44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 29, 2022 10:00AM
- Apr/29/22 10:28:50 a.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, what the member does not necessarily realize is that Bill C-8 is the fall of 2021 economic statement. It is a bill that provides substantial support. For example, there is approximately $1.5 billion towards rapid testing. If the member thinks about it, that was back in the fall, when we recognized the need to make a budgetary allocation for those rapid tests. I am thinking of how much in demand they were in December and January.
There are also many benefits to support small businesses in this legislation.
My question is this: Can the member explain to Canadians why it is that although the Conservative Party recognizes how important the legislation is, its members continue to debate and debate the bill? We had to bring in time allocation to finally try to get the bill, the fall economic statement, passed, when in fact we have already debated the budget for 2022-23.
156 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:10:55 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, the minister was still reading her budget speech when my office received two calls thanking the government and every member of this House. The first was from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and the second from a senior member of the U.S. congressional Great Lakes task force.
That is because budget 2022 made millions of dollars' worth of smart investments into the long-term sustainability of the Great Lakes, with a promise of real and substantial action to protect this critical binational treasure in the years ahead.
Money toward a Canada water agency, the beginnings of a freshwater action plan, and resources for sea lamprey control in the Great Lakes will make a difference both in Canada and on the U.S. side of this great treasure. This includes the riding of Niagara Centre, but also many other ridings throughout this great country.
While it is true that there is always more to do, stakeholders are applauding the budget and thanking the government for a strong Great Lakes commitment. I also want to add my personal appreciation—
181 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:34:36 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, we agree with everyone that Canadians are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to buy a house right now.
For that reason, the budget we just presented includes major investments, including $200 million to develop and scale up rent-to-own projects, because we must give Canadians an opportunity to buy their first home. The tax-free first home savings account will also help.
On this side of the House, we take this issue seriously and we are working on several programs to address it.
88 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:38:51 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, before the Liberals even presented their NDP budget, they were proudly bragging about how inflated tax revenues, from tax increases and inflation, would let them spend even more than before. They proudly announced the billions added to the national debt, yet for all that spending, they cannot explain to my constituents why food and house prices will only continue to rise. The Liberals point their fingers away from themselves.
Is the government ever going to connect the dots and see that its continued high spending means higher costs of basic necessities for hard-working Canadians?
97 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:45:16 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, the PBO has exposed $15 billion in unexplained defence spending in the budget. Now, in a briefing with the PBO, we were told it asked finance but that finance said it did not know and to go ask DND. It asked DND, but DND said that it did not know and to ask finance. It went back to finance and finance said, “Well, we don't know the details. Maybe it's just a forecast.”
Maybe someone on that side of the House could tell us, or perhaps finance or DND, what that $15 billion is for?
101 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:45:55 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, we are increasing our defence spending by over 70% under the defence policy “Strong, Secure, Engaged” and budget 2022 contains an additional $8 billion in new defence spending.
The department plan only contains current capital spending that has been fully approved by the Treasury Board and Parliament, whereas the budget contains forward-looking forecasts. In other words, these are two different ways of presenting our forecasted spending.
71 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:46:28 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, contrary to the song the Liberal government has been singing about inflation being transitory and tied to short-term supply chain disruptions, Bank of Canada Governor Macklem is now acknowledging that inflation is going to be with us longer than anticipated and 6% higher than anticipated. This inflation costs the average Canadian worker $2,000 a year and the average family $4,000 a year.
How does the government think the average hard-working, middle-class family can adjust to and manage that kind of a shock to the family budget?
93 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:47:07 a.m.
- Watch
Madam 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 to cut services for everyone else.
In stark contrast, our last Liberal government paid down our national debt significantly. We have demonstrated that one can be a good fiscal manager while investing in Canadians, growing the economy and continuing to fight poverty and climate change.
Budget 2022 lowers our debt-to-GDP ratio and will help build a Canada where no one is left behind.
100 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:48:17 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, budget 2022 is entitled, “A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable”. This budget lowers our debt-to-GDP ratio and seeks solutions for the labour shortage because our jobs-based recovery strategy has successfully lowered Canada's unemployment rate to all-time historic lows.
The budget addresses some of Canada's greatest challenges, including child care, affordability, climate change, economic growth and indigenous reconciliation. It is a plan that invests in people and that will help build an economy where no one gets left behind.
