SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 338 - Sep/18/24

Mr. Jaime Battiste (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Lib.)

Sep/18/24 6:49:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our hearts go out to the families and friends who have lost their lives to the toxic drug and overdose crisis. No community has been left untouched by this tragic public health crisis. We all have a responsibility to do everything we can to help Canadians and not look away. As part of an overall comprehensive approach, our government continues to support efforts to divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and towards health and social services. This approach helps reduce immediate harms and helps create opportunities for people to find a way to supports, including treatment and recovery, while keeping communities safe. Prevention is critical. Everyone making the courageous step to seek treatment should have access without delay. Enforcement has a key role to play in disrupting illegal organizations that prey on vulnerable people. I think everyone in the House would agree that we need prevention, treatment and enforcement as part of a comprehensive approach. However, we disagree when it comes to harm reduction. Harm reduction keeps people alive, yet Conservatives want to remove an essential tool to address this crisis. People accessing harm reduction services are choosing to live another day. They are choosing to access health care and to be connected to the system. Like any service, these services need to be well resourced and well staffed to be successful, but removing services for ideological reasons is the trademark of the opposition. People struggling with addiction are not criminals. They need health care, not jail. We changed the legislation and issued guidance to make sure that, in cases of simple possession, police and prosecutors must now consider referring the person to health and social services, issuing a warning or taking no further action. In this way, they can consider both public health and public safety. These amendments mean that individuals have the chance to get the help they need to address underlying issues rather than being criminalized for health care issues. This strategy encourages a public health approach while making sure that police have the discretion to move forward with criminal offences when public safety risks arise. We will always work with provinces, territories, indigenous communities and all partners to provide them the support they need to deliver the services their communities need most. The overdose crisis has no borders and does not care about jurisdiction. We all need to be partners at the table, working together. We should not sow division or attack people on the front lines of this crisis but work to help Canadians. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this crisis. It requires a multi-faceted response. We are working so that Canadians have access to the full range of prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery services, and supports they need, as needed. For example, budget 2024 announced $150 million over three years to support municipalities and indigenous communities. This is to help provide rapid responses to emergent critical needs related to the overdose crisis. We remain committed to working with provinces, territories, law enforcement, people with lived and living experience, indigenous leaders and communities, professionals and regulatory bodies, and health care providers to stop the needless harm and deaths of people in Canada.

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Mr. Arpan Khanna

Sep/18/24 6:53:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, they have had nine years; all we hear is talk and no action. Here is a quote from the chief of the London Police Service: “Diverted safe supply is being resold into our community. It's being trafficked into [our] communities, and it is being used as currency in exchange for fentanyl, fuelling the drug trade.” They are funding organized crime. My very simple question for the government is this: Will it finally end its catch-and-release laws that let the criminals cause chaos on our streets and invest in treatment, so we can bring our loved ones home drug-free?

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Mr. Jaime Battiste

Sep/18/24 6:54:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we will continue to work with all provinces and territories, as well as partners, to address their unique needs and support both public health and safety. Law enforcement has been clear: They do not want to arrest people for personal drug possession. Rather, they want the necessary tools to address issues of public safety. They support a comprehensive public health approach to addressing substance use harms where they can divert someone away from the criminal justice system to available, accessible health and social services. Our government's approach to addressing this crisis is comprehensive and collaborative. The crisis is ever evolving, making it essential to try new, innovative actions to save more lives. These actions are monitored closely, so adjustments can be made where needed, based on the evidence.

