44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, it is interesting that, in attempting to correct what I said, the parliamentary secretary, who obviously only woke up halfway through my speech, repeated what I said: that the $2 billion was to address backlogs caused by COVID-19 in the health care system.
What I said, and I will repeat it for the hon. gentleman, is that the provinces and territories asked for stable and predictable funding. They have since said they want to meet with the Prime Minister to negotiate what that agreement is going to look like going forward. The Prime Minister has refused to do it. Shame on him.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague for his speech.
The government is using Bill C-19 to implement a new tax on luxury items—
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- May/6/22 10:30:00 a.m.
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I would ask hon. members to please stop their conversations while the hon. member for Joliette is asking a question.
The hon. member for Joliette.
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Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North is clearly on fire today, as is often the case.
Back to the question I would like to ask my colleague.
Bill C-19 establishes a tax for luxury items such as luxury cars, luxury boats and aircraft. People are either for or against this idea. The Bloc Québécois agrees with it.
However, during the pre-study in committee, the government and public service representatives informed us that no impact study has been conducted on the jobs and sales numbers for this manufacturing sector.
I would like to hear my colleague's views on that, but also, more specifically, on an aspect that is of great concern to us. The tax is supposed to apply to personal aircraft use. However, the structure of the tax suggests that it may apply to the business sector.
Think of the mining companies that want to transport their workers. It will be difficult for them to opt out. Moreover, for everything that is exported, the tax will have to be paid first before being refunded—
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- May/6/22 10:31:11 a.m.
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The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.
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Madam Speaker, as for so many things, a special interest group or a lobby group picked up the telephone. It rang directly in the Prime Minister's Office. It answered, and said that it was not really concerned about the impact on Canadians, but that it sounded great so it was going to be included in the budget. The problem, when an analysis is not done on something like the impact of this particular tax, is what that looks like for jobs in the communities where people, for example, provide service on aircraft and boats. That is going to have a devastating impact on communities. It was an obligation of the government to study that impact and consider it before putting it in this omnibus bill.
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Madam Speaker, to me, some of the fundamentals of Parliament are accountability and transparency. My hon. colleague was on the committee with me when we studied the government grant to the WE Charity. This was an opportunity for this children's charity to answer some straightforward questions, such as how many companies it owned, what the separation was between its for-profits and those with charitable status, and who owned the companies, yet we never did get those answers. It took four legal summonses to try and get answers, but still the man who handled all its finances, Mr. Victor Li, never did come before Parliament. We never got the kind of documentation we asked for.
I have a straightforward question. I would like to ask my hon. colleague this: Does he feel we still do not have the answers Canadians deserve about this international organization, the WE Charity?
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Madam Speaker, we saw a scandal that involved a billion-dollar contract going to insiders again, as I mentioned in my previous response.
With respect to the CFO, Victor Li, who did not appear before the committee in person, as well as multiple members of government staff who were instructed by ministers not to appear before the committee, Parliament and Canadians have not received the answers. It is incumbent on all members in this place to make sure that our lawful powers and authorities are respected in this light.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Scarborough—Rouge Park.
When I think of the budget, I think we need to recognize a few points right at the beginning. First, it invests in economic growth and innovation. If we read through the budget, we can see that amplified virtually throughout the budget. We believe in investing, not only investing in that area but also investing in people. We could talk about the environment, but in this budget we see an investment in the green transition. This is all good news in this budget.
Was anyone in this chamber or any Canadian surprised when the Conservative Party said it was going to vote against the budget? I was not. I do not think anyone was surprised. I believe the Conservatives already knew they were going to be voting against the budget even before the budget was presented. No one needs to be surprised.
What is surprising, to a certain degree, is the twisting that we are seeing. Conservatives are turning themselves into pretzels trying to justify why they do not support the budget. We see that in some of the procedural games they are playing. Yesterday, for example, they brought in a concurrence motion in order to prevent members from being able to debate the matter. We see members talking about the budget, but not necessarily recognizing the reality. For example, the member who spoke earlier talked about the price of oil and how it is somehow the Government of Canada's responsibility for the world price of oil. The Conservatives criticized us when the price of oil was too low, and now they are criticizing us because the price of oil is too high.
