas extraction, which generates huge amounts of air pollution, which in turn results in high rates of heart, lung and kidney problems and other health issues. Does my colleague not think that human health should come before the oil and gas industry?

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Mr. Arif Virani

Apr/25/22 5:25:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. This is such an important issue. I would point out that, in our latest campaign platform, we made a very clear promise to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies by 2023. Previously, our goal was 2025, but now it is 2023. That is a meaningful target. We are taking the situation seriously. We will eliminate this kind of subsidy because we have to for the sake of our environment and the air, as she said.

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Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

Apr/25/22 5:26:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I just want to say to the member that I was very pleased to hear words around promoting equality, addressing fairness and fixing some of those long-standing inequities in our economy. I am happy for the day care. It is coming. One of the things I would say, though, is that I see the Liberals taking many victory laps on day care. Twenty-five years is a long time for women to wait for day care, and the reason we are getting it right now is because the economy needs more women in it. I just want to express that I am disheartened that it took 25 years to get here. The other piece that the Liberals are wanting to address in the economy is to get people with disabilities working. I am really pleased that there is going to be support for them, but we need support on the Canada disability benefit or income supplement for those who cannot work full-time or those who cannot work at all. Why did the budget for 2022 not include money for the Canada disability benefit?

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Mr. Arif Virani

Apr/25/22 5:27:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is an incredibly important area. I have a lot of faith in the current Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. As a woman with a disability herself, she has shown a great deal of attentiveness to this issue. The prospect of employing those who are underprivileged and marginalized and vulnerable in our community is critical, in terms of ensuring that full participation. It applies to the women the member mentioned at the start of her question. It applies to persons with disabilities. I will commit to her quite openly on the floor of this chamber that I will personally work hard to ensure that access for persons with disabilities to work and to increased benefits is a priority.

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Mr. Darrell Samson (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, Lib.)

