- Member of Parliament
- Liberal
- Humber River—Black Creek
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 62%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $154,283.13
- Government Page
- Apr/30/24 11:49:24 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in these discussions, very often we all feel very strongly about different positions we take on something as important as this budget. This budget would be the playbook for the next several years in our country and would make significant headway in trying to improve the lives of all Canadians.
As I indicated earlier, I have been speaking with my constituents and my community leaders. Many of them feel that the budget is going in the right direction and that it would make a difference in the lives of Canadians. At the end of the day, we have to think about why we are here and what this is all about.
Budgets are laying out the future, and the future reflects the needs of Canadians. That not only means investing in social programs, but also means investing in entrepreneurs and in small and medium-sized businesses, giving them the tools they need to grow their businesses and to do everything possible to grow our country.
There were announcements last week about Honda, and those kinds of investments are going to create thousands of jobs. We could reflect back on years when things were very tough. People were out of work and were just begging to find jobs so that they would be able to contribute to their families and would not have to use unemployment insurance. Now, we talk about such an abundance of jobs that we are going to have, not only today, as our economy is doing very well, but also in the future, with the investment in Alliston for the Honda EV plant. It is really the future for Canadians.
This will create jobs for so many Canadians so that they can buy houses and grow their families. It means a successful Canada, so Canada is in a very good position. In spite of what we hear from the official opposition about Canada being in a terrible place, Canada is in a very good spot. We are still in the top in the G7, and we are still doing very well, but there is much more to do. I think this budget is laying out that platform for exactly what we need to do to move it forward.
I am glad to see all the initiatives in this year's budget that directly address concerns Canadians throughout Canada have, but especially the residents in my riding of Humber River—Black Creek. I have often spoken about my constituents and the messages they want me to pass on here in the House of Commons, whether they are the need for social programs or for increases in Canada child benefit.
I hear a lot from seniors about how difficult it is. Even with the increases, which have been significant, that we have contributed to since 2015, seniors are still struggling, and as the cost of living goes up, through our various programs, we have been able to make the kinds of changes that assist and help them, like the carbon tax rebates that all the seniors are receiving.
The Conservatives continue to say that it is not acceptable, that it should not be there and that we should scrap the carbon tax. However, we cannot stop the wildfires that are happening, and we need to make sure that people are taking whatever steps are necessary to make our country safer and to make the effective changes we need to protect our systems.
Budget 2024 would help make life more affordable for every generation of Canadians by creating access to more affordable housing, lowering everyday costs and growing our economy. I am sure anyone who watches question period or watches what is going on in the House knows that we have talked about investing millions and millions of dollars in housing, and it is long overdue. This should have been done a long time ago.
I recall, back in Paul Martin's days, when we were going to have a national minister for housing, and that was one thing that was greatly debated. It was announced that we were going to establish a minister of housing to get back into the housing business. Unfortunately, our government at that time was defeated on a budgetary motion vote of confidence, and we did not resume the opportunity to introduce that until we started to get back into power in 2015.
I would have liked to see, as the very first thing we did, the establishment of a minister of housing to get right into the housing file. However, everything takes time, as all of us in government know, and it took quite a while until we finally got a minister of housing and got the focus put some of the things we needed to do, which was to make sure that there was more affordable housing being built, that it was housing everybody could afford and that it would increase the availability in the housing stock.
One thing we would do in this budget to help with that housing need would be to introduce a 30-year amortization for first-time buyers. Yes, we have thousands of buyers. I have several grandkids who are looking to buy homes, and they are looking at an interest rate that we do not control. I had a 25-year amortization, as some people in the House currently have. This is a 30-year period, which would significantly lower it, and the interest rates will help my grandkids, as well as many others, buy homes. Making it easier for Canadians to buy their first homes is really important.
We are also launching a $1.5-billion Canada rental protection fund to protect affordable housing and apartments. We all hear about it when we go back to our ridings, and we hear stories about apartment buildings being converted into expensive condos. It is a real loss of what we call affordable housing and affordable rental housing. Not everybody wants to purchase housing. Some people want good, affordable rental housing.
Many properties, especially the older stock in ridings like Humber River—Black Creek, are often redeveloped, and they come on the market at a very high price. That is a loss of affordable rental housing. The $1.5-billion Canada rental protection fund is meant to prevent that from happening. It would protect that level of affordable housing so that we would have more apartments for seniors, for families and for students.
