44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 1, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I was fascinated by my colleague's speech. He seemed sincere in his belief that a one-time cheque to help pay for groceries, in a time of high inflation, would really help people like seniors who are in a precarious financial situation deal with both rising rent and grocery costs. He said it was to help them get out of that difficult situation.
Quite frankly, anyone who talks about a one-time grocery rebate to help seniors with all the expenses related to inflation is playing a game of smoke and mirrors and engaging in some magical thinking.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to answer in English. I am still working on my French.
Since the member mentioned seniors, I think it is important to know that our government raised OAS for those who are 75 and older. This is the largest increase since 1973. That needs to be recognized. We have also increased the GIS and have lowered the retirement age from 67 to 65 for seniors.
I think it is very important that we continue to stand with seniors. That is what this government has done from the very beginning.
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Madam Speaker, the Conservative leader came to Timmins. He has come a number of times. He has never been willing to meet with indigenous leaders, but during his meeting he was making jokes about electric vehicles. I find it hilarious that a guy who has never actually had a job would come to a mining town where critical minerals are really important and make fun of electric vehicles.
I want to ask my hon. colleague about this. I see the Conservatives undermining and attacking the investments that Volkswagen is making in EV batteries. We see what Biden is doing. We see that the United States is moving to ensure that 67% of all cars are EVs within nine years. Why is it that the Conservatives want to sit at the side of the road with their dead-end 1970s beaters?
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Madam Speaker, that was a very important question on electric vehicles, on our economy, on Volkswagen and on what our government is doing to be there.
Our Prime Minister just announced with our Minister of Innovation one of the largest investments in our country's history for what is going to be the largest industrial plant in our history. It is going to bring over 30,000 good-paying jobs across Canada, with 3,000 jobs in St. Thomas. That is only an hour and a half away from Brampton. We know that when that plant comes up, indirect jobs will be coming up in Brampton, and I know many of my constituents are looking forward to that. In addition, we have the Stellantis plant in Brampton East, which will soon be producing electric vehicles. I know many of my constituents are excited about that too.
I think it is imperative that all of us in this House play a collective role in reducing emissions and fighting climate change.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the great people of Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, who saw fit to send me here, the House of the common people, and also in my capacity as shadow minister for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. As such, my speech will focus on aspects of the budget that pertain to my role as a fisheries critic and aspects that affect the lives of those living in my riding and all the people in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The budget is a special piece of work. In six out of the seven ridings in my province, the people have no one to speak out against what the Liberal government is doing to their standard of living. The finance minister is getting a free ride from my fellow MPs back home, but not from me.
Speaking of home, the Minister of Finance took full advantage of being able to work from home, even though she did not want to afford the same luxury to those government workers who provide services to us while their government continues to fail us. The minister was working from home so much that when she came back and stood to deliver the budget, I could not remember what she looked like. I looked across the way, and I asked my colleague from Cumberland—Colchester who was over there next to the Prime Minister. She looked so familiar, but I just could not quite place her. Was she at home working on the budget, or was she using up some of the Prime Minister's frequent flyer hotel points jet-setting around the world trying to save the planet from the common people?
Whatever the case may be, she could have put a little more elbow grease into the budget, at least from the perspective of those who rely on the ocean to make a living in an industry I am sure she has heard of by now. We call it “the fishing industry”.
I did some analysis of the budget document, looking for mention of several topics, and I will reveal how many times these topics were mentioned. The first one I thought of, which is very near and dear to my heart, is pinnipeds. Members can guess how many times it was mentioned: zero. Next, it was pinniped predation. How many times was that scourge of our three oceans mentioned in the budget? It was zero.
As I kept gandering through it, I thought I might find the word “salmon” or be extra lucky and find reference to the rollout of the much-awaited and highly esteemed wild Atlantic salmon conservation strategy. How many times do members think it was mentioned? It was zero. The folks of our Pacific coast did not fare much better. I searched and searched for a reference to Pacific salmon. Of special interest to me was the Pacific salmon strategy initiative. This long-awaited and much-needed program to help restore west coast salmon was mentioned zero times.
