SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24

Hon. Anita Anand (President of the Treasury Board, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 2:55:53 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, we have the best public service in the world. Every time, we continue to invest in Canadians, in the most vulnerable members of our society, in families, in children and in seniors. What are the Conservatives doing? They vote against those measures every time. We are here for Canadians and to build a really strong country.

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Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24

Hon. Jenna Sudds (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 2:59:48 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have just admitted they would cut the very programs that Canadian families are relying on, families who are benefiting from—

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Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24

Hon. Jenna Sudds

Sep/17/24 3:00:26 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, there we have it. Conservatives have just confirmed they will cut the programs that Canadian families are relying on, the $10-a-day child care that is saving families thousands of dollars, the national school food program that is ensuring that children are not at school hungry. We heard it here. They plan to cut the supports that Canadian families need.

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Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24

Ms. Arielle Kayabaga

Sep/17/24 5:27:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague opposite, who also sits on the same committee as me and has had the opportunity to meet with the families and to hear from them. We have done this study. Maybe he should not have filibustered yesterday when we were trying to pass the motion on lost Canadians. I mentioned earlier that there are still a small number of Canadians who are still left behind among the lost Canadians, who are waiting to get their citizenship approved, whether their parents gave birth outside of Canada or adopted their children. Some of these families were at our committee, so perhaps the member opposite should pay attention to some of the visitors we have to our committee when we are doing really important work for Canadians.

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Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24

Mrs. Élisabeth Brière (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 7:23:19 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. However, the announcement indicated that the question would be about ways to help families. I will therefore focus on the topic that was announced. Supporting families and improving their quality of life is one of the government's key priorities. We have made significant investments to make life more affordable, because we believe every Canadian deserves a real and fair chance to succeed. The Canada child benefit helps low- and middle-income families with the cost of raising their children. This benefit, which is indexed to inflation, supports over 3.5 million families and over six million children, putting close to $25 billion tax-free in the hands of families each year. In 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system, because we knew it would give children the best start in life. Tens of thousands of families are already benefiting from reduced fees. This allows mothers to re-enter the workforce, which in turn increases family incomes. From 2022 until June 30, 2024, families with children under the age of 12 were eligible for the Canada dental benefit. With the new Canadian dental care plan, the Government of Canada continues to help families access the dental care that parents and 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, as part of budget 2024, we announced a $1-billion investment over five years to create the national school food program. This program will increase access to school meals for up to an additional 400,000 schoolchildren a year and help more Canadian children get a better start each day. It will ensure they can focus on learning, not on being hungry, and it will take some of the pressure off family budgets, helping to make life more affordable. We are also helping to deliver relief at the grocery checkout counter in three ways: first, amending the Competition Act to enhance competition in the grocery sector, to help bring down costs and ensure that Canadians have more choice in where they buy groceries; second, securing commitments from Canada's five largest grocery chains to help stabilize prices; and third, establishing a grocery task force to supervise the big grocers' work and investigate unacceptable grocery sector practices such as shrinkflation. These are great examples of government working for Canadians. Since 2015, we have also enhanced the Canada workers benefit, increased the old age security pension and improved the guaranteed income supplement. Also, the new Canada disability benefit will help working-age Canadians with disabilities. We have made this significant investment because we are committed to investing in people, and our efforts are working. There are close to 1.3 million fewer people in poverty, including approximately 380,000 fewer children, compared to—

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