44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 23, 2022 10:00AM
- Sep/23/22 11:25:00 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the riding I represent stretches from the St. Lawrence River to the American border. A very large part of it is rural.
With the high cost of gas, it is very expensive for my constituents who have to drive to work, do errands or access health care.
To help these people, the Prime Minister needs to do just one thing: Cancel the planned tax hike on gas and paycheques. Does he have the guts to do that?
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- Sep/23/22 11:25:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday we heard the new deputy leader of the Conservatives say that she was going to support our GST credit. Another day, another flip-flop from the Conservatives, as the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes said that he might support it as well.
Perhaps these two members can try to convince the new leader of the Conservative Party to put money directly into the pockets of Canadians.
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- Sep/23/22 11:26:11 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec is taking action against climate change: 145,000 people voted in favour of striking all across Quebec to put an end to fossil fuels.
Thousands of people are expected in front of Parliament this afternoon. It is the best place to protest because the federal government is the chief culprit when it comes to climate inaction. Not only is this government refusing to stop consuming fossil fuels, it is encouraging their consumption.
Will the Minister of Environment and Climate Change go meet with the protesters and explain why he voted in favour of Bay du Nord?
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- Sep/23/22 11:26:48 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question.
I am so happy to see these demonstrations all across the country. I actually organized many such events when I was a little younger.
I would like to remind my colleague that, since we came to power, fossil fuel subsidies have decreased by over $4 billion a year. We are committed to eliminating those subsidies by next year, 2023, which is two years earlier than our G20 partners. We are taking action on climate change. We are taking action on affordability.
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- Sep/23/22 11:27:24 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers are worried about the future. Hundreds of thousands of people across Quebec are marching on the streets to remind the government about the principles of the former minister of the environment and climate change, who at the time wanted to divest from fossil fuels.
This government continues to support the oil industry, however. Over the past year, it approved the new Bay du Nord development project and it continues to subsidize oil companies every chance it gets. The government set aside $2.5 billion for this industry in the last budget.
When will the government finally learn that we need to hit the breaks on fossil fuels, not step on the gas?
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- Sep/23/22 11:28:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that our climate action plan provides for a $109‑billion investment in clean energy, in the electrification of transportation and in green electricity generation. That is three times more per capita than what the United States is investing.
There are other measures on top of that. We will reduce emissions of methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas, by 40% to 50%, not by 2030 or 2035, but within the next three years, at no cost to businesses. Our plan to control pollution is a plan that works and that will help Canadians.
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- Sep/23/22 11:28:43 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, through no fault of their own, Syncreon auto workers are going to lose their jobs. The Liberals have known this for months. They knew it was coming but they refused to reform the Employment Insurance Act, leaving them out in the cold.
Shockingly, instead of making things better, tomorrow the Liberals are changing the EI rules to make things tougher for people just trying to feed their families. The government seems to forget that this money belongs to the workers, not them, and to the families they are responsible to. They have been paying into EI for years and now the Syncreon auto workers are going to be robbed.
Why are the Liberals being so cruel when they could fix this today? It is not too late. Justice should be served for these workers. They are due this respect.
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- Sep/23/22 11:29:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we understand that EI benefits need to be more fair, more responsive and more adaptable to the needs of the Canadian workforce. That is why we are committed to delivering a full-scale modernization of the EI system. Although some temporary pandemic benefit programs are winding down, regular EI benefits will continue to be available to workers, just as they were before the pandemic. We look forward to launching our long-term plan to improve Canada's EI system.
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- Sep/23/22 11:29:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Canadian Labour Congress met with the Bank of Canada this week, the CLC warned them that with rapidly rising interest rates, everyday people pay the real cost of inflation, with job losses and mortgages and personal loan payments jumping hundreds of dollars overnight.
What was the Bank of Canada's response? With the economy on the brink of a recession, it continues attacking workers by encouraging companies to drive their wages down. It is disgusting.
Does the Liberal government agree with the Bank of Canada's call to drive up unemployment while pushing down people's wages, or will they join the New Democrats and the CLC by actually standing up for workers in Canada?
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- Sep/23/22 11:30:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Bank of Canada is an independent institution. It has operated that way for more than a generation. We also know that it is a tough time for Canadians, which is why we have created a comprehensive affordability plan.
