44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 8, 2022 02:00PM
- Jun/8/22 2:28:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Liberals are completely out of touch and denying reality. That is why single parents, young homebuyers and seniors do not believe that they have a plan. Literally every single day, people are seeing the prices of everything go up. On fiscal policy overall, no one will trust the Prime Minister, who is in a very happy political marriage with the NDP. We should just ask the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or maybe former finance minister Bill Morneau, what they think of the government's fiscal policy.
All we see from the tax-and-spend Liberals is more taxing and more spending, and no plan to fight inflation. Is that not the truth?
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- Jun/8/22 2:34:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, seniors have been left to deal with the surging cost of living on their own. The Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed it yesterday. A total of 1.7 million seniors have seen their purchasing power slashed because the indexed increase in their old age security benefit is below the rate of inflation.
If the federal government does not fix this, it will be keeping a third of Quebec seniors from receiving $660.
Will the Deputy Prime Minister commit to paying seniors back every penny they have lost, the next time OAS is adjusted?
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- Jun/8/22 2:35:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister's response raises two questions.
How big is that increase in relation to current inflation, which is having a devastating impact on seniors' purchasing power? Also, we want assurances, which would certainly be a welcome change, that there will not be any discrimination based on the age of the recipients, so that people 75 to 80 do not get more than people 65 to 75. We do not want to see discrimination from a government that boasts about being against all discrimination.
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- Jun/8/22 2:35:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, the most important programs for Canadians are indexed to inflation. That is very important.
As far as our seniors are concerned, we have already decided and voted in favour of the legislation to increase OAS for people 75 and older. That means 3.3 million people in Canada will be getting an extra $815.
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- Jun/8/22 2:36:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, families everywhere are struggling because of the cost of living.
The Liberals' response is pathetic. They say inflation is not their fault and everything will be all right. Can the Liberals put themselves in the shoes of a family that is cutting back on groceries to make ends meet? There are things the Liberals could do right now.
Why are the Liberals not doubling the GST tax credit? Why are they not increasing the Canada child benefit by $500? Why are they doing nothing to help people get through this crisis?
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate and thank my colleague for his speech and his very honest, but unfortunately sad, presentation of the financial reality of this government.
The big issue of the day is inflation. It has hurt every family, especially when we talk about the price of gas. We all realize and recognize that elsewhere offshore we see great countries applying positive action to reduce taxation, such as the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Australia and South Korea.
I want my colleague to talk about why the government is not doing the same as our allies.
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Madam Speaker, every economy is different, but the member is 100% right. Those G7 countries and other OECD countries are doing what they can to protect not only their consumers from the issue of high gas prices, but their economies.
If we look to Alberta, it has reduced its gas tax when it is above $90 a barrel. Trevor Tombe, a University of Calgary economist, has said that this reduces inflation in Alberta by half a percentage point. It not only helps consumers put food on the table and drive to work and helps small businesses cope; it protects the economy from rising inflation. That is what the government should be doing. It is not doing it.
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Madam Speaker, the member referred to the United States and compared it to Canada. He says that he wants the government to deal with inflation and then referred to how the United States is doing something, yet Canada's inflation rate is less than the United States.
We can look at what the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has done in managing our economy. Our debt-to-GDP ratio shows we are doing well compared to the United States. We can take a look at job creation. We are at 115% of pre-COVID jobs, those being the jobs we lost because of the coronavirus. We are at 115%, while the United States is still less than 100% in terms of recovery of jobs.
If the member does that comparison, I suggest it would show that we do have a plan and that plan is working. Would he not agree?
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Madam Speaker, as a new member in the House, I am always impressed with the number of interjections by the member for Winnipeg North and the sense of humour that he often adds to his questions.
