44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2022 02:00PM
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot in this fall economic statement worthy of support, and I think a lot to critique. My hon. colleague pointed that out as well. However, I take some issue with his recitation of history. I was in this House from 2008 to 2015, when the Conservative government ran deficits in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. After the 2008 economic shock, it ran six successive deficits and only magically balanced it in an election year.
My hon. colleague talked about taking credit for reducing the GST. The Conservative Party invented the GST. It brought the GST to Canadians. How can he expect Canadians to take him seriously when his party has been so instrumental in creating deficits in this country and brought the GST to this country? Does he still think the GST is a good tax?
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Mr. Speaker, well, how much Liberal spending preceded that GST? If we want to go back to 1988 or 1993, that is absolutely fine.
With all due respect, obviously, I was not here in that period of time but I am happy to answer the question. The reality is this: I am very proud that we lowered the GST—
An hon. member: Oh, oh!
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Mr. Speaker, I would love the answer the hon. member's question if he would just stop shouting over me. I really would.
I believe in prudent financial spending. If I had my way, we would not be spending such astronomical figures that we actually need the GST. The reality is that the government must have the GST because it is spending so much, and that is being spent on the backs on our children, our grandchildren and future generations.
I fear that their tax payments and their funding of the interest payment for taxes will cripple us in the future.
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- Dec/7/22 4:51:50 p.m.
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Order.
The hon. member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo has the floor.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise here today to speak to the government's economic update. On weekends, I spend time in my riding to talk to the folks who I represent. The topic front of mind for all is the state of the economy.
As the Deputy Prime Minister gave her update in the House, I, like many others, listened intently. I heard her warn Canadians that things are going to be tough this winter, and that inflation is high and likely to get higher. Boy, how her tone has changed from the message of sunny days and sunny ways.
A few months ago, we heard that very same minister stand in the House and tell us that we are not so bad off and that we should be happy because the rest of the world is worse. In March, she accused us Conservatives of talking down the Canadian economy. Perhaps the minister could now admit that it was not talking down the economy, but rather it was, and continues to be, a warning to this Liberal-NDP coalition of the harmful consequences on real Canadians that their failed economic policies are producing.
The minister acknowledges that tough times are here, sunny days are behind us, and it is time to pay for Liberal overspending. The Liberals have run up the government's credit card to the limit, and it is now up to the taxpayers to pay the bill. The truth of the matter is, the ones who feel their mismanagement the most are the ones they claim to be standing up for.
We all know that socialists raise their fists in the air exclaiming, “Power for the people”, but what is the result? It is power over the people.
I have heard the minister say numerous times in the House that the government's plan is a compassionate plan. I beg to differ. Is it compassionate to triple the carbon tax on home heating? Is it compassionate to triple the tax on gas? Is it compassionate to triple the carbon tax on food production and delivery? I can answer that with a resounding “no”.
The people of Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame are not feeling any compassion from this government. They are contemplating how to stay warm and keep food on the table this winter. It is looking more like doing both may not be an option. People in my riding are facing a home heating bill that has nearly doubled since this time last year. Is that compassion?
Charlie from Gander, for example, is a hard-working family man who considers himself to be part of the middle class. He told me that he is scared that he will not be able to afford oil to heat his home this winter.
Food banks across the country are experiencing record high usage, yet what did this minister say to that? Well, she did not say, “Let them eat cake”, but she might as well have. She tried to relate to hard-working Canadians by telling of the hardship that her family is experiencing in making the huge sacrifice of cutting their Disney+ subscription. It would be funny if it were not so serious. This government is so out of touch with Canadians that it is completely tone deaf to their plight.
Last week, my colleague told the minister of a senior who is living in her car in Halifax, Nova Scotia, because, even though she has employment and CPP benefits, she is unable to afford housing. The minister's response was to advise the woman against spending her savings on cryptocurrency. Really? How tone deaf can she be to believe that a woman who is forced to live in her car because she cannot afford a house has $10,000 to invest in anything for that matter?
