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Context: House Hansard - 178 - Apr/17/23

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Apr/17/23 3:42:45 p.m.
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I wish to inform the House that the Chair has received notice of a request for an emergency debate. I invite the hon. member for Burnaby South to make a short statement.

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Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, NDP)

Apr/17/23 3:43:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to request an emergency debate concerning the very serious rise in hate crimes particularly targeting the Muslim and Jewish community. With the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism on the heels of record-high levels of violence against these communities, we need the debate in this chamber to discuss how serious this is and debate solutions to the problems. I want to cite specifically recent and brazen attacks at the Islamic Society of Markham, the Bagg Street Shul in Montreal and other communities across this country, where people are being targeted because of their faith and are receiving violent threats and violence against them directly. Given that, I think all parliamentarians would agree the role of government is to ensure people are safe in their communities and are safe to practise their faith. Given that, again I urge this House to accept my request for an emergency debate to discuss the seriousness of the rise of hate and to discuss solutions that can make sure people are safe in our communities.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

Apr/17/23 3:44:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to signal the support of the Green Party of Canada for an emergency debate on the rise in hate crimes.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Apr/17/23 3:44:20 p.m.
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We do not allow that. We will not have a debate on this. I thank the hon. member for Burnaby South for his intervention. After discussion with the Speaker, he is not satisfied that this request meets the requirements of the Standing Orders at this time.

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Mrs. Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge, CPC)

Apr/17/23 3:44:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise in the House in order to make a request with regard to an emergency debate concerning revelations that the government has pressured social media platforms to edit or remove content that it considered embarrassing. These attempts at what can fairly be described as government censorship of the news, and the Internet more generally, came to public attention through a response that my colleague, the member for Niagara West, put forward in an OPQ. The response, which has been tabled in the House of Commons, reveals that the government pressured social media platforms a total of 214 times over a 24-month time period and that this pressure was applied simply because the government did not want this information made public or it felt embarrassed by this information. We know that there were many times when the platforms were able to successfully push back. However, we also know that Bill C-11 is currently in the Senate; if it should pass, it will actually legislate the government's ability to engage in this type of censorship going forward. One can imagine just how scary this is for many Canadians who count on the fact that we have a charter in this country that protects their freedom of speech, and therefore, freedom to access information that they wish to listen to or watch or access online. Therefore, given that we have now seen it come to light that the government applied pressure 214 times, we would ask that the House be able to engage in a debate with regard to this important matter. I acknowledge that the Chair normally affords a wide latitude for contributions during the budget debate, which is the current debate taking place here today. I recognize that this type of request might not normally be granted under the emergency debate opportunity. However, I urge you, Mr. Speaker, to recognize that these issues touch upon one of our fundamental freedoms, which is freedom of speech, and further, that censorship of the news and Internet is decidedly not an economic question, as the budget is. Therefore, it could not necessarily be addressed through financial initiatives. To suggest that this issue can simply be raised within the context of the current debate seems perhaps reckless, and so I would respectfully allow my question to stand: Could we be granted an emergency debate with regard to the government's decision to apply pressure 214 times to social media platforms across this country?

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Apr/17/23 3:44:47 p.m.
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The Chair has received notice of a request for an emergency debate from the hon. member for Lethbridge. I invite the hon. member for Lethbridge to make a short statement.

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The Speaker

Apr/17/23 3:47:49 p.m.
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I thank the hon. member for Lethbridge for her intervention. However, I am not satisfied that the request meets the requirements of the Standing Orders at this time.

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Mrs. Rachael Thomas

Apr/17/23 3:48:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would stand on a point of order. During the debate, there was an accusation thrown against me that I was spreading a conspiracy theory in bringing up the fact that the government has applied pressure to social media companies 214 times. I would like to retable the documents already tabled, which show that I am in fact telling the truth, and therefore, my emergency debate request is substantiated.

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The Speaker

Apr/17/23 3:48:37 p.m.
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All those opposed to the hon. member's moving the motion will please say nay. Some hon. members: Nay.

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Ms. Julie Dzerowicz (Davenport, Lib.)

