SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 315

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 22, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 315 - May/22/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/22/24 5:12:42 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, I have several responses. First, there has been 10 hours of debate thus far. Second, this is not just about contraception and diabetes. It is also about establishing, within 30 days of royal assent, a committee of experts to make recommendations to the minister regarding the operation and financing of a national universal single-payer pharmacare. Are we proceeding incrementally at the start? Absolutely we are. With respect to the financing component, that member is from the Saanich—Gulf Islands. In her own province, the estimate on the financial savings to the system just in B.C., from a UBC study, is that no-cost contraception has the potential to save the B.C. health care system approximately $27 million per year. As I said earlier, and I will say again, there is an ethical case for proceeding with pace. There is also a financial case for proceeding with pace.
153 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 315 - May/22/24
Mr. Dan Muys (Flamborough—Glanbrook, CPC)
  • May/22/24 11:56:12 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-59 
Mr. Speaker, if you will indulge me for a minute of my four minutes, I offer condolences to my Aunt Freddie and my cousins and their children on the passing of my Uncle Phil earlier this evening, and to my dad and his sisters, for whom he was their older brother. He was a very generous man. He worked very hard. He gave to his community and to his church community. He was loved by his family and he loved his family. He loved Canada and he will be missed. In the short time I have, I am going to really focus on one aspect of what I was going to speak about as we look at Bill C-59, the fall economic statement from last November. Of course, we have had the federal budget since, and it has only compounded the cost of living issues and housing issues that we are seeing across Canada. Therefore, let me focus on something that I hear so often from constituents in my community and that weighs very heavy on their minds. It is the interest rate increases that have resulted as a consequence of the inflationary spending, the inflationary taxes and the inflationary deficits of the NDP-Liberal government. Whether it is the $20 billion of inflationary spending that was piled on in the fall economic statement or the $50 billion that was piled on in the recent budget, that has an impact. We know from the report from Scotiabank that 2% of interest rate increases can be attributed to government overspending, and other banks have made the same comment. The CIBC made the same cautionary warning prior to the recent budget. Flamborough—Glanbrook is on the western edge of the GTA, surrounding the city of Hamilton. It is made up of very fast-growing communities, where people have fled the GTA to buy a house for a more affordable amount than what they could get in Toronto or Mississauga. Communities like Waterdown, Binbrook, Elfrida and Hannon are where first-time homeowners, often young families, new Canadians or even seniors who are looking to retire on modest savings, have seen these alarming rate increases. I hear this from the mortgage brokers. I hear this from constituents. It is an absolute gut punch to see those interest rate increases that have resulted from the policies of the Liberal-NDP government. We had the report earlier in May from the Bank of Canada, which predicted the very steep incline we are going to see in the next few years in mortgage payments. If it is a variable mortgage, the prediction is for a median monthly payment increase of up to 60%. If it is a fixed mortgage that someone is renewing, the median monthly payment could be increased by up to 20%. That has a devastating impact on household budgets, and that is, again, the consequence of these inflationary policies and the spending by the current government. In my final few moments, I will just say that hope is on the way. The common-sense Conservative government would cap the spending, fix the budget and axe the tax so that these people in my communities and across Canada could actually afford their mortgage payments, or it is not impacting their rents, so hope is on the way.
554 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border