44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 4, 2022 11:00AM
- Apr/4/22 12:53:59 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, to the hon. member's point, the government has spent the most to achieve the least when it comes to the housing issue here in Canada. It is simply a fact that the average price of a home has now doubled from when the Liberals were elected in 2015, making it more unaffordable for Canadians and people in my riding of Niagara Falls to find a place to live.
The Liberals talk about returning all those jobs back to the economy, which is great to see, but in a tourism community such as mine there are still labour shortages that exist. Stats Canada, in its January report, still found over 900,000 jobs were left unfilled in this country. We have to do a better job of getting those people back to work and allowing them to earn money so that they can once again afford a place to live.
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- Apr/4/22 1:10:01 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague for Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke has a very fair question.
Back 100 years ago, in the Fraser Valley, we had electric rail that went from Vancouver to Chilliwack, yet we moved away from that. We need to get back to rail infrastructure to ease the congestion and get people to where they need to go faster. People want it. It is good for the economy, and it is good for people's well-being. We need to make investments in rail infrastructure.
Back in 2015, the Liberals promised they were going to get SkyTrain built, and it still has not been built out to Langley. We need to move faster on critical rail infrastructure in this country to move people and our goods faster. It is good for the economy, and it is good for everyone.
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- Apr/4/22 1:10:52 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House in all circumstances. Unfortunately today, when we talk about the economy of this country, there is certainly a lot to be desired.
For the last couple of years I have had the privilege of serving my constituents in the capacity of their member of Parliament, we have used surveys to ask for feedback from them respecting things they are facing from an economic perspective. I just got the results back, and I think it is timely that today I would be rising to talk about the fall economic perspective, although I choose not to call it that, as it is more of a doomsday story. However, it is an opportunity for me to rise to speak about what my constituents have had to say about what they are facing today and will be facing moving forward.
The first I will go to is our businesses, which have been impacted greatly by this. This is one of the questions we asked of them: What impact has the global pandemic had on their business? Ninety-six percent of the businesses in my riding who responded to this survey said that it was bad or very bad for them and their business. The impacts are far-reaching.
We also asked them what their expectations were for 2022 as they went into the new year. Almost 30%, 29.5%, of the respondents said that they were not sure. The government had not given them confidence as to what to expect, and they were not sure how that was going to impact their business. However, 22% were hopeful that they would restore some semblance of normality in their business.
When the pandemic began, there was already a high level of uncertainty with the economy, but few thought the pandemic would last as long as it has, which is two years now. We asked another question: How are businesses positioned to manage the ongoing impacts going into 2022? Fifty-one percent said that they are managing, but the revenues are substantially lower, and they anticipate those revenues to remain low. Twenty-two percent said that they were struggling and will continue to struggle in their fight to keep their businesses operating. They need the economy to return to normal in order for them to just survive as businesses.
The federal Liberals have promised stimulus spending in the next budget. Experts such as the Parliamentary Budget Officer have said that stimulus is unnecessary and could harm our economy with more inflation. We asked a question about this: Would stimulus help their industry or their company? Forty-eight percent said no, they do not need more government stimulus. They need employees and the opportunity to get their economy back to normal. They need the pandemic and the restrictions to end, and they need skilled workers to be able to function as they did previously.
We asked them what barriers they thought their company had to growth currently and what they would be facing in 2022. It was interesting to note that almost 82% of respondents said that higher taxes and rising costs were some of the barriers they were facing with respect to their company's growth. We know that this government likes to increase, has increased and will continue to increase payroll costs. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said that payroll costs were costing their businesses significantly. Government red tape and regulations from a federal level was almost 56%, and a lack of supplies and resources due to the pandemic at almost 40%.
We have to access the market and, depending on clients' situations, these are all factors that businesses in my riding were very concerned about with their ability to continue in business.
