44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2023 10:00AM
- May/2/23 1:20:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague the following question.
These assumptions will sound somewhat farfetched, but let us say that the Liberal government is sincere about its objective of providing affordable housing as part of a real housing strategy. That is the first assumption. The second has to do with the single page we keep mentioning, the one tiny page in the budget that deals with a real housing strategy. Let us say that the Liberals really want to do something with that.
Will they walk the talk? How is it that the Liberal government's biggest investments in housing are never spent? We do not know. The reasons are unclear. Can our colleague finally enlighten us on this serious issue? In the end, the money never gets spent.
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- May/2/23 3:02:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I explained to my colleague, the RCMP has taken decisive action to deal with the so-called Chinese police stations. The RCMP will continue to monitor whether there are others. I hope that all members expect the RCMP to remain vigilant on this issue.
More importantly, budget 2023 allocates $49 million to deal with this matter. I hope that my colleague and all Conservatives will support the budget.
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- May/2/23 3:10:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite the opposite. The last budget from my friend and colleague, the Minister of Finance, made provisions for record-level investment in the Great Lakes in the history of Canada.
We are working with our partners across the Great Lakes on this side of the border as well as on the other side of the border. We are in the process of creating, for the first time ever in Canada, an independent Canada water agency that will help us address freshwater issues all across the country.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Châteauguay—Lacolle.
I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to today's debate. I will preface my comments by saying that, based on a former intervention, I will be concentrating on what was mentioned earlier by the member opposite: equity and the opportunities to provide for affordability through the investments that the government is currently making.
At the end of March, our government released budget 2023. Our made-in-Canada plan for a strong middle class, an affordable economy and a healthy future was paramount to the remarks made by the Minister of Finance. It comes at an important moment for our country, concentrating on the business of government versus the business of politics. I am proud to say that it makes investments, for example in public health care, and provides new measures to make life more affordable for Canadians. It makes investments to offset the cost of living and in many other areas, making life more affordable.
In Canada, inflation is coming down, having declined for nine months in a row, and the Bank of Canada predicts that it will drop to just 2.5% by the end of this year. However, we all know that it is still too high, and it is still making it difficult for many Canadians to make ends meet, put food on the table, put gas in the tank and ensure that their little ones have the luxuries that we had when we were growing up.
Groceries are more expensive today and, for many people, higher prices on other essential goods are causing undue stress. Therefore, it is relevant that this government is making investments to offset that affordability crisis. That is why, once again, in budget 2023, we announced new, targeted inflation relief for the most vulnerable Canadians to help support them with the cost of living. This includes the introduction of a one-time grocery rebate, providing $2.5 billion to target inflation. This is relief for 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and their families. The grocery rebate will provide eligible couples with two children with up to an extra $467, single Canadians without children with up to an extra $234, and seniors with an extra $225 on average.
The grocery rebate is making great legislative progress as we speak. I am glad to report that Bill C-46 passed the House at all stages on April 19 and is now being considered by the Senate. This means we are closer to being able to deliver this much-needed support and affordability for Canadians.
A couple of weeks ago, our government introduced Bill C-47, the budget implementation act. This essential piece of legislation proposes to implement many of the government's key commitments in the budget, including those that will continue to make life more affordable for Canadians.
For example, we are cracking down on predatory lending. Predatory lenders can take advantage of some of the most vulnerable people throughout our communities, including low-income Canadians, newcomers and seniors, often by offering very high-interest-rate loans. With budget 2023 and Bill C-47, our government is taking this challenge very seriously.
Another step our government is taking to support low-income Canadians is through automatic tax filing to ensure that—
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- May/2/23 5:08:18 p.m.
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I know that I should never assume.
I will move on. Budget 2023 also announced that the federal government will increase the number of Canadians eligible for “auto-fill my return” to two million people by 2025, almost triple the current number.
We are also addressing affordability with our students, our younger generation, preparing them for the next stage in their lives and the adventures they are going to embark on, whether it be through co-ops and apprenticeships or student loans, and ensuring that they have the ability to enter the markets once they are finished with the hard work they are doing at either college or university.
The Canada workers benefit, which we committed to both in the 2022 fall statement and in the 2023 budget, provides up to $714 for single workers and $1,231 for a family, split between three payments, again, allowing for the affordability in some of the challenges that people are actually recognizing with homes, with groceries, with gas, etc., once again concentrating on the business of good government versus the business of good politics. That is our priority.
Regarding health care, I want to be very clear that in exchange for the new funding that we are providing the provinces, in the amount of $198.3 billion over 10 years and $46.2 billion to the provinces and territories, what this is going to do is create more affordability for Canadians when it comes to housing and home rentals, not to mention what it is going to do to provide equitable health care and ensure that the provision is given to all Canadians.
I will give an example. In Niagara, this will ensure that urgent care centres in the town of Fort Erie and the city of Port Colborne stay open to provide equitable services for their residents. This will ensure, once again, keeping, maintaining and enhancing all the services that are currently provided by the urgent care centres in Port Colborne or Fort Erie, as well as the hospital in the city of Welland. This is extremely important for those communities, not only adding equitable access to health care services but also, with the investments being made by the federal government in partnership with the provincial governments, ensuring affordability so that people are receiving these services while at the same time creating equity with respect to offsetting the higher cost of living.
