44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 22, 2022 10:00AM
- Sep/22/22 10:06:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a huge privilege and honour to table a petition on behalf of constituents from my riding.
They cite that Canada's electoral system, from its very inception, has always been a first-past-the-post system, unfairly resulting in either a Liberal or Conservative government with virtually no impact on the popular vote, leading to distorted Canadian values. They cite that proportional representation is a principle that says that the percentage of seats a party has in Parliament should reflect the percentage of the people who voted for that party, so if a party gets 40% of the popular vote, they should get 40% of the seats.
They cite that under a first-past-the-post system, like the current system in Canada, a party can win a majority of seats and all the power with less than half the popular vote. They also cite that other countries, such as Germany, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands, have progressed past the first-past-the-post system, and many states are seeking to implement ranked choice voting so that all votes are calculated.
The petitioners are calling for the government to move to a proportional system.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about an economy that works for everyone. Well, the PBO put out a report recently and cited that the top 1% of families in this country hold 25% of the wealth while the bottom 40% hold 1.1% of the wealth.
Meanwhile, we are seeing grocery store chains, banks and oil and gas and telecom companies make record profits, while groceries, bank fees, gas and wireless fees go up. Greedflation has taken hold. We live in a country that has the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7. Meanwhile, children cannot get their teeth fixed and we have seniors who need help.
When are the Liberals going to address the greedflation? We know that the Conservatives, who are the gatekeepers for those big corporations, are not going to address it. Is the Liberal government going to do something about it? I ask because we are waiting and those people desperately need help. We are glad to see the Liberals finally vote in support of our measure on dental care, but what took them so long?
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Mr. Speaker, not once did my colleague talk about the greedflation that has taken hold in this country. We know in Canada we have the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7. How is that playing out? We have homeless people and people who cannot get dental care. We see big corporations like grocery stores, the big banks, big oil and big telecom all having record profits. Meanwhile, grocery store prices are going up, as are bank fees, fuel prices and telecom fees.
The member said that these are hard times and that it does not need to be this way. I agree. The Conservatives in Britain had the courage to charge their big oil companies a 25% excess tax on oil and gas profits. Where is the courage for these Conservatives? Where is the consciousness, because it is unconscionable that people cannot get dental care yet we have greedflation. The gatekeepers are truly the Conservatives standing up for these big corporations. It is 1% of the families in this country who hold 25% of the wealth. Meanwhile, 40% of families only hold 1.1% of the wealth. This is unacceptable, and it does not need to be this way.
When will the member deal with the greedflation that has taken a grip on this country?
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Mr. Speaker, on that point of order, what is truly criminal is that these big corporations are hoarding all the profits while people—
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- Sep/22/22 7:36:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this week marks one year since the 2021 election and it has been another difficult year for many, with more uncertainty on the horizon. The impacts of the pandemic continue to be felt in our communities. Our health care system is under intense strain and the rising cost of living is adding stress to the daily lives of Canadians.
In the last election the Liberals made a promise to Canadians that they would take steps to improve access to mental health care here in Canada. That is certainly needed as polls have shown that about half of Canadians suffered from worsened mental health since the onset of the pandemic. Unfortunately, too many Canadians are unable to access mental health care when they need it because of long wait-lists or financial barriers. We need a national mental health wait-time strategy to ensure people can access support in a timely way. We need to break down the financial barriers that keep people from getting the care they need.
A cornerstone of the Liberals' promises on mental health was to establish a new permanent transfer to the provinces and territories to expand publicly funded mental health care and address backlogs. Canadians were told that an initial investment of $4.5 billion over five years would be made in this country through the Canada mental health transfer by the Liberals. Here we are a year later with no idea of when this money will get out the door. When the government announced its intention to establish a $10-a-day child care program, there were deals with all the provinces and territories in place within a year. Meanwhile, the Canada mental health transfer was nowhere to be found in the 2022 budget, and there has been no transparency on when this much-needed investment will be made.
That is why I tabled Motion No. 67, to encourage the government to act without delay in creating this transfer and to take the steps needed to ensure mental health is put on an equal footing in our universal public health care system.
I am going to read the text of Motion No. 67, as it reflects what mental health stakeholders have been telling us and calling for. It states:
That
(a) the House recognize that,
(i) Canada is experiencing a mental health and substance use crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,
(ii) too many Canadians are unable to access mental health or substance use supports in a timely manner,
(iii) lack of access to community-based mental health and substance use services increases demands on hospital emergency rooms and primary care providers,
(iv) untreated or inadequately treated mental illness carries significant social and economic costs; and
(b) in the opinion of the House, the government should:
(i) without delay develop legislation that will enshrine in law parity between physical and mental health in Canada’s universal public healthcare system, ensure timely access to evidence-based, culturally appropriate, publicly funded mental health and substance use services beyond hospital and physician settings, recognize the importance of investing in the social determinants of health, mental health promotion, and mental illness prevention, and include national performance standards and accountabilities for mental health and substance use services,
(ii) without delay establish the Canada mental health transfer to sustainably fund the provision of mental health and substance use services and disburse an initial investment of $4.5 billion to the provinces and territories,
(iii) report to Parliament annually on progress towards achieving national performance standards for mental health and substance use services.
As we try to recover from the COVID–19 pandemic and navigate uncertain economic times, mental health cannot wait. Therefore, I ask the government when it will follow through on its promises on mental health and deliver help to Canadians who are struggling.
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- Sep/22/22 7:44:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the government announced its intention to establish the $10-a-day child care program, and there were deals with provinces and territories in place within a year. Here we are a year later, and when it comes to mental health transfers, the Liberals still have not delivered their 2021 election promise.
Too many Canadians cannot access appropriate mental health or substance use services in a timely manner, either because they would be required to pay out of pocket or because they face long wait-lists for publicly funded care. The average wait time for adult residential treatment for substance use is 100 days.
In Ontario, there are more than 28,000 children on wait-lists for community-based mental health services that can range from 67 days to more than two and a half years depending on the service, exceeding clinically appropriate wait times. This is unacceptable. These are children.
I am calling on the government to be more transparent and to move rapidly on its $4.5-billion transfer. It is needed now. Mental health care is needed now.
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