44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 1, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/1/22 10:20:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my friend, the hon. member for Surrey Centre.
I am thrilled to be back in our nation's capital to address the Speech from the Throne.
Canadians have shown great resilience and ingenuity over these last two years. Our government has worked rapidly and diligently to provide the tools and resources required by families, businesses and other levels of government. We deployed unprecedented assistance across all sectors of our economy, with the federal government accounting for $8 out of every $10 spent on pandemic response. This was the right thing to do, as we were able to use our AAA credit rating to take on the cost of the pandemic with significantly lower borrowing costs than those incurred by other levels of government, by households or by enterprises.
These programs have worked. Our focus on keeping Canadians healthy has led to a job recovery of 108% of pre-pandemic employment, compared with just 84% in the United States. Canadians have increased their savings rates, and there are more businesses in Canada today than there were before the pandemic started.
It is no wonder, then, that finishing the fight against COVID is such a priority. It accounted for the majority of new spending in the economic statement alongside targeted investments for indigenous reconciliation and for repairing the flood damage in British Columbia.
Our economic, social and environmental future depends on us getting this right. I am dedicated to finishing the fight alongside all members of the House, with a focus on building a better future for our children and our grandchildren.
Every step of the way, our focus on health has saved lives and has been the core of our recovery. Our approach has led to a significant growth in GDP, and our trade surplus has just recently hit 13-year highs.
However, it is impossible to talk about growing our economy without addressing our plan to fight climate change. The devastating floods and fires in British Columbia are a stark warning that climate change is real and imposes real hardship and real cost.
Canada must be a global leader in taking on this fight, and we will need to take even bolder action going forward. Our ambitious climate plan, entitled “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy”, is an articulate, world-leading plan that sustainably grows our economy while exceeding our climate change targets.
We will end fossil fuel subsidies while investing in the future of the green economy. We have already committed more than $100 billion to date, we have put a price on carbon and we have invested in a national electric transportation framework that for the first time has enabled Canadians to drive from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island in an electric vehicle.
Canadians are expecting us to do more and move faster. The foundation of any strong economy is built on the health of its citizens, which depends on having healthy air, soil and water. We must protect and restore our biodiversity while eliminating plastic waste from our oceans and restoring iconic species such as our treasured Pacific wild salmon.
I can comfortably say our government has been the most aggressive government in Canadian history on the environmental file, and I invite everyone who is interested to read my full environment and climate change report on terrybeechmp.ca/reports to get more information.
After spending so much time addressing climate change and the environment, I think it is also important to highlight to Canadians and to members of the House the urgency with which we need to prioritize the health of our oceans and our marine ecosystems.
We launched an oceans protection plan that saw new resources deployed on the B.C. coast. Massive swaths of ocean that were previously left unmonitored and unprotected now have resources in place. On marine protected areas, a space in which B.C. is a leader, we increased our protected areas from less than 1% in 2015 to more than 14% today. We will ensure that 30% of all marine and terrestrial areas are protected by 2030.
In addition, we invested record funding in protecting biodiversity and revising the Oceans Act and Fisheries Act to provide modern protections in legislation from coast to coast to coast. We invested $647 million in our strategy to conserve and restore wild Pacific salmon populations and their habitats. This is the largest investment in any species in Canadian history, and it is necessary to ensure we restore our wild salmon fishery for the benefit of future generations.
Quite frankly, the status quo has been unacceptable. Left unabated, there would be more plastic in the ocean than biomass within a single generation. We must build a circular economy that prevents plastic pollution from entering our marine ecosystems in the first place, and remove the plastic that is already there.
I say let us do more. Let us be bolder, let us move faster and let us develop the economy of the future today. Anything less is shortchanging ourselves and is shortchanging future generations.
While I am addressing the issue of taking actions today to benefit future generations, I cannot help but turn to the topic of housing. Affordable housing is the elephant in the room for every conversation about the economy or quality of life in Metro Vancouver. In addressing this problem, it is important to understand that the federal government had been substantially absent from housing in Canada for almost 30 years until our government took office in 2015. Since then, we have developed a $72-billion national housing strategy and have moved to invest in affordable housing, while also providing the tools to help with housing affordability.
We have also invested in transit infrastructure, which is a critical tool in enabling municipalities to increase supply in our communities. This has also facilitated the acceleration of future transit projects, such as the proposed rapid transit line that would connect at the SeaBus in North Vancouver, run across the Second Narrows Bridge to the corner of Hastings and Willingdon, and then south on Willingdon to Metrotown. This is a project and route that I have championed for many years, and it is now supported by provincial MLAs, local governments and first nations.
