SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 314 - May/21/24

May/21/24 11:17:35 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I am not saying that the finance minister is here or not here. What I am asking is why this member is leading the debate for the government versus the actual finance minister. This is very telling in terms of why we are in so much trouble.

49 words

Finance

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/21/24 11:17:57 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, for starters, monetary policy is something that is done by a central bank. Fiscal policy is done by a government. Maybe the member should just Google those terms so he knows what he is talking about in the future. When he asks about who is leading the debate, he makes it sound as though this is the first time we have talked about this. This is the fall economic statement. We have debated it. An hon. member: It is summer. Mr. Mark Gerretsen: He is right: It is summer. Madam Speaker, that is because the Conservatives will not let this debate collapse. They just keep dragging it on and on. The finance minister has spoken to the bill, probably on more than one occasion. He suggests I am the lead on this when we have been debating it for nine months.

143 words

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

May/21/24 11:18:48 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I am glad to see the member holding back what he really thinks in the House. Yes, like the member, I am very disappointed that we are actually standing in the House of Commons in May debating the fall economic statement. It is unbelievably outrageous, and maybe we will still be debating it next fall if the Conservatives decide to do that. Who knows? My question for the member is actually quite serious. He talked about housing. One concern I had with the fall economic statement and that I share with all my colleagues within the NDP is about the lack of commitment to helping with indigenous, Métis and Inuit housing, especially in northern communities, especially in Nunavut. My colleague from Nunavut has stood in the House many times and asked why the government has not committed meaningfully to territorial funding for housing when we know that the crisis is desperate in her community. Why did we not see more in the fall economic statement with regard to indigenous housing?

174 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/21/24 11:20:00 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for that very serious question. I think it is a fair question, and an angle that, quite frankly, the government should be pushed on because there is always more that we can do. There is the northern housing plan, and I might have the name wrong, but perhaps that is not enough. Perhaps this member thinks that it needs to go further, and perhaps there is validity in that claim. However, it is important to reflect on the fact that we are building a lot of housing throughout the country. I used to be a mayor of a city in Ontario, and I could not have ever thought of the federal government coming to a municipality and saying, “Let's make a deal” and completely leaving the province out of it. That was unheard of in my time in local government. However, we have a Minister of Housing who is literally going around the country to different communities and saying, “I don't even want to talk to the province. How do I make a deal with you directly?” However, the member's question was more about indigenous communities, and I completely accept that. Perhaps we should be doing more, and I encourage her to continue to stand up to challenge the government to do more in that regard.

229 words

Mr. Chris Bittle (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

May/21/24 11:21:24 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, we have been at this for a while. I have been listening a lot, and all I have been hearing from the other side are slogans and not actual answers to things. It is getting so ridiculous that one member decided to read purported emails from his constituents and angrily brought it over to slam it on our desk, but it was edited. He was reading an edited email. He was not even reading his own constituent's writing. I was wondering if the hon. member could speak to the ridiculousness of the sloganeering that the Conservatives are offering. They are not even offering real answers.

108 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/21/24 11:21:58 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, it goes to what I was saying during my speech, which is that Conservatives are taking people's anxieties, turning them into a weapon and then using it against them. They are trying to convince Canadians that inflation is completely driven by the government and that spending more money on people through budget measures is going to drive up inflation even further, but only the opposite in both of those regards has proven to be true. Conservatives are really good with their slogans, but they are not so good when they switch from having to rhyme off three things to four things because inevitably one of them misses at least one of them, except for a few key ones that are really good. They have been practising a lot, but the rest of them keep missing one. Although they are good with their slogans, it is not doing anything for Canadians.

153 words

Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

May/21/24 11:22:54 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, let us be clear that a Conservative government would axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Let us bring it home. I have a very specific question for the member, and I hope we will get an answer for it. He has promised an answer. Everyone has heard him say that he is going to give us an answer. In what year does he believe the budget should be balanced, if ever?