This government is investing in Canadians, and by doing that, with the myriad of different services that we are embarking on today and well into the future, we will, in fact, offset the financial challenges that many of our neighbours and our families have to endure in the market conditions that are before us today.
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- May/2/23 5:08:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his comments regarding budget 2023 and the budget implementation act. He has spoken to a lot of the issues, but has not really spoken to the issue we are dealing with today, which is housing.
Perhaps he can respond to some of the issues we are bringing forward. The government's approach with its national housing strategy, this “everybody gets a pony” approach, has failed to deliver the results Canadians need, which is to get housing built. Housing prices have doubled. Monthly mortgage costs have doubled. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Canada has more than doubled.
How would the member ask his government to respond to those issues?
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- May/2/23 5:13:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, once again, it is the same answer as for the question prior. This is the dialogue we are having.
It is a great question. Of course, I have to confess it was a tough budget this year. The government really tried to strike that balance between fiscal responsibility, especially after what we went through the last three years with the pandemic and of course getting a handle on that, while at the same time hearing what our partners are telling us and really being a part of that dialogue.
To the member, those are some of the options this government will consider moving forward.
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- May/2/23 7:42:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for her inspired and heartfelt speech. I want to acknowledge the importance of the 11 first nations in Quebec. They have a long history and strong roots in many areas, particularly in the member's region, but also in Montreal, where they face many difficulties and challenges.
Several years ago, as a result of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, recommendations were made and money was allocated in the budget. My colleague from Winnipeg Centre pointed out earlier that after all these years, the federal government has spent only 5% of this money, despite the fact that there are urgent and pressing needs, such as shelters or transition houses.
How does my colleague interpret the fact that the Liberal government has been dragging its feet for years on such a critical issue?
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- May/2/23 7:45:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, one of the criticisms the NDP is talking about is the lack of funding for housing. It is $4 billion over seven years when we know there is a huge housing crisis. My hon. colleague from Nunavut has spoken many times about how women are forced to live in violence because they have nowhere else to go.
I am wondering if my colleague would agree that more needs to be invested in housing and that the government has really failed in the federal budget on urban and rural indigenous housing initiatives.
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- May/2/23 7:52:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, my hon. colleague spoke about all this money. I am going to mention some of that money. Of $724.1 million that was issued in the 2020 budget, only 5% has been spent. Meanwhile, women are being murdered and going missing. We are dying on the streets, and they are throwing us in landfills. Although I was very pleased that there was support given for searching, the current government has failed to invest in keeping us alive, in real time.
The minister talks about all this money: $1.6 million over six years. He knows very well that this funding is completely inadequate. I will tell members how I know that; it is because we continue to go missing and be murdered.
The government, in real time, is cutting $150 million for women's shelters in September because it was emergency support given during the pandemic. I will tell members something. Gender-based violence was a crisis before the pandemic, and it has increased since the pandemic. The government should not be cutting back resources from shelters; it needs to be increasing these resources. We have a right to be safe, and we have a right to justice.
The time for waiting for the government to figure it out is over. When is the minister going to get that money out the door? How is he going to ensure that women who are survivors of violence, family members of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, trans women and nonconforming women who are impacted by this violence are actually going to be able to lead these discussions?
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- May/2/23 8:18:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for that excellent question.
Everyone knows that reconciliation with indigenous peoples and environmental protection have been key priorities for our government since it was elected in 2015. Since then, we have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in education, health and child and family services. We are working closely with provincial, territorial and indigenous governments.
Budget 2023 includes about $125 million in investments to implement a plan to fight violence against missing and murdered women. We are working closely with all our partners.
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- May/2/23 9:09:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his ongoing commitment to his community, to fairness and to the culturally safe, indigenous-led approach that leads to durable solutions.
In the budget and in the February 7 announcement of the Prime Minister, we were very pleased to see not only $200 billion ongoing for 10 years, but $25 billion for serious action plans from all the provinces and territories on the four pillars, and the extra $2 billion for indigenous-led health and social services.
I look forward to working with the Minister of Indigenous Services to do whatever it takes to build those bottom-up solutions not only in remote and rural areas but in urban centres as well.
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- May/2/23 9:44:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, tonight we heard testimony, stories and the voices of many of our colleagues. We heard their personal experiences and what they have faced in the light in their community and how they face that issue here today. We witnessed learning, and that is one of the most incredible pieces of today and something we can all be grateful for.
However, this speech does not hit that mark. It talks greatly about the government's spending plans but does not speak to the reality that there are human lives at risk. I will take the Liberals' near unanimous speeches about how supportive they are of this issue and will remember the fact we had this exact same debate over a year ago, where we heard Liberals agree right across the bench.
We heard Liberals agree this is a tragedy. We heard they have some money in their pockets. When will they actually ensure the money they plan to spend in their budget actually gets to the organizations they say are going to support?
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- May/2/23 10:16:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to bring to the minister's attention that graphically describing some of the violence that has occurred impacts survivors. It impacts indigenous families that have lost loved ones. I would ask her to reflect on the language she uses in this House, especially knowing that there are families tuning in.
The recent budget named the need for a red dress alert, but it failed to provide funding and a timeline for when it is going to happen. Could the minister outline right now what she is going to do, how much money is being provided and when this will be put in place?
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