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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 260

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 1, 2023 10:00AM
  • Dec/1/23 11:30:21 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, on the one hand, it is good to see the Conservatives finally talking about poverty reduction strategies, but on the other hand, it is clear that they are still reading only the headline and not the article. While the Conservatives continue to talk down the Canadian economy, I would like to take an opportunity to remind them of a couple of key facts. There have been over 1.1 million more jobs created since the pandemic, and we have recovered all the jobs in the economic growth since after the pandemic. The important thing to recognize with respect to poverty reduction is that the current government was the one that modernized the Canada child benefit and pulled hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. Poverty reduction continues to be one of the pillars of our government strategy.
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  • Dec/1/23 11:31:31 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have been paying attention to the same headlines, but I do not just read the top line; I read the entire article. What a lot of the poverty reduction organizations, the food banks and the organizations that are helping keep some of the most vulnerable Canadians afloat during challenging times are asking for is continued programs, like guaranteed livable income strategies, the Canada child benefit and the guaranteed income supplement. They are asking for more programs to support Canada's most vulnerable. Those are the exact same programs the Conservatives would cut if they were ever in government. Their programs, when Harper was prime minister, did nothing to alleviate poverty. We will continue to help the most vulnerable Canadians with these—
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  • Dec/1/23 11:33:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, since we took office in 2015, indigenous spending has increased by 168% in first nations communities. That is no small number. What underlies that number is the ongoing systemic discrimination of the previous Conservative government, which spent nothing in first nations communities, discriminated against children and ensured that generations of poverty would continue. We are reversing that trend. Liberals are the ones who are working on reconciliation. These folks have nothing to say.
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  • Dec/1/23 11:35:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, first nations leaders are simply tired of managing poverty. They have realized the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Unlike the Prime Minister, they are forced to think about monetary policy, and they know that he is simply not worth the cost. In fact, last January, the Ontario chiefs wrote to the Prime Minister, saying that the carbon tax was a grossly unfair burden on their nations. Four out of five first nations communities have median incomes that fall below the poverty line, and they are asking for their own carbon tax carve-out. Will the NDP-Liberal government finally listen to first nations leaders and simply axe the tax?
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  • Dec/1/23 11:36:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, for a decade, the Conservative government kept people in poverty, refused to invest in infrastructure and refused to support education. Can colleagues believe it? When we were elected in 2015, we made sure there was parity for first nations education so kids could get a decent education. The member knows the record of the Conservative Party. We will not stop our work in reconciliation. The Conservatives' record speaks for itself. That is the gap we now have to close.
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