Maybe the minister is just as tone deaf in reading the situation as the Prime Minister is. He thought it would be a good idea to hold a concert in the lobby of a hotel where he had the taxpayers spend $6,000 a night for five nights for his room, which is almost double the average Canadians' earnings in a month. To justify his extravagant spending when questioned in the House, the Prime Minister thought he could distract taxpayers by reminding them of the extremely generous one-time $500 payment to low-income renters. Do the members of this government not see how disingenuous their words are?
The Conservative Party asked the government for a little relief on home heating this winter by removing the carbon tax from heating fuel. In Atlantic Canada, this would be a big relief and offer some peace of mind. What was this government's response? Well, the Liberal government decided to ignore their pleas, and the request of the Liberal premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, by forcing the carbon tax on three Atlantic provinces.
The MPs from our own province should be sympathetic, but no. The senior minister from Newfoundland and Labrador is sick and tired of people complaining about the cold winter. The Liberal-NDP coalition government is tone deaf and out of touch. The government's excuses for the rising inflation rate are anything and everyone other than its mismanagement and reckless overspending. It would like us all to believe that it is because of COVID, but as my colleagues have pointed out on several occasions and I feel is worth repeating, the Prime Minister added $100 billion of debt prior to the first case of COVID in Canada. That bears repeating so we can absorb the figure: $100 billion that is not COVID-related.
This week, the Auditor General confirmed that the members on this side of the House have been warning since 2020 that wasteful spending was resulting due to a lack of controls. With respect to Employment and Social Development Canada, the Auditor General identified at least $32 billion in overpayments and suspicious payments that require further investigation. In the Prime Minister's eyes, that is insignificant and he would like us to believe the rest of the spending was to support Canadians through the pandemic. That too is not completely correct. The Parliamentary Budget Officer discovered that 40% of all new spending measures had nothing to do with COVID. That is $200 billion in spending that is unrelated to COVID. That boggles my mind.
The spending that was done in the name of COVID was poorly managed, to say the least. We saw CERB cheques going to prisoners and there was a $44-million arrive scam app which did nothing and could have been developed for approximately $24,000 in someone's basement over a weekend. The list goes on and on. I am sure members are tired of me saying all this stuff.
What the Liberals do not seem to understand is that this money that they keep spending and giving away to their friends is not their money to give away. Hard-working, taxpaying Canadians deserve respect and real compassion. The Conservative Party is here to do just that. We will fight for those who leave their homes every day to work in the energy industry to provide heat for our homes and gas for our vehicles, for those who fish our waters and farm our land to provide food security for Canadians, and for those who look after our children in day care and who tend to our sick and our elderly. Conservatives have a plan that would work and not just pay lip service.
A Conservative government would impose conditions so that if cities want more federal infrastructure money, they would have to remove the gatekeepers. We would connect their infrastructure dollars to the number of homes that actually get built so that young people could find a place to live. We would also sell off 15% of the 37,000 federal buildings we have so they could be converted into housing and our young people could have affordable homes. We would bring in a pay-as-you-go law so that every time we spent a new dollar, we would have a new dollar of savings to pay for it. Conservatives would fund our programs with real money rather than printed cash, because we know there are no freebies in this world and we know that ultimately, taxpayers and consumers pay for everything.
We would reinstate the Bank of Canada's core mandate to make sure inflation stays at 2% as brought about by the Mulroney government, the last great government, or the second-last great government, after Prime Minister Harper's. We would audit the Bank of Canada through the Auditor General to show her that never again is there such a horrendous abuse of our money as we have seen over the last couple of years.
I cannot support this bill because it has $14 billion of spending that is ready to go, but we do not know what it is for. Is it tucked away to be wasted on another gun buyback? Will that $14 billion be wasted to confiscate the hunting tools that are used to harvest the 20,000 moose per year that are taken to put protein on the tables in my province? Will it be wasted to buy back the Plinkster rifles that young girls use to shoot targets with their daddies, as they learn the safety aspects of handling firearms?
Bill C-32 leaves me with more questions than answers. Therefore, my vote will be nay.
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Mr. Speaker, there is no question the member works hard, but where he seems to go down the wrong path is the Conservatives do not understand the difference between spending and investing in Canadians.
