44th Parl. 1st Sess.

May 17, 2022 10:00AM

May/17/22 3:39:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased that my colleagues are so excited to see me rising in the House. I will start again. I appreciate the opportunity to take part in today's debate. Our government fully understands the importance of phasing out or rationalizing inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. We take Canada's G20 commitment to do so very seriously. More importantly, we have already made important progress toward achieving this goal. This includes action we have taken to phase out or rationalize tax measures providing preferential tax treatment to the fossil fuel sector. Taking into account the phasing out of flow-through shares for oil, gas and coal activities in 2023, which was just announced in budget 2022, nine inefficient fossil fuel subsidies will have been phased out or rationalized by this government. This includes the phase-out of the accelerated capital cost allowance for oil sands, announced in budget 2007 and completed in 2015; the reduction in the deduction rates for intangible capital expenses in oil sands projects to align with rates in the conventional oil and gas sector, announced in 2011 and completed in 2016; the phase-out of the Atlantic investment tax credit for investment in the oil and gas and mining sectors, announced in 2012 and completed in 2017; the reduction in the deduction rate for pre-production intangible mine development expenses to align with the rate for the oil and gas sector, announced in budget 2013 and completed in 2018; the phase-out of the accelerated capital cost allowance for mining, announced in budget 2013 and completed in 2021; allowing the accelerated capital cost allowance for liquefied natural gas facilities to expire as scheduled in 2025, announced in 2016; the rationalization of the tax treatment of expenses for successful oil and gas exploratory drilling, announced in 2017 and completed in 2021; and the phase-out of the tax preference that allows small oil and gas companies to reclassify certain development expenses as more favourably treated exploration expenses, announced in 2017 and completed in 2020. To support its efforts to phase out or rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, Canada committed to undergo a peer review of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies under the G20 process. Once the process is completed, the results will be communicated in a very transparent and timely manner. Canada will continue to review its measures that could be considered inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, with a view to reforming them as necessary. We have been taking effective action to help Canadians with the high cost of living, and we continue to support Canadians struggling with the high cost of living, as called for in today's motion. Our government understands that Canadians are being hit by rising prices. We are also taking effective action to meaningfully support them so they can deal with this challenge. For example, we are investing in cutting taxes for the middle class while raising them on the wealthiest 1%. We continue to increase support for families and low-income workers through programs such as the Canada child benefit and the Canada workers benefit. Thanks to the CCB, nine out of 10 Canadian families have more money to help them with the cost of caring for their children than they did with previous benefits. Our expanded Canada workers benefit will support an estimated one million additional Canadians, which could mean $1,000 more per year for a full-time minimum-wage worker. Our financial support for Canadians does not stop there. In budget 2021, our government laid out an ambitious plan to provide Canadian parents with an average of $10-a-day regulated child care spaces for children under six years old. In less than one year, we have reached agreements with all provinces and territories. This means that, by the end of this year, families across Canada will have seen their child care fees reduced by an average of 50%, which is an average of $6,000 in savings per child for families in British Columbia and Ontario. These are not savings that will appear in five or 10 years; these are savings that will occur by the end of December. By 2025-26, our plan will mean an average child care fee of $10 a day for all regulated child care spaces across Canada, meaning thousands of dollars in savings for families across Canada. To support vulnerable Canadians at the other end of the demographic spectrum, we have also increased the guaranteed income supplement to top up the benefit for low-income single seniors and enhanced the GIS earnings exemption. We are also increasing old age security for Canadians aged 75 and older in July of this year. This 10% increase would provide about $800 in additional benefits to full pensioners over the first year. About 3.3 million seniors would benefit from this and no action will be required on their part. They would automatically receive the payment if they are eligible. This is the first permanent increase of old age security pensions since 1973, other than just adjustments due to inflation. To protect Canadians from the impact of inflation, the government indexes the Canada child benefit to inflation, as well as the Canada pension plan, old age security, the guaranteed income supplement, the goods and services tax credit and other benefits for the most vulnerable people. To further help make life more affordable for Canadians, we have also increased the basic personal amount, BPA, that Canadians can earn before paying any federal income tax. To ensure this support is targeted to the middle class, the benefits of the increased BPA are phased out for high-income taxpayers. When this measure is fully implemented next year, single individuals will pay $300 less in tax each year and families will pay $600 less. Our government is also returning the direct proceeds from the federal carbon pollution pricing system to their province or territory of origin, with most of these proceeds going to families in those jurisdictions. In fact, in jurisdictions that do not have their own pricing system consistent with the federal benchmark criteria, which is to say Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, approximately 90% of direct proceeds from the fuel charge are being returned to the residents of these provinces through climate action incentive payments. Between 2022 and 2023, a family of four would receive $745 in Ontario, $832 in Manitoba, $1,101 in Saskatchewan and $1,079 in Alberta. In addition, families in rural and small communities are eligible to receive an extra 10%. The reality is that, as a result of these CAI payments, most households are getting back more than they paid in increased costs they faced from the federal carbon pollution pricing system. What is more, the remaining fuel charge proceeds are being used to support small businesses, farmers, indigenous communities and other organizations. Going forward, the federal carbon price will continue to be revenue-neutral for the Government of Canada. At the same time, we are also ensuring that taxes are appropriate and fair. Our government knows that those who can afford to buy expensive cars, planes and boats can also afford to pay a bit more, and Canadians agree. Our government campaigned on this promise in 2019 and 2021 and was elected to enact this. To that end, we are also following through on our commitment to introduce a tax on the sale of new luxury cars and aircraft with a retail sale price of over $100,000 and on new boats over $250,000. The revenues raised by this tax can be used to offset costs for Canadians and invest in a strong economic recovery that supports their highest priorities. Another example of our government's commitment to tax fairness is our proposed tax for non-resident-owned, non-Canadian-owned residential real estate that is considered to be vacant or underused, which would become effective as of January 1, 2022. While this tax would not be paid by individual Canadian homeowners, it would definitely benefit Canadian families. That is because the recent and rapid rise in housing prices has made finding an affordable place to call home increasingly difficult. The underused housing tax would help support investments in housing affordability so that all Canadians can have a safe and affordable place to call home. Our recent federal budget introduced what may be the most ambitious plan to build new housing that Canada has ever seen, putting Canada on the path to double the number of new homes we build over the next 10 years. These—

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