44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2023 11:00AM
- May/29/23 7:25:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is nice to have applause from the opposite benches. I am glad they enjoyed that. I certainly did. I enjoyed reminding them about their promises from the last election.
The Canadian economy has had a remarkable recovery since the recession caused by COVID‑19. Today, 907,000 more Canadians are working than when COVID‑19 struck. In the first four months of 2023 alone, the Canadian economy created nearly a quarter of a million jobs. We have now recovered 129% of the jobs lost in the first months of the pandemic, compared with only 115% in the United States.
Supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, the labour force participation rate for Canadian women in their prime working years hit a record high of 85.7% in February, compared to just 77.2% in the United States.
Today, more Canadians have good jobs than ever before and at just 5%, our unemployment rate is near its record low. Inflation has fallen from 8.1% last June to 4.4% last month. The Bank of Canada predicts it will fall to 3% this summer.
Since February, the average wage for Canadians has been growing by 5% or more. That means paycheques have been outpacing inflation, which means more money in Canadians' pockets after a hard day's work. At 3.4%, we had the strongest economic growth in the G7 over the course of last year.
Our deficit is down from a projected 1.5% of GDP last year to 1.4% this year. In April, S&P reiterated our Triple A credit rating and we have both the lowest deficit-to-GDP and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, lower also than other major Triple A-rated economies such as the Netherlands.
Thanks to these remarkably strong economic fundamentals, our 2023 budget comes at an important time for the country. In the short term, we have to deal with the global economic slowdown and high interest rates around the world. We also need to strengthen our universal public health care system so that it delivers the quality public health care that Canadians deserve in a timely manner.
In the months and years to come, Canada must seize the remarkable opportunities arising from two fundamental shifts in the global economy: the race to build the clean economies of the 21st century and our allies' accelerating efforts to friendshore their economies by building their critical supply chains through democracies such as Canada's.
Our budget is a direct response to the challenges and opportunities we face. First, our budget includes a one-time grocery rebate that will deliver targeted inflation relief to those who need it most. On July 5, 11 million Canadians and Canadian families can expect to see the grocery rebate arrive in their bank accounts or their mailboxes. A couple with two children will receive an extra $467 and single Canadians without children will receive up to an extra $234.
Second, we are delivering a $198-billion investment in public health care that we announced earlier this year. Our plan will help ensure Canadians have access to a family doctor. It will tackle the backlog of surgeries and combat the opioid crisis that has devastated so many families. Also, even as we reinforce the public health care system we have today, we are also expanding its reach. By 2025, the new Canadian dental care plan will provide dental coverage for up to nine million uninsured Canadians. That will mean no Canadian ever again will need to choose between taking care of their teeth and paying the bills at the end of the month. It means one will no longer be able to tell how much money a Canadian makes, or how much money their parents make, by their smile.
These are significant and necessary investments, because a strong and effective public health care system is essential for a strong and healthy Canadian workforce. We need a strong and healthy Canadian workforce now more than ever because, these days, the whole world is making massive investments in their clean economy of the 21st century. At the same time, our democratic partners are trying to move away from their economic dependency on dictatorships and form closer ties with democracies like ours. Our allies need the expertise of our workers, the ingenuity of Canadian businesses and the resources that Canada is fortunate enough to have in abundance. Our country must live up to this historic moment or it will be left behind while democracies around the world build the clean economy of the 21st century.
That is why our budget makes transformative investments to build Canada's clean economy, fight climate change and create new opportunities for Canadian workers and Canadian businesses. This includes major investment tax credits for clean electricity and clean technology manufacturing, adding to major investment tax credits for carbon capture, utilization and storage, clean hydrogen and clean technology adoption that we announced last year. We are going to make Canada a clean electricity superpower by building a national electrical grid that connects Canadians from coast to coast to coast and delivers cleaner, more affordable electricity to Canadians and Canadian businesses.
From energy to critical minerals to electric vehicles, we are going to ensure that Canadian workers mine, process, build and sell the goods and resources that our allies need. We are going to deliver investments to put Canadian workers and Canadian businesses at the heart of essential global supply chains and we are going to build big things here in Canada, from a Volkswagen battery plant in St. Thomas to the Galaxy Lithium mine in Quebec, to the Trans Mountain expansion in Alberta, to the Atlantic Loop, to the LNG terminal in Kitimat, B.C.
Our plan seeks to create well-paying jobs, good careers for everyone across the country. It seeks to invest in such a way that all Canadians can benefit from incredible opportunities across the country and take part in the new era of prosperity that we will all build together.
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- May/29/23 8:10:49 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am afraid that that is simply an inaccurate explanation of what has happened with the EI account.
EI supported Canadians in a significant way during COVID and in the aftermath, and that is why the government transferred $27 billion to the EI account to support EI.
Whenever the country goes through an economic downturn, whether it was 2008 or the COVID recession, the EI account needs to move back into balance—
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- May/29/23 9:01:22 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I believe that the member opposite was a staffer in the Harper government, so let us talk about the 2008 recession and the incredibly slow and painful recovery Canada made because of a government that refused to invest in Canada's recovery. I have some numbers there and I am happy to share them in future questions.
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- May/29/23 9:01:42 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, she will have plenty of time to sit on this side of the House and ask questions, but during that recession, we were the last ones in and the first ones out. She will remember that.
Can the minister tell us how much it cost to service the debt in 2021-22? I want just a number. She is the finance minister.
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- May/29/23 9:02:01 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am the finance minister, and I remember that it took GDP four months longer to recover following the 2008 recession than it took following the COVID recession. That was because of smart investments by our government to support Canadians.
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- May/29/23 9:02:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, let me share some numbers that really matter. It took 27 months for jobs to recover from the 2008 recession. It only took 21 months for jobs to recover from the COVID recession. Again, it is proof of our government's economic—
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- May/29/23 9:03:15 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am going to share a really precise number that matters to Canadians. It took 110 months following the 2008 recession for unemployment rates to recover. We recovered in one-fifth the time.
We are focused on Canadians, Canadian jobs and economic growth. We understand government action was necessary to support Canadians, and it has worked. That is something the Conservatives still do not understand.
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- May/29/23 9:04:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I believe the member opposite is another former Harper staffer, so I want to remind him of the incredibly poor recovery his government made from the 2008 recession. We learned from that experience—
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- May/29/23 9:05:17 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what is a fact is that it took four months longer for real GDP to recover following the 2008 recession than it took following the COVID recession, even though COVID caused much deeper economic harm. We invested in Canadians, and we are proud of it because it worked.
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- May/29/23 9:06:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, as I said, the member opposite was a staffer during the failed Harper government that engineered a very slow recovery from the 2008 recession. It took 27 months for jobs to recover. It took only 21 months for jobs to recover following the COVID recession, which was much deeper because of the historic shock of COVID. That is because of a government that did not understand the need to invest and support Canadians. Yes, we took on—
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- May/29/23 9:09:01 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the Harper government did have low growth. It had a remarkably lacklustre recovery from the 2008 recession. It took four months longer for GDP to recover from the 2008 recession than our recovery took from the COVID recession. It took 27 months for jobs to recover from the 2008 recession, but only 21 months after the much deeper COVID recession, and it was a shocking 110 months for the unemployment rate to—
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- May/29/23 9:41:44 p.m.
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Madam Chair, this is what the Conservatives have not understood: Failure to support Canadians in 2008 led to a protracted recession.
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