44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 17, 2022 10:00AM
- Jun/17/22 11:04:55 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, food prices are going through the roof and working-class families are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. We know that Vladimir Putin's illegal war in Ukraine is driving fears of a global food shortage, but those fears are the perfect cover for the giant food conglomerates that are jacking up prices, not because of inflation but to gouge us.
Cargill's profits were up 64% in a single year. Loblaws' first-quarter profits are 40% higher than last year.
What is the government doing? The Liberals, remember, used taxpayers' money to fix Galen Weston's fridges while Loblaws was scamming us over the price of bread, and the Conservatives? Well, their would-be leader says to invest our savings in crypto-Ponzi schemes to beat inflation. I mean, a financial genius this guy is not.
What we are dealing with is not inflation but old-fashioned price gouging and corporate giants ripping off Canada's working class. The New Democrats say that it is time we took on these corporate giants and got this money into the pockets of working-class families.
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- Jun/17/22 11:24:59 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, yesterday in Toronto, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance was supposed to make an announcement that would give Canadians some relief from inflation. Unfortunately, once again, the Minister of Finance showed that she is completely out of touch with the reality all Canadians are facing. There was no announcement at all, just more rehashing of the same Liberal talking points.
Here is a simple question for the government: Why is the Liberal government refusing to give Canadian families a break by lowering taxes?
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- Jun/17/22 11:25:31 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the answer is very simple. We lowered taxes for the middle class, and the Conservatives voted against it. It is unacceptable that today the Conservatives are asking us to do something they refused to do a few years ago.
Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister announced our plan to support Canadians during this time of inflation and rising costs of living. It is a serious plan. The Conservatives have no suggestions.
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- Jun/17/22 11:25:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, every Canadian knows that on April 1, this government increased the Liberal carbon tax. Writing in Le Journal de Québec and Le Journal de Montréal today, Loïc Tassé was blunt but truthful.
He wrote that all these measures by the Liberal government will not fight inflation. On the contrary, they will accelerate it. He asks: “What magical world is she living in?”
The problem is that while the minister is living in her magical world, Canadians are living in the Liberal government's Canada, where taxes are spiralling. Why is the government refusing to lower taxes for all Canadians?
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- Jun/17/22 11:31:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, in her speech at the Empire Club this week, the Deputy Prime Minister treated inflation like it was a public relations problem for the government rather than the very real financial issue that it is for so many Canadians.
As she was speaking, new mothers on employment insurance and others depending on EI were having their EI payments garnished to pay debt back to the government while they were trying to keep their homes. It is the wrong approach. We did not hear anything new in the speech yesterday.
I am hoping we are soon going to hear that the government will bring into force a low-income CERB repayment amnesty and a freeze on payments for middle-class Canadians who are struggling to keep their homes in this time of inflation. When are we going to hear that?
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- Jun/17/22 11:37:38 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member is just plain wrong, and I see where she gets it from. The Minister of Finance has gotten inflation wrong at every turn. She said deflation was the concern; that was wrong. Then she said it was transitory; that was wrong. Now she has a so-called affordability plan that only includes more spending.
Stephen Gordon is an economist at Laval. He has said that now is not the time for increased spending as it only pours fuel on the inflationary fire. Instead, she can reduce discretionary spending, stop the Morneau escalator on user fees and give Canadians a break at the pumps.
Will the minister listen to Conservatives and start fighting inflation, or does she, just like her Prime Minister, love spending too much?
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- Jun/17/22 11:41:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the member opposite. Canadians are feeling it. They are feeling increased prices at the grocery store and at the pump, which is why as prices are increasing, so are our benefits. Many, if not all, of our important benefits supporting Canadians right now are indexed to inflation, which means that they will continue to increase as inflation increases.
Also increasing this year is our support for seniors with the old age security benefit. Also increasing is the Canada workers benefit, and I could go on and on.
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- Jun/17/22 11:42:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, yesterday, we were looking forward to hearing the Minister of Finance provide details on her plan to help citizens and businesses deal with inflation.
What a letdown. There will be no increase in the GST tax credit for people with low incomes and no monthly payments. There will be nothing for industries affected by fuel prices, such as the trucking, agricultural and taxi industries. There will be no increase in old age security for those under the age of 75, and nothing will be done to address the labour shortage. All the minister did was repeat measures that had already been announced in April's budget.
Why did she show up empty-handed when people are struggling?
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- Jun/17/22 11:43:24 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it was the same old talking points.
There is no one in this government to listen to Quebeckers. Ever since the Minister of Finance started covering for both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, there is no one we can talk to about making progress on the issues that matter to businesses and citizens. The minister's three jobs, coupled with her refusal to delegate to colleagues, has made this government blind to what is happening on the ground.
Is there anyone left in this government who realizes that inflation is a real problem with real consequences that requires a response now, not in six months?
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- Jun/17/22 11:44:00 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is accusing us of serving up the same lines. Would he have us add fuel to the fire and spend billions of dollars at a time when inflation is the issue?
We already spent $300 billion during the pandemic to help Canadians. Now is not the time to spend more. Yesterday was simply an opportunity for us to explain the support measures we put in place in the April budget that are there to help Canadians this year.
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- Jun/17/22 11:52:03 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, in my riding of Kitchener—Conestoga and across Canada, we have seen the effects that global inflation has had on the everyday lives of Canadians, inflation caused in part by the illegal war in Ukraine and China's zero-COVID policy.
Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance tell this House what the government is doing to help Canadians deal with this global phenomenon?
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