44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2023 11:00AM
- May/29/23 3:52:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the supplementary estimates (A), 2023-24.
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- May/29/23 7:12:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, TD judged that our climate plan in the 2023 budget would put us at par with the United States and ahead of the rest of the world as a green economy investment destination.
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- May/29/23 7:48:12 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, there is the EI spring gap for temporary workers. There is the problem of inadequate coverage through the EI system. There is the actuarial financing of the EI fund, which is poorly suited to economic cycles and major disasters like the one we just went through. We have been calling for EI reform for years. Since 2015, the Liberals have been promising EI reform, but we have seen nothing of the sort.
Most recently, we were promised EI reform by August 2023, which is right around the corner. There was absolutely nothing in the budget. The actuarial calculation shows that an extra $25 billion will be taken from the pockets of unemployed workers between now and 2030.
Is the minister committed to keeping her government's promise to reform EI, or to at least announce a reform, by August 2023?
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- May/29/23 8:32:37 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to start out with some serious discussion. I believe we had a serious discussion at the finance committee. We are in perilous economic times. We are facing high inflation, high interest rates, increasing unemployment, record-high housing prices, low growth and record food bank usage. I would just like to start to get some basic answers, some straightforward answers to some straightforward questions.
What will be the deficit in 2023?
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- May/29/23 8:33:05 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, is that in 2022 or 2023?
We published a “Fiscal Monitor” last week, and it showed that our deficit for 2022-23 is likely to be lower than forecast. We forecast around $43 billion. We are now seeing it coming in at $40 billion or lower.
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- May/29/23 8:33:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what will be the national debt at the end of 2023?
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- May/29/23 8:34:13 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, during COVID, from 2021 to 2022, and then the next year, from 2022 to 2023, the debt-to-GDP ratio went up. Is that not correct?
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- May/29/23 8:34:24 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the debt-to-GDP ratio went up as a result of our extraordinary COVID spending. In budget 2023, we showed a debt-to-GDP ratio in 2022-23 of 42.4%—
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- May/29/23 8:35:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would like to quote someone who is not partisan and who has been respected by all members of the House as a fiscal expert, Kevin Page, who is the former parliamentary budget officer. This is what he had to say about our budget. He said that the 2023 budget has a “credible fiscal strategy”, and that “the government's fiscal anchor of a declining ratio is maintained”. This is a declining ratio over the framework, and, I want to point out, tripling—
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- May/29/23 8:53:31 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, let me say that we know that junk fees are predatory and they are hidden fees that Canadians see on their phone bills, services and concert tickets. It is particularly galling in the tourism industry when we see these hidden fees come up for visitors. That is why our government is taking action to crack down on junk fees, including unexpected hidden and additional fees, to continue to ensure that businesses are transparent with prices and to make life more affordable for Canadians.
In budget 2023, we announced our government's intention to work with regulatory agencies, provinces and territories to reduce junk fees for Canadians. This could include higher telecom roaming charges, event and concert fees, and other charges that we simply do not want to see Canadians be charged for anymore. That is budget 2023 working to make life more affordable for Canadians.
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- May/29/23 8:57:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, picking up on my last question with respect to Canada's electricity grid, I will say it is one of the cleanest in the world. We have been hard at work as a government. In the past year, we have seen many companies bringing historic investments to our shores like Honda, GM, Stellantis, Rio Tinto, Volkswagen and I could go on. These are huge opportunities for our country.
Can the Minister of Finance expand on how budget 2023 builds on these historic developments and investments in our country? How will it continue to ensure that Canada remains a global leader in the market for clean technology manufacturing? It is a market that the International Energy Agency estimates will be worth about $650 billion U.S. by 2030.
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- May/29/23 9:57:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is a really important question, and I think when historians look back on 2022 and 2023 they are going to note that these were the years we were coming out of the pandemic. Just as when we look back at the early years of the 20th century, we talk about the Spanish flu, but we talk even more about the great transformations at the beginning of the past century, I think historians are going to say 2022 and 2023 were the years that the world's great industrial economies got serious about climate change and about the industrial transformation it requires.
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