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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 52

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 4, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 52 - Apr/4/22
Ms. Yvonne Jones (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Northern Affairs, Lib.)
  • Apr/4/22 6:57:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to respond to my hon. colleague from Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa this evening. I thank him for raising this important question on inflation and affordability, because all Canadians, at this point in their lives, are feeling the pain of inflation. All of us are feeling the pinch of affordability. No matter what riding we represent in Canada, we are dealing with individuals, day in and day out, who are seeing the difference. I want to remind my hon. colleague that the current price increases for many of these goods, including gasoline and groceries, are the result of a global phenomenon driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the unprecedented challenge of restarting the world's economy following the COVID-19 pandemic. My colleague knows that. Other members of the opposition know that as well. Quite simply, the idea here is that the price of goods quite often depends on events that are out of our control, thousands of miles away from where we live in our communities and in Canada. The member understands that. He understands this reality. Our government is focusing on targeted support measures here at home in our own country to help those families who need help to make ends meet. We have been doing it since the beginning of COVID-19, and we continue to do it. We will not turn our backs on Canadians, regardless of how many times the member opposite stands in the House and tries to blame the government for things that are out of our control and no matter how many times he stands in the House and complains because we give increased benefits to seniors, to people with disabilities, to people on low incomes and to families with children. We have increased the child tax benefit. For the first time in 15 years, our government provided an increase to the northern tax deduction to help people who live in the north, who suffer the most significant problems with affordability and cost of living. We continue to fund programs through Nutrition North and through other subsidy programs that help bring down the cost of living. We have negotiated a $10-a-day community-based early learning and child care program with every province and territory in Canada. We have cut taxes for middle-class families. We have brought in incentives for homebuyers, and we have increased payments to families in regions all across the country. For example, in Ontario, that increase was $745. In Manitoba, it was $832. In Saskatchewan, it was over $1,000. Are these the investments we have made as a government that he wants to see cancelled, that he does not want to reach the families who need them? We cannot have it both ways. We cannot talk about the need to support families at a time when the cost of living is going up and inflation is contributing to that, along with COVID and along with a war that is going on around the world, and then, the next day, talk about the fact that the government is spending money on Canadians. We do not get to have it both ways. What I will say is that, when their government was in power, they did not add money to the Canada pension plan. They did not increase old age security or the guaranteed income supplement or goods and services tax rebates to the municipalities or northern tax deductions. Absolutely not, in fact, they did the opposite. They were looking for ways to pick money out of people's pockets by making seniors have to be 67 years of age—
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Context: House Hansard - 52 - Apr/4/22
Ms. Yvonne Jones
  • Apr/4/22 7:03:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are the government that supports Canadians. We are the government that supports the very fibre of social programs that help families thrive in this country, programs that create new opportunities for them and for their children. I want to say that the member opposite knows that Canadian families are being impacted by high inflation. He understands that we have to pay more for goods such as groceries and gasoline and that the contributing factors are those that are happening abroad with a war and without coming out of COVID-19. It has nothing to do with the fact that we as a government have supported Canadians through some of the toughest times in their lives. I want to make it clear that I make no apologies for the investments that we make in Canadians. Whether they are seniors, whether they are people with disabilities or children or new immigrants, all Canadians deserve to have an affordable way to live, and we will continue to work with them to make that happen.
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