We have also introduced flexibilities for the federal community housing initiative. It would ensure access to funding to maintain affordability for low-income tenants and for co-op members. I have, I believe, four co-ops in my riding. They are extremely successful. I often talk to the people there. There is a long wait-list to get into those co-ops. Once people are there, frankly, they are very comfortable. They like their neighbours, and they do not want to move. The answer is not that they have to move; the answer is to have more co-op housing on the market.
When there is a range of different incomes sharing housing, it builds better and stronger communities. It also provides a housing level that is affordable for a lot of people. There are some who would never be able to afford the kind of housing market that exists now. If somebody is paying millions of dollars, it must mean that they are doing extremely well, and we would hope that they have the opportunity to do that. The federal community housing initiative would provide $150 million for 47,000 homes and would make sure they will be there as we move into the future.
As members can tell, I am focusing on housing, and these investments are extremely important for Humber River—Black Creek. People do not have anywhere to move. Seniors want to sell their homes, which would provide nice, affordable housing for first-time homebuyers, but they have no where to go. They do not want to go to a retirement home. They just want to go into safe rental housing that would give them a chance to continue to enjoy their remaining years.
I am very proud to have York University in my riding, where many students call Humber River—Black Creek home. Over 3,000 students actually live on campus at York University. There has been a huge amount of housing built there. It is all meant to house students, but as the university grows and expands, there needs to be more opportunity.
I have covered a few issues, mostly on housing, but I would like to talk about this further. I will be glad to respond to questions about pharmacare and about the new dental program, which is being received so well in Humber River—Black Creek. These are exciting times. It is a challenging time for the government to manoeuver the proper way, but I believe this budget is a good step forward, and I am looking forward to answering questions.
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- Apr/16/24 3:47:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a new program that is being introduced. I cannot tell the House how pleased I am that it is here.
I have heard from my constituents, whether they are interested in the issue of diabetes support or in talking about contraception opportunities. At the end of the day, this would save lives and a lot of money. It would also make our country far more understanding and appreciative of what people are suffering. When we talk about affordability, we need to start by helping people with their drug costs.
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- Nov/28/23 4:24:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to stand today for a few minutes and speak about this bill that is here as an opposition day motion. I found the conversation actually quite comical as I was observing it.
I will be sharing my time with the member for Lac-Saint-Louis.
Rather than indulge the Conservative partisan attacks on the pollution price, let us talk about what matters most to all Canadians. That is our economic plan that will support the middle class and build more homes faster, which the minister introduced last week and that really tackles so many issues when we talk about affordability and what matters to Canadians right now. It is putting bread on the table and having a roof over people's heads. Those are things that our government has, since 2015, worked on extensively. I am very proud of what has been done to ensure that there is bread on the table for thousands of people. Without some of the programs we introduced, that would be a seriously problem for them today.
As everyone saw last week, our government continues to deliver an economic plan that supports a strong middle class. It is something we have been working on since 2015, to enforce that, so the middle class has access to good jobs and good housing. We are building more homes faster; taking concrete action to help stabilize prices, which is critically important; making life more affordable; and protecting Canadians with mortgages, which is something that many are very worried about.
Canadians did not expect the interest rate to go up to what it is today. I reflect back on the first house we bought. The interest rate was 6% and I remember thinking how bad that was. It was not much longer after that it ended up at 19%. We are very wary of what mortgage rates are and the impacts they have on Canadians. The minister has introduced a plan to work with the banks to help Canadians and protect them from that.
Simply put, we are taking action on the priorities that matter most to Canadians today, and we are doing so in a way that is fiscally responsible. Our government's economic plan is very responsible and I am very proud of what is in it. In the face of global inflation, our government has reduced the deficit faster than any other country in the G7. In fact, Canada maintains both the lowest deficit and net debt-to-GDP ratios in the G7. If someone were to listen to question period, they would think that doom and gloom was everywhere, that the world was caving in and that nothing was moving forward. Canada is in a very good fiscal position because of some of the investments we have made.
With inflation down from 8.1% last year to 3.1% last month, we are taking care not to feed inflation by carefully targeting new investments toward the priorities of Canadians today, and toward the future growth that makes our finances sustainable. This includes, through new reductions in government spending as part of last week's fall economic statement, building on the $15 billion in public service spending reductions that we announced in the spring.
It was not only about how we were helping people in a monetary way, whether it was building homes or making other changes, but it was the spending reduction of $15 billion, which was significant. Clearly, the opposition rarely mentions that $15 billion. We were able to do that at the same time as focusing on the stuff that matters the most, which is increasing the number of homes that will get built.
