44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 25, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise this evening to talk about budget 2023 and all of the investments it is going to make in our country and in our communities right across Canada from coast to coast to coast.
Since the tabling of budget 2023, I have had the opportunity to spend some time in my riding, as we all did, throughout the Easter break. However, it was more than just Easter break in my riding. There were quite a lot of activities, festivities and things to celebrate, including Sikh Heritage Month, Ramadan, Passover, Easter and many other things. It was good to be back in Milton to engage with industry leaders, families, students, academics and various advocates on budget 2023 and put into context what it means for Milton and Miltonians.
Budget 2023 is designed to meet the challenges and opportunities of today by building an economy that works for all Canadians while supporting our communities towards a greener, healthier and more sustainable future. These are really ambitious objectives. We are meeting the moment, and we are going to achieve those objectives by providing targeted relief to help families, seniors, students and workers afford everyday essentials, with some fairly historic investments in health care. We are expanding our dental care rebate and focusing on families and the people who do not currently have access because they do not have any insurance.
When I was an athlete competing for Canada, I did not have a dental care plan, so I paid out of pocket for dental. At the time, I thought I was a minority. I thought I might be one of only a few Canadians who do not have access to dental care. However, as it turns out, fully one-third of Canadians do not have access to dental care, and that is too many. It turns out that many seniors in my riding fall just over the income threshold for the provincial program that seeks to provide support and dental care for seniors. One has to have very low income in order to qualify for some of those programs.
A lot of self-employed people, and we have plenty of those as we have a lot of entrepreneurs in Milton, do not have access to benefits, and some of their kids will not have access to dental. Friends of mine in Milton, Carley and her husband, have three jobs between the two of them. They work really hard serving our community, yet their three kids do not have dental care insurance, because their jobs do not cover it. However, with these new investments, all three of those kids will be able to visit the dentist, and it will not provide the family with any sort of financial burden, which is great.
I would like to take a deeper dive on some local implications of budget 2023, and how it will invest in the clean economy and deliver some great jobs and great careers for now and for generations to come.
First and foremost, I would like to focus on how budget 2023 makes life more affordable for Milton families. Too many people in our community and across the country are faced with real, tangible affordability challenges. They are struggling with the effects of higher grocery prices and rising housing costs. Budget 2023 is providing relief with a one-time grocery rebate, which is a $2.5-billion measure targeted on inflation, for the Canadians who need it most.
It is a proven method to address these concerns, by using the GST rebate, which a lot of people are familiar with. Over 11 million low- and middle-income Canadians and families will receive the grocery rebate, and that means an extra $467 for families. Canadians without children will receive $234, and seniors will receive up to an additional $225. These measures are means-tested, which means they will be targeted to the families that need it most.
I looked into this a little bit and did some research on the rising cost of groceries in Canada, and indeed, in 2023, groceries will cost families, on average, about the same amount. Many families are changing some of their eating habits. My partner, Emily, does not eat meat, and I eat less meat as a result of eating many meals with her and find that eating vegetarian a couple of times a week lowers our total cost.
Adding all of those supports and programs that our government has introduced and improved over the last couple of years really puts this into context. I encourage Canadians who are interested in the budget or in any of these cost-savings measures to go to the website and check out how certain families will be implicated with all of these changes. I will post the website when I post this speech.
I actually did a bit of research, taking an arbitrary four-person family in Milton with an income of $85,000. I found that, with reduced child care costs, the Canada child benefit, the Canada dental benefit, tax relief from an increased basic personal amount and the increased climate action incentive payments, this family will save over $11,000.
I actually went a step lower on the income scale. I applied the same income that my family would have had when I was growing up, with two kids under six and a combined income of around $60,000, which is probably more than my mom made back in the day, but obviously times have changed a bit. With the grocery rebate, the increase in the Canada child benefit, the climate action incentive results and reduced child care costs, for a family that earns $60,000, that would result in a net savings of over $21,000. These are real, tangible impacts the budget would have on chequebooks.