Apr/17/23 3:49:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a true honour for me to speak to federal budget 2023 in the House on behalf of the residents of Davenport. It was really wonderful for me to be back in the riding over the last two weeks, to get a chance to go out and talk to the various Davenport residents, organizations and businesses about the different measures that we have in the budget. Before I go on, I want to say a huge thanks to all those who made submissions in budget 2023. Over 700 Canadian stakeholders and organizations made submissions. It was a huge effort. It was a lot of work, a lot of outstanding ideas, a lot of great creative thoughts and so I wanted to say a huge thanks to them. Budget 2023 is the most targeted budget that has been introduced by our government in the seven and a half years that I have had the privilege to serve the residents of Davenport in this venerable House. However, what I think is really important to note is that it builds on the work and investments that have already been announced and made in previous budgets. That said, there are three key sections that I would like to speak about, depending on how much time I have. I want to talk about the major investments we are making in health care, including dental care; the huge investments in accelerating the clean economy in Canada; and the targeted investments in affordability, which will support our most vulnerable Canadians, who continue to have such a difficult time with the high cost of living. Maybe that is where I will begin: affordability. We had to be very targeted with our spending in budget 2023 and very much focused on delivering support to those who need it the most. Why is it that we had to be very targeted? It is because inflation continues to be high. As a national government, we cannot make it worse with big spending programs. Canadians want us to be responsible in our spending, and this means we had to make some choices. Here are some of the affordability measures that we have introduced in our latest budget. We have introduced a one-time grocery rebate, providing $2.5 billion in targeted inflation relief for 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families. The grocery rebate will provide eligible couples with two children with up to an extra $467, single Canadians without children with an extra $234 and seniors with an extra $225, on average. As another measure, the federal government is taking additional steps to ensure that more low-income Canadians can easily file their tax returns to receive the benefits that they are entitled to. Budget 2023 announces that the federal government will increase the number of eligible Canadians who can do automatic tax filing to two million people by 2025, which is almost triple the current number. This is something that, for a very long time, poverty advocates have been asking for. Far too many Canadians do not know what benefits they are entitled to, and therefore, they leave that money on the table. These tend to be the people who need the benefits the most. The third measure I want to mention, although there are many others, relates to some additional measures we have for our students. We need to continue to do all we can to help them as they go to school, study and try to start their careers in life. Our federal government previously announced that the interest for Canada student loans and Canada apprentice loans had been permanently eliminated for all students. In budget 2023, we provide more financial assistance for students by increasing the Canada student grants by 40% annually, which will provide an additional $4,200 a year, and also by raising the interest-free Canada student loan limit from $210 per week to $300 per week of study. Part of the reason I was so happy to be back in Davenport is that I got a chance to actually go visit various different places across the riding, just to hear what people were thinking about in terms of the different measures that we have introduced. At Nossa Talho, a really wonderful Portuguese grocery store in my riding, I talked to Sylvia. Sylvia said to me that she loves the grocery rebate. She said that every penny that is put into her bank account is a dollar that she will spend on her family. That is going to help her meet all the higher costs she is seeing in terms of groceries. I also talked to Diana and Monica, who were at the grocery cash register. They had a lot of positive things to say. They did not know about the grocery tax rebate, and I know that they are going to tell many other people. I also had a wonderful chance to visit the seniors at Joseph J. Piccininni Community Centre. I stopped in while they were playing pickleball and talked to them about some of the measures we had. They were also very happy. I also managed to talk to the seniors at The Stop Community Food Centre, the LA Centre for Active Living Seniors and the Abrigo Centre. They were all extraordinarily happy about the automatic tax filing; the dental care program, which I will talk about in a couple of minutes; and the grocery rebate. There were a lot of thumbs up across the riding of Davenport. I want to mention a few measures that mean a lot to small businesses in my riding. The lowering of the credit card transaction fees for small business was huge. I do not know what is happening in other members' ridings, but in my riding, our small businesses are really struggling. They have said that anything that would help keep some money within their businesses so they could reinvest in their business, cover some of the higher costs or pay more in wages would be helpful for them. Our federal government has secured commitments from Visa and MasterCard to lower fees for small businesses while also protecting reward points for Canadian consumers offered by Canada's largest banks. More than 90% of credit card-accepting businesses will see their interchange fees reduced by up to 27% from the existing weighted average rate. These reductions are expected to save eligible small businesses in Canada approximately $1 billion over five years. That is a lot of money, and they are very happy about this. A lot of businesses did not want to pay this extra interchange fee, so many were not accepting credit cards. This will now allow them to accept credit cards. It makes it more affordable for them, which means they will have more customers who are willing to spend more money. The other item that is big for many of the craft brewers, which are small businesses in my riding, is the freezing of the excise tax on beer, wine and alcohol at 2% for one year. That is huge for them. It is something the industry has been asking for. I am very blessed in my riding of Davenport to have a lot of really wonderful craft brewers. When I told them about the freezing of the excise tax, they were extraordinarily happy. I want to give a huge shout-out to the people at Henderson Brewing and thank them for welcoming me, talking to me and advocating for this. I know that all the other craft brewers in my riding are very happy about it as well. I also want to thank all the West Queen West businesses that I managed to pop by, such as the Dog & Bear pub, Hello 123 and Nunu Ethiopian Fusion Restaurant. They were all extremely delighted to hear about the lowering of the credit card transaction fees. I am now going to move on to health care. We have all heard about the long lineups with respect to surgery backlogs, as well as emergency rooms being too full and taking a long time to serve Canadians. We have heard about Canadians not having access to doctors and the lack of funding for mental health, among many other issues. I had a chance to visit thousands of doors in my riding of Davenport in the months of January and February, and this was one of their top-of-mind issues. They all said that it would be really great if the federal government could step up and better support the provinces with health care, and step up we did. In budget 2023, we made major investments, adding an additional $195.8 billion over 10 years. These are the key items to highlight: We have increased the Canada health transfer by about 5% a year. We have added an immediate $2 billion top-up to address the urgent pressures I mentioned regarding emergency rooms, operating rooms and pediatric hospitals. We have added $25 billion for bilateral agreements to address the need for more dollars for mental health and ensure that more Canadians have access to family doctors, among many other things. We have included far more money to support the hourly wage increases for personal support workers and strengthen the retirement savings of personal support workers who do not have workplace retirement security coverage, as well as more money to expand the reach of Canada's student loan forgiveness programs for doctors and nurses who work in underserved rural or remote communities, including all communities with populations of 30,000 or fewer. I see the Speaker has given me the one-minute mark, yet I do not seem to have covered very much. I want to say that this is a really excellent budget for the residents of Davenport. It is very targeted. I encourage all members of this House to support it when it comes time to vote.

