44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 28, 2022 11:00AM
- Mar/28/22 3:07:51 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the wine and cider industries in Canada are in trouble. If the plan for the federal government to put a cork in the excise sales tax for those wineries goes through on January 1, up to 50% of those wineries could close. In the Bay of Quinte riding in Prince Edward County, we have 40 wineries and five cider companies. In Canada, those industries generate $11.5 billion worth of income, four million tourists a year and over 50,000 jobs.
Will the government commit to fixing the excise tax exemption for wine and cider production or will it simply pour an industry down the drain?
108 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/28/22 3:49:07 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, today the government is printing and spending money at a rate never seen in our nation's history. This is plain. Never before has the government spent so much so quickly, not just during the pandemic, but from 2015 to 2019 the Liberal government borrowed $100 billion when, in the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised small incremental deficits and a balanced budget for 2019.
During the pandemic, Canada has borrowed more money than it has in its 155 years through 23 prime ministers. This year alone, the government printed $300 billion. Where did this money go? It is simple. Just like a Will Smith slap, it was gone.
A lot of money was spent with little investment. After $800 billion was spent in the last six years, we do not have more ICU or hospital beds that would help in future pandemics, allow much-needed surgeries to take place or stave off any more unneeded lockdowns. Our military is in shambles, and we need new equipment, and more investment in Arctic defence and our navy.
We have a broken immigration system, with which we cannot currently fill the more than one million jobs in this country that need to be filled in order for businesses to grow. These are the businesses that pay salaries, payroll taxes and corporate taxes; generate GDP, which contributes to federal taxes; and make the stuff that will hopefully quell inflation. We have the biggest single housing crisis in the world, with a growing homeless population. We have an outdated strategy, and we are lacking innovation in this country.
Not only are we losing out in immigration, but other countries are poaching our talent from here at home. We have not invested as much as we need to in R and D. We are not seeing IP and patents generated here as well as they are in other countries, and we cannot get our Canadian energy, whether it be from Keystone XL or especially LNG, to Europe and the rest of the world. All at a time when it has to still buy it from Russia and Putin, fuelling the war machine devastating Ukraine.
It is quite simple. By having a government spend rather than invest, it has put Canada on a race to the bottom. We are headed for more disaster when we fail to invest in Canada, our children and our future, and continue to spend to satisfy today. By spending and not investing, it is Canadians who are hurting, Canadians such as my constituents in Bay of Quinte, who are having trouble pinching loonies and toonies together to pay for groceries, heat and gas for their fuel tanks.
They also have an incredible debt load that is compiling on its own. Do members know that, in all of the nations of the G7, we have the worst personal debt for our families in this country? They are racking up lines of credit and credit card bills, and putting a lot of money on themselves, just the same as the government is. The result is higher interest payments for them, payday loans they cannot get out of and having to decide how to pay bills this month and next. They are having trouble because the money spent may have been cheap and it may have been easy, but that easy and cheap cash is fuelling inflation, as more money chases fewer goods. These are all points that have been made clear on this side of the House again and again.
We are heading for more spending with the NDP and Liberal merger. Where spending is concerned, with the NDP and Liberals put together, we have not seen anything yet. There is a saying that goes, “Money is only important when you don't have any.” Neither the Liberals nor the NDP believe we are out of it, never mind that the clock is ticking, literally. The national debt clock is fast approaching $1.2 trillion, but, hey, what is $1 trillion anymore? We certainly know $1 million for a house is nothing now. I have a couple of statistics. That is $31,000 per man, woman and child in Canada. For a family of five, that is $155,000 that they now owe for the debt in Canada.
Let us look at what we are borrowing every day. Every day we are printing $391 million to cover the debt, when this country needs to pay its bills today. Let us look at what is eclipsed and what the interest payments are for the debt. What does it cost us to pay for the debt? It is now $40 billion. When we think about investments, would it not be nice to have $40 billion more for health care, to create more beds and ICU beds, or to pay doctors and nurses, or to make sure we have what Canadians need just to have a universal basic income that we so pride ourselves in?
The Liberal-NDP merger has been said to be giving fits to the finance minister because the already outlandish spending is set to increase oh so very much more with universal basic income, free pharmacare, free dental care and on and on. Members can imagine that perhaps even Oprah Winfrey will make an appearance to the House herself, saying, “You get a car. You get a car. Everyone is going to get a car.”
There is far more importance today. Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. For our investments, for a better tomorrow, for our children, for our children's children, we need to learn the difference between spending and investing, and make sure that we invest in Canada's future. Here is the kicker: Some of that investment may actually be free.
Number one, we need to stop the spending spree. There will be a windfall for the federal government this year, and do members know where that windfall will be from? It will be from oil, and Alberta itself may be able to balance its books for the first time postpandemic. The federal government needs to put some of that money into debt repayment, and while we have too many problems to put the brakes on spending, it needs to spend more wisely than ever before.