We asked them pre-emptively about the April 1 carbon tax increasing to $50 a tonne and what that would do to their business. We had 89% of businesses say that it will have a very negative impact and another 8% said that they would have somewhat of a negative impact on their businesses and their ability to continue to function as businesses.
We asked another question: How much would they expect to spend on carbon taxes this year? Surprisingly, the majority, 40%, said they were uncertain exactly what that amount will be. However, about 20% were in the range of $10,000 to $25,000 and another 20% were in the range between $5,000 and $10,000, just in extra carbon taxes for this year alone.
It makes one wonder what the current government is doing. It talks a big talk about what it is going to do to impact business and the economy, yet the very nature of some of the policies it puts in place does the exact opposite. They thwart growth and the ability of businesses to thrive, and we know that when our businesses thrive, our economy thrives.
We conducted three surveys. As I said, there was one for businesses, one for municipalities and one for individuals. Some of the individuals provided some very interesting feedback.
We asked them what measures would improve their life and that of their family. It was interesting that 40% said it would be to end the mandatory restrictions and lockdowns and return life to normal, and 35% said it would be to lower the cost of everything from food to gasoline to utilities. Those were the majority of the responses we received.
We asked them what their expectations were in 2022. A full 72% said they hoped and prayed there would be an end to the perpetual pandemic that seems to be going in this country.
One of the other questions we asked was with respect to the inflation rate climbing to between 5% and 6% on essentials this last year and whether they had noticed that in their daily living. Of the responses we received, 92% said everything in their life was more expensive. The previous speaker, my colleague from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, mentioned this as well, and it is very true. Individuals have indicated that significant increases in the price of food and gasoline continue to plague them and their households.
Many people reported that their mental health had been impacted during the pandemic, so we asked them what changes people had seen in not only their own mental health but in that of those around them in the past year. Surprisingly, 39.5% of individual respondents said their mental health has been declining, and another 32% said it has been declining significantly. To me, those are alarming numbers, indicating that we need to realize the significant impacts the pandemic has had on our mental health.
Further, we asked individuals if they, their family or friends had access to mental health supports. Thankfully, about 65% said they did, but 25% or almost 30% said they did not, which is alarming.
We asked them what the government should focus on to support long-term growth and jobs. Of the responses we received, 45% said agriculture, 53% said energy, 30% said manufacturers, another 30% said new technologies, and 16% said green technology and renewables. Tourism was at 18%, and 58%—and these are individuals—recognized the value of small business and said it should be the government's focus.
I will wrap up with this. Although the current government talks a good talk about what it wants to do for the economy, we can see that is having a negative impact on the people on the ground who are experiencing what is or is not happening with respect to the economy in this country. People are struggling to make ends meet. Everything is getting more expensive, and the carbon tax is exacerbating an already difficult situation.
I would like to thank the constituents of Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, its businesses, municipalities and individuals for the great information they have shared with us and their perspectives on what they need from the government moving forward.
I look forward to entertaining questions.
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- Apr/4/22 2:23:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our agenda and our plan are clear.
Here are the facts. Our GDP has increased for the eighth consecutive month. We have recovered 112% of the jobs lost during the pandemic, specifically 3.4 million jobs. In 2022, Canada posted its largest annual trade surplus since 2008, totalling $6.6 billion.
The reality is that the economy is growing, and the Conservatives do not like that. Those are the facts.
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- Apr/4/22 2:32:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what I can share with the member opposite is a real plan to grow our economy. In every province and territory across this country, families now have access to reduced child care fees. In fact, if women across Canada choose to enter the workforce at the same rate as women in Quebec did 25 years ago, that is 240,000 workers in this country able to join the economy and able to grow the economy.
We are committed to fiscal responsibility, and we will do just that.
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- Apr/4/22 2:50:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would caution the hon. member as she seems not to be aware of the fact that Canada has one of the best fiscal positions of any developed economy in the world. We entered this pandemic with the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any G7 country, and our AAA credit rating has been reaffirmed by major credit rating agencies.