The member talked a lot about the economy. I would like the member to tell me and all Canadians why he voted against the top-up for housing and the dental plan and why he voted against the child care program. The Conservatives are voting against major initiatives that would help every Canadian right across this great country.
If the member is going to cut, would he please share with the House which programs he would cut? Could he just let us know?
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Mr. Speaker, what a pile of baloney that just spewed out of the member's mouth.
The people in my province, my constituents, understand that is all washed out bait. If anyone has ever been fishing, they would know they need to change their bait once in a while because it gets washed out and that old worm is no good.
The people of Newfoundland and Labrador understand that what is being thrown out there is washed out election bait. The Liberals should come up with something else. I will tell the House what else. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are not too fond of the government using money they are pumping into the transfer program and now having to bail out the Bank of Canada for the first time in history because of the government's failed policies.
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech, which I listened to carefully.
He mentioned certain government expenditures, of course. During the pandemic, the government spent a lot of money, but one expenditure had the support of all the parties except the Bloc Québécois. That was the wage subsidy for businesses.
The Conservative Party, which raised millions in contributions from its members, the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party all benefited from the wage subsidy. The Conservative Party received $1 million, the Liberal Party $1 million, and the New Democrats $260,000. They got this money directly from a program aimed at supporting businesses so they could avoid going bankrupt and having to shut their doors.
The former leader of the Conservative Party, the member for Durham, said during his election campaign that he would pay back the money taken from the wage subsidy program. I have just one question for my colleague. Has his party begun to reimburse the million dollars it took directly out the pockets of honest taxpayers?
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot really speak to that, but I will tell members what I can speak to.
I can speak to my Bloc colleagues standing up and criticizing our offshore oil and gas industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, and we pay into the transfer program. The billions and billions that are going to come out of Bay du Nord are going to go to subsidize the wonderful people of la belle province.
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Mr. Speaker, I was listening intently to the last part of my Conservative friend's speech, and I think he said something like the Mulroney government was the second-last best government in Canada, and it confused me. I am wondering if he could clarify that. I think what he was trying to imply was that either the Mulroney government was worse than the Harper government or vice versa. Could he clarify which order they come in as the worst government?
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot really say for sure who the best recent prime minister was. It was Harper or Mulroney. It is hard to interchange them.
However, I will tell members that this coalition government is definitely the worst the country has ever seen. I cannot believe that my hon. colleague has the gall to come in and sit in this House and be part of that team.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question. Obviously, with the doubling of the national debt under the current Liberal government to over a trillion dollars, the servicing of the national debt is going from $25 billion this year, the same as we put into our Canadian Armed Forces, our military, to, next year, close to $50 billion, the same as we do for health care transfers.
I would like my hon. colleague to expand on what we could actually do with that $50 billion.
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Mr. Speaker, when we get over on that side, we will make sure that money is spent where it is deserved and needed, like to support our military and support our health care system.
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Mr. Speaker, I often talk about the housing crisis and about how serious the problem is. There are currently several ongoing crises in Canada: the climate crisis, the language crisis in Quebec, which is very serious, and the housing crisis, which is also very serious.
I am getting to the point where I am tired of repeating the same things and not getting an answer from the government. I decided that, since Christmas is coming, instead of talking about statistics and citing figures—perhaps this will come up during questions and comments—I would tell a few stories. They are not necessarily fun stories, but they are stories.
We could call one “December 23, Merry Christmas, Mr. Côté”, or “The dirty little story about the never-ending housing crisis”. I will warn my colleagues right now: These may be stories, but every story I tell is true.
Let me tell the House about someone we will call Mr. M. Mr. M. has been on the street for almost three years now. He had drug problems 45 years ago that made him homeless. He has been clean for the past year. Things are going well for him in that regard. He is working hard to reintegrate into society. He has serious health problems that prevent him from working, so he gets money from Quebec's social solidarity program. He has enough money to pay for housing, so he is already one step ahead on that. However, even though he is on a priority waiting list for low-cost housing, he cannot find housing because he is stigmatized. Basically, he is being discriminated against because he is homeless. He has done everything he possibly can. Unfortunately, the outreach people who work with him cannot produce housing out of thin air. Even the government, sitting there across the aisle, cannot provide housing. Imagine how the people who work with him feel. This means Mr. M. is going to spend Christmas on the street. I wish Mr. M. a merry Christmas on his park bench.
