44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 2, 2021 10:00AM
- Dec/2/21 3:00:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that low-income seniors have been the hardest hit during the pandemic, but today it is less the pandemic and more the government's inconsistency and lack of compassion that is hitting them the hardest.
Today, working seniors have to choose which drug to cut in order to be able to pay their bills at the end of the month, because the federal government cut their guaranteed income supplement. Some are having a hard time paying for their rent or their groceries. They are being penalized in their benefits calculation for receiving the CERB to which they were entitled.
When will the minister finally fix this situation?
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- Dec/2/21 3:02:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the red flag was raised during the construction holiday.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that his ministers were working on it, but seniors are waiting and the holiday season is fast approaching. The government is denying some of the least fortunate seniors several hundred dollars a month because of its own lack of judgment. While we in Quebec are starting to talk about generosity, Christmas drives and Christmas hampers, Ottawa is cutting working seniors' benefits.
Will the minister finally look at what is happening and ensure, as we are proposing, that for the purposes of calculating the GIS, the CERB will simply be considered working income?
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- Dec/2/21 4:35:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my brilliant economist colleague from Mirabel is a hard act to follow. I do not know if I will be able to reach the bar he set, but I will give it a shot.
As I rise today for my first speech in this 44th Parliament, I am filled with immense gratitude. I would like to begin by thanking all of my volunteers, the members of my office team, my family, and my partner. I will stop here with the acknowledgements, not only because I am afraid that I will forget someone, but also because I want to save some time for my speech. However, before I begin, I do want to thank the voters of Shefford for placing their trust in me for a second term in these unusual times. This election was held in the middle of a pandemic, and now we can finally see what it was all for.
Here we have a new throne speech. My first impression is that this speech is full of things that interfere in areas under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, such as housing, police reform, mental health, natural resource management, violence prevention, and women's services. As well, it fails to mention major issues like health transfers, the energy transition, green finance, EI reform, agriculture, and, most importantly, seniors.
My colleagues will understand that, as the critic for the status of women, gender equality and seniors, my speech will focus on the following areas: seniors, health, women, and the economic recovery.
First, I noticed that seniors are completely left out of the Speech from the Throne, even though we have seen that they continue to suffer the effects of the pandemic. Their financial situation, which was already precarious long before the pandemic, has been exacerbated by the crisis, yet there is nothing for seniors aged 65 to 74, the ones the government always leaves behind.
The government could have taken advantage of the Speech from the Throne to right another wrong. I am referring to something that simply does not sit well with the seniors' groups I consulted, this idea of creating two classes of seniors: those 75 and up and those 74 and under. They should all be eligible for an OAS increase of $110 per month starting at age 65, as the Bloc Québécois is proposing.
It gets worse. In its Speech from the Throne, the government said nothing at all about seniors. I may be repeating myself, but it could have also addressed the GIS clawback that seniors who received the CERB are facing.
As early as spring 2020, ACEF groups contacted the Minister of National Revenue to share their concerns on this issue, but they got no response.
In August 2021, I sent a letter to the former Minister of Seniors, and my colleague, the member for Joliette, sent a message to the Minister of Finance. The election campaign started, and nothing happened. We have since sent letters to the new Minister of Seniors and the Minister of Finance.
Let me stress that our solution is simple. Drastic times call for drastic measures. We want CERB, in this case, to be considered employment income, not an “other benefit”. That is actually what it is.
Seniors who had to leave their jobs because of the pandemic were entitled to CERB. They should not have an average of $400 clawed back from their cheques. They should all be entitled to a review of their file based on their actual income. The impact on their monthly income is huge. They have to decide which medications to buy, they cannot afford good food, and they could lose their housing. For some, this is taking a significant toll on their health.
If pandemic recovery is still a priority for this government, it should make massive investments in health care and help lift the most vulnerable seniors out of poverty. Instead of interfering in areas under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces, as it is attempting to do by setting standards for long-term care homes and mental health, it should focus on what it can and should do: respond to Quebec and the provinces' demand to raise federal health transfers from 22% to 35%. That means increasing transfers from $42 billion to $60 billion, a difference of $28 billion per year.
The government has not made its intentions with respect to health transfers clear, but this is an absolutely vital issue, especially in light of events that have exposed what goes wrong when the system is chronically underfunded. Since the 1990s, neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals have invested enough. They have even cut their health transfers.
Quebec and Canadian provinces all agree that health transfers should be increased. The only ones objecting to fixing the chronic underfunding of health care systems are the Liberals, who were the only party that voted against a motion on this subject in the House of Commons that had the support of FTQ, CSN, CSQ and CSD leaders.
The third point I want to make is about gender-based violence, a topic that is particularly important to me as my party's status of women critic.
The national action plan to end gender-based violence is already in place, but a 10-year plan is far too long. The government needs to stop conducting studies and take action by sending the necessary money to Quebec.