I would point out as well that Canada, this year for the first time, has actually ranked first globally as the world's top destination of choice for newcomers who are thinking about leaving their country of origin. The measures that we have been putting in place are making a positive difference to our economy, and we are going to continue to make Canada the most welcoming place on earth for those who wish to seek new employment opportunities.
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- Apr/4/22 2:51:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an interesting frame that the member uses when she puts it on the floor of the House of Commons.
If we asked the group of workers around the world any country they would like to come to, to explore new economic opportunities, the number one choice they would make is Canada. This is something we should be extremely proud of. Canada is winning the global race for talent. The only question I constantly ask myself is how we can increase the margin by which we are winning.
We know we have created economic conditions that are not only seeing our economy rebound, with more than 112% of the jobs lost during the pandemic coming back, but we have many job vacancies for newcomers to fill, which sustain work for them and—
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- Apr/4/22 3:00:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy that I have another opportunity to point out that the United States is also working toward renewables and toward cleaner energy. In fact, the U.S. secretary of energy, Secretary Granholm, specifically said the Biden administration was “aggressively investing in a wide range of clean energy technologies, which will grow our economy, create good-paying jobs, lower costs for American families, and combat the climate crisis.”
Does that sound familiar? That is what we are doing right here in Canada. We are building a sustainable clean economy for sustainable jobs for the future.
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- Apr/4/22 3:02:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, so many small and medium-sized businesses in my riding of Langley—Aldergrove tell me that one of their biggest challenges is to find good workers with the skills and knowledge needed for today's economy. We know that many young people and new immigrants are anxious to get to work, but if the economy cannot produce the products, services and workers the economy needs, we have inflation.
When will the government realize its mismanagement of the economy is hurting so many Canadian businesses and workers?
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- Apr/4/22 3:04:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are a number of things that we have advanced to address processing times and I would point out that chief amongst them is an $85-million investment across five lines of business, including work permits that were included in the economic and fiscal update, which the Conservatives continue to delay.
In addition, we have hired more than 500 staff who are full trained and producing now. We are modernizing the way we do immigration with a new digital platform. I am proud to share that, in the immigration levels plan I tabled a few months ago, we have set the most ambitious course for immigration in the history of Canada, because we know it is good for the economy, it is good for jobs and it is good for our communities.
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- Apr/4/22 4:40:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is not true. Earlier I commented that a growing economy generates additional revenues. The example I used fairly extensively was the child care program. By bringing in that program, we are going to enable greater participation in the workforce. By having a larger participation in the workforce, we are going to generate additional revenues, so that side is addressed by the bill.
We have invested heavily in Canadians and the economy. Members of the Conservative Party need to realize that the healthier Canadians are, in particular our middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it, the healthier our economy will be, thereby generating additional revenues in different ways also.
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- Apr/4/22 5:07:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the first question is perhaps the easiest. The way things are going with the current government and its proposals, there will definitely still be a flourishing oil industry in Canada.
However, this is not the right objective to set if we want a greener, fairer and more equitable future. We hope that this industry can be transitioned without necessarily causing job losses, because that is not what we want. It needs to be transitioned for a better future and for a more resilient economy that can respond to the climate crisis.
Another question from my hon. colleague was, I think, about products that we are being asked to produce. My colleague asked whether they have a future in the context of the climate crisis. I think that all products, no matter where they come from, should be designed to create a greener and fairer economy. We need to do this now. It is urgent, as the IPCC report points out.
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- Apr/4/22 5:22:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, working in Alberta's oil sands granted me a tremendous opportunity. It allowed me to get my education, pay off that debt and be part of an economy I saw a future in. The reality is that, the last time I worked in that industry, I was laid off four times in the same calendar year. Why would people want to work in an industry where they cannot make ends meet because they are laid off so many times?