We are ensuring that Canada's finances remain sustainable because that is how we will be able to continue investing in Canadians. Not only is our economic plan fiscally responsible, but it is clearly working. Canada's unemployment rate for the last 21 months has been lower than at any time between 2006 to 2015.
Over a million more Canadians are employed today compared to before the pandemic. Wages have outpaced inflation for the past nine months. Private sector economists now expect Canada to avoid the recession that so many had predicted.
The International Monetary Fund projects Canada to see the strongest economic growth in the G7 next year. That is a very important statement and is very much contrary to much of what we hear from the opposition, which never wants to say anything good, only finding ways to say something that would bring the country down, making people worried and concerned about the future.
According to the OECD, in the first half of this year, Canada received the third-most foreign direct investment of any country in the world and the highest per capita in the G7, again.
Now, I know that perhaps that sounds overly positive. We know that for many Canadians, this remains a challenging time. We need to assure Canadians that their government is making the right investments and that Canada is the envy of many parts of the world.
Higher housing costs and still-elevated consumer prices are putting pressure on families every single month. To combat inflation around the world, the world's central banks have implemented the steepest series of interest rate increases in decades. These interest rate increases have led to a slowing of the Canadian economy and, frankly, the slowing of the global economy. It is not just about Canada. Canada does not live in isolation. We are part of the global economy.
That is why having an economic plan that is fiscally responsible is so very important. By continuing our commitment to responsible fiscal management, we are able to continue helping Canadians navigate these economic headwinds.
Our government's support for the middle class did not begin in response to the pandemic and Canada's quick recovery from the COVID recession. Since 2015, as I mentioned earlier, we have been investing in Canadians, ranging from the Canada child benefit, which my riding has benefited from by at least $14 million, to enhanced benefits and pensions for seniors, to stronger public health care and a Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care.
The issue of early learning child care is that it clearly allows many of the women in our country who were not able to go to work to have affordable child care and be able to move on with their own careers, which just makes Canada stronger.
These foundational investments have supported Canadians' incomes and higher numbers of Canadians participating in the labour force, including a record number of working-age women. Historic investments in infrastructure and Canada's growing clean economy will have both short- and long-term economic benefits, helping to create good careers and vibrant communities, and grow our economy for decades to come.
I have met many women, especially when campaigning, out knocking on doors. I talked to many women about how they wanted, so much, to be able to go to work and to have a career. However, having their children was a holdback, and now having affordable child care really opened the door for them, whether it is on a part-time or full-time basis. It allowed them to start pursuing a career.
Not only does a strong federal balance sheet allow our government to make the necessary investments to strengthen our social safety net and improve Canadians' quality of life, but it also gives the government the ability to respond to future challenges.
This was not an accident. This was part of a bigger plan from 2015. Since emerging from the pandemic, the government has maintained a commitment to its fiscal anchor, reducing federal debt as a share of the economy over the medium term. This metric is key not only for fiscal sustainability, but also to preserve Canada's AAA credit rating that helps maintain investors' confidence and keeps Canada's borrowing costs as low as possible.
Our economic plan, outlined in the recent fall economic statement, delivers on our fiscal anchor, enabling Canada's federal debt-to-GDP ratio to decline from 2024-25 onwards.
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Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased this morning to stand and reference various areas in the fall economic statement. It was a very good statement that gave us an opportunity to see a focus on some of the areas that the government and all members of the House, I am sure, are concerned about and supportive of, especially for the residents of Humber River—Black Creek. The help for the cost of living, for dental care, for rent and for numerous other issues has been received very well by the residents of Humber River—Black Creek.
When the government released the 2022 fall economic statement, it talked about making life more affordable, which is something we hear a lot about and something we know is very important, and how we continue to grow an economy that works for absolutely everyone. The statement outlines a plan for continued support to help all Canadians with the cost of living and to build a Canada where no one is left behind. We are committed to continuing to help families cope with the increasing costs that we hear about every day and that we see every day when we go to the grocery store and to checkout counters.
Part of this is about making housing more affordable, which is another issue. Even in this morning's news, the top story was talking about housing affordability, and I believe the fall statement tries to address some of that. It also tries to strengthen and build a thriving net-zero economy with opportunities and jobs of the future. Amid global economic uncertainty and a reckless trickle-down economics approach pushed by some here in the House that benefits the wealthy, we are staying focused on making life more affordable for everyone and building an economy that will work for everyone.
