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House Hansard - 56

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 8, 2022 10:00AM
  • Apr/8/22 11:29:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his question. I would like to remind him that in its report this week, the IPCC refers to carbon capture and storage as a key technology for achieving our net-zero target by 2050. That is exactly what we are doing in Canada. Our latest budget encourages the development of this technology and all technologies that will help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:30:10 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will never achieve the government's net-zero plan if we leave Albertan workers behind. Yesterday's budget was an opportunity to invest in Alberta workers, to help them transition to a new economy. Instead, the government continued the approach of giving billions to wealthy companies with no strings attached. Albertans cannot wait any more. Where is the funding for a clean jobs training centre, and when is the just transition legislation coming?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:30:45 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there was significant funding in the budget to work with Alberta, Saskatchewan and other provinces to diversify their economies. There was $4 billion for critical minerals. There was funding for CCUS, which is relevant to the whole conversation about hydrogen. In the previous budget, there was $1.5 billion for clean fuels, which is for biofuels and hydrogen. We are going to be working actively with the Province of Alberta and with industry to ensure that we are moving forward in a manner that will create a clean economy, a prosperous economy and one that will support workers and communities to make this transition.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:31:25 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, like everything in this spend-DP-Liberal budget, what they announce is not what we get. Instead of a real ban on foreign ownership and housing like the Conservatives proposed, their so-called ban on foreign buyers is anything but that. Under this policy, a foreign national can still purchase a home. If they separate from their spouse, they can buy another home. If their child turns 18 and wants to buy the house across the street, they still can. This does nothing to help put first-time homebuyers first. Why is the so-called ban so full of holes that it is like Swiss cheese?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:32:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, affordable housing is not just good social policy; it is a powerful economic policy as well. Our government will increase housing supply by doubling residential construction across Canada over the next 10 years. We will ensure that homes are treated as a place for families to live instead of as an investment vehicle. We will build new pathways for first-time homebuyers. In Canada, everyone deserves a place to call home, and budget 2022 is going to help make that a reality.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:32:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, another spend-DP-Liberal housing policy that is not as advertised is the first-time homebuyer savings account. So many millennials cannot go to the bank of mom and dad and instead have to scrimp and save every penny, and they do not qualify today for a mortgage because of the Liberal stress test. If those who are fortunate enough to have saved today cannot get into a home, how in the world will it be any different for those millennials who will scrimp and save over the next five years in their shiny savings account when the stress test bounces them as well?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:33:07 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has the strongest labour market recovery in the G7, having recouped 115% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. This includes 73,000 jobs in March, which has pushed Canada's unemployment rate to 5.3%. That is the lowest unemployment rate that Canada has seen in more than 50 years. Budget 2022 builds on this success by unwinding Canada's pandemic deficits and continuing to reduce our debt-to-GDP ratio, while working to fight climate change and, yes, investing in housing affordability.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:33:39 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government asked young people to lock down for two years and they complied. Their reward is a housing market that they cannot buy into and being saddled with a ton of debt to keep them down. Debt is keeping housing unaffordable and the government keeps spending. Why are millennials being shut out of the housing market for the Prime Minister's vanity projects?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:34:08 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. As we all know, property ownership is now out of reach for Canadians across the country, and that is unacceptable. That is why budget 2022 contains concrete measures, including a $200‑million investment to develop rent-to-own projects, the creation of a tax-free first home savings account that would give first-time homebuyers the ability to save $40,000, and a two-year ban on foreign investors acquiring property. That is federal leadership. I hope the opposition will vote in favour of these measures this time.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:34:44 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Carol, a senior in my riding, shared with me her concern that seniors and those with disabilities are at the bottom of the NDP-Liberals' priorities. Seniors and those with disabilities are suffering very real stress trying to afford to live while everything in their lives becomes more expensive. They have already slashed their budgets to account for inflation and they cannot tighten their belts any further. I care about Carol. Why do the NDP-Liberals not?