Now I want to talk about Ms. L. Ms. L. is 60 years old and is currently living in her car. She has to ask community organizations for gas cards to be able to stay warm at night. She showers in an emergency shelter and spends her days in a street café that gives out food and hot coffee.
Mr. Speaker, I forgot to mention that I would like to share my time with the hon. member for Terrebonne.
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Does the hon. member have unanimous consent to split his time?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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To get back to Ms. L., Mr. Speaker, she is looking for an apartment but her monthly income is $765. She cannot afford anything other than a room right now. All the rooming houses in her area are full at this time.
I wish Ms. L. a merry Christmas in her car.
Let us now talk about Mr. D., a 55-year-old man living with mental illness. He lives in a trailer in the parking lot of a business. Everything he owns is in his trailer, but he needs to get it repaired, and it is expensive, not to mention the parts that are really expensive.
The business that lets him set up his trailer is losing patience, so Mr. D. will have to move. He is under constant stress from the fear of his home, not his car, being towed.
I wish Mr. D. a merry Christmas in his trailer.
Let us talk about Mr. R. and Ms. E., a couple in their thirties. Since they have no apartment, they are currently sleeping on a balcony, behind an abandoned business. They have to take their belongings everywhere with them because they are liable to get stolen if left unattended. They borrowed a grocery cart that they take with them to the street café. They spend the day there and try to rest a bit, napping in the corner, on the floor.
Unfortunately, Ms. E. owes money to the ministry of social solidarity, so she has no income. She works as a prostitute to obtain essential hygiene products. Mr. R. and Ms. E. both take turns panhandling to try to make a bit of money.
I wish Mr. R. and Ms. E. a merry Christmas on their balcony.
Let us now talk about Mr. J., a 30-year-old indigenous man. He is currently living in an abandoned house that will unfortunately be demolished soon. He stockpiles batteries to power the small lanterns he relies on at night. He has begun following the example of a homeless man, a veteran, who has been there for many years and who gives him tips to make money legally, so he does what are known as can runs. He goes to restaurant garbage bins and retrieves discarded cans. Working legally is not easy and it does not pay very well.
He is approached to sell drugs. Although he does not want to go down that road, he wants to be able to meet his needs. He does not know how long he will be able to take shelter from the elements where he currently sleeps.
I wish Mr. J. a merry Christmas in his abandoned house.
Let us now talk about Ms. S., a 60-year-old woman suffering from mental illness. Whenever she manages to find a home, she thinks people are going to break in. She lives in constant fear, so she leaves every one of her homes, one after the other. She is currently sleeping on the couch of a man she met by chance and who abuses her. She spends her days at a street café so she does not face that violence all day. She has no choice, however, but to return in the evening, otherwise she has to sleep outside.
Again, I wish Ms. S. a merry Christmas on her couch, waiting for the next blow.
Let us now talk about Mr. S., a 37-year-old living in a halfway house after spending two years in prison. The youngest in a family of two children, he never really knew his biological father, other than a visit in prison at one point. His mother was a substance user and her partner, who he calls his father, was an alcoholic. He rarely stayed with his parents. He spent his entire life under the responsibility of the youth protection service, caught in a cycle of running away, offending, using drugs and returning to youth centres. That cycle continued in his adult life with periods in prison.
A few years ago, he found his mother. She had died of an overdose. After that, he turned to substance use until he was again arrested for drug possession.
During his sentence, he took control of his life and stopped using. He now has custody of his son on weekends. He goes to see him at his sister's apartment. He does activities with him. It is getting better for Mr. S. Now, he wants to take care of himself and be there as a father. For that, he needs to find a place to receive his son. Right now, he is sleeping on the sidewalk.
I wish Mr. S. a merry Christmas on his sidewalk, with his son.