We are investing in Canadians, including by eliminating interest on student loans and apprentice loans. I have been here long enough to have met many times with student unions from all universities across the country. They continually talk to us about how difficult it is to get student loans and how the interest continues to climb. Finally taking some action on that is extremely helpful and is very appreciated by that particular part of the community. Apprentice loans are another issue, and giving people time to get a job and additional time before they have to start repaying loans is important. With interest rates rising, eliminating the interest on those loans would be very much appreciated.
We are also talking in the economic statement about helping people buy their first home. I can say how important that is. We all know that. We all have grandkids or kids who are looking to buy their first home, and the fact that now they will have a $40,000 tax-free first home savings plan will really be a boost for the housing industry. It will be very helpful for many young people who are trying to buy their first home. It will also continue to attract investment in our clean economy and help create good, solid jobs.
Everyone should have a safe and affordable place to call home, and this is one of the reasons that with the 2022 fall economic statement, our government would deliver $500 in additional support to low-income renters. I have many renters in my riding, as others have, and the struggle to keep up with the increased cost of rental accommodation is very difficult. Some people will say that $500 once is not enough, but $500 is helpful as they move forward to try to deal with inflation, which hopefully is coming to an end, here in Canada at least.
The $500 is additional support under the Canada housing benefit specifically for low-income renters. This federal benefit would be available to all Canadians with an adjusted net income below $35,000 for families, so we are talking about families that are truly struggling to make ends meet, or below $20,000 for single Canadians who pay at least 30% of their income toward rent. In Humber River—Black Creek, I know lots of families that are struggling in that situation.
We are also creating a new refundable multi-generational home renovation tax credit to provide up to $7,500 in support for constructing a secondary suite, which will help families who take care of an aging grandparent at home or help parents afford to support a child with a disability moving back home, starting in January 2023. That is another step forward, when we talk about affordability and the lack of housing in so many different parts of our urban and rural centres. To be able to do some renovation of one's home that would allow one to have a second suite that would either provide rental income or enable an aging parent to age at home, is much appreciated.
The fall economic statement is also big news for students, as I mentioned earlier. It proposes to permanently eliminate interest on Canada student loans and Canada apprenticeship loans, including those currently being repaid, beginning on April 1, 2023. This would save the average borrower $400 per year. Recent graduates could also wait until they make $40,000 a year to start repaying their federal loans. These things seem like common-sense issues. If we are trying to encourage Canadians and our young people to take additional courses, whether it is apprenticeship or advancing their education, so that they can earn a better income and contribute better to moving Canada along, then we all want to see that they are not penalized at the end of the day, so helping them in a variety of different ways is quite helpful.
Our government is also doubling the GST tax credit to put hundreds of dollars in the pockets of those who need it the most. Starting November 4, 2022, so it is already moving forward, single Canadians without children will receive up to an extra $234, and couples with two children will receive up to an extra $467. Again, some people might say that is not enough, and ask why we bother. When we are stretching from one dollar to the next dollar to the next dollar, $234 is a lot of money, as is $467, to help feed the family and put the food on the table. Seniors, whom we talk about a lot and care immensely about, will also receive on average an extra $225.
We are also delivering much-needed relief for parents who cannot afford dental care for their kids under 12. That is an issue we have talked about for many years that I never imagined we would actually deliver, so I am glad we have started a program that truly is going to help our young children, because there are many of them who do not have any kind of coverage, so they do not see a dentist until something starts to hurt and they are forced to.
A third of Canadians do not have dental insurance, and in 2018 more than one in five Canadians reported avoiding dental care because of the cost, because it is very expensive. Our job is to help parents who struggle financially, by investing in their children's health care. Canada's dental benefit will provide parents or guardians with direct upfront tax-free payments of up to $1,300 over the next two years to cover dental expenses for their children under 12 years old.
Canada needs to also build the technology, the infrastructure and businesses to help reduce our carbon reliance, but this will not occur without rapidly increasing, and then sustaining, private investment in activities in sectors that will strengthen Canada's position as a leading low-carbon economy. That is why the 2022 fall economic statement launched the Canada growth fund, which will help bring billions of dollars in new private investment required to reduce our emissions, to grow the Canadian economy and to create well-paying jobs.
This fall economic statement also has support for hard-working Canadians, and that is in the new quarterly Canada workers benefit. We are moving this to an advance payment, because people who work really hard for really low pay cannot wait until the fiscal year is over to get a top-up. They need it while they are working, and they deserve it. We should be rewarding them for doing those hard jobs and encouraging them to continue.
I am very pleased to have had the opportunity this morning to speak to the fall economic statement, and I look forward to hearing comments from my colleagues in the House.
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