I was knocking on doors throughout January. Families in Milton were saying that times are tough, but they recognize the measures we have brought forward as a government, which are really helping their families. That was good to hear, and it makes me want to come back to work to keep working hard on these things.
I have stood in this House before to talk about the $198.6-billion investments in health care that this budget formally introduces, but I would like to focus on one aspect that impacts many of our neighbours, and that is the health care human resource crisis. My mom is at an age now when she is looking to have a few procedures done. One of those is a cataract surgery. She also needed a new knee, and she has been waiting a long time. That knee was ready to get fixed during the pandemic. She went on a couple of lists, and that was delayed, obviously. Many of those challenges are worsened by the health care human resources crisis.
Canada needs more doctors and nurses, and we need them now. We are addressing this need with a number of priorities outlined in bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories. Namely, we are streamlining foreign credential recognition, so that internationally trained medical professionals in Canada can get working in their fields of expertise more quickly. We are investing in wages for PSWs and other workers to encourage retention, and we are also investing in education for better recruitment to the sector. We want young people to know that if they are considering a job in health care, we are here to support that ambition every single step of the way.
For students, the budget is really extraordinary. Over 750,000 post-secondary students rely on federal assistance each year to help them cover the cost of tuition, housing and everyday essentials. We want to make those expenditures more affordable, so budget 2023 seeks to do this by improving financial assistance for students with a 40% increase to Canada student grants. That is $4,200 for full-time students. We are also raising the total federal aid available to full-time students by over $1,000, up to $14,400 for 2023. In all of that, we would also eliminate all of the interest on Canada student loans and Canada apprenticeship loans forever. There will be no more interest on those loans. I think this is an incredible measure. The next generation of students will never know the additional burden of that financial hardship going into their working years. I was really glad to hear that.
Two weeks ago, two of the awesome co-op students working in my constituency office in Milton organized a day when I went into their schools, Milton District High School and St. Francis Xavier, and I spoke to teachers and students about the impact this would have. The majority of those teachers have experienced student debt. I asked the students who was planning on going to university or college next year, and everybody put up their hand. I asked the teachers who had student loans when they were in school, and every teacher there put up their hand, obviously. I asked them how long it took to pay off that debt. It took a while. It took a couple of years; there is no question. It is important to note that this is not just for college and university; it is also for trades and apprenticeship graduates, so that those students would never have to experience that same financial burden.
I would like to skip forward a bit to some of the measures in this budget that would support seniors, specifically. In budget 2023, we are strengthening pensions by providing $76 billion in support to over seven million seniors through critical programs like the guaranteed income supplement and old age security. Really importantly, these benefits would continue to be adjusted to keep up with inflation, and we would also expand dental care to seniors and redouble our efforts to support local seniors through programs like the New Horizons for Seniors. I recently announced over $100,000 in funding for seven local senior-serving community organizations, groups like Ontario Seniors' Forum and many others, which are hosting events in the library and at the arts centre to combat loneliness and isolation and serve our seniors.
This budget would do so much for Milton. I had a chance to visit local small businesses to talk about the fact that we are going to work with credit card companies to reduce the costs of constantly swiping our phones or our cards on small purchases. I am guilty of buying at least one coffee a day with my telephone, and I know those costs get downloaded right to the small businesses.
These are just some of the ways the lives of Miltonians would see positive change with the passing of this budget, and I am glad I had the opportunity to engage with some of my local members and stakeholders. Now, I would like to engage with some of my fellow members here in the House of Commons.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Milton talked a lot about local implications and being back in his riding. I, too, was back in my riding over the last couple of weeks. When I was there, I heard a totally different scenario from my constituents. They were talking about the huge inflationary cost of everything that is impacting them. In fact, they talked an awful lot about the servicing of the debt, which is going to be $42.9 billion, and who will pay for that. Those were concerns they had.