The Conservative Party does not have its mind in reality. The truth of the matter is that Canada, like every other country around the world, was inflicted with the worldwide pandemic. To deny its existence and its impact is unacceptable. We need to recognize that there is a war taking place today in Europe, the war put in place as a result of one person, President Putin, and the impact it is having in Ukraine. We are so grateful for the heroes of Ukraine. It goes beyond the borders of Ukraine, and there is a great solidarity movement worldwide in support of Ukraine. We need to recognize that as something that is having an impact worldwide, in terms of issues such as inflation.
How many times have we heard Conservatives talk about inflation, trying to push the panic button, as if Canada is alone, as if it is Canada's inflation and we are leading the world on inflation? Nothing could be further from the truth. We only need to look south to the United States to find that Canada's inflation rate is lower. Compared to many of the European countries, especially if we were to average it out, we would find that Canada's inflation rate is lower.
If we look at the job numbers, we see that Canada has recovered 112% or 115% of the jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic. If we compare that to the United States, we will find that we have done exceptionally well. We are definitely doing far better than the United States. If we talk about economic growth, we are predicted to have the healthiest economic growth in the G7 countries, the most powerful nations of the world.
It is interesting when we listen to question period that we get these out-of-reality questions when it comes to the economy but the Conservatives avoid talking about the budget. I suspect it is with good reason, because the budget is fairly well received by Canadians. Canadians know that they have a government that truly cares, a government that is progressively moving forward in supporting Canadians.
We love the fact that, for the first time ever, we have a national child care program, a program that is going to ensure affordability in day care from coast to coast to coast. As with other things, we were able to achieve, through consensus, a health care and a child care agreement with all provinces and territories. As a result, we will have a healthier population and we will have more people engaged in the workforce. On the latter point, all one needs to do is look at the province of Quebec. The province of Quebec has demonstrated very clearly to the rest of Canada that making child care affordable enables more people to get engaged in the workforce, not to mention the quality of life for all. This is a government that has moved forward on that issue.
Within the budget, there are so many initiatives that it is impossible to get to everything in 10 minutes. I want to highlight a few points.
I made reference to the $2 billion earlier, and I talked about it last night. Canada provides historic amounts of health care transfers to the provinces. We are talking over $45 billion. Never before have we seen a federal government give that kind of cash to the provinces, but within this budget we are giving an additional $2 billion top-up. Yes, it is targeted. I know that might upset some members of the Bloc, and some of the Conservatives are also a little upset with it. I hope my friends in the NDP are not upset with it, because it provides additional dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars, to our health care system to ensure that we can deal with some of the surgery and health care issues, such as backlogs. We can imagine the pain that is involved in a hip that needs to be replaced, or the individuals who had cancer detection and have not had the types of surgeries that are quite often necessary. These are the types of supports we are providing through the $2-billion transfer because of the pandemic. That is over and above the health transfer agreements that we have achieved with the provinces and territories.
Critics will say that the provinces and territories want more money. I have been a parliamentarian for 30 years, and every year the provinces and territories ask for more money. Why would they not? That is not the only thing they ask for. I used to be a provincial health care critic and I understand the system. The greatest threat to health care today is not providing the funds and not dealing with the need for managing the changes that are necessary. That means investing in and looking at, for example, expansion in mental health care. It means looking at long-term care.
How can we ensure that seniors are spending more time in their homes? We have a wonderful initiative in this budget, which I would suggest is one of those gold nuggets. It is the multi-generational home renovation program. I believe this program is going to enable more seniors to live longer in their homes with their families. It is a program that is going to save health care dollars, but more importantly, it is better for our communities and for our families.
I see my time has expired and I only got to my first two points. Hopefully I will be able to get more time in the coming days.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that interesting speech.
I have to say that Bill C‑19 has its flaws, starting with the health transfers that Quebec and the provinces asked for. Nevertheless, I also have to say that there are some good things in it, such as the green transition, extending employment insurance by five weeks for seasonal workers and so on.
Here is my question. What can the government do to address the needs of Quebec and the other provinces, especially when it comes to health care, while respecting their jurisdiction?