80 words

Budget
Homes

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/21/24 11:23:30 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, on the first part, I want to congratulate the member because he is one of the members who can get all four of those out perfectly. He did not lose eye contact and did not show that he may be forgetting one. It was very well done. To answer his question, I would ask him this: In what year did Brian Mulroney balance the budget? In what year did Stephen Harper balance the budget? An hon. member: Oh, oh! Mr. Mark Gerretsen: Madam Speaker, I am answering his question. For growing economies, we know that, as long as our growth is outpacing our deficit, we are in a fiscally responsible position, and that is the reality. They are laughing right now, but they should talk to Stephen Harper because that is all he did, or Brian Mulroney. It is exactly what they did. They never balanced a budget. They balanced one budget in 2015, apparently, by slashing veteran services, and then they had another surplus in 2007 on the heels of Paul Martin's surplus. However, the reality is, and this is exactly what Conservatives do because they know that, as long as our economy is outgrowing our deficit, we are in a fiscally responsible place.

208 words

Mrs. Laila Goodridge (Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, CPC)

May/21/24 11:24:50 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, it is very simple: axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. That is the answer, and I am sorry— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

33 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/21/24 11:25:05 p.m.
Watch

This is not a conversation. The hon. member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake.

14 words

Mrs. Laila Goodridge

May/21/24 11:25:08 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I understand that the member does not like hearing the slogans, because the Conservatives are, as he said, very good at communicating with Canadians. My question is very simple. In what year will this magical budget balance itself?

40 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/21/24 11:25:29 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, she was not successful, because she gave one and then she had to look down. She could learn a lot from the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, because his delivery was really good. I go back to exactly what I said before, which is that what matters the most is how the economy is performing in relation to the deficit that is projected. That is what matters the most. Conservative prime ministers have known that. Conservative premiers know that. Everybody has always operated in that manner. If what the member is saying was true, then one would think that these fiscally responsible Conservative prime ministers all throughout Brian Mulroney's time and all throughout Stephen Harper's time would have just done exactly what the Conservatives are saying, but they did not.

136 words

Mr. Ryan Williams (Bay of Quinte, CPC)

May/21/24 11:26:34 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I understand consent was sought and given for me to split my time. Therefore, I would ask to split my time with the hon. member from Saskatoon—Grasswood.