93 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:48:49 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, Kamloops, 215; Brandon, 104; Cowessess, 751; Cross Lake, 54. This are just a few of the children discovered in mass graves in residential schools across the country in the last year. So many children still to find, children who were stolen from their homes and families, oftentimes by the RCMP. Now the government wants the very same RCMP to assist in investigations, having given them millions in the budget.
Why did the government not just give the money directly to communities that are looking to bring their children home?
91 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:50:08 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, drive 100 kilometres in an electric vehicle and it will cost about $2. That kind of mileage would go a long way in helping families who are struggling today with high gas prices. The upfront cost of new electric vehicles puts them out of reach for many lower-income families.
The Liberals, in their election platform, promised an incentive for used zero-emission vehicles. B.C. and Quebec already have programs in place and yet, in this recent federal budget, we saw nothing.
Can the minister please explain why?
91 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 11:50:46 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, in fact, we have expanded, in the last budget, the purchase incentive for electric vehicles. We have doubled the number of charging stations we will be installing across Canada to 50,000 and we are investing with companies to transform Canada's auto sector from gasoline to electric vehicles. We will be coming up with more measures to help people adopt electric vehicles in the future.
68 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 12:02:54 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.
We value the contribution that temporary foreign workers make to Canada's economy. That is why budget 2022 will invest $29.3 million over three years to create a trusted employer model and $64.6 million to increase capacity for employer inspections and guarantee that workers are treated fairly and decently.
We will always be there for temporary foreign workers and their employers.
75 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 12:04:19 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Châteauguay—Lacolle for her excellent question.
The budget contains many measures that support economic growth. We will create a new Canada growth fund to attract more private sector investment, and we will continue to invest in our innovation clusters as well.
This morning in Montreal, less than an hour and a half ago, the Prime Minister announced that Moderna will be setting up a manufacturing facility here, in Quebec.
79 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 12:11:51 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I rise on a second point of order concerning the parliamentary secretary for defence's answer. I would like to retable the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report on, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, which was done at the same time as the budget, where defence actually noted that they do not have that added $15 billion either.
59 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/29/22 12:52:26 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House and contribute to a debate. Today, we are debating at report stage Bill C-8 , an act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update tabled in Parliament on December 14, 2021, and other measures. I always enjoy the long titles to bills because they give a sense of what the bill actually is. An economic statement or a fiscal update is kind of like a mini-budget. It is a chance for a government to provide some economic and budgetary measures without having an entire budget.
However, what we have seen now is that we have had the fall economic statement, we have had Bill C-8, we have had the actual budget, and in the coming days we will have the budget implementation act for this year's budget. Those are four different opportunities for the government to take meaningful action to help the people of Canada, to help people who are struggling with the cost of living, to help people struggling with inflation and to help those small business owners who over the last two years have faced lockdowns and restrictions, including restaurants, hospitality and tourism sector. The government has had all these opportunities and yet time and time again we have seen the government fail to meaningfully act to help the people in Perth—Wellington and the people across Canada.
What is equally concerning is that today's debate is being done under the threat of a guillotine motion. That guillotine motion is a time allocation motion, a motion that cuts off debate. We have seen this before. We have seen the Liberals rail for years against time allocation and against closure and then flip around and use that themselves. What is especially interesting this time is that it is being done in the shadow of Motion No. 11. Here we have the government using time allocation on this bill and yet at the same time it has given notice for closure on Motion No. 11.
Some may not know what Motion No. 11 actually would do. Motion No. 11 would allow the government not to show up for work. Motion No. 11 would allow the House of Commons to function without quorum. Just to show how out of the ordinary this is, the concept of quorum in the House of Commons, a minimum number of people being present in the chamber, is constitutionally protected. It is not a large number. We can count it on two sets of hands. It is 20 people. Some people may want to take off their socks to count that high, but it is not that high a number. That is including the Speaker. It is the Speaker plus 19 members.
In fact, if we consult the authorities of this place, including Beauchesne's Rules and Forms of the House of Commons of Canada, 6th edition, edited by our good friend Mr. John Holtby of Brockville, Ontario, we see that it says this at paragraph 280: “The Constitution Act, s. 48 specifies that the quorum of the House is twenty, including the Speaker.” Paragraph 281 states, “Any Member may direct the Speaker's attention to the fact that there is not a quorum present.”
