SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 330 - Jun/12/24

Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:25:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers understand the importance of fairness. They understand that it is very important for a nurse not to pay tax at a higher rate than the ultrarich. They also understand that we need revenue to invest in health care and child care. Quebec needs these revenues too. That is why the province has decided to do the same thing we are doing at the federal level.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Jun/12/24 2:26:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, nine years ago, the Prime Minister promised that taxing and spending more would make everything fair. Since then, Canada has had the worst growth in the G7, the worst in Canada's history since the Great Depression. Housing costs have doubled, rising faster than any other G7 country, so 76% of youth believe they will never be able to afford a home. One in 10 people is eating at food banks in Toronto, where there are 256 homeless encampments. Have the Liberals not learned that taxing away doctors, taxing away home builders and taxing away the entrepreneurs who make paycheques is economic “wacko-ness”?

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Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:27:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all certainly learned something yesterday. After eight weeks of dithering and evasion, we learned which side the Conservatives are on. The Conservatives had a chance to be very clear and say that a teacher or a welder should not pay tax at a higher rate than a multimillionaire, but they just could not help themselves. At the end of the day, the Conservatives are always on the side of those at the very top and always against working people. That is what we saw yesterday.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Jun/12/24 2:27:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member mentions welders. Welders start businesses, which are among the 300,000 small businesses that are targeted by the tax, according to the minister's own published documents, so those welders will pay a 66% tax on their investments. The same welders who build the homes that we are going to need—

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The Deputy Speaker

Jun/12/24 2:28:08 p.m.
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Order. I am having trouble hearing the question, and I am having trouble hearing the answer, so I am going to ask hon. members to allow the questions and answers to happen. From the top, the hon. leader of the official opposition

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Jun/12/24 2:28:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member mentions welders. Welders incorporate. They start small businesses, welding businesses that build things. They weld products that go into apartment complexes in which people live. Therefore, when the member taxes the small businesses that help us build the housing, she not only kills jobs for those welders but she also actually kills housing when we are in a housing shortage. How could the minister possibly think it is a good idea to tax homebuilding in a housing crisis and farmers in a food crisis?

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Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:29:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for one thing, the Conservative leader should get his facts straight. Of course, what we are talking about is a two-thirds inclusion rate, not a two-thirds tax rate, but he never bothers to actually get his numbers straight. The Conservative leader also does not bother to actually stand on the side of working people. He has been faking his support for workers, but yesterday workers learned where he really stands, and that is not with them.

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Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Jun/12/24 2:29:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, taxing farmers during a food crisis, taxing home builders during a housing crisis, taxing away doctors during a health care crisis and taxing small businesses during an economic growth crisis is economic vandalism and nothing less. That is precisely why the minister has given us the worst growth in the G7, the worst growth for the next 40 years projected by the OECD and 256 homeless encampments in her hometown. Is that not the predictable result of her disastrous policies?

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Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:30:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, do members know what the average income in Ottawa-Carleton is? I do; it is $58,400. The average person in Ottawa-Carleton could only dream of earning $250,000 in a given year, but the Conservative leader thinks his average constituent should pay tax on their hard-earned salary at a higher rate than someone who is earning more than $250,000 in capital gains alone. Whose side is he really on?

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Mr. Alain Therrien (La Prairie, BQ)

Jun/12/24 2:31:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Liberals want to tax the wealthy's capital gains, but their simplistic definition of who is wealthy includes Quebeckers who are small investors or individual entrepreneurs. The Bloc Québécois will propose amendments to correct the situation, such as offering these ordinary property owners, who are not real estate speculators, access to a higher one-time lifetime exemption instead of the annual exemption of $250,000. Is the government committed to working with us to avoid overtaxing the assets of Quebeckers who are not ultrarich?

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Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:32:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the Bloc Québécois for its vote on tax fairness yesterday. They understand the importance of social solidarity and fairness, just as Quebeckers do. They understand that a teacher should not pay tax at a higher rate than the ultrarich. It is such a shame that the Conservatives do not understand that.

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Mr. Alain Therrien (La Prairie, BQ)

Jun/12/24 2:32:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is simple. We say yes to raising taxes on the gains of the ultrawealthy, but no to raising taxes on the savings of self-employed workers without retirement funds who have invested everything in a triplex. These people have nothing to do with the real estate bubble. They have nothing to do with the problems that first-time homebuyers— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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The Deputy Speaker

Jun/12/24 2:33:09 p.m.
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Order. I thank members for keeping it down. The hon. member for La Prairie may begin his question again. The hon. member for La Prairie.

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Prairie

Mr. Alain Therrien

Jun/12/24 2:33:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is simple. We say yes to raising taxes on the gains of the ultrawealthy, but no to raising taxes on the savings of self-employed workers without retirement funds who have invested everything in a triplex. These people have nothing to do with the real estate bubble. They have nothing to do with the problems that first-time homebuyers are experiencing. The Liberals have a choice to make. They can work intelligently with us, or they can harm Quebeckers who are not ultrawealthy to score political points against the Conservatives. Will they make the right choice?

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Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:34:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to once again point out that we have made an important decision. The House supported an important measure, a measure for fairness that will fund extremely important investments for Canada and Quebec. Through this measure, Quebec will receive $3 billion. I think that, in terms of health care, Quebec will be really pleased—

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The Deputy Speaker

Jun/12/24 2:34:47 p.m.
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The hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie.

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Mr. Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, NDP)

Jun/12/24 2:34:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the housing crisis is wreaking havoc everywhere. Elderly people are sleeping in their cars. People are unable to pay the exorbitant amounts being charged for rent. A recent report tells us why. Affordable housing is disappearing at an alarming rate across the country. Simply put, there is little to none left. The Liberals, like the Conservatives, turned their backs on social and affordable housing. It was not making enough money for their speculator friends. However, people need a roof over their heads. What good are these two tired old parties if they cannot even guarantee a basic need like the right to housing?

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Hon. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:35:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that one of the measures in the last budget we tabled was praised by people like those at FRAPRU. This housing rights group noted that we invested $1.5 billion to take housing out of the market. What does that mean? It means securing and reserving affordable rents, off the market, for people who need them. That is exactly what we have done. We are going to work with every not-for-profit organization and municipality to achieve this, to increase the number of affordable and social housing units.

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Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

Jun/12/24 2:36:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, tenants at Thorncliffe Park and across the country are rising up against corporate greed, which is causing skyrocketing rents and resulting in evictions and rising homelessness. Renters cannot keep up with the costs of unfair corporate practices, and the Liberals themselves are partners in making rental units unaffordable. This is a violation of the human right to housing. Why is the Liberal government partnering in exploitative practices and causing harm to Canadians?

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Hon. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Lib.)

Jun/12/24 2:36:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the member and to all Canadians who are watching that the current government was the first government that made historic investments in housing. Not only that, but we also recognize the human right to housing. We have, for the first time, named a commissioner to defend the rights of tenants, and we will continue to work with all provinces and municipalities to defend those rights.

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