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House Hansard - 171

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 22, 2023 01:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 171 - Mar/22/23
Mr. Francesco Sorbara (Vaughan—Woodbridge, Lib.)
  • Mar/22/23 8:29:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to our country's economic situation. Our government understands that many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet during this period of high inflation. Fortunately, inflation in Canada has been slowly declining recently. The OECD expects inflation to return to its target level by the end of 2024. Inflation in Canada was 8.1% in June 2022. It has since fallen to 5.2% in February. Canadian inflation is still too high, but it is lower than what we see in many peer economies. It is going in the right direction, and going lower. For example, it is 8.5% in the European Union, and 10.1% in the United Kingdom. In fact, as we continue navigating through these difficult times, our country is faring much better than most other G7 countries. Canada is facing the same global economic headwinds from a position of fundamental economic strength, a sound fiscal balance sheet, an AAA credit rating, and an unemployment rate at a very low level. The facts speak for themselves. Our government made targeted investments to support Canadians and our economy through the pandemic, and these efforts are paying off. Last week, it was great to see the announcement by Volkswagen, which is bringing literally tens of thousands of jobs here to the province of Ontario and benefiting Canadians from coast to coast to coast. As a result of our government's leadership, Canada has experienced a strong rebound from the pandemic recession, with a 3%-plus growth rate in 2022, which is one of the strongest in the G7. On top of that, we continue to see the strongest increase in real disposable income in the G7. In addition, the more than 170,000 jobs created in January and February and a historically low unemployment rate of 5% clearly demonstrate the resilience of the Canadian economy. However, we recognize that many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. Canadians are feeling the consequences of high inflation when they go grocery shopping, fill up their gas tank or pay their rent or mortgage. Unfortunately, we can no longer help everyone, as we did during the pandemic. That said, our government has put measures in place to continue to help those who really need it. We will help those most impacted by inflation. With regard to the excise duty on alcohol, when it comes in inflationary adjustments to the excise duty rates on beer or wine, I would like to reassure my colleagues that they do not generally represent an increase in real dollar terms. They broadly preserve the effectiveness of these excise duty rates over time and generally ensure rates stay constant relative to the product on which they are levied. Our government recognizes the important contribution that Canada's wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries make to the national economy through job creation and the sale of high-quality products. That is why the government implemented the wine sector support program, which is providing up to $166.2 million to agriculture and agri-food in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years. This will help wineries adapt to current and emerging challenges. Canadian small and medium-sized brewers currently benefit from reduced excise tax rates on the first 75,000 hectolitres of beer produced per year. This has provided support of up to $851,350 per brewer in 2022. The government also repealed the excise duty on non-alcoholic beer starting on July 1, 2022, to encourage growth in this sector of the beer industry. For the Canadians who need it the most, those most vulnerable, those most impacted by rising prices or inflation and those who feel the bite of rising prices most acutely, our government is there with inflation-relief measures. For example, we provided a one-time $500 payment to Canadian low-income renters through the Canada housing benefit. We cut regulated child care fees by 50%, on average, across the land. Here in Ontario, day care fees have come down 52.7%, representing up to $6,000 or $7,000 of real before-tax savings for families in Ontario in some instances. Those are hard-earned dollars that stay in the pockets of Ontario families, and our government led the charge on this. We collaborated and worked with all the provinces, and we got it done. It is helping Canadian families not only here in Ontario but across Canada. We have also doubled the GST credit for six months. This measure alone provided $2.5 billion in additional targeted support to the roughly 11 million individuals and families who already receive the credit. This includes the more than half of those receiving the benefit who are Canadian seniors. We enhanced the Canada workers benefit to put an additional $2,400 into the pockets of low- and modest-income families. We are also brining in the Canada dental benefit, which provides parents with children under the age of 12 who do not have access to dental insurance with direct payments of up to $650 per year, for a total of $1,300 per child over the next two years for dental care. It is estimated that 500,000 Canadian children will benefit from this targeted investment of $938 million. These are just a few examples of what our government is doing to help Canadian families from coast to coast to coast. However, we understand that our spending capacity is not infinite and that it is important that we continue to pursue a tight fiscal policy. The measures we are implementing to help Canadians are not adding fuel to the fire of inflation. They are simply providing targeted and fiscally responsible assistance to those who need it most. The Deputy Prime Minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to presenting prudent fiscal management ahead of budget 2023 at a recent meeting with chief economists for the major Canadian financial institutions. Canada has the lowest deficit and net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, maintaining our AAA credit rating through the COVID pandemic, and we are going strongly for the future. We also committed to $9 billion in savings from a government spending review in the 2022 budget. According to a recent OECD survey, Canada's net debt-to-GDP ratio is well below the average for the OECD, the European Union and the United States. This continued track record of fiscal strength has allowed the government to continue providing necessary targeted economic support to those who need it the most: those most impacted by the inflationary period that Canada went through and is still going through, but which is receding. In conclusion, Canada's economy is performing relatively well compared with the economies of our G7 peers, and there are good reasons for optimism. However, our government understands that many Canadians still need some support to get through these difficult times. That is why we will continue providing inflation relief to Canadians who need it the most and are the most vulnerable, for example, those who are most exposed to inflation and those on fixed incomes. We will continue doing so in a targeted, fiscally responsible way. The last thing we want is to make inflation worse. We are making life more affordable for Canadians while continuing to build an economy that works for everyone, helps the middle class and helps those working hard to join the middle class. As we prepare for budget 2023, we also understand the need for further investments to create good jobs for Canadians to ensure that Canada remains a competitive place to do business, particularly in light of the U.S. inflation reduction act. The Global Automakers were here this evening. I sponsored that event. It was great to see the representatives from Volkswagen there. Obviously, we congratulated them and I congratulated them on choosing Canada for their first North American battery plant. It is a plant for the future and creating thousands of jobs. As the global economy undergoes the most significant transformation since the industrial revolution, Canada cannot be left behind. That is why we will continue to work tirelessly to create more high-quality jobs, invest in our communities and build a more prosperous Canada for future generations. We are preparing measures that will give Canada the tools it needs to succeed.
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