44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 18, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/18/23 1:06:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to highlight some of the important measures in budget 2023 here today and the impact it will have on my community of Richmond Hill. With strong economic fundamentals, as so many of my colleagues before me have talked about, this budget comes at a very important moment not only for our country, but I will dare to say for the world.
Allow me to start by highlighting that this budget is a made-in-Canada plan with three distinct pillars at its core.
First, budget 2023 aims to make life more affordable by introducing new targeted inflation relief support for Canadians, an important component of which is the new grocery rebate through which budget 2023 will support about 11 million low- and medium-income Canadians and families.
Second, with a historic investment of $198 billion to strengthen our public health, and the introduction of a dental health care plan, budget 2023 will help reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services, and ensure the high quality and timely health care Canadians deserve. This includes a $46-billion investment in new funding to provinces and territories through new Health Canada transfer measures that will support seniors, people with disabilities and minority groups.
Finally, budget 2023 ambitiously invests in growing a clean and green economy while creating hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs, providing the energy that will power our daily lives and entire Canadian economy, and providing more affordable energy to millions of Canadian homes.
All three of these pillars are of great importance to Canadians. They are of great importance to the passionate and dedicated constituents of Richmond Hill as well.
Just two weeks ago, over 50 community representative organizations and leaders from across our five community councils, which focus on affordability, health, environment, seniors and small businesses, gathered at our affordability round table at the Richmond Hill Public Library to hear about budget consultations and recommendations from budget 2023, in a discussion with the Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.
We heard from key Richmond Hill community leaders about the ongoing collaboration between the federal government and the provinces as it relates to health care.
We heard about strategic economic development and promoting learning and business opportunities for our indigenous populations and members of minority groups.
We talked about supporting affordable housing for our seniors and youth.
We also heard from Ted Pickles on budget 2023, who said that the message he was hearing was about leadership, calling out where there were gaps and taking responsibility and doing something about it. Ted's message resonates with many constituents and Canadians.
With affordability, health care and greening the economy its core priorities, budget 2023 is more than just government financing; it is a smart and strong investment in our country's future. Having said that, I would like to shift the focus of the remainder of my speech to the third pillar of budget 2023, which is growing a green economy.
We know that climate change is real and the path forward is clear. Budget 2023 builds on the foundation the government has been laying since 2015 by delivering a series of major investments to ensure Canada's clean economy can deliver prosperity across Canada. With new investments in clean electricity, the driving force of a clean economy, we will build a national electric grid that connects Canadians and delivers cleaner, more affordable electricity to Canadians and Canadian businesses. We will deliver investments to put Canadian workers and Canadian businesses at the heart of an essential global supply chain, and we will become a reliable supplier of the goods and resources the net-zero world will need.
Our made-in-Canada plan is centred on three tiers of federal financial incentives that will attract new investments, create new middle-class jobs and build Canada's clean economy. Those include an anchor regime of clear and predictable investment tax credits, low-cost strategic financing and targeted investments and programming to respond to the unique needs of sectors or projects of national economic significance. Together, they will incentivize businesses to reduce their emissions, become leaders in the global clean economy and create new middle-class jobs for Canadians.
The accelerating transition to net zero has started a global race to attract investment as our friends and allies build their clean economies. Canada has so much potential and a strong competitive edge and Richmond Hill's brightest minds are contributing to it. They are paving the path forward for a greener and cleaner transition in our country.
Over the past two weeks in my own riding of Richmond Hill, I was delighted to have the opportunity to see first-hand the knowledge, the passion, dedication and innovation that Richmond Hill entrepreneurs offer their community and our nation in parallel with budget 2023's goals and to see how this budget will further support their innovation.
In my visit to Mitrex with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, I learned that Danial Hadizadeh, the CEO of Mitrex and his executive team are revolutionizing the solar panel industry by offering building-integrated photovoltaic systems, with the vision of generating solar energy from all surfaces. With their hard work and ambition, not only have they transformed into one of the largest facilities in Canada that carries out innovative cladding and panelling systems, but they have also created more jobs toward a vision of a cleaner Canadian economy and a day that every building in Canada becomes green. In Danial's words, making every building its own power plant is his vision.
Budget 2023 introduces a 30% refundable tax credit on investments into clean-tech manufacturing and adoption alongside clean energy technologies, including solar, wind and storage. This is in addition to the expansion of the strategic innovation fund through $500 million in funding aimed to support the development and manufacturing of clean equipment and technologies. This not only supports but incentivizes the work done by organizations like Mitrex.
Moreover, I along with the Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario visited Edgecom Energy Inc. and Circuit Energy Inc. in Richmond Hill, a group of talented individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including entrepreneurs from the Iranian, Asian, indigenous, African Canadian diaspora led by Behdad Bahrami and Sean Mirrahimi, who, with their fascinating expertise provided energy solutions through their innovative technology for various national energy consumers and large-scale businesses.
MIS Electronics, led by Saeid Mohmedi, is another leading clean-tech company at the heart of Richmond Hill, whose expertise lies in developing solutions that reduce operating costs for businesses while maintaining the highest standards of manufacturing, backed by multi-stage quality control and exceptional customer care. Here too the investment tax credits into zero-emission technologies and carbon capture encourage the use of clean energy, growing energy sources and reducing pollution.
Canada is the future of clean energy and a green economy, and Richmond Hill offers the facilities it needs in hitting these important targets. In general, budget 2023 has several important components to invest in our shared future. It will be investing in clean electricity and a growing clean economy both here in Canada and around the world, which will depend almost entirely on it. It will follow the federal tiered structure to incent the development of Canada's clean economy and provide additional support for projects that need it.
By extending support to a broad base of clean electricity technologies and proponents, it will accelerate the investments needed to expand the capacity of our clean electricity grid and ensure more sustainable, more secure and more affordable electricity across Canada. It will position Canada's Infrastructure Bank to play a leading role in electrifying Canada's economy, supporting lower energy bills for Canadians and businesses and, finally, it will continue to invest in other targeted federal programs that advance individual projects to build a stronger Canadian electricity industry.
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- Apr/18/23 1:16:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are all concerned about inflation. We are all concerned about affordability. That is why the measures not only in budget 2022 but also in budget 2023 have clearly focused on the most vulnerable who are impacted by the rising costs of food as well as issues with affordability.
As it relates to the so-called deficit, as my colleague from Nepean indicated before, this is an investment that we are making. This is very similar to the decision that any parents make when they make an investment in their home, when they make an investment in children's education, when they make an investment for a better future, not only for themselves but their families. This is indeed exactly what our government has done.
It has made a conscious decision to make an investment in Canadians and that is what we are doing.
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- Apr/18/23 1:18:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what I would like to remind my colleague is the fact that our approach is a comprehensive multipronged approach. Yes, we are talking about investing and providing tax incentives for organizations that need to focus on carbon capture, but we are also focusing on incentivizing companies that are focusing on solar, wind and renewable energy, as well as others, such as nuclear energy.
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- Apr/18/23 1:20:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, well, yes, there is an investment made in the Trans Mountain pipeline.
However, let us talk about the investment that has been made in hydrogen. Let us talk about the investment that we are making in critical minerals. Let us talk about the investment that we are making in ensuring that there are electrical batteries being developed close to the facilities where these critical minerals are being extracted.
The most important thing: let us talk about other countries and other organizations from across the world that are making the conscious decision to come to Canada and set up their leading clean tech and EV battery plants here, such as Volkswagen.
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