Members may think some of these things are not high enough in priority to be mentioned in that honourable document, which the Minister of Finance burned the midnight oil to produce, but let us hang on a minute here. Let us see if some other things that fall under the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard were mentioned. The Atlantic fisheries fund, a program that supports fisheries innovation, surely should be mentioned. One would think so, but the list of zero continues. There is more. Marine protected areas, small craft harbours, the Canadian Coast Guard and the national shipbuilding strategy were all mentioned zero times.
We have heard a lot of talk about the promised great expansion coming to the blue economy. Is it a pipe dream? Will the Liberal government do a bang-up job, as it did with the green economy? I heard my hon. colleague across the way mention the green economy and how well we are doing with it.
Last night, I was sitting in the airport awaiting my connection to almighty Ottawa. I was feeling curious about all things green, so I googled “lithium production in Canada”. I found that Canada has large hard rock spodumene deposits and brine-based lithium resources, but Canada's lithium production is zero.
The Liberal government, with its lofty targets to have all light vehicles sold in Canada by 2035 be powered by electricity, and given the fact that we do not mine any lithium at the moment and that mines take 10 years to build in this country, is making a mockery of the green economy. We have almost as much lithium as we have red tape. That bit right there was to temper people's expectations and their hunger for electric vehicles. The only thing worse than a banana republic with no bananas is a green banana republic with no lithium to store its coal-generated electricity in. We do not have to look far to see what a pipe dream the green economy has been.
For those wondering about the blue economy, here in Canada, and especially in Atlantic Canada, this budget is nothing but a disappointment. We can guess how many times the blue economy is mentioned in the budget document. Members should hold on to their chairs, because they are in for a shocker: The blue economy is mentioned zero times.
The Fisheries Council of Canada and the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance have identified the opportunity to double the value of our seafood production by 2040. Thirty years ago, Canada was the number one seafood producer in the world. We now sit at number eight. To double our current production from $8.5 billion to $17 billion by 2040 is no small feat. It is a growth opportunity available to few other industries in Canada, but it needs attention now, because 2040 is not far away. Every budget that, like this one, neglects this growth opportunity and reduces our chances of supplying the 7% to 9% yearly increase in demand for seafood in the world, is a failure. Can members imagine? There is increased spending in this budget, $59.5 billion over the next five years, with expectations to grow revenues without even mentioning an industry that could double its contribution to the Canadian economy.
This budget lacks in addressing economic growth opportunities in our coastal region through the blue economy, but it does not lose pace in what the Liberal government is really good at. Members know what I am talking about: increased spending with decreased results.
Last year, the promise was made to balance the budget in the next five years. Now the projection is to have a $14-billion deficit by 2027-28. The Liberal government has doubled our nation's debt since 2015. The cost to Canadians since then has been $3,000 each. Residents of my province of Newfoundland and Labrador are going to pay almost $1,000 a year over the next several years to cover the interest alone on this federal debt.
Due to the inflationary spending, the average family of four in our province is going to pay an extra $1,065 this year alone for food. The grocery credit that is being offered in this budget is simply a joke compared to what the people of Newfoundland and Labrador pay for groceries, and they know it. They also know that the federal carbon tax is going to cost them way more than they will get in the form of rebates.
The Liberals constantly refuted the fact that the carbon tax is going to cost Canadians more than they would receive in rebates. Their own environment minister finally let the cat out of the bag and agreed with the PBO. Households in my province will each pay an extra $1,650 per year in carbon tax by the time it is said and done. The finance minister could have taken real measures, like scrapping the carbon tax and reining in spending to save our people money, but she did not.
The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are hurting. This budget will cause them to hurt more. Therefore, I cannot support the NDP-Liberal coalition's budget. It is not worth the paper it is written on.
