So V ote

Feb/8/22 8:36:45 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, again, we have to utilize all the tools that are available. They are provided through funding, and the federal government can be a leader on that. It is one of the reasons that, on this side of the House, we have been asking to increase the health transfers to the provinces. That is just one of our tools, and then the provinces can utilize it the best they can. We also have to look at national strategies that can be implemented across the country so there is some consistency as we go from province to province.

98 words

All Topics

Feb/8/22 8:34:54 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, this is one tool in the tool kit, and really it is the only tool that both levels of government have been using. Although it has been useful for many people and has saved lives, as we know, it is simply one tool. There are so many other tools we are not using. When we look at the numbers that I cited in my speech, we can see how the numbers are increasing. It is not solving all of the issues. It is just one tool. We need to be looking at all other options out there in order to best help and resolve the situation.

108 words

All Topics

Feb/8/22 8:29:20 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, it is an honour to be here late in the evening at this take-note debate to talk about the opioid crisis in Canada. Sadly, overdose deaths outpaced COVID-19 deaths in British Columbia last year. Constituents from across Kelowna—Lake Country continually reach out to me about the mental health and addictions issues playing out on our streets. However, the opioid crisis also affects everyday families, and of course the biggest tragedy is the people who are struggling with addiction and the people who are trying to help them. I have met with residents of Rutland, in downtown Kelowna, and other areas who see first hand the tragic impact that opioids and drug addictions have in their neighbourhoods. I have met with mothers who have lost a child to overdose. Their stories are heartbreaking, and I cannot imagine what they have gone through. The government's continued response has been to push off the responsibility, and it has been left to our provinces and municipalities to deal with. There needs to be federal leadership on the opioid crisis, here in Ottawa. I am not new to this issue. I spoke about Kelowna—Lake Country's addictions crisis during my maiden speech in the previous Parliament. I called on the government to introduce actionable items that would deal with bringing those addicted into recovery while ensuring criminal accountability for keeping illegal drugs on our streets. Since then, I have told the government of families watching loved ones slip away, of the desperate need to fund recovery and treatment centres and of the struggling surges in rates of overdoses in my community and my province. We keep hearing from the government what we have always heard: hearts going out, action plans coming, awareness and moving forward. However, there have not been any specific actionable plans. Kelowna—Lake Country and British Columbia are left with yet another year of tragic statistics. The year 2021 surpassed 2020 as the deadliest year for illicit drug deaths, and now, six British Columbians a day are lost, according to B.C.'s chief coroner. Kelowna has gone from counting drug deaths in single digits just 10 years ago to now having many dozen a year in my community alone. I hosted a mental health round table in my community last year, and conversations were geared toward talking about addiction. There were many stakeholders there from my community and they gave really good input, which helped lead into our platform in the previous election. I have talked to first responders, and they are exhausted by the continual calls of overdoses and seeing the tragedy every day. Let us recognize and thank them here today. They are on the front lines of the opioid crisis every day. B.C. Emergency Health Services responded to over 35,000 overdoses in 2021, an increase of 31% compared with the previous year and nearly triple the number it responded to when the government was elected in 2015. New substances with even more significant toxicity continue to appear in Kelowna, with a public health warning issued of a new substance just this past January. There are a number of organizations, including those in Kelowna—Lake Country, that provide treatment in supportive living environments for those struggling to recover from addiction. They are trying to bring hope and healing to people so they can become productive members of society. However, many of these organizations do not meet government models to receive funding and have to self-fund in the community and rely on generous volunteers and donors. We need to use all the tools available, such as drug-treatment beds, community recovery centres and wraparound services. The opioid crisis is a national emergency and an urgent health issue, and COVID-19 has made things worse. People have been isolated, out of work and unable to see friends and family. My community has been very clear about what is needed to help them. The federal government has received clear recommendations from British Columbia's municipalities, including Kelowna, while leaving them without much-needed treatment. We must act for the people who need recovery and treatment and act for the families and communities where we live. We must all work together in the House to help people and families, and we must act now.

725 words

All Topics

Feb/8/22 2:56:14 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, polls say that fewer than one in five Canadians expect their financial situation to improve this year. Almost 60% of Canadians are having a tough time putting food on their tables, and the average family grocery bill will go up $1,000 this year. Constituents are emailing me copies of the highest home heating bills they have ever received, and payroll taxes will take about $700 off the average family's paycheques this year. People are being squeezed. Why is the government not addressing the unmanageable squeeze that is being put on hard-working families, making it difficult every day to just pay for basic necessities?

108 words

Feb/3/22 12:24:37 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, that piece is one of my favourite parts of this legislation. However, once you add all of the parts together, you get this incredible amount of spending. Even though there might be parts in there that sound good and make sense, once you add it all up, you get to this point where it reaches over $70 billion. There are parts I can definitely support and that are good, but once you add it all up, it gets to a point where, when we look at the whole package, it is really hard to move forward with this legislation.