When I think of what our country needs, as well as about our energy needs, I often think about how vast our country is. I have worked in the Northwest Territories. I have seen the geothermal plants and renewable projects, and I know our country can sustain more renewable energy projects without going to nuclear.
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- Apr/4/22 5:26:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, today we are debating a motion to concur in the report of the finance committee regarding recommendations arising from the pre-budget consultations. As we often hear, budgets are about choices on expenses, services and the investments we are making to create a better Canada, and choices on revenues and who we ask to pay for those investments.
It is therefore good to look at where we are now, or at least where were before the pandemic, when the parliamentary budget office reported that 1% of Canadians shared 25% of the wealth and that 40% of Canadians have only 1% of the wealth shared among them. The pandemic has only accentuated and aggravated these inequalities and differences. Supply chains have been disrupted. We have had labour shortages that are still very critical. We have had climate disasters, droughts, floods and heat domes, a lot of them happening in my riding or adjacent ridings. We have seen the impacts of what climate change is bringing. Now we have an illegal war in the Ukraine that is further exacerbating the situation in the world economy.
How did the inequalities change during the pandemic? Well, billionaires got richer. Billionaires in Canada added more than $70 billion to their own wealth while the rest of those in Canada really struggled. This committee report fails to recommend any solution that would change or reverse this trend. The NDP feels that we need a tax on additional profits that were brought in by many of the big corporations during the pandemic. We need a wealth tax of 1% on superwealthy Canadians who have assets of over $10 million. Instead, we see superwealthy Canadians and big corporations taking money out of Canada year after year. We are losing over $25 billion in tax revenue every year because we are not taxing the people who can afford these investments and are, instead, taxing the people who cannot afford them.
In terms of climate change, there are many recommendations in this report on what we need to do about climate change, and we agree with many of those recommendations. However, we really want to emphasize that a successful transition to a low-carbon future in Canada must be centred on workers. As my colleague from Edmonton Griesbach so eloquently said, he has personal experience with that. We need a federal authority created and funded by the federal government that has a mandate to quickly implement a real plan to guide us to that low-carbon future.
Hundreds of thousands of new jobs could be created by bold work on retrofitting our buildings, as 40% of our emissions come from our buildings. The government came out with a plan a few years ago that would do a small part of that necessary work with a combination of grants and loans. It helps people who can afford to do the work up front. They spend thousands of dollars retrofitting their homes and then apply for a smaller grant, or they take on a loan, of $20,000 perhaps, to do the work. However, who that leaves out is the 20% of Canadians who live in energy poverty and cannot afford to spend that money up front and cannot afford to take on any loan, no matter how low the interest. The government recently came out with a plan for climate action that it said would help people in energy poverty, but it is in the form of loans. That will not work.
One area of expenditure that neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives want to eliminate is the billions of dollars the government gives every year in subsidies to oil and gas companies. I could go on and on about this. One of the biggest ones, of course, is this obsession to build the Trans Mountain pipeline, which has now cost over $20 billion. This is $20 billion to build a piece of infrastructure that we cannot afford in light of climate action and that we do not need.
As to health care, it is a huge issue for all Canadians. Again, the pandemic has really emphasized that. Health care workers are at their breaking point. I met with the nurses union recently and it has just had it. We need a significant increase in the Canada health transfer. We need a pan-Canadian health workforce strategy that is led by the provinces and funded by the federal government.
Some of the witnesses who came before the committee asked for an end to for-profit long-term care. Canada has a horrible result, on a global scale, in terms of the deaths we saw in long-term care homes. We desperately need to fix this. It was clear from the analysis that for-profit long-term care homes had a much worse outcome than not-for-profit long-term care homes.
My colleague mentioned pharmacare and dental care. These are things that hopefully we will finally see. If we had a federal publicly funded universal pharmacare plan, we would save a minimum of $4 billion a year according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. We could have a dental care program that costs $1 billion. We could have four dental care programs funded by the amount we would save with pharmacare.
