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House Hansard - 328

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 10, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 328 - Jun/10/24
Mr. Ryan Turnbull (Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Lib.)
  • Jun/10/24 8:48:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his advocacy for families and children. It is good to see. I spent my whole career working with non-profits and charities; specifically, I worked on ending food insecurity. However, it is good to hear that Conservatives are finally noticing that food insecurity is a problem in this country. It is too bad they voted against a national school food program that would take 400,000 kids out of food bank lines. I do not know how the Conservatives can maintain a position in which they seem to empathize with individuals standing in food bank lines but will not feed the children of those families. Supporting families, improving their quality of life, is one thing that our government has set as a priority from day one. We have taken steps to make life more affordable because we believe every Canadian deserves a real and fair chance to succeed. Let us take one example. The Canada child benefit helps low- and middle-income families with the costs of raising their children. The benefit, which is indexed to inflation, supports over 3.5 million families and over six million children. Thousands of families across my riding of Whitby receive upwards of $91 million a year to support their families, which far outweighs the costs that the member opposite had mentioned in terms of what families are bearing today as their bottom line. That is close to $25 billion, tax-free, in the hands of families each year from the Canada child benefit. In 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system, which we knew would give children a strong start in life. Tens of thousands of families and children are already benefiting from reduced child care fees, enabling mothers to rejoin the workforce, which builds family incomes. Since 2022 and until June 30, families with children under 12 have benefited from the Canada dental benefit. With the new Canadian dental care plan, the Government of Canada would continue to help families access the dental care that they and their children need and deserve. There is no question that food insecurity affects many Canadians. No child should go to school on an empty stomach, but the rising price of groceries makes it difficult for many families to afford nutritious food. That is why, in budget 2024, our government put in a $1-billion investment over five years to create a national school food program. The program would increase access to school meals for an additional 400,000 schoolchildren a year and help more Canadian children get a better start each day. It would ensure that children can focus on learning rather than being hungry, and it would take some of the pressure off family budgets, helping make life more affordable. We are also helping deliver relief at the grocery checkout counter in three ways. First, we have amended the Competition Act; this is something our government has done in three rounds of changes. I have been a part of that process and have seen a lot of collaboration with parties opposite. It is great to see us strengthening competition, which will ultimately lower and stabilize prices. Second, we have secured commitments from Canada's five largest grocery chains to help stabilize those prices. That was months ago. Members mocked that initiative, but it certainly had some impact. Third, we have set up a grocery task force to supervise the big grocers' work and investigate unacceptable grocery sector practices, such as shrinkflation. These are all great examples of government working for Canadians. Since 2015, we have enhanced the Canada workers benefit, increased old age security and the guaranteed income supplement, and implemented a new Canada disability benefit. There are many more examples to come. We are strengthening the social safety net in Canada to ensure all families are taken care of.
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