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Madam Speaker, I believe we are meeting the needs of our provinces and territories with record-high health transfers. Those transfers are tied to the Canada Health Act, something that Canadians in all regions of our country genuinely believe in. Further to that, we are also emphasizing, not just talking about it but providing dollars to go toward it, standards on long-term care, expansion into dental programs, and expansion into mental health care.
The government recognizes that the provinces have the administrative responsibility for health care, but the federal government also has a strong leadership role. The Government of Canada and the Prime Minister are stepping up to the plate to fulfill that commitment.
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Madam Speaker, in listening to the debate from the member opposite, I did not hear a lot of clarity when it comes to actually understanding that some of these issues clearly are in provincial jurisdiction, as well as supporting the provinces and working in partnership and in consultation with the provinces. There was a lot of word salad in that last answer and not a lot of concrete understanding that it is not just a responsibility of the provinces, but it is a constitutional responsibility of the provinces. I just wonder if the member actually understands what provincial jurisdiction means.
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Madam Speaker, I was a member of the Manitoba legislature for almost 20 years. I understand the differences between federal and provincial responsibilities. I also understand what my constituents want. What my constituents want is for Ottawa to continue to play a leadership role. To say that Ottawa has no role in health care would be absolutely and totally wrong.
I dearly hope that my Conservatives friends will come to that understanding. It is in the long-term best interest of all Canadians that the official opposition recognize the degree to which Canadians love and appreciate their health care system. The Conservatives should not be dissing it; they should be supporting it. Our current Prime Minister has had more discussions with premiers in a few years than Stephen Harper ever did in his entire 10 years—
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- May/6/22 10:47:24 a.m.
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The hon. member for Port Moody—Coquitlam.
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Madam Speaker, at this point in time, people are hurting on the street and this budget is leaving people behind. I want to speak specifically about persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are approaching a year now that they have been waiting for a bill to be brought to this House in regard to the Canada disability benefit. They are extremely disappointed, but not just that; they are suffering because this bill has not come to the floor.
When is this bill coming to the floor? Why have we not seen it yet?
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Madam Speaker, one of the things the Prime Minister indicated to cabinet, and in fact to the whole caucus, was that there are things we can improve upon and things we can learn from the pandemic. If the member wanted to take the time, she could read what I thought was a brilliant speech quite a while back from the minister responsible for persons with disabilities. The minister talked about the need to build that databank and start giving more attention to people with disabilities. I know she is charged with the responsibility of the issue that the member has raised. She takes it very seriously. Like the member, I await and will be patient because I know that the minister and this government take this issue very seriously and we hope to see some action on that front.
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Madam Speaker, I am delighted to join members here and speak in favour of the budget implementation act. I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking from the unceded lands of the Algonquin people.
We were elected in 2015, and I want to highlight some of the major successes in my region of Scarborough, particularly Scarborough—Rouge Park.
As members are aware, we were able to support the extension of the Scarborough subway with an investment of $2.26 billion. It is an unprecedented level of investment in Scarborough, and I am very proud of the work of our all of Scarborough colleagues in order to ensure this. We have also invested heavily in our community, including a hub in Scarborough—Agincourt.
Of course, in my riding of Scarborough—Rouge Park, the establishment of the Tamil Community Centre is the fulfillment of a dream for many in the Tamil community. It had an investment of over $14 million from the federal government, and was established in partnership with the province and the City of Toronto.
I am very blessed to have one of the most beautiful ridings in Canada, and it is made more beautiful by the Rouge National Urban Park. This is something that we fulfilled right after being elected. I think every political party can take credit for the success of this park. Of course, under the leadership of Minister McKenna at the time, we were able to ensure that all the land for the park was secured and transferred to the federal government, and it is now under the able management of Parks Canada.
I am standing here six years later reflecting on the successes, but I will also reflect on the challenges we have ahead. One of the challenges is COVID-19, and we have seen the Scarborough Health Network, which is a primary health care provider in our region, work very hard during the pandemic, whether on the testing front or in terms of providing vaccines or educating people who had vaccine hesitation. It really made sure that we had among the highest vaccination rates in all of Canada. I want to thank and congratulate the Scarborough Health Network.