Apr/25/22 5:28:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the House for giving me the opportunity to share a little information about my Nova Scotia riding in connection with budget 2022. I would like to begin by saying that our government, since 2015, has been a government focused on transformational changes. That is very important. This is not something that will happen tomorrow or next week, but in five, 10, 20, 30 or 40 years from now. It is so important to have a government focused on the needs of the future. By that, I am talking about the Canada child benefit and tax-free savings money for families. We encourage more growth, of course. As well, there is the national housing strategy. Back in 2017, we brought forward the first housing strategy in Canada. That is transformational. There is more work to be done and I will talk about that. With child care, all of the 10 provinces, as well as the territories, have signed on. This is transformative. This is what was needed. This will benefit Canadians and bring more women into the economy as well. The investments in dental care are extremely important. Again, over 30% of Canadians do not have access to dental care, and they will have it through this. Then there is pharmacare. We are taking steps forward in many, many areas that will make Canada even better. In this speech I want to talk about, of course, the people. I want to talk about the businesses. I want to talk about clean energy. Those are key areas I want to focus on. Before I begin, let us talk about where we were prepandemic. We were in a very good position economically. We had Canadians who had created 1.2 million jobs, which was very impressive in the time leading up to 2019. We had the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. It was down to 5.4%. Those are very, very important numbers. Being in that position allowed us to get through this pandemic, invest in Canadians, invest in communities, and invest in families and businesses. Those are key areas of investment, of course, which are so important. Where are we at now? Have we built back better? We absolutely have. How have we done it? Let us look at jobs, with 112% of jobs coming back. Three million-plus jobs are back here. We have 112%, whereas in the United States about 89% of the jobs have returned. The unemployment rate here is at 5.5%, which is 0.1% more than it was prepandemic, which was the lowest in 40 years. Those are very, very impressive numbers. Now, let us talk about health care. Health care is very important. I think back. If the fathers of Confederation back in 1867 had known what we know now, they probably would have taken control of the health jurisdiction because it is very costly. We have many seniors. Provinces and territories are struggling, of course, to support Canadians through that avenue. That is why our government has been there, continues to be there and will continues to be there. How are we doing it? We know that there is a need for more health care workers. The pandemic showed us a very important gap. What are we going to do to respond to that gap? First will be to provide the incentive to bring more doctors, nurses and health care workers to Canada. It is also helping those with student loans. Nurses can get up to 50% of their student loans back with rebates, which would be about $30,000. Doctors can get up to 60%. Those are very important numbers and incentives which will definitely encourage more to come. Also, internationally, it is very important that we have the foreign accreditation program. We can improve that program. We feel that, with the improvements we are bringing forward, we will see about 11,000 more health care workers in Canada per year. Those are very, very important numbers that we need to see as we move forward. Concerning the backlog of surgeries and procedures, which the minister has talked about on a number of occasions. I know lots of family members who have been waiting to have those procedures. Our government moved forward quickly last month to bring forward $2 billion extra for the provinces and territories so they can catch up on that backlog, which is so important. Dental care is essential, as 30% of Canadians do not have dental care. I indicated that at the beginning of my speech. In 2022, we will see those under 12 years old receiving that support for dental care. In 2023, we will see it for those under 18 years old. By 2025-26, we will see all Canadians who do not have dental care today receiving that support. The Canadian Labour Congress said that, “Canada's unions welcome the $5.3 billion investment in dental care that will give coverage to millions of Canadians, because everyone deserves a healthy smile.” In the housing area, as I said, we have the first-ever national housing strategy, but now we need to continue to build on that, and these are the steps forward that we need to take. We are going to double our investments, which is very important. What are some of the investments and programs we put in place that are working extremely well and that we are going to expand on? Let us talk about the new housing accelerator fund, which gives more flexibility to cities and municipalities to get affordable housing built. Also, we have the extension, if you will, of the rapid housing initiative, which has been working tremendously across the country. Within a year, we have affordable housing. For example, we might take an old school and renovate it, or we might see some improvements to buildings. These are structures that are already in place with permits that are already in place, and we can improve that access much faster. I also want to talk about the tax-free first home savings account, which is very important. In my riding, I am hearing that young people are having trouble accessing housing, and this is one strategy. There are a number of strategies, but I want to talk about this one, because it is tax-free: It is deductible on the way in and tax-free on the way out. This is a little different from RRSPs, which of course are tax free on the way in but on the way out we have to pay taxes. This would allow young people to build up to $40,000 as a tax-free investment. This is very important. As well, we would see the doubling of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, up to $10,000, for those building homes. These are all strategies to try to help young people get into the market. Of course, for housing in general, we would ban foreign investments for two years in investment properties and also prevent the flipping of houses over 12 months. We should not let the Conservatives continue to tell the story that they have been telling since before the election, which is that we are going to tax principal homes. We absolutely are not. That is not the case at all. The seniors file is very important. As I have talked about, in Atlantic Canada, we have the most seniors in the country. Let us look at some of the needs on the ground. It is always about what is happening on the ground and how we can help the people short-term, medium-term and long-term. The multi-generational strategy is very important, because it looks at having a secondary suite in a home for grandparents or even young people with disabilities. One could get a tax credit of up to $7,500 on an investment of $50,000. There is also the doubling of the accessibility tax credit, which is extremely important. We want more people to stay in their homes. They are challenged, so we are going to help people have access in that area. Veterans are very important. I am the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence. We have launched a new veterans homelessness program that will see services and rent supplements for homeless veterans. One veteran who is homeless is one too many. There is $140 million to help with reducing the wait time for veterans' benefits and $140 million ASAP for mental health treatment. While veterans' applications are waiting, they would be receiving the services. Unions are very happy, of course, with the job growth, and we would see a labour mobility deduction of up to $4,000. Over the past 20 years, I have heard how some people have to travel for work or have to temporarily relocate and have not been able to claim that. We are doing that, and Canadian business and trade unions are very happy with that as well. On climate change, there are two main areas that our government is focused on over and above all the good things we are doing, because we had the strongest green plan going into the election. There will be an extension of the zero emissions incentive program for vehicles and more charging stations for them, as well. These are key areas. Finally, there is the expansion of the ocean protection plan, which has many strategies to support our Canadian shores.