Number two, we have to grasp that we cannot have everything. If we are going to make Canadians choose between groceries and rent, then we must choose those investments with extreme caution. Canadians choosing whether to put their kids into hockey or swimming know that they cannot have everything. They need to make choices, and the government needs to make choices as well.
Number three, we need to invest in those of Canada's strengths that will provide a return on investment. Housing includes working with the provinces to double our building of new starts, and it includes increasing our skilled trades in Canada by investing in our immigration system. It is terrible that, right now, across Canada, we cannot fill a million jobs, and when the immigration minister talked about this, he, in effect, said that it is broken, and they are putting $85 million into it, but they are not sure if they are going to have many skilled labourers at all coming into this country by the end of the year. Every minute that we wait to fill these companies and they sit empty or are not able to produce the things that provide money for this country, we are failing those businesses. We are failing Canada to be able to make money on its own and quell inflation.
We need to look at food production in Canada now that Ukraine and Russia have decreased theirs. Ukraine provides over 20% of the world's wheat and 9% of the world's corn. A bigger problem for Canadian agriculture is that 80% of fertilizer currently comes from Russia, and that 80% of fertilizer is nitrate, which helps us grow our corn. If we are out of nitrate and we do not have that fertilizer, we are in big trouble for producing the food that we need, not only for our own country, but also for those across the world. The simple solution may be to ask farmers to produce 10% more this year to ensure that we are making our own fertilizer, and ensure we are helping farmers as much as we can to produce the things they need to feed the world and feed Canadians.
We have to increase our output of Canadian energy, especially our nuclear energy modular units. Canadian oil is much better than unethical oil from other parts of the globe, and if we make it cleaner, we should be promoting it more steadily.
When it comes to GDP, few Canadians know that, after real estate and manufacturing, mining, gas and oil comes third, providing 585,000 jobs and over $190 billion in direct and indirect taxes a year. In comparison, a country that I really love, South Korea, which is the size of the rock of Newfoundland, has the same GDP as Canada, and has manufacturing and innovation replacing those oil and gas revenues Canada enjoys. However, that innovation and manufacturing is worth almost three times what Canada does. If we are going to start replacing that, we need to increase innovation and we need to increase manufacturing.
When we look at South Korea and the examples it provides, it has Hyundai, LNG and Samsung, things that Canada needs to start investing in if we want to ever start bringing in royalties, increasing the GDP and jobs, and investing in Canada and Canadians. We need to start paying for the things we want. As deputy critic for innovation, science and industry, I would hope that for Canada's future we look at this kind of investment for Canada to succeed in the future.
Jim Balsillie was in the SRSR committee this week talking about what Canada needs to do in order to start capitalizing on intellectual property and ensure that we have an advanced and growing the economy. Do members know that the OECD has predicted that Canada, from 2020 to 2030 and the next three decades after, is going to have the worst performing economy of all the OECD? It is absolutely deplorable, and we have to ensure now that we are investing. We have to fix this economy and get to the future.
Simply, on the struggle Canadians are going through today, with inflation and the housing crisis, we have to invest in Canada's tomorrow. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Let us invest in Canadians. Let us invest in Canada, and let us get going for the future.
1805 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/28/22 4:00:32 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, the member is my neighbour down the road on the 401.
I have to agree, there are technologies, but I actually disagree because we have technologies in oil and gas. We have carbon capture elements in the oil sands right now and are doing an incredible job. Ontario is launching small modular nuclear reactors, which are emission-free. We are looking at many different things.
If we could do what the Ontario Liberals did 20 years ago with LNG in China, we could reduce the world's emissions by up to 50%. We have great Canadian energy and renewables, and we also need to look at the oil and gas sector. It is really important.
117 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/28/22 4:01:52 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I do believe in jurisdiction. The federal government should stay in its lane and the provinces should stay in their lanes. The federal government's job is to help the provinces ensure that they are successful, that they have the resources they need and that we are moving in the right direction by making money and having taxation. They are responsible for their needs and the government should be responsible for its needs.
Absolutely, I agree. Let us just keep the federal government moving on ensuring it is doing its best to invest in Canada and that the provinces are doing the same for their constituents.
108 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/28/22 4:02:59 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I am a Conservative and a business owner as well, so I not only sign the back of a cheque, but I can sign the front of a cheque. I know a couple things. I know that businesses, when given extra taxes, find ways to pass those costs down to consumers.
I am not saying we should cut any programs for the vulnerable. I am just saying we have different programs that increase the GDP and increase the tax that Canada has to pay for those programs. I do not think we need to be wastefully spending and causing more inflation for those programs. We need to find ways to generate that, and that means investing in Canadians and investing in Canadians businesses. They then pay taxes and that pays for the rest of it.
137 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/28/22 4:04:08 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, we had some great plans in the last election that talked about consumers having choices that better their backyards. People want to buy electric cars, and they want to be able to choose different forms of energy to heat their homes, but right now when they go to the gas station, they only get the one choice. They can purchase electric cars, but they are expensive and we are not making Canadian cars in Canada. Canadians need to be able to make choices. They want to better the environment, and we have always believed in helping them make those choices.
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