One of the big things in my riding was a concern about the fact that there was not a single mention of the coal transition or, using the new wording that Liberals like to use, sustainable jobs. The reality is that none of that was there to try to help the people who are going to be losing their jobs. Jobs are not being created in the riding.
I do recognize that the member has been involved with health care. He and I both met yesterday with the Canadian Chiropractic Association. In his speech, he talked about student debt and its impact. Does he recognize that the chiropractic students who are paying back student loans are not actually included in this? Would he agree to adding them to this?
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Mr. Speaker, it was nice to see my colleague at the Canadian Chiropractic Association's meeting yesterday. I had a chance to give a speech as the parliamentary secretary for health. I had a chance to acknowledge that the doctor opposite is in fact a chiropractor. I know that he was well received by many of those constituents.
Indeed, when we frame the conversation around what one likes about the budget or what one does not like about the budget, we are very likely to receive different feedback. However, it is undeniable that the measures in this budget that I went through, measures for seniors, to tackle the climate crisis and to invest in jobs, will have an impact in Saskatchewan. My dad used to live in Regina, and I have a lot of great friends there.
I saw my former teammate Kia Byers just a couple of days ago, and she was talking about the need of Saskatchewan to get off coal and join the green revolution and to invest in more sustainable practices going forward. I could not agree more. There are enough people in Saskatchewan that I think they deserve their own nuclear power plant and they should start using some of that great uranium they take out of the ground in that fine province to fuel their province rather than burning coal.
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Mr. Speaker, to hear my Liberal colleagues today, I really get the impression that everything is just fine and dandy.
I thank my colleague for his speech, but there were many things that piqued my attention. I could ask tons of questions, but I will try to be brief.
An annual income of $85,000 for a family is good, but my colleague said that his government was helping seniors. What is it doing for seniors whose annual income is $20,000? Does he really think it is possible to live with dignity on that amount?
I just reread a press release by FADOQ because I too have been consulting the people back home. In fact, I organized a conference on seniors' health. FADOQ says that the only thing for seniors in this budget is the one-time help for groceries, a single cheque that seniors will receive once. That is not going to help in the long term. FADOQ is critical of the fact that the guaranteed income supplement was not increased.
As far as old age security is concerned, I would remind my colleague that, currently, every senior under 75 is still not getting help from their government, and those 75 and older got an increase of only 10%. Those 75 and under got absolutely nothing.
My colleague just spoke about nuclear energy. I cannot believe how much greenwashing there is in this budget. As I said, I could go on at length about that, but his government is putting the same spin on its approach to seniors.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her comments and mini-speech. There were a lot of questions in there.
This government has done some amazing things over the past seven years.
I am going to speak in English so that I can get my idea out because I have never actually said this in French before.
There is no government in history that has done more to solve seniors poverty. When we took power in 2015, seniors poverty was at a totally unacceptable rate, something around 9% or 10%. Seniors as a cohort in Canada are now the least impoverished group socio-demographically. That is not to suggest that we ought not to do even more to support seniors, but we have done more than just cut seniors poverty in half in this country by investing in old age security, which my colleague erroneously pointed out has not been reinvested in.
We have increased all sorts of funding to seniors-serving organizations, and seniors poverty is now at an all-time low. That does not mean that we should not continue to invest, but to suggest we have done nothing is false.
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- Apr/25/23 6:46:04 p.m.
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All right, here is my reminder of the evening: I really do not want to interrupt people's thoughts or to limit the time that people ask questions or answer questions, but we just asked two questions and other parties are not going to get an opportunity to answer. Try to keep the questions short and try to keep the answers short so everybody can participate in this debate.
Continuing debate, the hon. member for Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix.
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Mr. Speaker, there is so much to do in politics. There are people to listen to, people to convince, people to defend and people to support, but the most important thing for politicians to do is to keep their word and their commitment to the people they have met, listened to and shaken hands with.