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Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)

Apr/25/22 5:38:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's intervention here today. He specifically cited the tax-free first home savings account as being a measure that his constituents would utilize, so I have some questions for him. First, what about the member's constituents who do not have $8,000 a year to set aside? Second, what happens over the next five years? Obviously, in the previous five years we have seen housing prices almost double. Last, many people, particularly young millennials, are getting bounced because of the Liberal stress test today. Let us say someone scrimps and saves, puts aside all that money, has $40,000 five years from now and then goes to apply and gets bounced. What will the member do? Will he send them an “I'm sorry” card?

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Mr. Darrell Samson

Apr/25/22 5:39:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member has talked in the House several times about first-time homebuyers. We are doubling the first-time homebuyer tax credit. This will see more investments, which is so important for young people. The money set aside, the $40,000, is tax-free and going toward the investment. It could bring prosperity to young people to increase that $40,000, if the investment is successful, of course. Those are key areas and pieces of some of the initiatives we have that we will bring forward as a government.

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Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Apr/25/22 5:40:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at various times in his remarks, the member mentioned Canadians living with disabilities. The signature item that Canadians living with disabilities have been waiting for from the government for some time now is the Canada disability benefit. At one point, the government had signalled to this place that it was ready to move on that. In fact, it tabled legislation last June. I do not think that legislation was beyond criticism, but we did not have time to make those criticisms because of course the Prime Minister dissolved Parliament shortly after the legislation was introduced. People do want to know when that legislation is coming. Many people, including us here in the NDP, thought that we would see some kind of significant detail about the Canada disability benefit, if not a new piece of legislation, promptly. I am wondering why the member believes that was not included in this budget, and when we might expect to see some proper legislation to establish a good Canada disability benefit that would help raise people living with disabilities in Canada out of poverty.

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Mr. Darrell Samson

Apr/25/22 5:41:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the member indicated, we tabled legislation prior to the election. I am very hopeful that legislation would be coming very soon. I have had conversations, as I am sure he has, with the minister. We are working on the details of that piece. In this budget, there is a multi-generational part for people with disabilities. I think that would be effective as another piece. I know an organization, Ready, Willing & Able, that is doing some excellent work right across the country to get more people with disabilities working in the private sector. That is really beneficial, and as I said, I believe the legislation will come soon.

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Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Apr/25/22 5:42:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at the very end of his speech, the member mentioned shoreline protection, which is obviously very important to me. We think there should be a federal program to protect the shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway, since that falls under federal jurisdiction. I would like my colleague to comment further on this. Does he think the federal government should step in? I would like him to expand on what he meant when he mentioned this.

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Mr. Darrell Samson

Apr/25/22 5:42:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for this very important question. Protecting our rivers and waterways is extremely important and crucial, and we have an action plan for this. In my riding, the Sackville Rivers Association is dedicated to protecting the waters of the Sackville River. We have all kinds of action plans, including the creation of a water protection agency or river protection agency. Moving this forward, however, requires a commitment from all Canadians, so we are working with Canadians to develop a broader action plan.

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Mr. Arnold Viersen (Peace River—Westlock, CPC)

Apr/25/22 5:43:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member, right off the top, mentioned build back better. I am wondering how long he has he been getting his talking points from the World Economic Forum.

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Mr. Darrell Samson

Apr/25/22 5:43:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for giving me the opportunity to remind him of how many deficits the Conservatives, prior to 2015, had in this House. Looking at what we have put together, the transformative changes are extremely impressive. The economy is very strong, as I indicated. We have 112% of our jobs back. The unemployment rate is down to 5.4%, and the best was 5.3%. Those numbers speak for themselves. Facts are facts.

