44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 13, 2023 11:00AM
- Feb/13/23 2:37:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government will take no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to protecting Canada's most vulnerable. Thanks to measures put in place by our government, hundreds of thousands of seniors have been lifted out of poverty, as have hundreds of thousands of Canadian children. We have done that while maintaining Canada's AAA credit rating and having the lowest debt and the lowest deficit in the G7.
We can be compassionate and fiscally responsible at the same time. That is what we are doing.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for what I believe is an important intervention and intersection between health care, mental health and this bill. Of course, it is no secret that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are enduring an incredible level of poverty. Poverty is one of the driving forces that contribute to folks' mental health and the fact that they cannot see a light at the end of that tunnel when they fall behind.
Does the member support the New Democratic Party's call for a guaranteed livable basic income, which would raise folks out of this kind of poverty? I hear the Conservatives laughing right now about this, but a guaranteed livable basic income would ensure that folks actually have a chance to get out of poverty to begin a path of recovery. The member just stated that he believes everyone deserves a chance at recovery and that everyone can. Does he support this bill, which would ensure everyone has the resources to survive?
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Madam Speaker, we have been hearing a lot of very disturbing news items about people who are living in poverty. A lot of them are people with disabilities. A lot of those people have mental health issues, and they are considering MAID because they cannot afford to live in dignity.
I am wondering if the member would join the NDP in saying that those people should have the resources to live in dignity, whether they are living with disabilities or not. They would need the resources to buy food. They would need affordable housing.
Would the hon. member comment on that side of the problem?
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Madam Speaker, in light of this important bill, there is a need to push it to a place where the government and members of this House have an opportunity to hear more. We need to ensure that those who are desperate, in need and seeking the kind of support that mental health supports can provide them actually have those resources and can get them without seeking MAID. I support the member in his call for that.
However, I also support the need to ensure that those who are furthest behind and need support get that support through the mental health transfer or other means, like a guaranteed livable basic income. That is an important piece to this.
Can the member elaborate on the need to ensure that we support those who are living in poverty with real tools and solutions so they can live with dignity?
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Madam Speaker, I asked my Conservative colleague, who spoke just prior to this colleague of mine, the same question I will ask him. It is in relation to trying to deter one of the main contributors to the mental health crisis in Canada, and his colleagues have mentioned this all day, which is poverty.
New Democrats have tabled a solution, which is a guaranteed livable basic income. I understand the Conservatives might disagree with that, but what solutions can the Conservative Party offer, and not criticisms but solutions, to ensure those who are most vulnerable, those living in poverty and those who do not have the means to survive actually have that support so they can live with dignity?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith because I know what a champion she has been in this place in pushing for people with disabilities to get the follow-through they have been promised and have advocated so strongly for over so many years. We could cut poverty by 40% in this country by providing a guaranteed income for every person with a disability, who are right now disproportionately living in legislated poverty. It is a national embarrassment, in my view, that we have not done more already.
Whether it is related to providing a guaranteed income for folks with disabilities and funding the Canada disability benefit or following through on the Canada mental health transfer, it is important for our democracy that political parties and leaders follow through on promises they have made. I am going to continue to push, alongside the member opposite and others in this place, in the lead-up to budget 2023 to see those important commitments followed through on.
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