The member cited a number of different metrics. Whether the cost of inflation is a couple of points higher in the United States, I do not think that answers Darlene's question. I do not think that answers Sal's question, Gerrit's question or Heinz's question. Despite the debt-to-GDP and the number of jobs, they are still dealing with that daily struggle of the price at the pumps. They are still dealing with that daily struggle of the prices at the grocery store.
If we want to talk about employment, we know the labour shortages are exacerbating the inflation crisis in the country, so I would not agree that we are on the right path.
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Madam Speaker, I enjoy my work with the hon. member on the transport committee.
Conservatives did support a carbon pricing scheme in the last election. I served on the board of directors for the Royal Botanical Gardens, which is responsible for many sensitive and important ecological lands within the greater Hamilton area. The environment is important to me, and I take that question seriously.
Our point is that at a time of inflation, at a time when Canadians are struggling, why are we increasing the carbon tax?
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Niagara Falls. Niagara is a beautiful spot in Canada, but not as beautiful as Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup.
I am very pleased to rise in the House this evening to share my thoughts on Bill C-19, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures.
The first thing that came to mind when I read the budget was the phrase “out of touch”, because I was really upset to see how out of touch the government and the Prime Minister were with the reality of Canadians and their daily concerns.
Inflation is at its highest in 30 years. Absolutely everything costs more. The price of gas has skyrocketed. In my riding, the price per litre of regular gas is around $2.03 right now. The price of food has climbed by 9.8% since last year, and house prices have doubled since the Prime Minister came to power.
All these increases have a direct impact on ordinary Canadians, but the government is doing absolutely nothing to help. We pored over the budget, but we did not find anything that would help families cope with these three key issues.
The government is just as out of touch with two important sectors of our economy that are especially important to me and that are being hit hard right now: the agri-food chain, which is severely affected by inflation, and the tourism industry, which suffered tremendously during the pandemic. The budget offers only a few crumbs for these two sectors.
Madam Speaker, there is so much noise I cannot hear myself speak.
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Madam Speaker, I seldom rise in the House, and so I hope that you will listen to me, as my colleagues obviously will.
The Conservative Party proposed very concrete solutions to address inflation and the cost of gas, food and housing. Yesterday, our interim leader moved an opposition motion that was debated and voted on. The motion called for the implementation of simple, sensible and concrete solutions. It was a motion full of empathy and compassion, which demonstrated our support for Canadian families, workers, youth, families and seniors.
The motion would have given farmers some breathing room and allowed the tourism sector to grow after two years of misery. Unfortunately, all these solutions were rejected outright by the Liberal-NDP coalition. I would like to come back to these matters today and show how arrogant, out of touch and petty the Prime Minister is.
In the past, Canada has gone through periods of high inflation that often resulted in recessions. At present, we are clearly in a period of inflation, and red flags are being raised. Has the government learned from the past, and will it do everything in its power to prevent history from repeating itself? I am not so sure.
There are currently huge wait times for passports. It is insane. Canadians want answers about the services they are getting.
Then there is the skyrocketing price of gas. In Rivière‑du‑Loup, in my riding, gas is currently around $2.24 to $2.30 a litre. That is the highest price in a year, or ever. We have never seen gas prices so high.
Summer is almost here, and people are planning vacations. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of an average Canadian who wants to leave home after two years of the pandemic. They want to visit regions all across Canada, especially Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, of course, and drive through all of our magnificent scenery.
How can they plan a family vacation when they cannot even make ends meet? They were thinking of travelling 700, 800, 1,000 or 2,000 kilometres, but they now have to reconsider since that is nearly impossible, considering the cost of gas. When it costs $100 to fill the tank, it makes a person think twice about taking a road trip.
When we ask the government about this, it blames international circumstances and the war in Ukraine. The budget should be providing solutions, but it has none to offer. We in the Conservative Party put ourselves in the shoes of our constituents and share their fears. That is why we proposed concrete solutions. We asked the government to drop the GST on fuel as a priority to give Canadians a break, just as several countries have done. We called for a pause on the carbon tax hike that took effect on April 1. The government refused our requests.