The federal government may not know what to do, but Quebec does. The Bloc Québécois has always said that funds allocated to combat domestic violence should come from Canada health transfers.
Quebec is once again in a class of its own when it comes to family and social policy and the structure of its support network. Quebec has a single, cohesive, integrated network to provide health care services and social programs. The federal government's one-size-fits-all policies often overlap with existing Quebec programs, and it is harder for the Government of Quebec to implement its programs when it does not have full control.
This reality cannot be ignored and must be taken into account to ensure that any federal involvement is designed to be effective and to respect the ways in which Quebec is different.
The recognition of Quebec's special status needs to be an integral part of the process. Any federal involvement must be positive for Quebec and must support Quebec women and girls.
I could have spoken about many other issues, but that is what I hope will be brought forward in the next Parliament, only with a lot more teeth than what we read in this very meagre throne speech. On climate change, the government must not just say that Canada needs to put words into action and that time is of the essence. It must make far more commitments. For example, it must put a cap on oil and gas production, not increase it by focusing on fossil fuels. There is no such thing as clean oil or coal. The Liberals must stop their greenwashing.
The government has yet to table a plan with concrete measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach the 2030 target. It must admit that the Trans Mountain expansion is pointless and cancel this project. The money saved must be used to fund the green transition and a green recovery, as was already proposed by the Bloc Québécois in the post-COVID-19 recovery plan it released when Parliament resumed in September 2020. It proposed creating real green financing by encouraging the banks to invest heavily in the green recovery, clean energy, green technologies and energy efficiency, which will provide real protection for our environment in the long term.
We also need to ensure that the economy grows with targeted and prudent spending support, including the extension of support measures, as well as targeted support for affected industries, such as culture and tourism. Both of those economic sectors are so important to Shefford.
We will keep a close eye on how Bill C-2 is implemented and propose improvements. We also need to combat inflation and address the very important issue of the labour shortage, for which the Bloc Québécois made seven very worthwhile proposals during the last campaign.
We also need to work on family reunification and on a refugee resettlement program, and, really, the issue of immigration in general, since it remains so problematic and takes up so much of my office staff's time. We also need to work on the issue of social housing and homelessness.
In closing, I would point out that getting out of this crisis calls for a clear plan, and we saw no such thing in the throne speech.
To bring this full circle, let us look at seniors again. One way to protect people from the effects of inflation is to ensure decent purchasing power, especially for seniors. That is why people must be outraged.
As the great Quebec humorist Yvon Deschamps once said, one is always better off being rich and healthy than sick and poor. That was true in the 1960s and it is unfortunately still true in 2021 for far too many disadvantaged seniors.
We should be appalled by the disregard being shown to those who built Quebec and Canada. We must do something about it.
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- Dec/2/21 4:45:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the less said about studies showing who had the best plan for the environment, the better. We heard all sorts of things. In the last Parliament, we saw that when the time comes to give a bill some teeth and ensure that the objectives are not just fine words, it is important to include specific targets in a bill in order to hold the minister accountable. We were not able to do that. The Liberals opposed it in the last Parliament.
The government continues to make massive investments in oil and the coal industry. We saw what happened in Glasgow. Clearly, with regard to the environment, the Liberals will have to try a little harder to walk the talk.
As for mental health, the federal government is meddling in Quebec's jurisdiction. I am tired of the federal government's paternalistic attitude, its lecturing and its attempts to interfere in health care, which is our jurisdiction. Why does it not transfer health care to us? Believe me, Quebec will be able to—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès): Order. Questions and comments.
The hon. member for Elgin—Middlesex—London.
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- Dec/2/21 4:47:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what we saw most often during the pandemic was women trapped 24 hours a day with their abuser, women who had trouble breaking out of that cycle of violence. As I mentioned in my speech, 10-year action plans take too long, because the time to act is now. We have had 18 femicides in Quebec this year, and that is far too many.
The money could go through Quebec, which already has an all-party committee in place and an action plan to fight violence against women, but implementing it will obviously depend on the transfers Quebec receives. Ottawa therefore needs to transfer funds to Quebec.
The same thing goes for housing, because the other problem is that we have to find somewhere for these women to stay. Right now, there is a freeze on funding transfers for women's shelters, so these women are having trouble finding a place to live. That is why I mentioned in my speech how important it is that we take action and transfer money for more housing so that Quebec can implement its action plan to fight violence against women.
Ottawa will soon be introducing legislation related to the Department of Justice that will require careful consideration by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I know that my colleague and I will meet again on that committee, and I look forward to working with her.
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- Dec/2/21 4:49:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in my lifetime, I have fought against the idea of transporting more oil in pipelines. When it comes to pipelines leaking, it is not a matter of “if”, but “when”. That sums up the entire problem with respect to the environment. That is why we need to stop investing in any new pipelines and embark on an energy transition.
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