101 words

All Topics

Feb/3/22 12:23:10 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, this was definitely a big topic of conversation during the past election. We have given many recommendations over the last year to the government, many of which have not taken place. We have to remember that this is a government that has now been in power for more than six years and all of its policies have failed. In the last year alone, we have had a 30% increase in housing. Its policies are failing and it doubles down on a lot of its existing policies, which are absolutely not working.

93 words

Feb/3/22 12:21:33 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, I am glad that the member opposite brought up that question, because, in fact, the Liberal government has completely failed on rapid testing. We have been calling for rapid testing since back in 2020. There are other countries across the world that have had rapid testing widely available to families for almost a year now. We have completely failed in rapid testing, and it is one of the major reasons why we have had to have perpetual lockdowns. It is one of the biggest failures of the government over the last two years.

95 words

All Topics

Feb/3/22 12:13:07 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-8

The worst days of the pandemic are thankfully now behind us. We should thank the efforts of our fellow Canadians for doing their part and our the health care workers, the true heroes. Everyone is looking for a return to normal, to live with COVID-19, and the government should do the same and put the brakes on the inflationary spending. However, legislation like what we see here today shows that is not happening. It is not just Conservatives who are confused by the government’s inability to see the flashing red lights advising them to turn back. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has been left confused by the government’s proposal for $100 billion over the next three years. The government, Prime Minister and finance minister, committed in December 2020 to have guardrails on our economic recovery spending. They said how fast Canadians would be able to return to their jobs would decrease the stimulus needing to be spent. A surprisingly economically sound idea from a government that proposes so few. The Parliamentary Budget Officer tells us that those guardrails have been met, yet the government looks to continue spending regardless, deep into this current decade. The budget officer stated, “It appears to me that the rationale for the additional spending initially set aside as 'stimulus' no longer exists.” The government continues to insist that we can spend ourselves out of this hole regardless of the consequences of higher potential taxes, sluggish supply chains and rising inflation. This complete lack of concern for the condition of Canada’s finances is alarming, especially when families are increasingly feeling the pinch. The Canadian dollar is a plaything for the government. At the finance committee when asked if government deficits can contribute to inflation, the Parliamentary Budget Officer gave a clear and to the point response: “Yes, they can.” Any Canadian pushing a shopping cart can tell us that grocery stores increasingly are frequently low on the most basic groceries. Often some shelves can go unstocked for days and the products there are increasingly unaffordable for many. It is no wonder we saw such an increase in food bank usage last year. The average family will spend at least $1,000 more on groceries in 2022. My colleague, the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent, recently told the House of his constituent Madame Tremblay in Quebec paying 8% more on average for her groceries. The finance minister responded that she too does the grocery shopping every week for her family. I do not doubt she does, but it is much easier to afford groceries when earning $269,800 a year, paid for, of course, by Canadians, including Madame Tremblay. How completely out of touch with the average family was that comment? That is the Liberal way. Natural gas is also up 19%. I have had many people copy their home gas bill and email it to me, stating they are mortified at the cost and finding it harder to pay their bills. Here is a quote from an email I received from a Kelowna-Lake Country constituent just a week ago. It said, “This is a copy of the highest gas bill we have ever received”. They go on to say, “Seniors are losing at every turn these days.” There is nothing in this legislation to address rising inflation or rising debt. The cost of housing remains another pressing concern in Kelowna-Lake Country. The value of the average family home in Kelowna has now surpassed one million dollars. New parents are increasingly being priced out of one of the best communities in the country to raise a family. I recently sent a housing survey to my constituents to get their feedback on how best to move forward on the issue. One thing I am not expecting to see in their feedback is a call for higher costs. We now own the second most-inflated housing bubble despite being the second-largest nation on earth, and the government has put forth no concrete policies to address this including in this legislation. As the shadow minister for small business recovery and growth, I have spoken to many small businesses, both in my riding and across the country, on the issues they continue to face. While some had different points of view on how best to move forward, none of them chose to endorse a higher tax on payroll. However, the Associate Minister of Finance told me in the House that they “can afford this” and went and increased CPP premiums anyway. This is another example of the Liberals being completely out of touch. Can small businesses afford this? They are struggling and dealing with perpetual lockdowns due to mismanaged federal policies not using all the tools available to deal with COVID-19. Working people are also paying for this tax on their pay cheques. It is not only inflation at record-high 30-year levels, Canadians' take-home pay cheques are cut short with a higher tax. It is hitting people on both sides. If the government is content to ignore not just Conservatives and the Parliamentary Budget Officer but also small businesses and millions of Canadian families, perhaps it will listen to one of its own. Robert Asselin, a former adviser to both the current Prime Minister and the finance minister, who now serves as the senior VP of policy at the Business Council of Canada, said: Given inflation is looking more and more persistent and is higher than expected, and the fact that we know much more spending is coming following the commitments made by the government in the last federal election, I think there are warning signs on pursuing aggressive government spending in the short-term. Legislation like Bill C-8 would do nothing to keep the country's books in order, instead leaving them overflowing in red ink. The bill for this kind of reckless spending will eventually come due for governments, but unfortunately bills will come due for struggling families first. Here is another email I received last week, from a constituent in Kelowna—Lake Country: “We are taxed to poverty. With EI and CPP premiums all increasing, carbon tax increases along with inflation running rampant, our pay cheques keep getting smaller. Canadians are going to be in the poorhouse.” The Association of Interior Realtors recently reported the benchmark selling price of a single-family home has now risen to a million dollars. Housing prices in Lake Country rose similarly, with new figures from B.C. Assessment showing a one-year increase of 32%. The escalation in home values jeopardizes the ability of seniors on fixed incomes to maintain their homes, prevents first-time homebuyers from ever being able to buy a home, forces families to live in homes that no longer suit their family's size, and forces people to spend far more than 30% of their pre-tax income on rent. During the last quarter, I surveyed my riding of Kelowna—Lake Country with a mail-out that went to every household to get feedback on tackling inflation and also what other issues people thought were a priority. I had a huge response, and more than 80% of Kelowna—Lake Country constituents who responded said that tackling rising inflation should be a priority for me and my fellow MPs. It is not just Conservatives in my riding who want Parliament to tackle this. It is across all party lines. The legislation would do nothing to address the top issue my constituents are raising and would add $70 billion more in deficit with no plan to get our fiscal house in order. It is really difficult to vote for the legislation, based on all of the comments I have made here today.