I got into politics as a member of the Bloc Québécois by promising the community of Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix and all of Quebec that I would speak on their behalf, do my utmost to defend the things that matter to them and that they are concerned about, and live up to the expectations that they have of the federal government based on the taxes that they pay. Those taxes take a significant portion of their hard-earned, proudly earned money out of their pockets and, as good citizens, they hope to see it used to benefit society in general.
This is my second term and, once again, I have the opportunity and, of course, the privilege to share their messages in the House, to speak on their behalf and to make the government aware of their reality.
People in my riding have a different reality than that of people living in urban centres, where activities and investments are buzzing. Along the Côte-de-Beaupré, in Île d’Orléans, Beauport, Charlevoix, and from Courville to Baie‑Sainte‑Catherine, the people from my neck of the woods are creative, innovative and resilient. They are hard workers.
Entrepreneurship is very popular, and, every year, we salute the excellence of good work at galas worthy of major social events in the big city. People in the regions are resourceful, proud and forward thinkers, because we have no other choice. All too often, we cannot count on anyone but ourselves to develop our socio-economic potential, which is too often ignored in favour of the electoral potential that can be courted in major urban centres. Our economic levers are considered negligible, whereas they are often levers that ensure food sovereignty and national economic vitality. SMEs, non-profit organizations and their human potential are the socio-economic vectors that ensure the stability and constancy of the economy in general, in addition to allowing regional development and providing people in the communities with the services and the means to stay where they were born and where they have chosen to live and raise a family.
That is what has informed my opinion of Bill C-47, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 28, 2023. It is a 430-page bill that amends 59 pieces of legislation, as well as the tax regulations, and that, in its current form, once again prevents a full discussion on all the important measures it contains. Unfortunately, we will be voting against this bill because, despite its volume, it contains significant gaps. The position we have taken is because of these gaps.
There is nothing for seniors, who are the forgotten ones. It is impossible to live decently on benefits that are well below the poverty line. The Bloc Québécois is calling for seniors to be given the bare minimum, specifically an additional $110 per month starting at age 65. They deserve it. They are entitled to it, period. We also need to encourage seniors who want to put their knowledge and experience to work for a few more years by offering them attractive tax benefits. Everyone agrees, except the government.
There is nothing for housing. We continue to tread water. There is no ambitious plan for accessing affordable housing. The government is handing out crumbs just to save face. People, families and thousands of people are waiting, completely destitute. Their despair is palpable. Everyone knows it except for the government.
There is no long-term solution to the underfunding in health. I could go on about that. Quebec and the provinces have been picking up the slack for years to make up for the lack of federal funding in health. The result is that Quebec and the provinces are getting poorer year after year trying to maintain acceptable health services without adequate federal funding, which means they cannot invest properly in other sectors. Budget after budget, they are falling behind in several areas.
Canada is getting richer on the backs of Quebec and the provinces, and nothing in this budget suggests that things are going to improve.
When the pandemic hit, the balance that was already so fragile collapsed, and health care services completely broke down. Essential investments for the economic health of the provinces and Quebec, to enable them to keep up with international development, fall short. On the whole, there is a general decline in services and quality of life. I think it bears repeating that this is a significant problem.
Every person and every socio-economic area is affected in one way or another by the federal government's failure to meet its obligations to the provinces on health care. Everyone knows it, except for the government. It is serious.
We do not talk enough about the recent provincial agreements. They are ridiculous. The provinces so urgently need a lot of money for health care that they would rather have these ridiculous agreements than nothing at all. They are between a rock and a hard place.
The government slipped in some surprising provisions about the monarchy. What is that all about in 2023? Millions of dollars will be wasted on an outdated exercise that is the symbol of futile and unjustified supremacy, and, even worse, of submission for Quebec. Most Canadians and most definitely the National Assembly of Quebec and Quebeckers themselves agree that they want no part of the monarchy. Everyone knows it, except the government.