This is something that is provided for in the authorities of this place, consistent with the Constitution of our country, Constitution Act, 1867. The government, with Motion No. 11, would withdraw the concept of quorum, allowing this place to function without the bare number of 20 people. This is simply unacceptable and in the coming days I hope to contribute more specifically to this debate. However, for now I will leave it at that and I will move on to some of the issues included in Bill C-8.
As I have mentioned in this House many times, the great riding of Perth—Wellington includes some of the most fertile farmland in the world. Quite literally, Perth—Wellington is the heartland of Canadian agriculture. There are more dairy farmers in Perth—Wellington than in any other electoral district in the country. Wellington County is number one for chicken production in Canada and in the top five in Ontario for beef and pork. What I hear all the time from farmers and farm families is the struggle they are facing, particularly when it comes to the rising cost of things. One thing in particular that we hear about time and time again is the carbon tax. The carbon tax is adding extra costs to farmers and farm families with no way to recoup those costs.
The Liberals will point to Bill C-8 saying there is going to be a rebate in it and that farmers can apply for those rebates. That is not what farmers are asking for. They are asking for the bill that was brought forward in the previous Parliament by my colleague, the member for Northumberland—Peterborough South, Bill C-206, which passed through the House of Commons with support from our friends in the Bloc, the New Democrats and the Greens. It made it through this place and was in the Senate. However, as we all know, it was killed when the government dissolved Parliament to call its unnecessary election. With the budget, the fiscal update, Bill C-8 and the budget implementation act, the government had the opportunity to do the right thing and adopt the measures that were contained in Bill C-206.
Our friend, our colleague, the member for Huron—Bruce, has introduced Bill C-234, which is in direct response to what farmers and farm families are asking for. They are asking for the on-farm use for drying of grain to be excluded from the carbon tax, when there are no alternatives. There are no ways for farmers to use other alternatives to dry their grains. They must use carbon-based fuel. Therefore, it makes no sense that the government is charging them, time and again, with no results. Once again, this is a missed opportunity for the government to take meaningful action when it comes to the cost of on-farm fuel.
That is not the only problem farmers are facing today. The other is the rising cost of fertilizer. I want to be clear. Every farmer, every farm business and every Canadian I have spoken to agree that tough sanctions against Vladimir Putin and his thugs are needed and warranted. However, those farmers and agri-businesses that purchased and have purchase orders for fertilizer pre-March 2, before the sanctions were introduced, should not be subject to a 35% tariff. That 35% tariff does nothing to Vladimir Putin and his thugs, because the purchase has already been made; it is simply money coming out of the pockets of farmers and farm families and going into the government coffers.
The government has not yet even addressed this. It has not provided a response. Yesterday in question period, in response to a question from the Bloc Québécois, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food said:
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are taking the situation very seriously. We are looking at various options.
We want to make sure our farmers have the inputs they need for a good season so Canada can contribute to food security at home and around the world.
The planting season is upon us. Farmers and farm families are making decisions right now. They are paying for fertilizer right now with a 35% tariff that they did not anticipate and could not have anticipated in October, November or December when they purchased it. They are now being levied a 35% tariff on top of it. It is completely unacceptable, because it hurts only farmers, not Vladimir Putin and his regime. I again encourage the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, if she has any sway at the cabinet table, if she has any influence with her own government, to stand up for farmers and for those who are working hard to literally feed our country, to feed the world, and do the right thing.
We are going to be seeing challenges in the years to come based on the out-of-commission farmland that is currently in Ukraine. We are going to be called upon as Canadians, as Canadian farmers, to address that shortage, and if the government is hamstringing and preventing Canadian farmers from feeding the world, then it is a crying shame and simply unacceptable.
I have been given the one-minute warning, so I want to address very quickly the point of housing.
We have seen house prices in Canada skyrocket over the last two years. I have seen it in the small rural communities within Perth—Wellington. We are seeing prices skyrocket, which makes housing unaffordable for young families, people getting out of university and newly married families with young kids trying to find a spot. It is unacceptable. The cost is being driven up for young people and it is driving them out of the market. The government needs to address it. We need to increase the supply of housing in Canada, and it needs to be done now, not five or 10 years from now.
I look forward to questions from my colleagues.
1569 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