Members of the House will have a real opportunity this fall to make life more affordable for Canadians by doubling the GST benefit for 11 million households, by providing a housing benefit for renters who need it the most and by providing dental care to young children so they can get their teeth fixed.
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- Sep/23/22 11:31:12 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the rising cost of living is the number one concern of workers, families, students and businesses.
While the NDP and the Liberals bicker about who is spending more, Canadians are unable to make ends meet. All G7 countries have cut taxes to help their citizens pay for groceries every week. In Canada, there have been no tax cuts and, even worse, taxes will increase on January 1.
Will this government do the right thing and cancel the tax cuts planned for 2023?
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- Sep/23/22 11:31:45 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proposing a plan to help Canadians deal with the rising cost of living. We are going to double the GST credit. We are going to put money in the pockets of Canadians who are struggling to pay their rent and we are going to pay for young children's dental care.
I worry when the Conservatives say they are listening to their constituents who are having trouble making ends meet but then do not want to support Canadians by putting money in their pockets. That is unfortunate.
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- Sep/23/22 11:32:25 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to share Mike's story.
Mike makes $22 an hour, and governments take 30% of his salary from every paycheque. He wrote to me saying that he could not afford to feed himself properly and that his local food bank made him feel like he should not need their help. That is the reality for many folks today, with food prices up by more than 10%.
Instead of making things worse for Mike by taking even more from his paycheque, will the Prime Minister cancel next year's tax hikes, yes or no?
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- Sep/23/22 11:33:10 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, my heart goes out to Mike, my hon. colleague's constituent.
I would also like to assure Mike that he can have a decent retirement. That is why we want to ensure a good retirement for our seniors and for all Canadians.
I would like to understand why the Conservatives want to attack our Canada pension plan.
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- Sep/23/22 11:33:38 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, rising home prices and rising interest rates mean that the income necessary to qualify to buy a tiny, entry-level apartment in Calgary has nearly doubled in the past year. Young Canadians across Canada are giving up on home ownership and they cannot afford ever-increasing rents.
The last thing these cash-strapped Canadians need is another bite taken out of their paycheques. Will the government cancel its planned tax increases on paycheques?
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- Sep/23/22 11:34:11 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if there is one thing we can agree on with my colleague it is that Canadians across the country are having a hard time buying a home. We agree on that.
Where we disagree is that from the start, the Conservatives across the way have voted against every government measure to provide access to home ownership and give money directly to people so they can pay their rent.
When it comes to affordability, it is our government who is concerned about people across the country.
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- Sep/23/22 11:34:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with the government, the price of taxes has become 43% of all Canadians pay for. That has happened under the Liberal government.
The price of everything is going up, and the government is making things worse by raising the carbon tax on top of increasing the payroll tax. All these tax increases make life less affordable for Canadians who cannot afford higher costs with smaller paycheques.
At the very least, will the government commit today to stop making things worse and cancel these planned tax increases?
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- Sep/23/22 11:35:15 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our plan is designed so that the majority of households in Canada receive more from the climate action incentive payments than they pay, at a time when Canadians need more money and we need to fight climate change.
The Leader of the Opposition talked about a crisis earlier. We are giving families in Ontario $745. It is $830 in Manitoba, $1,100 in Saskatchewan and almost $1,100 in Alberta. The Conservative Party wants to take this money away from Canadians.
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- Sep/23/22 11:35:52 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the PBO knows this is not true. Families and small businesses in Hastings—Lennox and Addington have been decimated by the continual rising costs of living. The main street businesses that drive our economy are shuttering, and the farmers who feed our cities are taking on massive losses with no end in sight. What is the government's plan? Is it to take more of their hard-earned money?
Canadians should not have to be bailing out the government's poor economic planning. Will the government show empathy for struggling working-class Canadians and commit to cancelling this callous paycheque tax hike?
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- Sep/23/22 11:36:33 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are working hard to strengthen the Canadian pension plan. The Conservatives are trying to argue that we can make life more affordable by raiding the pension benefits of seniors in the future. It is basically the same playbook they used when they tried to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67.
Why the opposition wants to deprive Canadians of their retirement security when they need it most is beyond me, but I can say that it is very troubling public policy.
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