There are the lovely stories from oil country. Bill C-47 will create infrastructure to let organizations that are not accountable to Parliament manage billions of dollars that the government plans to invest in the green transition. Who will measure the results of these investments? The oil companies? Who will tell us if it is a real green transition or simply an exercise in greenwashing? Given what we know about environmental forecasting, how can we allow oil exploration in 2023, let alone invest in it?
I cannot believe that we have not made more progress. All that money should be invested solely in developing clean energy. That is the only way. The year 2030 is tomorrow. Everyone knows it, except the government.
What about employment insurance? I am not going to dwell on this topic for long. Not only are there no partial provisions to help EI claimants in seasonal jobs, but there is nothing to signal EI reform in the short or medium term. The Employment Insurance Act stipulates that the fund cannot run a surplus or deficit on average over seven years.
Last year, the government grabbed nearly $2 billion that belonged to workers. The same thing happened again this year, and the 2023 budget calls for another $13 billion to be taken away by 2030. In the end, we are talking about $17 billion that the Trudeau government intends to take from the pockets of EI fund contributors. We have no right to let this happen. It is not okay for the government to use the premiums taxpayers pay into the EI fund to pay off some the government's pandemic debt. It is unacceptable.
The EI fund is balanced and must be fully reserved for workers who experience a break between active work periods. Insurance is meant to insure, not to prop up the government when it makes financial blunders. Everyone knows that, except the government.
What about the fisheries, which have been adversely affected by the Prime Minister's and the minister's decisions to cut pelagic fishers off from their livelihood with 48 hours' notice? What is being imposed on the fisheries is shocking: no measures, no consideration for the fisheries, no on-site consultation, no funding for modernized ships and research, both for measuring the consequences of climate change and for properly and adequately assessing all resources. What about the lack of predictability, a word that is not in DFO's vocabulary? Everyone knows it, except the government.
Together with the Bloc Québécois, we established a fishers' round table in Sainte‑Anne‑des‑Monts. Everyone was there, including suppliers, fishers, scientists and processors. We listened to them, and they made us aware of the issues. We heard some great solutions. Everyone knows what needs to be done, everyone, that is, except the government.
The legendary passion and genius of our regions have kept them going so far. However, with each federal budget, the regions are forgotten, ignored and impoverished. One day very soon, the regions will forget, too. They will ignore the federal government and demand to regain full control of their economic potential. Quebec will get fed up with the federal government's moods and its lack of consideration for Quebec and its socio-economic development. On that day, Quebec will become independent. Everyone knows it, except the government.
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Mr. Speaker, just because the member says it does not necessarily make it true. To give a false impression that the government is not in the different regions of the country is absolutely ridiculous. In every region of the country, the government is actively there supporting Canadians in a very real and tangible way. Whether it is our trades, our health care, our seniors, building a healthier and stronger economy, by being there for the environment, there are ample examples throughout the budget implementation legislation that clearly demonstrates that we have a national government that is genuinely concerned about the development of our communities, no matter the size, big or small.
Would the member not agree that she is being a little selective in her interpretations of the readings that she made and compared to other governments, this is a government that genuinely cares about all the regions of our great nation?
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Mr. Speaker, to echo what my colleague said earlier, one would think that everything is going great for this government. Everything is just fine and dandy.
On the ground, we are hearing from desperate people, destitute fishers, who are under the thumb of bureaucrats and technocrats who have never consulted in the field. This is just in the fishery. What about employment insurance, which is a major lever for economic development?
Business owners and workers alike agree with the Bloc Québécois's position that EI must be adapted for seasonal work done by people in the regions. If that does not happen, seasonal work will cease to exist.
How can the government tell me that everything is fine and that the government supports the regions?
That is not what I am hearing in my region.
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Uqaqtittiji, I agree with a lot of what the member said. There is a lot of disappointment in the budget, including especially the delayed commitment to address indigenous housing. There is $4 billion and I understand that would not start until next year. I wonder if the member could explain what the Liberal government needs to hear to make sure that we are doing better for indigenous housing, including in Quebec.