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Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)

Sep/18/24 6:55:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in June I asked the Minister of Small Business how she can support a tax hike on capital gains that will kill jobs and destroy our entrepreneurs. Instead of our hearing from the Minister of Small Business on how she was standing up for entrepreneurs in the face of the massive tax hike, the Minister of Finance rose and did not let her answer the question. In defending the hike, the finance minister highlighted that “the capital gains rate in Canada will be lower than the tax paid in California or in New York City”. However, she ignored the jurisdictions like Florida, New Hampshire and Texas, which have zero state-level capital gains tax. A report from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy highlighted that prior to the changes announced in this year's budget, Canada's capital gains tax rate ranked 13th highest in the OECD, which was lower that of the ninth-ranked United States. However, after the changes announced, Canada's rate jumped to number three, behind only Denmark and Chile. Therefore let us correct the record here: Canadians are now, in fact, being taxed higher on capital gains than citizens of most industrialized countries, not just the Americans but also the French, the Finns, the Norwegians, the Swedes and even the Dutch. This is what I am hearing on capital gains. The Canadian Medical Association has said that the changes will pose a significant financial hit to doctors and may push some out of the profession or to the United States, where they can still practise medicine and pay way less tax. Business groups are saying that the changes are unwise at a time of weak productivity. More than half of small business owners believe it will affect the eventual sale of their business. Though the government claims it is a tax hike on only the wealthiest Canadians, business leaders and financial experts disagree. Focusing solely on a snapshot of the number of filers in one year, like the government did, gives false information. Most people dispose of assets such as a vacation home, a small business or farmland occasionally, not every year. Statistics Canada data confirms this. Over the years 2011 to 2021, an annual average of 44,664 tax filers reported capital gains in excess of $250,000, but they are not the same people every year. Sixty-three per cent of people who experience capital gains experience them only once in their lifetime. High capital gains are among the most economically damaging form of taxation because they reduce the incentive to innovate and to invest. This tax can penalize a lifetime of hard work. Canada is already behind all of our G7 peers for productivity. Investment money will flow out of Canada in search of better returns and will increasingly go to the United States. Statistics Canada's monthly estimates of business openings and closures reported in their most recent data that 2,000 more businesses closed than opened in May. Further, the superintendent of bankruptcy reported a 54.7% increase in business insolvencies for the year ending July 31, 2024. The Minister of Small Business will not, or cannot, raise the concerns of entrepreneurs at the cabinet table or here in the House of Commons. Instead, she sits silently while the finance minister claims that Canadians will somehow be better off, that our economy will somehow be better off, paying these exorbitantly high taxes and having fewer job creators. In fact since the early 2000s, the number of entrepreneurs in our country has dropped from nearly three in 1,000 to 1.3 in 1,000. Therefore, I will ask the—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Sep/18/24 6:59:21 p.m.
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The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

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Ms. Rachel Bendayan (Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.)

Sep/18/24 6:59:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I simply cannot put it any way other than to say that my Conservative colleague is obviously misinformed. When it comes to business investments, I can tell members that Canada is currently third in the world for attracting foreign direct investments, and that is for the very first time in our country's history. It is an amazing achievement that highlights the focus of our government to bring new investments into Canada. One of the problems here is that Conservatives are focusing only on the top capital gains tax rate on very large investment profits. Maybe that is what his donors are talking about, but it is certainly not what middle-class Canadians are talking about around their kitchen tables. In fact, on this subject, Conservatives never talk about regular folks making regular incomes, making regular salaries or hourly wages. A worker in Canada earning an average wage is taxed less than the average across all OECD countries. I can tell members that it is a hell of a lot lower than the 48% rate in Germany or the 47% tax rate in France. In his question, my Conservative colleague is not even talking about the regular capital gains tax rate, which is itself only paid by a very small sliver of well-off Canadians who are able to realize profits on their investments. No, the Conservatives are talking about the very top marginal rate for capital gains, those making a profit of over $250,000 in investment profit in a single year, which is the definition of the one per cent. That is who the Conservatives are so very desperate to defend and make us all feel very sorry for. This is ridiculous. The fact is that the rhetoric, and if I may say the populist rhetoric, that the Conservative leader goes on tour with during the summer is addressed to the hard-working Canadians who work in the construction industry, as nurses or as bus drivers. That speech is directed to folks right across the country. However, in the House, in this chamber, it is clear who Conservatives are defending. They are defending the top one per cent. They are protecting people's stock portfolios instead of their pensions. They are defending people's stock portfolios instead of the wages of the middle class. Let that be clear.