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- May/1/23 4:46:07 p.m.
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It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, Democratic Institutions; the hon. member for Kitchener Centre, Housing; and the hon. member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Carbon Pricing.
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Madam Speaker, I know the member opposite cares about Newfoundlanders and Labradorians almost as much as I do. He mentioned a couple of things in his speech, but before I get to the real question, I want to say that I am sorry to hear that he had a fire in his library recently. He lost a number of books, one of which he had not finished colouring.
The member mentioned the shipbuilding strategy. It was the Liberal government that established the shipbuilding strategy to make sure ships were built at home, in Canada. Can the member recall when the Conservative government cancelled the shipbuilding strategy altogether? It let our men and women in the Coast Guard work in rusty buckets. It was the Liberal government that straightened that out and continues to do so today.
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Madam Speaker, I admire my colleague. I work with him on the fisheries committee. One thing we have heard time and time again at the fisheries committee is about the failure of the shipbuilding strategy. We have not had a trial survey of cod, capelin or many other species because the program failed. We have not had a survey of the northern cod since 2019, and that says lots about the shipbuilding strategy.
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Madam Speaker, May 1 is International Workers' Day. It is also the day of those who are losing their jobs. I am thinking of them today because there is nothing in the budget for the overhaul of employment insurance before 2030. It had been promised for summer 2022. After that, we were told it would happen in the fall of 2022. Now, we are being told it will happen in 2030. The government refuses to absorb the pandemic debt incurred by the EI fund and will be forced to increase its premiums and lower its benefits so the fund can accumulate its bloody surplus by 2030.
What does my colleague think of that on this May 1?
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Madam Speaker, I do not know what to think of that. That is unbelievable and disgusting. I am glad that once in a while we can agree with the Bloc members a bit. I thank them for one particular time when they did agree with us and voted for my bill, Bill C-251. I really appreciate that.
On another point, they always disagree with me on Bay du Nord, but respectfully, we all try to get along and I thank my hon. colleague for the question.
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Madam Speaker, I wanted to ask the member about dental care in particular. People in my riding, like seniors, young families with kids and people with disabilities, have been struggling. We know that the most frequent surgeries in pediatric hospitals on children are oral surgeries. How can the member justify voting against providing this essential service, essential health care to Canadians who are in pain and struggling right now?
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Madam Speaker, that national dental program is nothing but washed-out election bait. Fewer than 10% of Canadians are going to be able to take advantage of that program. If they have nothing to eat, they will starve to death anyway.
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Madam Speaker, last year alone, the top five oil and gas companies in the country made record-breaking profits of over $38 billion a year, in part because they gouged Canadians at the pump, increasing their profits by 18¢ a litre. The carbon tax went up by 2¢ a litre.
If the member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame claims to be so enraged by the carbon tax, why does he never talk about these excess profits or doing anything about them?
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Madam Speaker, experts say that if it was not for our oil production and our gas production in Canada, our dollar would be about 35¢. I would ask my hon. colleague how much a head of lettuce would cost if our dollar was 35¢. It is bad enough now, when it is 75¢.
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- May/1/23 4:51:35 p.m.
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Before I go to the next speaker, I want to take a moment for something personal and wish my husband a happy 41st wedding anniversary today. If I cannot be there, I have to at least do that. As many of you know, we are often not able to be with our loved ones for special anniversaries or birthdays, and today is one of those days for me.
Resuming debate, the hon. member for Spadina—Fort York.
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Madam Speaker, as someone who will be getting married in the summer, I hope you will pass on tips on how to have a happy long marriage, beyond just saying, “Yes, dear.”
Budget 2023 has some positive aspects, but they are achieved by abandoning the now politically inconvenient fiscal anchor, which was the Liberals' long-boasted-about measure of fiscal responsibility. The Liberals are also jettisoning the people who helped them first come to power in 2015: young people and the middle class, their electorally convenient but quickly forgotten voter base. Additionally, the budget threw Toronto under the bus. They are the same people whom the Liberals relied on to cling to power, but continue to ignore now that they are back in government.
