44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 17, 2023 11:00AM
- Apr/17/23 12:42:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, would the member be able to advise us on the debt service interest and he how he sees it going forward? It would be nice to know the exact number based on the budget. How does he see things developing further in the future?
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- Apr/17/23 12:56:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is no surprise: We knew the member was going to be voting no to the budget even before the budget was tabled. There are so many inaccuracies and misinformation within what the member is suggesting. The member says that the government is spending too much money and that we have too much debt. Then he goes on to say that we are not doing enough and that we should be spending more.
Let me use a specific example. The member talked about a senior who is living in a mobile home and he talked about the tragedy and said we are not doing anything for that senior. That particular senior is getting the grocery rebate, and that particular senior is getting the dental benefits, both of which this member is voting against. That senior is getting the 10% increase if he or she is over 75 and, if not, the GIC has been greatly enhanced, all of which Stephen Harper would never have done.
Why should anyone believe the Conservatives of today when they have absolutely nothing when it comes to a plan for Canadians?
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- Apr/17/23 1:55:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, after eight years, Canadians cannot afford to live. It is a tax-and-spend government.
William, a senior in my riding, wrote to me: “The cost of no name chips is $1.33 per bag if you buy 3 at No Frills. Walk into a Shoppers Drug Mart the same bag in the same package is twice the price or more. Walk into a Zehrs that same bag is 1&3/4 more. At Sobey's or Metro, a small plastic cup the size of a small coffee with 8-10 grapes in it you'll spend $7.00. The cost of 6 muffins is now $7.99, a year ago they were 4.99. I'm a pensioner living on $1750 a month. If I didn't own my home, I'd be screwed.”
He is not alone. I am hearing this from people all over this country, from all the people reaching out to my office and from the Canadians I talk to in the places I go. We are billions of dollars in debt, or trillions actually, and future generations are worried about their future because we are not prosperous. The Liberals have driven up inflation. They have driven up the cost of living. Canadians are feeling hopeless, and Conservatives are going to bring back hope for Canadians.
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- Apr/17/23 1:57:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's great speech. In her speech, she was talking about average Canadians who are struggling. Could the member comment on the debt level of the average Canadian and where that is going?
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- Apr/17/23 2:36:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this morning, we learned that, according to a survey, 74% of Quebeckers are struggling to pay for basic necessities. What is more, 45% of Quebeckers reported that they are $200 or less away from being unable to meet their financial obligations.
What is the Prime Minister's solution? Here is what he said recently at a public meeting: “If you're using your credit card to go back to school, or if you go into debt to build an expansion on your house, then you're going to be able to sell your house for more”.
My question for the members of the Liberal caucus is this: Are they beginning to feel embarrassed by their leader?
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- Apr/17/23 2:37:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether the minister really understood my question.
This morning, we learned that 74% of Quebeckers say that they are having trouble making ends meet and that nearly half of them do not even have $200 left over at the end of the month to pay their bills.
On that note, at that same townhall, the Prime Minister added, “If you're making investments that are going to return, that is how you grow a strong economy because quite frankly, confident economies invest in themselves”.
I do not really understand what he means, but he is basically telling people to use their credit cards.
Does the Prime Minister understand that what he has done with the government, which is to keep us in debt for decades to come, is the same thing he is telling Canadians to do, which is to use very high-interest credit cards? Does the Prime Minister agree with that?
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- Apr/17/23 4:04:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, never in the history of our country has a prime minister spent so much to achieve so little. He has added more money to our national debt than all previous prime ministers combined, and he is not done. With this spending, our national debt is projected to rise to $1.3 trillion, meaning Canada now spends more money servicing our debt than we spend on our military, child care or social programs. Budget 2023 sets out spending for this year at another $456 billion.
With all of this spending, one would think that Canadians would be better off, but the reality is that more and more Canadians are struggling. We are facing higher taxes, smaller paycheques, a rise in the cost of living, higher rates of inflation, higher rates of crime and higher rates of homelessness. Inflationary spending is negatively impacting the mental health of Canadians. As I said earlier, Canadians are struggling.
In the last election of 2021, this Liberal government promised to start spending more money on mental health and to actually view mental health in parity with physical health. As I mentioned earlier in a question to our colleague from Davenport, I have spent the last seven and a half years championing the mental health situation of our nation. I think we can do more. The member for Davenport says that we all must do more.