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Investments

Mr. Brad Vis

Sep/18/24 7:01:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I could not think of a more out-of-touch answer to the very real concerns that I raised, which were backed by Statistics Canada data. In fact, talking about middle-class Canadians, as I outlined in my remarks, the capital gains tax will often only be paid by 63% of Canadians once in their lifetime. Why is that significant? It is because of the 80-year-old farmer in Hatzik Valley, who does not have any children, who came to me. He wants to keep his family farm in his family, but if he and his wife were to sell the property today, which is worth a few million dollars, they would not be able to have enough money to retire to assisted living, where they should be, because the capital gains tax increase they are paying has completely thrown off their retirement investment. I think of the auto mechanic who invested in a property to start a business and employ people. The government is saying, no, that they need to give more. That is not sufficient—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Sep/18/24 7:02:59 p.m.
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The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Secretary

Ms. Rachel Bendayan

Sep/18/24 7:03:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think that the Conservatives' priority has been rather clear so far. Other than abandoning the fight against climate change, all they talk about is doing whatever they can to protect those who earn more than $250,000 a year in profit on their investments, even if that creates more inequality and raises the deficit that they regularly pretend to complain about. My Conservative colleague is obviously also focusing only on the very highest capital gains tax rate for investment gains. Perhaps that is what his donors are talking about, but that is certainly not what most Canadians are talking about around the kitchen table. I think that the Conservatives' priority is rather clear. The priority of our Liberal government is to defend the middle class.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Sep/18/24 7:04:05 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, Nunavummiut still have the highest levels of food insecurity in the country. My home territory has the highest number of children going to school and to bed with empty stomachs. Mothers are not eating enough so their children can be full and grow up healthy. These conditions are by design of the federal government. These conditions do not happen by accident. These conditions are on purpose. The Liberal government continues to refuse to fix the broken nutrition north program. When will the suffering finally be enough for the Liberals to act? While people are suffering in poverty, the Minister of Northern Affairs' response is to do more studies. His response, when I requested that the Auditor General review the program, was to do an internal review and then, possibly, an external review. The message was clear that he is not committed to helping alleviate poverty. His commitment is to protect corporate greed. The first and only person who has been the Minister of Northern Affairs since his role was created claims to be absolutely committed to 100% of the retail subsidy being passed on directly to northerners. In fact, he said his internal audit will make sure of that. The minister says his internal review will assess nutrition north's performance. I can tell him right now that its performance is terrible. Food insecurity and prices have continued to rise under the program. The minister should recall that when I called the CEO of the North West Company, Dan McConnell, to appear before the indigenous and northern affairs committee, he refused to disclose that he earned $3.9 million in one year. The North West Company uses nutrition north. That means we can interpret that Canadian tax dollars are funding corporate greed. I travelled to 13 Kivalliq and Kitikmeot communities this summer. I heard the same thing everywhere: "We cannot afford the cost of living in Nunavut. We cannot afford groceries. We cannot feed our families." My constituents are yelling for help. I have repeated that in this House so many times. The federal government keeps ignoring us. Nunavummiut do not need another internal study. Nunavummiut need to be able to feed their families. Ten years ago, the Auditor General exposed that nutrition north was not meeting its objective to increase Inuit's northern food access. The Auditor General said the government "has not done the work necessary to verify that northern retailers are passing on to consumers the full government subsidy". The Auditor General revealed that the government is not requiring retailers to tell it where the tax dollars are going or how high the profits have climbed. What a great deal for a big business. My question is simple. Will the Minister of Northern Affairs stop delaying and finally tell us the program will be improved so tax dollars are shown going to alleviate poverty and not going into the pockets of rich CEOs?

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Mr. Jaime Battiste (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Lib.)