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Mr. Todd Doherty (Cariboo—Prince George, CPC)

Apr/17/23 3:59:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our hon. colleague from Davenport, in her comments on budgetary policy, spoke about mental health. As many of my colleagues know, I have dedicated the last seven and a half years, my political tenure, to championing mental health within our country. National mental health transfers were something that the government, the Liberals, ran on in 2021. They promised a $4.5-billion mental health transfer so we could finally have mental health in parity with physical health, yet they walked back on that. They lied to Canadians. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! Mr. Todd Doherty: Madam Speaker, they misled Canadians.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Apr/17/23 3:59:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order, we are just following a lengthy point of privilege on the use of that word in the House. The member should apologize for using it.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Apr/17/23 4:00:00 p.m.
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The member did correct himself. An apology would be nice, too.

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Mr. Todd Doherty

Apr/17/23 4:00:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, they misled Canadians on such a vital promise during the 2021 election. I would like to ask our hon. colleague what she has to say about that.

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Ms. Julie Dzerowicz

Apr/17/23 4:00:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his amazing leadership in advocating for more mental health support. I do not think there is anybody in the House who does not agree that we need to have far more investment in mental health services. At all levels, we have not provided enough in the past. I will say there is an enormous top-up and an enormous investment in federal budget 2023. In Ontario, they have signed a bilateral agreement. The organizations that advocate for mental health supports in my riding are very happy, and they are looking forward to additional dollars flowing in this area. I thank the member opposite for his enormous leadership. We do need to do more. We will do more.

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Ms. Andréanne Larouche (Shefford, BQ)

Apr/17/23 4:01:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. She slipped in a brief comment about the grocery rebate. She talked about an extra $225 on average, but an extra $225 on what, exactly? This is a one-time cheque to help with groceries. Obviously, seniors cannot be against this measure, but will a one-time rebate of $225 really address the unanimous request from seniors' groups? They are calling for measures to improve their financial situation in the long term, which means recurring assistance, not just one-time cheques that will only help them at a specific time.

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Ms. Julie Dzerowicz

Apr/17/23 4:01:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, we have a very targeted budget with very targeted supports for our most vulnerable, but these should be taken in concert with all the other measures we have introduced. Seniors who are aged 75 and older in my riding were very happy to have an increase of 10% for their OAS. They were very happy for past GST rebates. That has been very helpful to them. I will talk of families in my riding. They love the grocery rebate because it is on top of the Canada child benefit, which they have already been receiving, and which was introduced by our government. As well, with the national child care plan that we introduced, they have seen 50% of their costs on a monthly basis reduced, so these are never to be taken in isolation. We have introduced so many measures that help low and middle-income Canadians, better supporting them with the high cost of living today.

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Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Apr/17/23 4:02:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I wanted to raise the issue of dental care, which is encouraging to see in this budget. It will make such a huge difference for people who are struggling with the pain of not being able to fix their teeth. We know that for kids, one of the most common surgeries in pediatric hospitals is dental surgery. However, people with disabilities, seniors and kids under 18 are having to wait until the end of the year, I would like to see people able to fix their teeth now. In June of 2021, the member voted against dental care when the NDP put this forward as a private member's bill. The Liberals voted against dental care in February of 2020 when we used our opposition day to put forward a motion. I am curious, given the fact that these delays are because—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Apr/17/23 4:04:03 p.m.
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I have to give the hon. member for Davenport time to answer. The hon. member for Davenport.

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Ms. Julie Dzerowicz

Apr/17/23 4:04:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would say to the hon. member that actions speak louder than words. We are very proud of the fact that we have worked with the NDP on the supply and confidence agreement. The supply and confidence agreement is about what we can work on together that we both agree on. More money for health care was a key part of that, so I am very proud that we are introducing a dental care plan by the end of this year.

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