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Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)

Apr/25/22 5:44:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place and talk about things that my constituents, the great people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, care about and to talk a bit about the budget. Obviously, the budget is the social economic blueprint for the government to give the bureaucracy direction as to what it wants to have done. I looked at the budget in its totality, and it has been billed in so many different ways. It was billed as an affordability budget, which it is not, and as an innovation budget, which it is not. It has been billed as a fiscal return to reality budget, which it is not. It has also been talked about as being a growth budget, but it is really a mass of discombobulated measures. Obviously, a government has to pay attention to a lot of different things. As I said, a budget is its biggest social economic blueprint, but by the same token, I have never seen a budget that seems to be so disconnected from reality. I am going to pick a couple of different areas where I will list what the government has said it wants to do in this budget and some of the things it has done previously to point out that it is following a very similar path. For example, on the innovation front, we have something called a Canada growth fund. This is brought to us by the government that brought us superclusters, which were not so super, and the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which Canadians cannot bank on. Now we are on this Canada growth fund. On page 61 we can read the following: The fund will be initially capitalized at $15 billion over the next five years. It will invest on a concessionary basis, with the goal that for every dollar invested by the fund, it will aim to attract at least three dollars of private capital. In standing up the Canada Growth Fund, the government intends to seek expert advice from within Canada and abroad. Following these consultations, details about the launch of the fund will be included in the 2022 fall economic and fiscal update. Essentially, the government is saying that we have a new shiny object, much as at one point it had the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We do not have any idea yet about the details. The government puts it in the budget and then it will ask people how it can make it work, but it will put aside lots of money for it. On the money side, Paul Wells, in his shiny new Substack, which, unlike this shiny new program, did not cost taxpayers anything, sought to get to the bottom of this new shiny Canada growth fund and how much it would spend. He could not get an answer on the cost. He asked the government what it would cost. It said that it would cost anything from nothing to who knows what. This is not the first time an agency was created. In fact, back when Bill Morneau was the finance minister, the Liberals eliminated the Public-Private Partnerships Canada Crown agency, PPP Canada, rather than change its mandate, and brought in the Canada Infrastructure Bank. I asked the minister about this at committee. I said that it would take five years before the government even figured out the governance policies for it, and I asked why it would do that. He said that it was because we needed to get big transformational things done. Here we are and the only big and transformative thing this bank has done is give its executive and workers bonuses. Therefore, this way of putting out a shiny new object, putting billions of dollars aside for it, and then trying to figure out how it is going to make it work just goes down again as another idea to distract and say that it wants it. Really, the mandate of this new growth fund is almost identical to the infrastructure bank, for which the government has also changed the mandate. It just seems strange to me that it is doubling down on these policies that have been not proven to work in the past. This is the problem. Rather than, for example, the government saying what it wants to do and then giving out small trial balloons of money to various teams to actually show they have business models that can work and then choosing from among those options if they bear fruit, the government does the worst of big government thinking. It throws money at the wall, see what sticks, and then continues on to throw money at another wall to see what sticks, so we have a Canada Infrastructure Bank we cannot bank on and now we will have a Canada growth fund. This is the worst element of big government, and the worst part of it is that we are all paying for it and will continue to pay for it even if it does not bear fruit. That is what the current government seems to do. It is always about more; it is never about doing it right. As to new programs, I have heard a few members talk about this. I want to remind my friends in the NDP, who are going to be taking credit for a new dental program, that the only NDP premier in the Confederation is in my home province of British Columbia. John Horgan is the one who is actually leading the charge in asking the government to please not put money into new government programs since we need it for health care. I spoke to someone in Princeton the other day who has cancer. He is seriously ill and does not have a doctor. I spoke to a would-be medical student too, and for the second year in a row, despite having all the grades, UBC Okanagan does not have a spot for him. In our health care system, the backlog from COVID is large, yet the government is pushing into new areas. A dentist called me the other day and said that as long as they have been a dentist, they remember the healthy kids program and B.C. one. The healthy kids program is for young people so they can access dental services. B.C. one is for low-income adults. These programs are being provided, and government members are saying this is going to be done this year. I have never seen a new program established that quickly, so it will be interesting to see. Moving on to a key aspect from a financial perspective, there is no greater challenge to this country right now than inflation. Inflation is hitting Canadians hard and it is affecting our economy. Stephen Gordon, an economics professor at Université Laval, said, “We're at full employment, inflation has burst out of our comfort zone and the Bank of Canada is embarking on an agressive tightening cycle. This not the time for expansionary fiscal policy.” Stephen Tapp, chief economist from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said, “Here's the thing: Even after raising its nominal policy rate by 75 bps in last two announcements up to 1%, and ending further GoC asset purchases (starting ‘Quantitative Tightening’ next week), BoC policy remains highly stimuluative. The ‘real’ rate has never been this low! Not only is the nominal rate well below the elevated rate of current inflation, so the real rate is negative. The nominal policy rate (1%) is still below the Bank's estimate of neutral (2-3%). Until its rate rises above 2-3%, the Bank is pouring gas on the inflation fire.” Stephen Tapp is saying that the current policy today is pouring fuel on inflation, and the government is adding more spending. It is completely unheard of. At least the Governor of the Bank of Canada came to committee today with some humility. He said mistakes were made and they are trying to reverse them. They are trying to raise interest rates, obviously being mindful of the fact that we have so much debt in this country. The government is full charge ahead. It is the spend-DP, as I call it. Again, the ship of state right now is pointed at a spend-DP iceberg. Let us all agree that inflation, especially if it becomes unanchored and persistent, is what makes an economy less efficient at best or hollows it out at worst. We need to make sure that government is constraining its spending so that we do not make inflation worse. Last, on housing, a member stood up previously and said that we have a first-time homebuyers' tax credit and that it was doubled from $750 to $1,500. This is a tacit admission by the government. House prices have doubled under the Liberals' watch, and this is the very least they can do. We talked about the first-time homebuyers' savings account. Most people do not have $40,000. We have millennials who get bounced by the Liberals' stress test every day. In summation, the government has thrown a lot into this budget. It is inflationary. It does not do what it needs to. It is the very worst of big government. I hope that the government will start to tighten up and do things it needs to, like getting flood supports to areas that are affected in my riding and in other areas of British Columbia. That would be helpful. However, with the way the government works, it is just pointing the ship of state, as I said, toward that spend-DP-Liberal iceberg.