In the last election, we committed to dozens more initiatives in regard to housing that fall into three primary categories. The first, of course, is to build more supply. The second is to taper demand through disincentivizing the use of housing as an investment asset and instead focus primarily on utilizing housing as a place to live. The third is to build more pathways to home ownership and enable renters to more easily live where they work.
This is not just about building housing. It is about building communities. These investments give us more flexibility to create more regional centres and utilize housing dollars more effectively. While the $72-billion housing strategy is a good start, the additional investments in new buses, SkyTrains and even a new SeaBus are part of the housing solution as well.
We cannot talk about building more livable communities without talking about the need for affordable child care. Even if a family in Burnaby or North Vancouver is lucky enough to find a space, the cost is quite often prohibitive. Economists agree that if we want to accelerate the economic recovery from COVID-19, we need to invest in families, and in women in particular.
I raised this issue with a group of North Burnaby moms on Facebook, and hundreds of parents relayed incredibly useful information that the minister incorporated into the design of our program. British Columbia then became the first province to sign on to our national framework, which will create tens of thousands of new spaces while lowering the cost of child care to 50% in less than a year. Within five years, the cost will drop further until it reaches $10 a day.
This program is a great addition to the Canada child benefit, which helped lift 300,000 children out of poverty and helped decrease our country's poverty rate to all-time lows. This affordable, inclusive and high-quality program will ensure that families will be able to make predictable decisions about child care and have the option to re-enter the workforce as they see fit.
In addition, we will create new opportunities and brighter futures for a new generation of Canadian children who will be better prepared to add significant value to our economy while creating better lives for themselves and their future families. The Deputy Prime Minister referred to creating a generation of Canadian super kids, and I could not agree more.
I will remind members in the House that before the pandemic, we lowered our debt servicing costs while lowering poverty rates to all-time lows in Canadian history since we started measuring them, all while growing the economy, investing in housing and fighting climate change. We need to finish the fight against COVID and focus on the things that have helped Canada establish one of the highest standards of living in the entire world.
Despite the challenges our world has faced over the last two years, and will continue to face in the years to come, I am sincerely optimistic about Canada's place in the world and our ability to create an economy and a society that is full of opportunity for future generations. I look forward to working with members from all parties, and with Canadians from all regions of this great country, to create this positive future.
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- Feb/1/22 10:29:39 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member was my first critic when we were first both elected in 2015. We got to know each other quite well.
Our government has focused on lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio every single year that we have been in government. That put us in a position where we were able to take on the extraordinary costs that were incurred by the pandemic, which was the right thing to do. It is because of our AAA credit rating and our fiscal prudence that we were able to take on these costs at much lower borrowing costs than families and small businesses could have. It was even at less of a cost than the provinces could have had. I am happy to report that with this investment, jobs have returned at 108% of pre-pandemic levels and we have retained our AAA credit rating.
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- Feb/1/22 10:31:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that seniors are a priority and must be a priority. In fact, seniors have been a priority of this government since we took office.
I will remind the member that during COVID there was a $500 one-time payment to make sure the most vulnerable seniors had the resources they needed when they needed them. We are also the government that increased the OAS by more than 10%. I would also remind the member that we are the government that lowered the qualifying age from 67 years to 65 years, which meant thousands of dollars in the pockets of seniors right across this country just when they were on the verge of retirement.
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- Feb/1/22 10:32:46 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I used to work with the member for Courtenay—Alberni on the fisheries committee, and we have a lot of shared interests, especially around oceans and marine ecosystems.
Our government believes in the polluter-pay system. We have been changing our laws to make sure that is reflected. We changed the Oceans Act. We changed the Fisheries Act. In fact, I worked with this member to do just that. We have also invested in expanding our Coast Guard. A lot of that was provided through the historic oceans protection plan. We have actually enabled indigenous communities to help join the fight with the Coast Guard with organizations like the indigenous-led coast guard services that are unique on the west coast of British Columbia.
I would also hate to stand up in the House of Commons and address this member without talking about the $647 million that has been invested in wild salmon, because I visited his riding specifically to talk about salmon. I am glad to see that investment was made and I am sure he is as well.
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- Feb/1/22 10:34:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, more than almost any member in this House, I have been very clear about my work on the Trans Mountain pipeline. I have also been very clear about the historic work this government has done to fight climate change. We are a leader in the world. We have one of the most articulate and world-leading plans to fight and address climate change. Canada needs to continue to be a leader, and it is going to be this government that will make that happen.
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