44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 17, 2023 11:00AM
- Apr/17/23 5:35:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague and political mentor, the member for Repentigny.
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- Apr/17/23 5:35:35 p.m.
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We are here to talk about budget 2023. As an economist, I have to say that it is rare to have so many questions after looking at the numbers. If the Liberal government is looking for a title for this year's budget, then I would humbly suggest, “Transparency? What is that?”
When I came out of the lock-up, I was both disappointed and worried. First, I was disappointed to see that certain necessary measures had been left out of the budget. I am talking mainly about the EI reform the government has been promising for years now. The government is once again failing unemployed workers. It is taking their money but excluding a huge portion of the people who fund the system and completely abandoning them. Now, the government is refusing to reform the system, despite the many promises it made in that regard. What is more, we are on the verge of a recession. A recession means job losses, making it all the more important to have a good EI system, but that does not exist.
The government also forgot about seniors. There are no measures to improve their situation, even though we know that they are being hit particularly hard by inflation.
Obviously, I was disappointed with the budget. However, something bigger was exposed in this budget, and that is a blatant lack of transparency. Unfortunately, that is a Liberal hallmark nowadays. That is borne out by everything going on these days, be it cases of Chinese interference within the government itself or donations received by organizations with close ties to the Prime Minister. It is still the same so-called logic that is based on contempt for taxpayers, contempt for the public. The government is telling taxpayers that it will do as it pleases and that they cannot ask any questions because no answers will be provided. That is really problematic because transparency is a pillar of democracy. Without transparency, there is no democracy.
The budget provides several examples of this lack of transparency. The first is that, now, there are fewer and fewer grants and more and more tax credits. Tax credits, as my colleagues know, are not obvious to the average citizen. A company submits an application, it is processed by the Canada Revenue Agency, and the average citizen cannot see who is receiving that tax credit.
At the same time, the budget announces that more and more funds will be granted to and managed by Crown corporations. Once again, Crown corporations are not exactly models of transparency. Let us begin with the example of Crown corporations. They are not subject to the same disclosure regulations as government departments, for example.
As members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, we look at departmental spending line by line. Anyone can find out how much a department has given in grants, not tax credits, to an organization. Unfortunately, the same cannot be done with Crown corporations, because they are only required to disclose information to the same standard as the private sector. That is problematic. If the federal government is increasingly using its Crown corporations as a vehicle for funding its activities, they need to be subject to the same level of transparency and disclosure standards as the rest of government. Again, this is a cornerstone of democracy. It is foundational.
Consider, for example, Export Development Canada, or EDC. It is one of the tools the government uses to invest in energy production projects. This Crown corporation has been in the news recently because it supported the oil and gas industry in various ways to the tune of $8.1 billion for the year 2020. This was reported in the media.
We know, too, that the Liberal government committed to increasing investments through Crown corporations. Here are two examples. Once again, EDC is going from $12 billion in expenditures to $15 billion, while the Business Development Bank of Canada is going from $18 billion to $20 billion. With this budget, the government is announcing that it intends to keep giving even more money to these entities, which are not very accountable to Canadians, if at all. It is impossible to determine which companies the Crown corporations are investing in, which makes accountability impossible.
Let us take another example from this budget. In a recent announcement, the Department of Finance created the magnificently named Canada growth fund. This budget announces that instead of being managed by its officials, the fund will be managed by a Crown corporation. The problem is twofold. Let me be clear, I am not saying that the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, or PSP Investments, is incapable of managing funds. It is capable, and it does it quite well.
However, managing new public funds is not part of its mandate. It should simply be responsible for managing pensions, as that is its job. That means there are two problems. An investment mandate is again being given to a Crown corporation rather than a department. That is a problem because it leads us to believe that the federal government simply does not trust its officials to do the job. That is a problem. It also does not trust the secret service or artists, let alone separatists. In short, the Liberal government trusts no one, except the totalitarian Chinese dictatorship.
Second, institutions such as PSP Investments are not required to report their expenses the way the departments are. Someday soon, when an informed citizen wants to know what the magnificent Canada growth fund has done, all that person will be able to see will unfortunately be total investments broken down by sector. This will not mean much of anything, considering the word “energy” encompasses both renewable energy and sources such as natural gas and oil. This gives us absolutely no information.
Crown corporations are excellent when the government needs an opaque funding vehicle. That is what they are.
Let us look at another example. Throughout this budget, there are tax credits. Nearly half the new spending in budget 2023 comes in the form of tax credits for businesses, instead of subsidies. If the government had any real intention of transitioning to a green economy, then why is it hiding new spending? Why does it want to provide tax credits instead of direct subsidies, which would allow for real accountability?
In total, nearly $19 million more will be granted in tax credits. Here are a few examples. The enhancement of the carbon capture tax credit was openly condemned by the scientific community. Some 400 scientists and scholars announced that they were opposed to this new tax credit, which would not help Canada achieve its targets. The investment tax credit for so-called clean hydrogen is another example. It subsidizes hydrogen produced from natural gas, which is a pollutant. It is not a tax credit solely for green hydrogen. The investment tax credit for clean electricity does not benefit Quebec, which already produces low-cost clean electricity. Once again, Quebeckers' taxes will go to fund environmental initiatives in the rest of Canada.
Ultimately, these tax credits clearly demonstrate that the government is not addressing the source of greenhouse gas emissions, like scientists are asking it to do. Instead, it is focusing on methods that scientists have already condemned as being ineffective, such as carbon capture.
Scientists have drawn a clear conclusion. These technologies are ineffective and economically non-viable. It is just an excuse to increase fossil fuel production.
In closing, if the government were truly proposing deficits or subsidies to get ready for the extraordinary climate crisis waiting on the horizon, the Bloc Québécois would certainly support it. That is clearly not the case here.
I have spoken about several new measures, but at the end of the day, they all stem from the same pattern, if I can put it that way: this government's uncontrollable need to hide information, operate in the shadows and rebuff any outside advice. Being mired in its current scandals, the Liberal government could have taken this opportunity to teach China a lesson about democracy. Instead, it chose to hide. If I have to make transparency my life's mission, so be it. I am 34. I will keep getting in the government's way for a while yet.
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- Apr/17/23 5:46:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, I do not think that my colleague listened to my speech, or else he simply did not understand it. Throughout my speech, I gave examples of tax credits that are supposed to fight climate change and help the environment but that will not actually work. I did not say anything about the tax credit to help construction workers, which unfortunately represents only a very small portion of the budget. The government is not giving those people very much help in this budget. If they lose their job, they may not even be covered by employment insurance.
There are reforms that are not included in this budget, which is very problematic. What makes us different from the Conservatives is that we want real change for the environment and a real energy transition. This budget obviously does not address that.
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- Apr/17/23 5:47:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question.
I certainly am very concerned. I even began my speech by saying how troubling it is to see that the budget does not address the real problems. In the end, all this government did was make some nice promises. We are seeing that in many areas.
Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything specific to protect the environment. We are seeing that the government is doing everything it can to maintain the petro-state in Canada. I am very concerned about that, particularly when it comes to the environment. I would like to leave a healthy, livable planet to my son, who members have heard many times. Unfortunately, that will not be the case.
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- Apr/17/23 5:49:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague completely understood the point of my speech and I thank her. That is precisely it.
Now, instead of paying fossil fuel subsidies directly, the Liberals are going to do it in a roundabout way by giving tax credits. It will be very hard for the average citizen to know where this public money is going. It will even be hard for parliamentarians, yet it is their job to know where our money is going.
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