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Mr. Speaker, the plight of indigenous people is terribly sad. We are talking about housing, of course, but there are still some indigenous people who do not have access to clean drinking water.
The government is congratulating itself on its big investments and fine words about truth and reconciliation, but it still has not given these people clean drinking water, let alone affordable housing. The government would rather stimulate the construction of condos worth $700,000 or $800,000 than help people who need it and who are dependent on government decisions.
I agree with my colleague. We absolutely need to band together and force the government to invest more in affordable housing, particularly for indigenous people.
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Mr. Speaker, I would first like to remind the member for Winnipeg North that my colleague and I were being sarcastic when we said that everything is just fine and dandy. That is my first point.
My second is that my colleague spoke about employment insurance. I will be more brief than I was earlier, I promise. Employment insurance is vital. The current government is all about fake feminism. By not investing enough in health transfers, it is harming the community groups that work to prevent domestic violence. By failing to invest in EI reform, it is harming women, who are penalized more by the current EI system. That is also true for those who go on maternity leave. The government is all about fake feminism. These investments are being called for.
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely agree with my colleague. I think that she added to my speech, which I had to condense, so I was not able to provide all the detail that I wanted to.
I thank my colleague. That is absolutely right.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to join the debate on the budget implementation act.
There are some interesting numbers in this budget. Total revenues coming in to the government are $456.8 billion and expenses are $446.6 billion. On the surface, when one looks at that, one would think that is not too bad. There is actually some money kicking around, but the problem is the government has run up our national debt so high that the debt charges alone are just shy of $44 billion this year, and they are going to increase to $50 billion. That is creating a deficit this year of $40.1 billion, which is $10 billion higher than what was originally projected.
Why is the interest rate so high? That is because the government, under the Liberal Prime Minister, has run up our national debt so it is now twice as big as what it was when he took office, at $1.2 trillion. That is a travesty, and it is shameful what the government is doing to our taxpayers today and in the future. Our children and grandchildren are going to have to pay off this spending binge that the Liberals have been on for the last eight years.
As shadow minister of national defence, I want to talk a bit about the expenditures in this budget. If we look at the budget and the estimates today, Liberals are going to spend $26.4 billion. That is down from last year's $27.58 billion. Despite the rhetoric coming from the Liberals, they are not spending more, they are spending less. The Prime Minister, we know from leaked documents, has no intention of ever reaching the NATO target of 2% of GDP being spent on our national defence.
However, the Prime Minister has no problem spending $6,000 a night in luxurious hotel rooms in London. He has no problem wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to go on his luxurious vacations in Jamaica and the Bahamas. It relates back to the Prime Minister just not prioritizing our national defence and how important it is, not only in protecting Canadians here at home, but also in standing up for our allies around the world and having serious relationships.
The Conference of Defence Associations Institute just wrote a letter, signed by 60 prominent Canadians. In it, they say, “Years of restraint, cost cutting, downsizing and deferred investments, have meant that Canada’s defence capabilities have atrophied.” They go on to say, “the recent federal budget was largely a summary of previous announcements without any acknowledgement that the Government must accelerate program spending, and make significant additional funding available to address the long-standing deficiencies in military capabilities and readiness.”
Our safety is not a luxury. We have to make sure we are treating national defence like we do in our homes by buying home insurance and fire insurance and paying the premium. Investment in our military is a premium that we have to pay to protect us at home. In the letter from those 60 prominent Canadians, they said, “Canada cannot afford to conduct 'business as usual'”.
Part of the responsibility we have in national defence is to stand up for our democracy and protecting democracies around the world. For 426 days, we have watched in real time the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine and have witnessed barbaric war crimes and atrocities being committed by Putin's war machine. For 426 days, the people of Ukraine have now only stood up to the Kremlin's genocidal attempt to Russify Ukraine once again.