Government members like to stand up to say that they have really got Canadians' backs. Well, they are on Canadians' backs. They are piling more and more debt on the backs of Canadians. Coming out of COVID, they promised Canadians that they were finally going to invest in them to look after them. Canadians were feeling the pressures from the COVID pandemic and three years being locked up, not being around their loved ones. However, as soon as they formed government, they forgot about that $4.5-billion mental health act transfer.
Our friend from Davenport said that the mental health associations and organizations within her riding are happy. Well, I can tell members that I spend almost every day, hours and hours, speaking with representatives from mental health associations. Whether they are our national organizations or grassroots organizations, they are worried.
As a matter of fact, Margaret Eaton, the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, in response to budget 2023, said, “The budget is out of touch with the reality of Canadians’ well-being and their ability to afford mental health services. I believe that the government has missed the mark, and that there will be deep human and economic costs to pay.”
We are already seeing the real human costs of the government's inflationary spending. Recent research indicates that Canadians’ mental health is worsening due to the rising cost of living. Canadians affected by inflation are experiencing higher rates of self-rated anxiety and depression, higher rates of a recent diagnosis of a mood disorder since the pandemic, and higher rates of suicidal ideation. Not only that, inflation is forcing people to cut back on health-related expenses. Does one pay for a prescription or for food on the table?
This budget does nothing for Canadians living in rural and remote communities. It is making life even more expensive for rural Canadians, especially in my riding of Cariboo—Prince George, where we have to drive long distances to get services. Everything we consume, whether it is fuel for our vehicles, the food we need to put on our tables to feed our families or the oil to heat our homes, has gone up. We do not have the luxury of taking the LRT to get services. We have to drive long distances. We have to fuel our vehicles.
Currently, gas prices are $1.66 a litre and maybe even higher in Prince George. It was $1.65 in Williams Lake last week and $1.74 in Vanderhoof, and that has actually come down from the $2.00 per litre it was just weeks before. Sadly, on April 1, Canadians woke up to higher prices, higher taxes and a smaller paycheque. By 2030, two carbon taxes could add 50¢ per litre to the price of gasoline, according to the PBO.
This budget says nothing about the promise that the public safety minister made to my community of Vanderhoof about a new police station, which it has been waiting years for, especially after the shooting in November 2021. Someone shot up our police station. An individual targeted the RCMP, and because they work in such an antiquated facility, people were hiding behind plywood and aluminum siding to get away from the bullets. The minister, just last year, promised action on that facility. However, it is not mentioned anywhere in budget 2023.
The budget promises relief for families. However, the Liberals' inflationary spending has caused the cost of food and groceries to skyrocket. One in five Canadians are skipping meals. People are going to food banks. People are asking for help to end their lives and access MAID, not because they are sick, but because they cannot afford the rising cost of living in this country. As a matter of fact, in Toronto, food banks have seen numbers quadruple. It has gone from 60,000 people per month to over 270,000 individuals accessing its food banks. Those are real people. They are not just statistics. Those are the people we have all been elected to serve in the House.
The money the government spends is not its money. It is Canadians' money. I think Canadians are not getting the bang for their buck they deserve from the government and the Prime Minister. The Liberals want to talk about the grocery rebate of $234. I have no doubt that is going to help individuals, but that is one time. What are Canadians doing for the rest of the year? That is one week. That is only a few bags of groceries.
Everything in rural and remote communities has a higher cost. Milk has a higher cost. Loaves of bread have a higher cost. Butter has a higher cost. Every point of contact raises the cost because of the Liberals' tax policies.
Let me talk about the opioid crisis. What would budget 2023 do for the growing opioid crisis? It is a national crisis. In my province alone, we are seeing numbers go through the roof. Just last month, we went from 2,000 overdose calls per month to over 3,000 calls per month. As a matter of fact, on March 22, just a few weeks ago, paramedics attended over 205 overdose events in just one day. That is staggering. Our communities are gripped with such a huge mental health and drug crisis, yet there is nothing in budget 2023 addressing these issues.
