44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 29, 2023 02:00PM
- Mar/29/23 2:54:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we understand that EI benefits need to be fair, more responsive and more adequate to the needs of Canada's evolving workforce. That is why we are committed to comprehensively modernizing the EI system.
We consulted widely with unions, workers, employers and other partners so that we can build an EI system that meets the needs of Canadians for decades to come. We have already extended EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks, and with budget 2023, we propose extending support for seasonal workers until October 2024.
The minister has always said that we need to get this right. This is a priority, we are on it and we will get this done.
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- Mar/29/23 2:54:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, increases in duties such as those on alcohol can sometimes provide predictability to businesses. However, as all members of this House know, we are in an unusually high inflation situation. On April 1, the excise inflation adjustment on alcohol was set to increase by 6.3%.
I am asking the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance to tell this House what the government is doing to assist breweries, wine makers and spirit providers in this country.
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- Mar/29/23 2:55:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend from Etobicoke—Lakeshore and indeed all members of the Liberal caucus for raising this important issue for the government and for the hard work on the file.
In the budget we tabled yesterday, we temporarily capped the excise inflation adjustment for alcohol at 2% for one year as of April 1, 2023. This important—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Mar/29/23 2:55:56 p.m.
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I am sorry, I am going to have to interrupt. I am having time hearing the answer.
The hon. minister has about 20 seconds.
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- Mar/29/23 2:56:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore and all Liberals for leaning in on this issue. In the budget yesterday, we capped the inflation excise tax at 2%. That is great news for the tourism sector and great news for Canadians. We listened, and we delivered.
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- Mar/29/23 2:56:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's new spending spree in this year's budget would cost every Canadian family more than $4,300, and Canada's food price index is showing that groceries for a family of four are going to be more than $1,000 in 2023, yet the Prime Minister wants to make food even more expensive by increasing the carbon tax on April 1.
Why is the Prime Minister choosing to increase taxes and fan the inflationary flames, rather than make food more affordable for every Canadian family?
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- Mar/29/23 2:57:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Conservative members of Parliament really cared about the cost of food, they would do something really simple, which is support this budget, because in it there is a grocery rebate for 11 million Canadians, which would help them with the high cost of food.
If the Conservative members of Parliament cared about the high cost of living on families, they would have supported our Canada child benefit, which provides up to $7,000 per child per family for the most vulnerable. They have some easy things that they could do to support Canadians.
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- Mar/29/23 2:57:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if they really cared about the price of food, they would decrease the carbon tax because then Canadians would not need a grocery rebate.
A food professor, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, said the grocery rebate is not going to help because it is the carbon tax and not climate change that is driving food inflation, and he is right. The Liberals' new spending in this year's budget would cost every Canadian $4,300 a year, and when the Liberals triple the carbon tax, it will cost Alberta families a net loss of $2,200 a year. How many families are going to have to go hungry before the Liberals realize that this is a mistake, and axe the carbon tax?
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- Mar/29/23 2:58:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the difference between us and the Conservatives is that no matter what happens or what is going on, the Conservatives always cling to one ideology: austerity and cuts.
Canadians know that we on this side of the House are there for them, whether that is during a pandemic, during a war in Ukraine or facing the rising cost of living. They know we are there to help those in need with the cost of groceries and rent, and to ensure that everyone has access to high-quality universal public health care across the country.
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- Mar/29/23 2:59:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, less than one year ago, the Deputy Prime Minister stood in the House and said, “We are absolutely determined that our debt-to-GDP ratio must continue to decline and our deficits must continue to be reduced.... This is our fiscal anchor. This is a line we will not cross.”
That is a promise made and a promise broken. The big spending budget yesterday would add $4,300 a year of spending and debt for every household in Canada, and it increases the debt-to-GDP ratio next year. Why does the government continue to make promises it has no intention of keeping?
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- Mar/29/23 2:59:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite can look at the budget, right in the lines, and see very clearly that the deficit would continue to go down every single year for the next five years. In fact, this year's budget is lower than last year's budget, and all of this is happening amid great economic headwinds around the globe.
