44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 16, 2023 10:00AM
- May/16/23 2:30:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, helping that single mother with two kids is a priority for our government. That is why we have invested in early learning and child care, and brought the fees down by 50%. That is why the grocery rebate is so important, and I am glad people will get their cheques on July 5. I absolutely agree with the member opposite that housing is a very significant challenge for Canadians. That is why I am glad we have delivered on the tax-free first-time homebuyers savings account. That is why we have guidelines to protect Canadians with mortgages who are facing—
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- May/16/23 2:30:53 p.m.
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The hon. member for Burnaby South.
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- May/16/23 2:30:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the answer is $470. That is not very much.
Let us take another example, of a single mom with two kids in Vancouver, earning an average income in the city of Vancouver and paying the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment, which is $3,800 per month. How much money would that single mom have left over? The answer is that she would not have anything left over. That is how serious things are in this country for renters.
People are not earning enough to pay their rent, so when will the government understand how serious it is and do something about it?
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- May/16/23 2:31:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows very well, supporting families with children is one of the greatest priorities of our government, and for that single mother in Vancouver, child care fees coming down by 50% is meaningful. That single mother in Vancouver, depending on the age of her children, could be getting $12,000 a year through the Canada child benefit. I bet that helps.
I do agree that we have more work to do on housing. That is why I am glad that, in the budget, we created an additional $4 billion to implement a co-developed urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy.
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- May/16/23 2:32:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, government members should stop arguing among themselves. Liberals have delivered many gut punches to Canadians over the past eight years, including their failed carbon tax scam, a housing crisis and $1.2 trillion in debt. This morning, Canadians woke up to another one because the finance minister has no fiscal restraint, and her $63-billion budget bonanza gave Canadians another inflation rate increase. The finance minister gave every struggling Canadian household an extra $4,200 of cost because of her failed budget.
What did the minister think was going to happen when she threw a $63-billion jerry can of fuel on the inflationary fire she started?
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- May/16/23 2:32:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk for a minute about fiscal responsibility and about inflation, which is coming down. In terms of Canada's fiscal position, the truth is, moving past the overheated and, frankly, metaphorically challenged Conservative rhetoric, that Canada has the strongest fiscal position in the G7. Our AAA credit rating was reiterated by S&P after I tabled the budget. We have the lowest deficit in the G7.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/16/23 2:33:33 p.m.
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I am just going to wait until all the chirping goes down. There is some chirping going back and forth. It is just the odd voice, and it is making it very difficult to really concentrate on the questions and the answers. We all want to hear what the question is, and we all want to hear what the answer is. Let us all stay quiet and listen.
The hon. member for Calgary Forest Lawn.
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- May/16/23 2:33:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the finance minister must be practising dodge ball with the Prime Minister, the way they duck, dodge and deflect questions in here. They sound like a broken record on that side, but not as broken as what Canada feels like after eight years of their failures.
The finance minister just gave $4,200 of debt to struggling Canadian households, and she made the inflation rate go up. Now, she looks like she is auditioning for her next career. This is not a part-time job.
If she does not want to do her job anymore, why does she not just get out of the way so Conservatives can fix everything the Liberals have broken?
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- May/16/23 2:34:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am standing in the House right now, doing my job, and it is a privilege to do it. I was in Japan last week, at the meeting of the G7 finance ministers, where we talked about the global economy, where we talked about continuing to support Ukraine against the illegal Russian invasion and where we talked about economic security in the face of an aggressive China. I was proud and privileged to represent Canada there.
Are the Conservatives proposing that finance ministers should not attend meetings of the G7?
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- May/16/23 2:35:08 p.m.
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Before I go to the next question, we have been noticing there are a few members who have been banging on their desks. That is loud, and it is difficult for the interpreters to begin with. We want to be friendly to our interpreters. After all, without them, it would be very hard for us to conduct business.
The hon. member for Thornhill.