This is a war of attrition. Vladimir Putin is prepared to play the long game, turning this war into a frozen conflict to let war fatigue overtake western resiliency. Unfortunately, it may be working. I just never dreamed that Canada would be the first ally to show signs of war weariness. One may ask what the proof of that is. In the Liberals' recent budget, the finance minister, surprisingly, offers Ukraine little more than platitudes. So much for her being a champion for Ukraine.
Despite President Zelenskyy asking for more assistance and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who was just here, hoping Canada would donate more armoured vehicles and ammunition, budget 2023 provides only $200 million in new spending in military equipment for Ukraine. Much of this is a bookkeeping exercise to account for the eight Leopard tanks that we have donated to Ukraine. We can only hope that the Canadian Armed Forces will use that money to buy new tanks to replace the ones we just donated.
Regrettably, the Prime Minister and his Liberals have spent our fiscal cupboards bare. After eight years of the Liberal government, our national debt has doubled to $1.2 trillion. Our federal deficit is $10 billion higher, and it will soon reach $50 billion, which is more than what we spend on National Defence. The size of our government is $151 billion bigger than it was in 2015.
The Liberals have increased spending on just about everything in this budget except National Defence. A case in point is that they have spent a whopping $22 billion on consultants. As our Conservative leader pointed out in his reply to the budget, “Now the interest costs on the national debt have doubled. We are spending double the national defence budget on the interest costs on the national debt. It is ridiculous.”
Sadly, well-connected consultants, big bankers and wealthy bond holders will get more from these Liberals than our troops will. This is all bad news for taxpayers, and it inhibits Canada's ability from helping allies such as Ukraine or investing in our National Defence during these troubling times in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and our Arctic. To be clear, as His Majesty's loyal opposition, we have supported the military, humanitarian and financial assistance provided to Ukraine by the government, but Canada's Conservatives believe the government can and must do more to help Ukraine win this war.
Conservatives have strongly advocated to increase the production and exportation of our ethical oil and natural gas, along with other energy products, to Europe to displace the Russian oil and gas that is fuelling Putin's war machine. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 426 days ago, Conservatives have consistently called on the government to send more lethal weapons. In fact, since March 2022, we have been asking the government to donate to Ukraine our armoured ambulances; Harpoon missiles; Role 3 mobile hospitals; sniper rifles; and our soon-to-be-retired fleet of light armoured vehicles, also called LAVs, specifically the Bison, the Coyote and tracked LAVs, also known as M113s.
National Defence confirmed in writing, in its response to an Order Paper question tabled in this House, that it has 149 LAV II Coyotes; 142 M113 tracked LAVs, and 196 LAV II Bisons. These LAVs will soon be replaced with 360 brand new LAV armoured combat support vehicles, which are currently sitting in London, Ontario. Instead of decommissioning our old LAVs and turning them into war memorials or selling them for scrap, the Ukraine defence forces would gladly welcome them. A case in point is that the U.S.A. and Australia donated 130 M113s last summer to Ukraine, and they were crucial in the liberation of Kharkiv.
The Liberals have sadly argued that our Coyotes, Bisons and tracked LAVs are too old, too worn out and have not yet been declared surplus. DND had noted that 62 of the Coyotes were deemed reparable, but they would take 220 days to procure the parts and put them back into service. That was 309 days ago, back in June of last year. Did the Liberal government act? Are we able to donate those LAVs now? Unfortunately, the answer is no, so Ukraine does without.
Regardless of the Liberals' apathy and excuses, I remain confident in the resiliency and ingenuity of the Ukrainian people. I know that if we sent our fleet of older LAVs to Ukraine, the Ukrainians would immediately put them to good use. What works, they would fight with; what does not, they would cannibalize for parts. This is not a novel idea. Just ask our Royal Canadian Air Force. The Liberals stuck it with 18 old, worn-out F-18 Aussie fighter jets, and they had to buy another seven broken fighter jets for the spare parts.