Canada has the lowest deficit in the G7. It has the lowest debt in the G7 and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in all of the G7. Those are the facts, and that is on our watch.
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- Mar/29/23 3:00:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister also said, “The pandemic debt we incurred to keep Canadians safe and solvent must [and will] be paid down.” Even just a few months ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the budget would be balanced. That is another promise made and another promise broken.
Now the government is adding $4,300 in new spending and debt for every household in Canada, and there is no balance in sight. Why do the broken promises keep costing Canadians so much?
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- Mar/29/23 3:01:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. member that, despite the extraordinary need to respond to a once-in-a-century global pandemic, Canada maintains the healthiest fiscal position of any G7 economy. The reality is that it is fascinating for me to watch the Conservatives refuse to acknowledge the measures we are putting in place to support Canadians. These are the measures to ensure that people can afford the cost of living as families struggle with the cost of inflation, the measures that are creating jobs in our communities and the measures that are investing in health care so people who live in our neighbourhoods can have access to quality care and maybe have a family doctor. We make these promises, and we keep these promises, plus we do it in a fiscally responsible way.
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- Mar/29/23 3:01:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Ottawa is betraying Quebec's aerospace industry.
Commenting on the budget, Aéro Montréal laments the lack of meaningful measures to help SMEs.
As if that were not enough, Ottawa is actually undermining our industry. The Liberals are handing Boeing a $9‑billion military contract on a silver platter, excluding Bombardier and not giving Quebec one penny in economic spinoffs.
When will Ottawa start supporting Quebec's aerospace industry instead of giving our money to our American competitors without a tender process?
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- Mar/29/23 3:02:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague.
We are there for the aerospace industry. We always have been and always will be.
It seems that my colleague's memory is failing a bit. He should recall that Premier Legault and the Canadian Prime Minister made the biggest announcement in Canadian aerospace history. That was just a few months ago.
We have always been there. We will be there for aerospace workers.
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- Mar/29/23 3:03:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it would seem that Ottawa is doing it on purpose. Not only is there nothing in the budget for the future of the aerospace industry, but the Liberals are maintaining a poorly named and ill-conceived luxury tax that will prevent our industry from selling its planes at competitive prices.
Not only is Ottawa not doing anything to get us more contracts tomorrow, but it is ensuring that there will not be any today either. Right now, 2,000 jobs are in jeopardy if the Liberals keep the tax as is.
Will they finally suspend it so that the mistakes can be fixed before jobs are lost?
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- Mar/29/23 3:03:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have an income tax regime here in Canada and a tax system that requires all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Let us look at the budget announcements for Quebec. There is $447 million for Quebec through a health transfer top-up; $47.8 million over 9 years to redevelop the Bonaventure expressway; and new investments, meaning over $1 million, to protect French in Quebec.
We are meeting expectations, and the Bloc wants to pick a fight.
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- Mar/29/23 3:04:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, lost in yesterday's budget bonanza was the announcement of the appointment of the interim Ethics Commissioner, a Ms. Martine Richard. Can the Prime Minister confirm for the House, and reassure Canadians, that Ms. Martine Richard is not the same person who is the sister-in-law of the intergovernmental affairs minister, who has been found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act?
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- Mar/29/23 3:04:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, the interim Ethics Commissioner is a career public servant who was, in fact, engaged by the Stephen Harper government to come into the Ethics Commissioner's office. She was number two in the Ethics Commissioner's office, and she has been working there for over a decade.
It makes absolute and complete logical sense that she would be acting on an interim capacity, considering all the information I just shared. The member will be aware that an ethical screen always exists to ensure no such conflict occurs.
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- Mar/29/23 3:05:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have got to be kidding. I guess they got tired of being found guilty. These are the Liberals. The intergovernmental affairs minister, the new Ethics Commissioner's brother-in-law, was found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act. The Prime Minister was found guilty of breaking the act. The trade minister was found guilty of breaking the act.
This is a cabinet of serial lawbreakers, and now they have an inside man working at the Ethics Commissioner's office. How can Canadians have confidence in the officers of Parliament if these guys are stacking the deck?
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