Sep/18/24 7:07:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, nakurmiik to my colleague. Food security is one of the most pressing issues in the north and one of the top priorities of the minister. The nutrition north program is helping communities address food insecurity, a significant and complex issue requiring shared solutions and partnerships across governments. Until recently, the program's main focus was its retail subsidy, which lowers prices on foods and essential items. Today, after extensive reforms informed by indigenous and northern partners, nutrition north's expanded food security programming takes a holistic food systems approach to strengthening locally led food security and food sovereignty initiatives. An investment of $164 million over three years from budget 2021 expanded nutrition north's ability to help eligible northern and isolated communities address local food security priorities. The investment included an additional $36 million for the harvesters support grant and nearly $61 million to launch the new community food programs fund under the grants to support community food-sharing activities. An additional $1.5 million over two years was allocated for nutrition north's Canada's food security research grant to study the effects of retail subsidy and inform ongoing improvements to the program. These initiatives make a difference for northerners. Since the launch of the harvesters support grant in 2020, over 15,000 harvesters have been supported with more than 717 new food-sharing initiatives and 410 community hunts and harvests taking place. I would also like to highlight the community food programs fund, co-developed alongside indigenous partners, including 24 recipient organizations and ITK. This fund directly supports indigenous recipients in culturally appropriate and community-led food security activities, such as school food programs and elder meal programs. The newly established food security research grant funds indigenous-led research on food access and cost of living in the north to inform ongoing improvements to the retail subsidy program, including subsidy pass-through. We believe in “by the north, for the north” solutions. To that end, since 2019, nutrition north has transferred over $76 million for the four regional Inuit organizations through the harvesters support grant and community food programs funding. This includes over $27.8 million for NTI. The retail subsidies help save money on essential food like eggs, which cost $7.99 for 18 in Cape Dorset in February 2024. This represents a 46% savings to consumers. In Igloolik, in the same month, four litres of milk only cost $5.69 as a result of the subsidy. Retailers and suppliers have regular independent audits to ensure compliance with program requirements, and we also seek input for ongoing improvements from indigenous and northern partners. For example, recent program adjustments now require retailers to submit monthly price data for all products in the communities. An internal evaluation is also under way, targeted for completion in March 2025, which includes indigenous partners, local communities, elders and knowledge-keepers in the evaluation working group. Nutrition north will not solve food insecurity, but it is part of a long-term strategy to address the factors affecting food security, such as income, employment and access to food distributors. We are committed to continuous improvement of the expanded nutrition north program and to working with indigenous and northern partners to ensure it meets local community needs.

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Ms. Lori Idlout

Sep/18/24 7:11:47 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, Amautiit Nunavut Inuit Women's Association released a report on child poverty in April 2024, and its report showed that those dollars are not working because children are still in poverty. The close to $100 million that you mentioned in your response is going to corporate greed. Your government's data on the nutrition north program—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Sep/18/24 7:12:13 p.m.
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I would remind the hon. member to speak through the Chair please and not directly to the member.

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Remind
Speak

Ms. Lori Idlout

Sep/18/24 7:12:23 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I apologize. The government's data on the nutrition north program includes prices and the subsidy paid for some products. Since the voices of constituents are not enough, I will cite a researcher. Nicholas Li is one of just two or three researchers who have confidential access to that data. In April, Nicholas told APTN that when he last checked, there was a lag in the data reporting. Can the Minister of Northern Affairs confirm whether the government is currently even collecting data on the prices and subsidy paid for food products?

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Mr. Jaime Battiste

Sep/18/24 7:13:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the concerns of the member opposite over the nutrition north program subsidies and the reforms to the program. The harvesters support grant and the community food program are part of the expanded nutrition north program and provide significant support for indigenous recipients with culturally appropriate and community-led food security activities. We remain determined to help reduce food prices through the expanded nutrition north program, which has also helped to increase food security throughout the north. The newly established food security research grant supports indigenous-led academic research into food security and existing federal food programs. Access in the north is informing ongoing improvements to the retail subsidy program. I look forward to continuing to work with the opposition and our partners to ensure the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of nutrition north. I will pass the member's concerns on to the minister.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Sep/18/24 7:14:07 p.m.
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The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1). (The House adjourned at 7:14 p.m.)

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