Let us talk about food. The cost of groceries has risen at an unprecedented rate, the highest in 40 years. Some families have already paid over $1,000 more for groceries since the beginning of the year. Other families have to make an agonizing choice between buying groceries, paying the rent and filling up their car to get to work. I myself have employees who are asking if they can work remotely because it costs too much to go to work. This is not a joke.
Food banks are now providing food to people who have full-time jobs, not just disadvantaged, penniless folks. These are people, families, couples who are working, but who are still being forced to turn to food banks in order to eat.
The government has no short-term solutions in its budget, only crumbs, to help these people, and it voted against the motion we put forward. The Conservatives argued for solutions to the supply chain issues and for farm taxes to be eliminated to help bring down food prices.
Let us now talk about housing prices. Since the Prime Minister came to power, housing prices have doubled in Canada. Young families are watching their dream of home ownership drift further and further out of reach. The budget mentions a $1,500 tax credit, but that will not even pay the lawyer's fees. This amount is nothing when the average price of a home in Canada is about $800,000.
In my riding, some sellers are getting four or five offers on their homes, which has never happened before. Houses are obviously less expensive in my riding than in Toronto or Vancouver, but sellers are receiving multiple offers, pushing the selling price above the asking price.
The government had six years to solve the affordability problem, but it did nothing. It left the real estate market in the hands of foreign buyers and unscrupulous speculators, who drove up the price of housing. We proposed an amendment to budget 2022, demanding that an inquiry into money laundering be launched immediately in order to curb speculation. Surprise, surprise, that amendment was rejected too.
Concerning the tourism sector, I am pleased to be part of the shadow cabinet on tourism together with my colleague from Peterborough—Kawartha, who is not here.
In a region as picturesque as mine, tourism plays an important role in economic development. This is particularly important to me. As members know, the pandemic devastated the tourism sector, especially during the two years of recession when many restaurants had to close their doors and performance venues sat empty. These are incredibly sad stories.
There was some emergency assistance, and the Conservatives supported a number of government measures. We even helped find solutions in some cases, because the assistance was not all that well adapted to many businesses or economic sectors. We therefore helped the government.
The government stubbornly insists on maintaining the COVID‑19 measures at airports, leading to very lengthy lines. Many people have had their entire vacations cancelled. That is completely ridiculous. There are some important things to be done about this, as well.
The luxury tax imposed by the Liberals is another measure in the budget that has an impact on this sector. The owner of a flying school in my riding buys 25-, 30- or 40-year-old aircraft secondhand for teaching purposes. Planes are not toys. They can be quite expensive. Because the planes are worth more than $100,000, this man will be forced to pay a luxury tax, which means that he will have to charge all of his students more. There are some measures in this budget that make no sense. I sincerely believe that this threshold needs to be reviewed. We have proposed amendments to the legislation.
Agriculture is essential to my riding. The price of gas and fuel is one thing, but the price of fertilizer has also gone through the roof in the past few months. It is unbelievable that none of the measures in the budget provide assistance for these sectors.
I could go on for another 12 pages.
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Madam Speaker, planting trees is not all bad. I would like to applaud the initiatives of Ramo and of Francis Allard, who are providing solutions in Abitibi—Témiscamingue to ensure that mining and other sites are reclaimed. This is an example of how sustainable development can be achieved by planting trees. There is some good happening.
Looking ahead, yes, I have concerns as well. If we look at the consequences of inflation, I am concerned about the government's lack of engagement. I am concerned about the government withdrawing from areas of intervention under its responsibility. Health care is the main one.
At least 50% of health expenditures should be covered by the federal government. What we have seen over the past 50 years is that this is no longer the case. Now the federal government is paying only 22 cents per dollar. That has consequences. Every problem in our health care system can be traced back to federal underfunding. That is one example of why I am so concerned about how much this government is spending.
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