Budget 2023 would not do enough to offset the challenges facing Canadians, especially the failure to combat the most pressing housing and cost of living crises in Canadian history. We are in a crisis. A recent report on housing affordability from the National Bank of Canada states that it now takes 311 months, or just about 26 years, for a Toronto household on a median income to save enough for a down payment for a home. I want to reiterate that point. The unit of measure that Torontonians are using to project when, if ever, they can own a home is fractions of a century. That is wrong.
What the government is doing is clearly not working. It should be consulting experts, yet it ignored the National Housing Council, which is the advisory body that the Liberals themselves set up in 2019. It called for $6.3 billion over two years, beginning in 2022-2023. This call, I guess, was no longer politically useful, so it went by the wayside, as did the hopes and dreams of Canadians wanting to get their first home and those who have no home at all.
The failures of budget 2023 also point to an urgent need to rethink the national housing strategy. The government has sunk $82 billion into the strategy, but so far has little show for it. Adequate and affordable housing has become a dream. The state of housing in Canada is in crisis.
With housing the way it is, it is no surprise that homelessness is getting worse in Canada, yet the homeless crisis in our country was mentioned all of three times, and not in anything of substance or real policy, just three buzzwords. Sadly, if we examine the national housing strategy from the perspective of homelessness, even the Auditor General has found that the strategy “is not resulting in measurable decreases in chronic homelessness.”
The strategy is failing to meet its goal of cutting in half core housing needs and eliminating homelessness by 2030, yet despite having the independently researched and confirmed analysis of the government's failure to address homelessness by the Auditor General, budget 2023 does not include measures to improve homelessness in the national housing strategy. Homelessness in Canada is a crisis.
Canadians are facing some tough challenges, and it is not getting any better. In fact, it has gotten worse. Canadians have been hit with inflation, especially in food; increasing interest rates; and an economy sputtering along toward a potentially mild recession. I heard from Amy in my riding, who lives with celiac disease. She shared how rising inflation in food costs is especially hard for her and for everyone in Canada living with this lifelong condition.
We have new records being set, all of them the wrong records, on seemingly a monthly basis by food banks. In March, 270,000 people, which is the equivalent of more than four Skydomes, or Rogers Centres, or over 13 full Scotiabank Arenas, visited a food bank just to ensure that they did not go hungry. Worse still, the Daily Bread Food Bank has warned that among the fastest-growing number of food bank users are people with full-time jobs.
I want to zero in on Toronto, where these three crises of housing, homelessness and inflation have come together to present Torontonians with some of the most challenging barriers right now to their prosperity and the future of our city.
On March 29, the deputy mayor of Canada's largest city, and the engine of our Canadian economy, bluntly stated that the federal government shut the city out of the federal budget. Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie further stated that the government ignored a direct financial commitment it had made to Toronto during the last federal election to assist the city with ongoing COVID costs largely associated with transit and shelter.
At a time when the government wants to tout this budget as one focused on growth, it is unwilling to acknowledge that Toronto is in a state of recovery. The city is facing a budget shortfall in 2023 of $933 million. There is a lot at stake. To touch on a few major things, the city's ability to provide social services and to operate the largest transit system in Canada comes to mind.
The transit system is facing line cuts and decreased TTC ridership. Services combatting homelessness and the provision of social and mental health services are stretched to the brink. Our city is also facing policing reductions, even with increases in violent crime. Moreover, Toronto did receive federal assistance for a refugee shelter in 2022, but heard nothing for this year. What does the federal government think happened to the refugees? Did they just go home? No other municipality in Canada operates its transit and social services at the same levels as Toronto with three million residents.