31 words

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/21/24 11:26:45 p.m.
Watch

Is it agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

7 words

Mr. Ryan Williams

May/21/24 11:27:07 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, while we are discussing what we renamed the SES, the summer economic statement, Canadians are experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in 40 years, due to a lack of affordable housing, the carbon tax, and record-smashing food bank use and grocery prices. Canadians have always had common sense. When Canadians look at their own expenses, they budget. They stretch dollars. They choose whether they go on vacation or whether the kids go to after-school activities. They go to a grocery store and have to budget what they are buying. They have to look at practical solutions to everyday challenges with resilience and resourcefulness. However, common sense is like deodorant; the ones who need it the most never use it. With respect to this level of government, Canadians are shaking their heads in disbelief because of the lack of common sense on the opposite side of the aisle. This is the greatest country in the world. We have great people, innovative minds, great institutions and hard workers. We have resilience. Canadians invented peanut butter, the zipper, the Ski-Doo and the Sea-Doo, but common-sense approaches have become rare commodities. In 2015, among the Liberal campaign promises was the promise to help the middle class and those looking to join it, as well as tax cuts for the middle class. What do we see now? We see more people who are out of the middle class. We see tax increases. The carbon tax alone went up 23% on April 1. More people are finding themselves out of the middle class, and more people are finding themselves taxed, as we have a government that lacks common sense. Look at what the government could do if it looked at the basics. Let us say a dozen people went into the woods to try to start a community. What would be the first things they would do? They would build shelter. They would hunt and find food. The community would make sure it had a place to look after the children and one another, that everyone would be well looked after. After nine years under the government, more Canadians than ever before are finding that rent has doubled, mortgage payments have doubled and the amount needed for a down payment has doubled. They are finding that grocery prices are $700 more this year alone. Groceries have gone up 24% over the last four years. Look at the cost of heating one's home. All prices for farmers growing their crops have gone up. The government's common sense has just disappeared. Let us look at some examples of its lack of common sense. The government borrowed $400 billion back in the day when the Prime Minister said that interest rates were at historic lows. When we borrowed $400 billion, the government borrowed it over the short term. The government did not look ahead 20 or 25 years as a family would when looking at a mortgage. The government looked at the short term. Now the debt is coming up for renewal. Do members know how much the renewal is going to cost us just in 2025? It is going to cost $12 billion, because the government did not have the common sense to look at long-term loans to look after Canadians' money. I wonder how many water bombers we could have bought and had fully crewed to be operating in B.C. right now to look after forest fighters. Look at NATO and NORAD. They are our trusted allies. NATO and NORAD have asked us for years to contribute our 2%. We even passed a resolution in the House to do so, but we have not contributed. Because of that, we do not have a seat at the table. What happens to international security if we are not at the table? We will also not be at the table when it comes to international trade because our trading partners will work only with partners who work with them for security. What is happening up north right now? The fact is that we do not have a base. We cannot even land an F-35 fighter in the north right now in Canada? We have jets being purchased, but it has taken 10 years. Remember when we said that the F-35 was too much? The Prime Minister said we were not going to buy it, and nine years later, of course, we are buying it for how many billions more? However, we cannot even land the thing in the north. Finland is buying half as many F-35s as we are, and it has already built a runway to land in the north to defend the northern border. We talk about icebreakers in the north. We have one barely functioning icebreaker. Do members know how many icebreakers Russia has in the north right now? It has sixteen. Do members know how many China has? It has forty. We did not have the common sense to put any money toward our security or the north, which we really need in order to play our part in NORAD and NATO, on behalf of our allies in the U.S. and, of course, just for our security. We have talked about drugs in hospitals. We are saying that smoking crack at a hospital or bringing in a weapon should be outlawed. More importantly, I visited Millhaven maximum security prison in Kingston only two weeks ago; three inmates there were high on drugs. After nine years, we have mergers and more mergers under the government. We talk about competition. Part of the bill is about competition. However, under the government's watch, the merger of HSBC and RBC was approved. Because of that, mortgage rates have gone up. HSBC used to have a mortgage rate that was 1% lower than RBC's offering. Right now, that is costing the average taxpayer, who has a $500,000 mortgage, $300 more a month because that merger was approved. We had WestJet buy Sunwing. Only a couple of months later, it was announced that Sunwing was going to shut down. There is only one competitor in the west. Sometimes it is Air Canada; most of the time it is WestJet. We had Rogers buy Shaw. What happened two months ago? It was announced that cellphone prices were to go up nine dollars a month. When we look for competition, it is not there. The bill would bring in some aspects of competition. Thanks to the Competition Bureau, and dare I say, some amendments by the NDP, we are going to look at ensuring that we have no mergers approved that have a market share of over 30%. At the end of the day, the government has approved more mergers. Open banking is probably the closest thing we can have to actual competition coming to one of our oligopolies right now. Open banking in Canada would open up the doors for Canadians to bring them financial freedom. One example is this: If Canadians have a Wealthsimple account, they have to screen scrape and find different ways to get through it. The government makes it really difficult for people to try to use a new banking app. This app right now pays Canadians 5% on their cash balance daily. What is the average bank interest rate right now? It is 0.2%. I think if someone had $10,000, over 10 years, they could make $100. Competition is freedom for Canadians. Open banking was not in the fall economic statement or in the new budget, to make that a reality for Canadians. We are talking about no common sense. The government has hired 100,000 employees, a 40% increase since 2015. However, it takes 58 days to get an email back from CRA, compared with 43 days in 2015. Someone should try getting a passport. There has been no efficiency. There is more government and less efficiency. On housing, the $4.4-billion housing accelerator has not built one home. We have a lack of skilled trades. Here is my favourite stat from last year, as we are talking about no common sense. We brought 1.3 million immigrants to Canada, new Canadians, permanent residents and TR. Do members know many home builders we brought last year? It was 4,300, and we wonder why we have a housing shortage. We need immigration. Our birth rates are extremely low. We need people to come in, but when we are looking at immigration, let us make sure we are also looking at building homes first, so we have a place for people to go and house prices do not go sky-high. We even had the member for Winnipeg North say that MAID has saved lives. That was a statement used. There is no common sense. Another one of my favourite examples is that the government has cut the budget to the Information Commissioner at a time when access to information is at an all-time low. The Ethics Commissioner had their salary cut when the workload has never been higher. Common sense is not common. Canadians have common sense, but the government does not. It will only be in electing a common-sense Conservative government that we once again restore common sense to Canada and to Canadians. Of course, we will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. We are also going to create competition for a change, for my home, for everyone's home, for our home. Let us bring common sense home.