1311 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 20 - Jan/31/22

Feb/3/22 12:10:56 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, a Canadian waking up in December 1991 would not have a lot in common with many things we see and hear today. At that time, Kellogg's Cinnamon Mini Buns was the number one cereal, Bryan Adams and Paula Abdul were topping the charts and people would make most phone calls from a phone plugged into the wall. However, one thing that is the same is the 4.8% inflation rate. The country was facing this back then at a time when inflation rates were high, and we are seeing it now again. The government’s insistence on throwing our fiscal policy in this time machine fails to address families facing a high cost of living crisis. The measures outlined in this fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation will do nothing to help Canadians looking for a return to stocked shelves and whole pay cheques. This legislation would cost taxpayers over $70 billion at a time when our national debt has risen to $1.2 trillion. My colleagues and I on this side of the House have repeatedly called on the government to break free of its continued insistence on ever-increasing spending regardless of economic conditions. We recognize that in times of emergency, some spending is required, just as a house from 100 years ago in the dead of winter needed logs in a fire. Carefully keeping the fireplace lit, placing one log at a time, will keep that house warm, but stuffing all the logs in at once will not accomplish anything except burning it down.

260 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 17 - Dec/14/21

Jan/31/22 3:01:43 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, last month the Associate Minister of Finance said, when it came to payroll tax hikes, that businesses “can afford this”. How completely out of touch is this comment with small businesses? Considering the government went ahead with these tax hikes despite 30-year, record-high inflation rates, we have to assume the government believes that businesses can afford these as well. Could the minister tell us how historically high inflation rates have to be before the government stops increasing taxes on small businesses?

87 words

Context: House Hansard - 17 - Dec/14/21

Dec/14/21 2:31:47 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, we should not be surprised that the Canada-U.S. relationship is not a priority and is failing. It was not even mentioned once in the throne speech and the U.S. is our biggest trading partner. A small manufacturing business in my riding of Kelowna—Lake Country exports to the U.S. military and will be affected by the buy American policies. It is being failed by the Minister of Small Business and by the Minister of International Trade. That is right; it is the same minister. When will the minister get off her hands, do her job and stand up for Canadian businesses?

108 words

Context: House Hansard - 15 - Dec/10/21

Dec/14/21 2:30:42 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' failed relationship with the United States continues to go backward. The Conservatives have been warning about trade challenges for years, yet the Liberals called an election instead of spending time in the U.S. building relationships and standing up for Canada. The trade minister is now warning that Canada should “prepare for the worst”. The Conservatives had a Canadian buy American exemption and a softwood lumber agreement. Despite photo ops and feel-good words, the trade minister comes back empty handed every time from the United States. How much worse does the trade minister expect it to get?

104 words

Dec/10/21 12:01:44 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, the average Canadian small business is now carrying $170,000 in new debt due to the pandemic. With business payroll taxes set to increase on January 1, this will be yet another hit to their ability to hang on. When I asked the government to freeze this tax hike, the associate finance minister shockingly said businesses “can afford” this. Is the Liberal tax policy on small business that there is no problem or issue here, and that small businesses can afford this?

86 words

Dec/8/21 8:32:13 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Chair, it is really amazing that we have five ministers here and apparently the minister who knows the most is answering the question and we have had no answers here. This is my last question for the minister. Can the minister list the top three ways the government is addressing the labour crisis?

54 words

Dec/8/21 8:31:57 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Chair, I have actually got them here, but obviously the minister does not know. Approximately how many job vacancies were there in September?

24 words

Dec/8/21 8:31:46 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Chair, how many people were on CRB in September?

10 words

All Topics

Dec/8/21 8:31:29 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Chair, that is not overly reassuring. How many small businesses has the government consulted so far regarding the review of the EI contribution rates?

25 words

All Topics

Dec/8/21 8:31:19 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Chair, does that mean January, February, March, April, three years from now, 10 years from now? Give us an estimate.

21 words