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:35:16 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, budget 2022 contains concrete measures. We will invest $10 billion over the coming years to increase the housing supply and ensure that everybody, including seniors, has a place to live.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:35:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this budget adds about $1,400 in debt for every person in the country. Why is the answer to the government's problems always to add spending and debt? Canadians are waking up today without relief from higher food or gas prices, and to find out they owe $1,400 more per person. Why do the Liberals want to saddle the future generation with this extra debt?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:36:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Conservative Party has already admitted that the extraordinary investments made over the course of the pandemic were necessary to protect Canadian families and Canadian workers. Our plan has worked. In fact, we have maintained the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, while growing the economy and recovering 115% of jobs lost due to COVID-19. Canada was able to do this because of our prudent fiscal management. It is now time to unwind the pandemic deficits and continue to grow our economy while reducing our debt-to-GDP ratio. This is what good fiscal managers do.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:36:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these good fiscal managers are increasing government spending by 25% over prepandemic levels, but guess what? The government is benefiting from inflation. It is making $170 billion more than it projected just last year, but who is getting the benefit of that? It is not Canadians. There is no relief for food or higher gas prices. What does the government have to say to struggling Canadians who are seeing no relief in this budget?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:37:06 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, before the pandemic, it took only two Conservative governments to accrue more than 70% of Canada's prepandemic debt. That is because their fiscal ideology is to cut taxes for the wealthy and cut services for everyone else. In stark contrast, our last Liberal government paid down our national debt significantly. We have demonstrated that we can be good fiscal managers while investing in Canadians, growing the economy and continuing to fight poverty and climate change. Budget 2022 will lower our debt-to-GDP ratio and help build a Canada where no one is left behind.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:37:38 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 24 hours after approving the Bay du Nord project, the government dealt another blow to the environment in the budget. The main new measure with respect to climate change is another oil subsidy. Instead of putting a cap on oil production, the government, with the support of the NDP, is giving $2.5 billion to oil companies for carbon capture, an unproven technology that would let oil companies produce more oil for longer. When will Canada's political parties realize that the green transition involves producing less oil, not more?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:38:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I invite her to reread the budget, because more than $9.1 billion will be invested in the fight against climate change, $1.7 billion will continue to help Canadians switch to electric vehicles, and hundreds of millions of dollars will help Canadians and Quebeckers lower their home energy bills through the energy efficient retrofit program. In its most recent report, released this week, the IPCC states that carbon capture and storage technology is critical to achieving our 2050 objectives.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:38:56 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite my colleague to reread the IPCC report. In Alberta, a Radio-Canada headline reads, “Albertan oil companies and businesses pleased with federal budget.” They are pleased. That is not good news for the fight against climate change. The fox is pleased with the new layout of the henhouse. What are Quebeckers to think of this Minister of Environment and the so‑called progressive coalition of the Liberals and the NDP, if all Canada can do to fight climate change is please the oil companies?
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  • Apr/8/22 11:39:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleague that the IPCC report says that greenhouse gas emissions have to be capped over the next three years and decline thereafter. That is already the case in Canada. The IPCC says we have to reduce our emissions by at least 43% by 2030. Our goal is to reduce them by 40% to 45%. Honestly, my colleague is one to talk, given that her leader, the former environment minister of Quebec, allowed drilling on Anticosti Island without an environmental assessment. I am not sure the Bloc Québécois is in a position to lecture anyone in the House on this issue.
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  • Apr/8/22 11:40:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more and more Canadians continue to struggle to make ends meet. Two-thirds of Canadians say that inflation and the affordability crisis are their top economic concerns. Six years of Liberal governance and inflationary policies got us to where we are today: soaring inflation, a devastating housing crisis and hard-working Canadians struggling to pay for food, rent and their mortgages. Why do the Liberals continue to spend more and more Canadians' money without getting any result? It is not working.
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