We seem powerless in this country to stop those drugs from flowing in through our borders and into our communities, and our police, RCMP or security services seem powerless to stop those drugs from getting into the hands of friends and family. I know what I am speaking of. I have a brother who is on the streets and is gripped by his addiction to drugs. We are powerless to get him off the streets, and so many families are experiencing this. Whether they are experiencing the growing rates of suicide, or the loss of loved ones who have died by suicide or overdose, the families who are gripped in the mental health crisis our country is saddled with are being offered nothing in this budget.
As I said earlier on, the government is out of touch. What do we expect from a Prime Minister who tells Canadians to just pay for their debts with their credit cards? It is not surprising. What he has been doing for seven and a half years is using Canadians' money to fuel his out-of-control spending. He is out of touch and Canadians deserve better.
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- Apr/17/23 4:31:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Chatham-Kent—Leamington for his interventions and also for a good, collegial approach to our work.
Canada is obviously part of a world economy. We see inflation as a worldwide phenomenon. We also see Canada's response to inflation being targeted and careful. I would describe this as a business-friendly budget, one that makes sure those who may be at risk of being left behind are not. Businesses will also have an environment in which they can flourish.
We are not an island. Canada is part of a world economy, and we will always continue to be among the best G7 and G20 leaders in debt-to-GDP ratio. We will continue to build, knowing that we need at times to invest, at times to save. Right now, we do not want to leave anybody behind as we grow our economy in a greener future.
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- Apr/17/23 5:05:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, today I will be sharing my time with the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.
It is an honour to rise today to speak to this budget bill, which is a very important budget. I have been sitting here for quite some time listening to Conservatives routinely talk about the government spending too much money, but then the same speakers in the same speeches talk about all the places where we should be spending more money. I am getting mixed statements coming from the other side of the House on what we should be doing. Nonetheless, I would like to address some of the points I have heard today.
First, I am going to start with the issue of the debt and deficit we have in Canada. There is no doubt that we are still coming down off of the debt and deficits that were taken on during the pandemic to support Canadians. It is a public policy that we decided on in this country, as most OECD countries did, if not all to at least some degree, to take care of Canadians, our constituents and residents, during the pandemic. That is exactly what we did. We ensured they had the supports they needed.
We are obviously coming down off of that. The deficits are getting smaller as we move away from and put the pandemic behind us, but it should be said that, in comparison to other countries, when we compare the inflationary impacts of Canada to the United States, for example, the United States is seeing much steeper inflation, especially as it relates to items such as groceries, which the Conservatives always want to bring up.
I am not saying all of this because I am trying to say we should not be worried about inflation. We should, and it something that we do need to tackle. What I am saying is that inflation has been happening globally. It is something that the world is experiencing. Yes, there is a lot of credit to the argument that it had to do with the supports that went out. It is not due exclusively to that, but, globally speaking, when we look at that, we can draw a correlation to it. However, we should not suggest that inflation in Canada is happening in isolation from the rest of the world or, more importantly, that we would have had the ability to control inflation in isolation from the rest of the world, especially when we consider how globalized our economy is.
We have more trade agreements with other countries than any other country in the world. What does that mean? That means that, when we build things, things are flying across the border. I will give a perfect example. I do not know if members know this, but 80% of the nylon that goes into airbags comes from the Invista plant in my riding of Kingston and the Islands. It makes the nylon, and that nylon will probably travel somewhere to the United States where it is made into the fabric. It then maybe goes somewhere in Mexico through the NAFTA agreement to be fabricated into the airbag, then it probably passes to another country to create the airbag that goes into the steering wheel, and from there the process continues.
My point is that we are a globalized country that has significant trade with many different countries. The unfortunate reality of that is that inflationary impacts are not something we can control in isolation from the rest of the world. If we tried to take an inverted approach and only focused within Canada, saying we will do things without the rest of the world, we would be left behind. As a matter of fact, if we look at the United States and Donald Trump's approach when he was president, we see that he took that approach, and he was unsuccessful in doing it because of that globalization, and it still saw more inflation than Canada did.
I respect the argument because it is a great talking point. It points the blame at somebody, but the reality is that, when Conservatives point the finger at this government to say it has caused all of the inflation in this country, it is ludicrous. It just does not make sense, and it is unfair.
Having said all of that, it is also worth pointing out that, despite the challenging times that the world is seeing right now, Canada continues to have the lowest deficit in the G7. We have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. Why is that important?