I talked to a friend of mine a few days ago who heard about the announcement of the dental care plan. She said that when she was a kid, her family did not have money for dental care and she never went to the dentist. I think when she was 12 years old, she went into the hospital and they pulled out a bunch of her teeth and gave her a bad-looking plate that tried to replace those teeth. She said that caused her irreparable damage in her confidence around people. She has been socially shy and uncomfortable around people ever since she was 12 years old because she could not afford to go to a dentist. This plan would change people's lives in Canada.
Reconciliation is another thing we have heard about again and again over the last couple of years, like just recently regarding the visits with the Pope and the Vatican. This is another area where there has been a shameful lack of political will. I am happy to see the recommendations in this report from the finance committee that deal with the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, as well as the recommendations to support the economic empowerment of indigenous people.
I could talk about housing for 10 minutes. This is a huge issue in my riding, where the lack of housing is an important part of the labour shortage. People simply cannot afford to move to my riding and work there. We have companies that are forced to buy accommodations for their employees. We need a real plan to create affordable housing in Canada.
I will also bring up a big part of my riding, the wine industry. It has felt a real blow because we lost the excise tax exemption for many wineries. The federal government has to come up with a long-term plan to replace the supports that the exemption created.
I will finish by reminding members that it is our job to focus on making life better for Canadians. Too often, our governments have made life easier for wealthy Canadians and big corporations. We need to refocus and make budget choices that benefit all Canadians, and create a fairer and more prosperous Canada for all.
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- Apr/4/22 6:08:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.
He very eloquently and approvingly mentioned the system of early childhood centres that was created by our leader's mentor, among others.
My colleague's speech made it clear that Quebec was single-handedly able to use its own resources to build a system that is favourable and very helpful to our economy.
By that same logic, Quebec is great at developing programs on its own that are good for its people. Again, let us follow that logic rationally.
Why is the federal government refusing to increase health transfers unconditionally when Quebec is so great at creating programs that are good for its people?
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- Apr/4/22 6:12:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this morning I was reading an article in The Globe and Mail, and it was quoting, extensively, the chief executive of the Bank of Canada, David McKay. He said that he was uneasy about the economy and that there was a frustration and mistrust between the business community and the Government of Canada. He said some of those challenges are ideological, that there needs to be a shift away from a tax-and-spend approach, which does not create sustainable growth. He also said tax and spending like the government is doing is like eating Sugar Pops for breakfast. He said the government is missing a chance for long-term success and that Canada is lagging its peers on key measures of productivity and investment. The article indicated that Canada's five-year average GDP growth is the lowest among the G7 nations.
When the member stands up and starts pointing fingers at me, he asks why we need to have a debate on this concurrence report. It is because it is not the Conservative Party but the Bank of Canada saying that the government and its tax-and-spend approach are ideologically hurting the country of Canada. Therefore, what is it: Sugar Pops or a bowl of Corn Flakes?
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- Apr/4/22 6:28:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I always enjoy listening to the comments from the hon. member for Abbotsford. They tend to be measured and are sometimes on point, but most often are off point, I would say.
In three days' time, or thereabouts, we will see the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, who I have a great amount of faith in, deliver a budget in the House that moves Canada forward as we have been doing since 2015.
When we talk about leadership, I always say that we have responsible leadership. That is what we have provided Canadians, day in and day out.
Regarding inflation, we see every country in the world battling inflation these days. We are, too. We know supply chains are returning to normal, but when the member talks about a plan, we have presented a plan. We had a management plan in last year's budget: in the fall economic statement. That was there. Many of the questions that the member opposite raised were things that we have done or we are doing, and we have fiscal guardrails in place in terms of where we move forward. I have young kids, and we are going to leave a brighter economy for them.
I ask the hon. member this. Are the investments that are ongoing today not the right investments, including our social fabric and today a $2-billion announcement by General Motors, with the Conservative government in Ontario and the Liberal government—
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- 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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