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All Topics

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/25/22 5:54:06 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I really do believe there are a number of Conservatives who completely close their eyes when it comes to economic matters. Do they not realize when they talk about inflation that there are some things they need to factor in, such as that there is a war taking place in Ukraine and there is a world pandemic that has taken place over the last two-plus years? If we look at the inflation rate in the U.S.A., it is higher than in Canada. If we look at the inflation rate in many of the European countries, it is higher than in Canada. Yes, as a government we have invested in the people of Canada. Yes, this is a budget that will ultimately provide hope and future jobs. By the way, when it comes to jobs, Canada again is ahead of the U.S. in regard to recuperating the jobs that were lost during the pandemic. I am wondering if my friend would open his eyes and acknowledge that inflation is a concern, but we need to put it into a proper perspective.

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Mr. Dan Albas

Apr/25/22 5:55:16 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member from Winnipeg for giving me this stimulative lesson. I will say again that Stephen Gordon, professor of economics at Laval University, said, “We're at full employment, inflation has burst out of our comfort zone and the Bank of Canada is embarking on an aggressive tightening cycle. This is not the time for expansionary fiscal policy.” I am glad to open my eyes to read this to the member. I really hope that he opens up his ears to hear mine.

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Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Apr/25/22 5:55:57 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his mention of the new homebuyer program. We have listened at the finance committee to some of the very real problems that exist in the housing market. This particular policy innovation, let us call it, is not something that we have heard a lot of people talking about or calling for. I wonder if the member would like to give some reflections on the kinds of housing policy items that would be constructive and would make a difference to make more housing available for more Canadians, versus the risk of a program that allows Canadians to save more money to put into a hot market with constantly escalating prices. The problem is that people continue to throw more money at the same houses in competition. What is the role of the government if not to try to tame that competition so that Canadians can get value for the money they have?

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