It means that, as our economy is growing, and as we are seeing new industries and we are expanding, we are able to keep that deficit in check, relatively speaking, against other countries. Also, very important is the fact that Canada continues to maintain a AAA credit rating.
We should all be concerned about the inflation we are seeing throughout the world. We should certainly be concerned about how it is impacting Canadians here in Canada, but to suggest, for a second, that it is something that we could control while also, at the same time, engaging in the globalization and the global trade that we do, is just wrong. It does not make sense, and any economist would tell us that. It is extremely disingenuous when we hear from the opposition that that is the case.
I also find it absolutely remarkable, and I have said this a number of times, that if people believe that the Prime Minister of Canada, whom the official opposition is very critical of on a daily basis, is responsible for inflation in our country, then they would somehow have to also accept the fact that he is responsible for inflation throughout the world.
To my Conservative colleagues, I would say that, for somebody they do not have a lot of faith in to do anything, to suddenly be giving that individual credit for affecting global inflation is truly a remarkable feat. They cannot have it both ways, despite the fact that Conservatives would like to do that.
The other falsehood or talking point we continually hear from Conservatives, and I would like to take the opportunity to try to once again set the record straight, as I am broken record, and I have been saying this for five or six years, respects the carbon tax, or what we, and I, like to call a price on pollution. I will explain why that is in a second. If the term of the day is “carbon tax”, I am happy to entertain the discussion.
What Conservatives always leave out when they are talking about that, every single time, is the fact that there is a rebate. Although the price on pollution might triple by 2030, and not a couple of days ago, as the Conservative rhetoric would like people to believe, although that may be increasing, and it does increase every year, so too does the rebate. The rebate is reflective of how much people are paying and what they are paying on that price on pollution, or that carbon tax.
That is important because of my reason why I prefer to call it a price on pollution as opposed to a carbon tax. A tax is something that is intended to be collected into general revenues and then used for supports, income redistribution to support those in particular hardships who need it at various times, and that is not what this levy does. It takes the money and then returns that money to Canadians. It is the exact same amount. Whether one made $1 million dollars last year or $10,000, we all got the same amount based on the number of people in our family, in our households.
Now, a very valid question would be why we would even bother doing that if we are giving the money back. I think it is actually a good question, and a lot of people ask that. There is a very simple explanation for it. Economists throughout the world resoundingly agree that, when a price is put on something, it changes the behaviour in the marketplace. It incentivizes people to make different choices.
If people are making very environmentally friendly choices and they are paying just a little into that price on pollution, they stand to gain more back than they put in. That is an incentive to incentivize people to make different decisions as it relates to the choices they are making when they are making purchases.
Those are two very important things that I wanted to bring up in this debate, because I think they are germane based on the discussion I have heard thus far. I will certainly be supporting this budget. This is a budget that respects the circumstances we are in and that we have just come out of, and it is a budget that looks towards the future to invest in people and in businesses throughout our country.
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- Apr/17/23 5:15:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a very short question: What set of circumstances would the member envision where the ratio of debt to GDP would drop? If the Deputy Prime Minister stated last year that it was always going to drop but this year it did not, circumstances changed, what set of circumstances would allow for some responsibility here?
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- Apr/17/23 5:15:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is an excellent question, and I am so glad that I was asked it.
The reality is that if our economy continues to grow, and grow at a faster pace, which it is through immigration, through investing in people and businesses, then we are taking on debt and our net benefit, our net bottom line, is actually ahead. That is why Conservatives have done it. That is why Liberals have done it. That is why, out of the last 16 budgets introduced by Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney, only two ran surpluses. Every other run ran a deficit, because they all understood the economics would be the exact same. I guarantee the member that if the Conservatives end up on this side of the House, they will continue to do the exact same thing.
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- Apr/17/23 6:25:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to ask a question of my colleague from Winnipeg North.
He just made the comment that this is a budget for all Canadians, and it certainly is. Every Canadian is going to have to repay the extreme debt the Liberals have put this country in. It is the biggest debt ever. He talked about accountability. The current government said it spent $500 billion for COVID, and the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada indicated that 40% of that had nothing to do with COVID. That has contributed to inflation. It will continue to, and even at the rates we have, it is the worst in decades. He can compare it to wherever he likes, but comparing it to ourselves, it is still the worst ever.
Can he give us an accounting of why we are still 3.5 million houses short, if the Liberals' housing program is working so well?
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