44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 24, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-47, which is part of the government's 2023 budget implementation. I am honoured today to follow my colleague, the member for Calgary Forest Lawn, who is our party's official finance critic.
After much anticipation and hope that the expensive coalition would exercise some fiscal prudence, Canadians were once again presented with a budget that will spend more and deliver less.
My colleague went over numerous statistics in his speech about this legislation, but I think the most alarming one is the fact that this expensive coalition will tack on nearly $4,200 in additional costs to every household across Canada with its lackluster budget.
Canadians are tired of being bought by this Liberal government with one-time cheques and slogans every time a budget is presented. This is the case with the grocery rebate, for example.
Let us be honest with Canadians: This one-time cheque will do nothing to reduce the price of groceries for families. It is simply a doubling of the GST credit, presented as something it is not. We need to tackle the real source of the problem.
Take, for example, the way the government is increasing grocery prices with policies like the carbon tax, the tariff on fertilizer and other harmful policies. These policies are driving up the cost of food production and transportation across the country.
Bill C-47 also includes the health care transfers to the provinces, which are well below what the provinces and territories requested to provide the care that our fellow citizens and their families need.
My Liberal and NDP colleagues will say that I am not helping my constituents get dental care because I will not support this budget. However, that could not be further from the truth. I would like to remind my colleagues opposite that Quebec has not only had a day care program for many years, but it also already has a dental care program for our young children. It seems as though the current government is always lagging behind on these programs. It has been clear from the start that this government does not trust the provincial and territorial governments to implement the programs themselves and that the “Ottawa knows best” approach is the only way to manage these projects. If only the government had more faith in the provinces and, especially, more respect for their jurisdictions, it might be surprised to see what can be done without Ottawa getting involved.
I will now take a moment to talk about what I would have liked to see in this budget. First, there is nothing in the budget to help SMEs attract labour. The word “labour” is hardly used at all in this budget, which is hundreds of pages long.
In my riding of Beauce, the unemployment rate is currently below 1.9%. Our businesses are struggling to attract and retain workers. It is one of the biggest issues in my riding. A vast majority of businesses in my riding rely heavily on temporary foreign workers to fill gaps in their workforce. However, there was nothing in the budget to improve the program. The government must reduce the paperwork and red tape associated with all these programs.
What is worse, the government has allowed more than 150,000 public servants to go on strike, which means that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will have an even larger backlog and businesses will continue to close their doors because of the Prime Minister's inaction. It is as though this government does not understand just how time sensitive these jobs are. Many farmers and landscape companies in my riding, for example, will not have workers at the most important time of the year.
These businesses spend thousands of dollars recruiting foreign workers months before they are to arrive, but the government does not care. It has done nothing to reduce immigration delays.
That leads me to my next point. Where is the funding for Canadian agriculture in this budget?
After I took a close look at the budget with my staff, I discovered that our agriculture and agri-food sector was getting approximately 0.1% of the funds allocated in the budget. What a sad situation in which our country finds itself, when our government forgets where the food feeding our families and others around the whole world comes from.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was pleased to speak in the House to tell us that she had increased the limit for loans available to farmers. Does she not understand that farmers are already in debt up to their necks? They need programs that reflect the current reality so they can remain solvent and competitive on the international market.
Two weeks ago, in my riding, we heard the sad news that Olymel will permanently close its Vallée‑Jonction pork processing plant in December. In a municipality of approximately 2,000 people, Olymel employs 1,000 workers. This is devastating, and the entire region will be hit hard. The closure is the result of, among other things, a labour shortage that began several years ago. It will have a serious impact on the pork industry in Ontario and Quebec, as well as on a number of other industries.
A growing number of farmers and farms are struggling to survive in Canada. This government has abandoned this sector for far too long. Our country needs to take measures to support the agriculture and agri-food industry before it is too late. A Conservative government will be there for farmers and plant workers. We are prepared to make this sector the economic driver it should have been in this country a long time ago.