Let us talk about Mr. C., a 51-year-old man who suffered physical and sexual abuse in his family. He talks very little about those assaults. He fell into the cycle of addiction and mischief in his teens. It is more than likely that his father abused him. He became impulsive and aggressive. He served several short sentences for theft, possession and drug trafficking.
He was assaulted around 2005 with a baseball bat. Since then, he has been living with a head injury. He has a grade six education. He enrolled in a literacy service and is very involved with the organization. He is still clean at this time and has regained a wonderful smile.
He is looking for an apartment. Last time, he was in a place where a dog would defecate on his doorstep and he would not even venture to cook because the kitchen was so unsanitary. He applied for low-income housing, but has been waiting for a response for several years. The scarcity of affordable apartments could lead him to use again and, as a result, put him on the street.
I also wish Mr. C. a very merry Christmas.
Finally, last week, a homeless resident of Longueuil struggling with several mental health problems cut his own throat in front of a shelter in Longueuil. He had just learned that the place he was waiting for at a mental health support facility that would help him with his problems no longer had room for him. That was a shame. He saw no way out and, feeling desperate, he tried to take his own life. Fortunately, he survived.
This gives an idea of how desperate the most unfortunate in our society really are and of the disasters, misfortunes and other tragedies that await us if the housing crisis continues in 2023, which is very likely to happen.
Let us not worry; we, the 338 members of Parliament, will all spend the holidays toasty warm. This is a fairy tale, so it has to have a happy ending.
I wish everyone a merry Christmas, and I am ready for my colleagues' questions.
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Mr. Speaker, sadly, there are not enough letters in the alphabet to adequately express what the many individuals who find themselves homeless face. I could cite the many people in Winnipeg North who use bus shelters as a home or just fall asleep in alleys and on streets in our communities. That is unfortunately what is taking place.
To resolve the housing urgency by trying to put the blame on the national government is not appropriate. The national government needs to work with municipalities and provinces to meet the housing needs that are there. In fact, the programs we have provided are encouraging municipalities and other stakeholders to come forward with their ideas.
The federal government has invested more dollars in housing in recent years than any other government in the last 50-plus years. I am wondering if my friend could provide his thoughts on the importance of ensuring municipalities and provinces do likewise, invest like the federal government is investing and support our communities so that we have a better chance at resolving the housing crisis.
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Mr. Speaker, whether this is done by the municipalities, the provinces or the federal government, housing must be built now. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the CMHC, announced last week that 3.5 million units need to be built before 2030. That is quite a challenge.
Do my colleagues know how many units have been built in Canada since the start of the national housing strategy? The answer is 35,000. About 60,000 have been repaired. That is 100,000 units, if we are being generous. That is what has been built so far. The shortfalls are absolutely insane.
According to a study by a CMHC economist, in Quebec alone, if nothing is done in the next 10 years, 500,000 units will be built. However, to address the two key issues at this time, affordability and accessibility, 1.1 million need to be built. There is a shortfall of 600,000. Somewhere in the process, the government here or the provinces themselves need to get involved. There is money here. The government must get involved to ensure that those 600,000 units are built. They will not fall from the sky.
That is the challenge we have before us.
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Mr. Speaker, we are here talking about money today, and I have heard colleagues from the Bloc Québécois chastise the coalition many times for approving Bay du Nord. Newfoundland and Labrador currently pays into the transfer program, so I am wondering whether the Bloc Québécois will work toward returning the portion of the transfer money that goes to Quebec, which is from the oil industry, to Newfoundland and Labrador and all the oil-producing provinces. Will they send the money back?
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Mr. Speaker, the planet is on fire, yet he is talking about money. That is insane. Canada is the worst country in the world when it comes to fighting climate change, yet my colleague is talking about investments, health transfers and equalization. The planet is already burning. We are the worst country in the G7.
Since the Liberals came to power in 2015, greenhouse gas emissions have increased steadily. We are a disgrace. The Liberals continue to invest year after year. We have learned that we rank second in the G20 in terms of average public investments in fossil fuels. That alone is a disgrace.
Companies like Suncor are making obscene profits. The CEO's pocket change alone could pay for the Bay du Nord development project. I seriously do not understand what my colleague is on about right now.
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