1604 words

Mrs. Jenica Atwin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services, Lib.)

May/21/24 11:37:00 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I greatly thank my colleague for his rousing speech this evening. I am sure this is on the minds of all members in this chamber: When will the member treat us to another homemade rap video? I would really love to see that.

45 words

Mr. Ryan Williams

May/21/24 11:37:15 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, we cannot always flaunt our skills. We say it is thanks to the speNDP helping the government “jiggle jiggle”. We have so much more we can do in the government, and I think, slogans or not, the main thing we want to do here is work on behalf of Canadians. Canadians are screaming for change. They are screaming for a government that is going to look after them to ensure that they have housing and a good standard of living. No matter what our skill sets are, we will work on behalf of Canadians.

98 words

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

May/21/24 11:37:58 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I would like to compliment my colleague on his speech. I certainly did not agree with some of the content, but the volume was there. Over and over again, he talked about common sense, finding solutions and what we need to do to make Canada better, and I think all of us in this place have that goal. We are all trying to find ways to make Canada better for Canadians. Obviously, we do not always see that in the same way, but that is the goal that we are all here trying to achieve. From my perspective, I think that my constituents want me to work collaboratively and find ways for solutions. That is why the NDP will often work with the government to bring things such as dental care or pharmacare forward. One of the things that really upset me last week was that I was on the health committee that travelled around the country to look at solutions to the toxic drug crisis we are facing in Canada, and shockingly, when we were in Calgary meeting with people who use drugs and people who help folks who are trying to get off drugs and trying to rehabilitate, no Conservatives came. Not a single Conservative showed up to learn from experts, to learn from medical experts or to learn from people who work in this field. It is shocking, and I wonder how he finds that to be a common-sense solution.

246 words

Collaboratively

Mr. Ryan Williams

May/21/24 11:39:31 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I come from Belleville, Ontario, and we are at the centre of an opiate crisis right now. We have a major overdose epidemic. In the last three months, we had 240 overdoses. We had 13 in two hours. We had 23 in two days. As an MP, I have been working with the former Liberal member, the mayor of Belleville, Ontario. I have been working with and talking to community groups and those who are addicted and struggling, as well as police, paramedics and our hospitals. The problem we have is twofold. We talk about how the NDP has supported the government with bail reform, and the police are saying it does not work. The NDP has supported, especially in B.C., decriminalization, and these community groups are saying that does not work. One of the first things we can do is ensure we give the tools to the police and the community groups that make sure that the criminals who are dealing drugs go to jail and stay in jail, and that those who need help in treatment of addiction get the treatment of addiction so we can bring our loved ones home drug-free. However, most importantly, the NDP can defeat the government and call an election so we can have these issues come to the open, and we could bring a government back to Canadians that would fix these issues once and for all.

239 words

Ms. Louise Chabot (Thérèse-De Blainville, BQ)

May/21/24 11:40:54 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, that was a very passionate speech. I think the Conservatives have made their stance on the carbon tax abundantly clear. It sank in a few months ago that they do not want it. They want to abolish it. Fortunately, it does not apply in Quebec. This tax is meant to fight climate change. If the carbon tax goes away, how exactly will the Conservatives fight climate change?

69 words