However, we also know that our health systems overall are not in their best form because of all the pressures. I want to assure the folks from the Scarborough Health Network that this budget and the budget implementation act does support the health network with $2 billion set aside to ensure that we catch up on the surgeries and the appointments that were missed during the pandemic. The budget has robust measures to support our health network across Scarborough and also across Canada.
Of course, one of the major challenges we had during the pandemic was in long-term care homes. In one of my long-term care homes, we lost over 53 people, and I have spoken about this a number of times. This is a heart-wrenching realization of the failures of long-term care, and the need for all of us in all levels of government, despite the fact that it is a provincial responsibility. There is a federal component, which is to ensure that we have national standards for long-term care, and this budget implementation act definitely does support the need for this type of national standard. I am very proud that we were able to do that.
Scarborough is one of the most diverse areas of the country, and I want to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart: safe and inclusive communities. Members may recall late last year when the University of Toronto Scarborough, under the leadership of Professor Wisdom Tettey, instituted the Scarborough Charter, which essentially brings together academics, students and post-secondary institutions to ensure that academia reflects the Black communities in Canada, and the Scarborough Charter really is an important framework.
We have made, in so many different parts of Scarborough, a very concerted effort to address the issues of systemic racism. I am so proud that this budget expands on the national anti-racism strategy, which I was part of developing in 2019, to invest $85 million toward the new anti-racism strategy and a national action plan in combatting hate.
We know the impacts of racism in my community. My community comprises one of the largest communities of African-Caribbean descent in Canada, the largest Tamil population, the largest Guyanese population and a very strong, vibrant and diverse Muslim population. I could go on and on. The reality is that folks in my riding may not have the same opportunities as others, whether it is in employment, housing or essential services, so I am very proud that we are investing in ensuring that we achieve race equity, but at the same time, we are making sure that we are combatting hate. We saw that last year in London, Ontario. We see periodically with mosques, synagogues and even Hindu temples across Canada.
We know that violence, as well as hatred, toward racialized people is significantly on the rise. On that point, I want to highlight that we are investing significantly in establishing a special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting anti-Semitism, which again is very important to my community, as well as ensuring that we have a new special representative on combatting Islamophobia. In order for us to have safer communities, we need to invest in these measures.
However, we do not stop there. We go beyond in expanding the supporting the Black Canadian communities initiative with $50 million. This is on top of what my friend from Hull—Aylmer often speaks about. We have invested over $800 million since we have taken office in terms of ensuring that we have an even playing field for members of Canada's Black communities, but we know there is a lot more to do and the investment in this budget is a reaffirmation of the need to move forward. On a side note, we were able to ensure that the work of the Hon. Jean Augustine, who was an august member of this House, is recognized through a legacy contribution to an endowed chair in her name. These are some of the measures that are really going to the root of combatting racism and hatred in Canada.
We are also putting in $100 million toward ensuring that we have a national action plan to support the LGBTQI community. We are doing significant work with respect to reconciliation. Unfortunately, I do not have time to talk speak to it extensively, but it is a path that we have taken over many years, and it is a journey that is going to take a great deal more from the federal government and all Canadians. I believe we are on the right trajectory, and while I recognize the frustrations and the slow pace of this, it is important that we double down and continue on this path. I invite all members in this House to support this.
On a final note, I want to finish up with the Rouge National Urban Park. We made a commitment to plant two billion trees across Canada, but we also have a carve-out for the Rouge park of $2 million for the establishment of a new trail that will connect across Canada. I am very proud of that, and I hope to continue this work.
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- May/6/22 10:58:37 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am glad you mentioned Rouge national park, and I am happy—
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- May/6/22 10:58:46 a.m.
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I did not mention anything.
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Madam Speaker, I am glad the hon. member mentioned Rouge national park. I happen to be sitting in the seat of a former member of this House, Peter Kent, who was a big proponent for it and a big reason that the park exists today.
The member talked about equity, the need for more workers and the pay gap between men and women still being very real. I am wondering if he can point to anything in the budget, other than words and rhetoric, that says that any of that is being fixed, whether it is training or money for hiring. The member calls it investment. There are a lot of words here.
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