Let us discuss an election promise. After almost a year and a half after getting re-elected, the government will finally remove the interest on Canada student loans and apprenticeship loans. There is no better investment a country can make than in its youth. I am grateful that the Liberals will finally honour an election promise.
Sure, it took me holding it accountable in my question to the minister responsible on February 17, 2022, and calling it out on September 23, 2022, when they quietly tried to sneak into the Canada Gazette the expiration of the loan interest waiver for students. I was more than happy to do the heavy lifting for the government with my private member's bill, Bill C-301, which mapped out exactly what needed to be done.
I am sure it was just a coincidence that, after the National Post featured my bill on November 2, and how the Liberals would have to potentially be forced to vote against their own election promise, the very next day, on November 3, the Liberals finally declared to the nation, in the fall economic statement, that they would do what they had promised.
If only the government could also move on creating a national pharmacare program. It would also help if it removed the tax it applied to all of the other taxes on gasoline. Surely, the government would agree with me that taxing taxes is wrong.
I also want to highlight that, while the government proudly boasts about child care, which I support, it does not contain a workforce strategy or advance higher wages for child care and personal support workers, as promised by the Liberal Party in the 2021 election. Affordable child care is great, but only if one has the spots and the child care workers to actually care for the children.
Budget 2023 could be viewed as a stopgap document, one that gives the government time to prepare for its next election platform. However, Torontonians and Canadians should not have their needs held in abeyance to the Liberal Party's re-election hopes down the road. Canadians want action now, not later.
Many Canadians are facing tough times and are having to make tough choices. With higher interest rates and the ensuing rising costs associated with inflation, Canadians are seeing higher food prices, higher housing costs, increased energy costs, and higher rent and mortgage payments. Canadians are feeling the pinch, and not just the low-income Canadians. Some of the government's much-discussed middle class are now visiting food banks. If they were looking for the government to help them, budget 2023 does not look like it is the answer.
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Madam Speaker, there are many aspects of what the member has indicated that I would suggest are somewhat misleading. If we take a look at all of the accomplishments the government has been successful in through working with the City of Toronto and the whole 905 and 416 area, I think we would find that it has been overwhelmingly successful on the issue of infrastructure.
We can compare that to the Conservative years. We have accomplished so much more in a far shorter period of time, on a wide spectrum of things. Could the member indicate if he believes the Conservative Party would be doing a better job?
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Madam Speaker, I feel a need to remind my colleague that the Conservative government has not been in power for eight years.
Moreover, I also want to reiterate, because I had this discussion with my colleague during a late show, that there is a difference between capital expenditures and operating expenditures. He loves to talk about the infrastructure the federal government has helped Toronto invest in, but that is like the bus the Liberals have thrown our city under. The operating expenditures are the gas and money which allow it to ride over us, reverse and run over us again. There is a vital difference. What we are missing is money for the operating expenses.
Which TTC bus routes would it like cancelled? Which homeless shelters should we close? Which ambulances, police cars and fire trucks should we have mothballed?
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague across the way for his intervention. It was enjoyable to hear him speak. With his experience and knowing what he knows, right off the top he talked about how the Liberals lost their way with that fiscal anchor. We have a debt so high right now that people are using food banks, as he mentioned.
However, the point I want to hone in on is child care. As the critic for child care, I think he brought up a very interesting point we are working on at committee right now, which is access.
This budget does not address the fact that thousands of families cannot access affordable child care. This is hurting women everywhere. They cannot go back to work because they cannot find child care. What are his thoughts on the budget and how they are allocating money to child care?
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Madam Speaker, 40% of my constituents work in the financial district, so this nation's fiscal responsibility, or perhaps the government's lack thereof, is something that matters to people in Spadina—Fort York.
I get questions from expecting women and new mothers quite frequently about day care spots and when they can expect them to permeate our communities. I think it unfortunately reflects on the government's ability to have the great headlines, but a lack of follow-through. I think it is something that many Canadians, myself included, are very concerned about.
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