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- May/16/23 2:35:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have bad news. Canadians are seeing even higher inflation today. Now we know for sure that Liberal deficits drive Liberal inflation, and the finance minister's last budget is driving every Canadian household 4,200 bucks more into debt.
Where is the accountability? Where are her answers? Why does she talk to Canadians like they are in kindergarten? The effect of her own failures is playing out right in front of her very eyes. Does she not see what everybody else sees?
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- May/16/23 2:36:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the people who talk to Canadians as if they are in kindergarten are the Conservatives. The Conservatives behave as if Canadians do not understand that the judge of Canada's fiscal responsibility is not overheated Conservative rhetoric. The judge is the ratings agencies, and they have reaffirmed Canada's AAA rating.
Conservatives do not understand that we, in fact, have the lowest deficit in the—
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- May/16/23 2:36:40 p.m.
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I am sorry. There is just too much chatter going on.
Could the minister go back about 15 or 20 seconds and start from there, if she does not mind?
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- May/16/23 2:36:49 p.m.
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I do not mind at all, Mr. Speaker.
Canadians understand that Canada has a very strong fiscal position. We have the lowest deficit in the G7. Our AAA rating was reaffirmed by S&P after I tabled my budget.
Canadians also understand that, contrary to what the member opposite suggested, it is not the government that sets interest rates. It is the Bank of Canada, and the Bank of Canada looks at CPI-trim and CPI-median, both of which went—
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- May/16/23 2:37:24 p.m.
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The hon. member for Thornhill.
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- May/16/23 2:37:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the judges of the Canadian economy are the families who cannot pay their bills. The finance minister's budget of broken promises speaks to her own credibility. She told Canadians that we would see a declining debt-to-GDP ratio, a line that she would not cross. She crossed it.
She projected an eventual surplus, and she spent $60 billion instead. She told Canadians that she would balance the budget in five years, and now it is never. Today, again, inflation is on the rise. That means everyone in Canada will pay more for everything. She is not the victim. Canadians deserve answers. When will they get them?
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- May/16/23 2:38:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we see day in and day out, as the world reels from the effects of the pandemic, and while we deal with the global effects of inflation, where Canada is doing better than the G7 average and the G20 average—
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Hon. Mark Holland: Mr. Speaker, they can yell across the way as much as they want. The difference is that we have a finance minister who is trying to protect and ensure that children get dental care. We have an opportunity when we are dealing with child care.
What they are talking about is cutting these programs. Therefore, they can attack and be partisan, as that is what they do, but underneath it is about cuts. It is about not being there, and it is misrepresenting world events.
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- May/16/23 2:38:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance herself said that spending too much would fuel inflation. There are more than 20 Liberals, including ministers and the Prime Minister, who represent the Montreal area.
After eight years in government, their record is appalling. There are 360,000 families in the greater Montreal area, or one in five households, who do not have enough money to pay their rent and meet their basic needs. The situation is so serious that Marie Leblanc told Le Devoir that “suicide is around the corner”. Ms. Leblanc has almost nothing left for food and clothing.
Why are the members from Montreal abandoning her?
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- May/16/23 2:39:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important to reiterate that our budget is fiscally responsible and agencies such as S&P reiterated our AAA rating. As for the average Canadian, it is our government that shows them compassion. It is our government that invests in families. it is our government that invests in health care. It is not the Conservatives, who only want to cut, cut, cut.
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- May/16/23 2:40:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about her responsible budget, but not a single Montreal-area MP rose to answer this question.
Inflation is still on the rise, causing prices to go up across the board, including food and basic necessities. The system safeguards, interest rates, have slashed housing starts by almost 50%. The housing crisis will get worse. More and more people will have trouble making ends meet, yet the 20-odd Montreal-area MPs have not said a word about the Prime Minister's inflationary policies.
When will the Prime Minister, the Montreal-area member for Papineau, clue in to common sense and stop sending more and more Montrealers to food banks?
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