Finally, I would like to touch on something that was not mentioned whatsoever in the budget. The words “cellular connectivity” are not mentioned at all in this budget when we search the words. Since first being elected, I have been rising in the House to speak out about this problem. In the 40 municipalities in my riding alone, at least one sector in each town is poorly served by the cellular networks.
I would remind the government that people in the regions are not second class citizens. They pay just as many taxes as anyone else. These people who live in the regions, who contribute to the economy, are held back by the inability to get 21st century technology. How are we supposed to automate industries to make up for the labour shortage when a business owner has to go to the top of a hill to get one bar of service on his phone?
I therefore invite the government to have a look at the reporting done on this subject in March by many local journalists, including Éric Gourde at L'Éclaireur Progrès and Philippe Grenier at Radio-Canada.
It is unbelievable that people come close to dying because they cannot call 911. When people do manage to get into an ambulance, sometimes the paramedics cannot connect to the nearest local hospital because there is no cell signal.
Having an adequate cellular network in the regions is not a matter of equity; it is a matter of public safety. The government needs to make investments to address this issue and force the CRTC to compel the big telecom companies to develop their cellular networks throughout the regions—unless the government is still waiting for the provincial governments to get involved.
In closing, it is time for change in Canada. It is time to put Canadians first, not only in major urban centres, but also in the rural heartlands. That is why I will continue to rise in the House and be the voice of the residents of Beauce, to convey their message. A Conservative government will put Canadians first and prioritize common sense.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague mentioned housing. Last year's budget earmarked a huge amount of money for housing. That funding is currently being allocated to various programs. Many citizens, committed individuals and leaders in housing are looking at how those amounts can be allocated effectively to create more housing units across Canada.
Amounts were earmarked in last year's budget, and they are being allocated to various programs. It is really a matter of ensuring that those amounts benefit all Canadians.
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- Apr/24/23 7:05:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, time and again, and we will probably hear it from the parliamentary secretary again tonight, we hear from the governing party that it is keen to move ahead with the Canada disability benefit. However, once again, in budget 2023, the only money allocated was to continue designing the benefit. There is nothing for the benefit itself, leaving people with disabilities living in legislated poverty.
This is why in question period a few weeks ago, I reminded my colleagues in the governing party what it looks like when the federal government is serious about a new program. I gave the example of child care. First came the funding, then agreements with provinces and territories, and then the legislation.
I shared how it is the exact opposite of how it has transpired with the Canada disability benefit and how disappointed I was, and still am, that it again was not funded in budget 2023, despite billions more being set aside to subsidize the oil and gas industry, or even to put a car on the moon. I asked why we should trust that the government is serious about the Canada disability benefit in light of this.
So many of my constituents ask me this same question, and I would like to share just one example of a constituent I recently spoke with, Barb. The Canada disability benefit would change their life. Barb and I spoke in my community office just last Friday. I was told they wanted to discuss their advocacy for expanding medical assistance in dying to include mental health.
We ended up talking for almost an hour, and what I learned over the course of our conversation is that, first, Barb lives in legislated poverty, accessing the Ontario disability support program, or ODSP for short. I learned that because of this, Barb has been unsheltered before and now is precariously housed. I also learned that Barb is keen for more mental health supports, and like me, is deeply disappointed the federal government has not funded the promised $4.5-billion Canada mental health transfer. It is only in light of all of this that they are now advocating to be eligible for medical assistance in dying.
I will tell the House what I told Barb last Friday afternoon, which is that I do not support medical assistance in dying for mental health, in part because I believe the federal government must do far more to support people who need it most, people just like them. It pains me to know there are so many people like Barb in my community and right across the country, people with disabilities who have been organizing and calling out for years for better.
The federal government must listen to them, and it could start by funding the Canada disability benefit today. Failing this, it could at least introduce a disability emergency response benefit similar to what was done in the pandemic as a stopgap measure.
My question to the parliamentary secretary is two-fold. First, if the federal government is continuing to delay bringing in the Canada disability benefit, will it at least bring in a disability emergency response benefit to be sure people such as Barb have the support they need in the meantime? If not, what will the federal government do to show that it really is serious about the Canada disability benefit?
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