The black, fertile plains of Ukraine are soaked with the blood of millions of innocent people who were murdered during the Holodomor and the Holocaust. We must stand with Ukraine and stop today's genocide being committed by Putin's war machine. Canada must not waiver. We cannot grow weary. We must not falter. During difficult times like these, we remember great leaders such as Sir Winston Churchill, who said in his famous “blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech, “victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” Ukraine must survive. Ukraine must win.
As I said earlier, with respect to National Defence, the Prime Minister does not seem to care. His rhetoric does not match his actions. In the leaked documents that came from the Pentagon that were on the Discord app, it said, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told NATO officials privately that Canada will never meet the military alliance’s defense-spending target”. It goes on to say—
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- Apr/25/23 7:11:05 p.m.
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Order. Even though we are quoting, we cannot say a name, so we are going to back that up to say “the Prime Minister”.
The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman.
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Mr. Speaker, yes, it was the Prime Minister. The documents go on to say that the “defence shortfalls hinder Canadian capabilities, while straining partner relationships and alliance contributions.” That impacts our bilateral relationships, which not only affects defence and security but also impacts our trading relationships with those partners.
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Mr. Speaker, whether it has been the incredible leadership of the member for Etobicoke Centre, the Deputy Prime Minister or the Prime Minister himself, not to mention the different ministers responsible, whether for defence or foreign affairs, we have been very much on top of the Ukraine file. In many areas, we have led.
In other areas, we continue to work with the United Nations and our allied partners. I think it is somewhat shameful that the member would try to give a false impression that the Government of Canada has not been supportive of Ukraine because, in every way, it has been supportive of Ukraine.
My question to the member has to do with the member making reference to the Government of Canada not hitting 2% of the GDP. Does the member not remember that he was, after all, the parliamentary secretary of defence and it was the Harper government that actually dropped below 1% of Canada's GDP? I can assure the member that this government has never even come close to that, as we get closer to 2%.
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Mr. Speaker, I will remind the member for Winnipeg North that they are going backward, not forward. They went from 1.34% down to under 1.29% of GDP this year.
They have also gotten very creative with their accounting. They added in veterans' pensions, Global Affairs Canada costs and Coast Guard costs, which we never added in. If we added all of those things in when we were government, we would probably have had 1.5% during the time that we were in Afghanistan.
Yes, we did take a bit of a fall in spending after we pulled out because we were balancing the books, something that the government has no plans of ever doing as it continues to saddle our kids and our grandchildren with its reckless spending.
I will just say this on Ukraine: This budget only has $200 million in it. It is nothing for Ukraine. We supported everything that the government has done in the past, but it is doing nothing in this budget, and that is shameful.
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Mr. Speaker, in one of his recent books, Michael Mann, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the oil industry's primary strategy to deal with climate change was first to deny reality. Then, as the consequences of climate change became visible, the industry changed its strategy to mislead the public. It is trying to make us believe that there is hope that new technologies will emerge in a few years and that we will be able to defeat climate change easily.
I would like to know whether my colleague is prepared to accept science and recognize that taxpayer-funded carbon capture strategies are a ploy to mislead taxpayers. Those subsidies and tax credits for carbon capture and storage represent a significant amount of public funds. Is my colleague, who is so concerned about a balanced budget, prepared to rise and take a stand against these subsidies?
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Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, in this budget, there is some money for our Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba, Lake Simcoe and every other lake across Canada. It is only $650 million spread out over 10 years. That is not an investment in making sure that we protect our freshwater lakes, which are a precious resource.
I was proud that over the time I was a member of Parliament in government, the Lake Winnipeg Basin got over $35 million, just for one lake. This government is not even going to commit that over 10 years for any lake in this country. That is what is disturbing.
I will just say this: The government's idea of reducing carbon emissions is to tax Canadians more, and as a rural Manitoban, as someone with an agriculture background, and as someone who has family that is still farming, I see the impact this is having on our seniors. I see the impact that this is having on farmers. Their costs of production continue to go up. The price of food gets more expensive, and it is all because of the government's tax plan, which is not a carbon plan.
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