44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, with regard to seniors, I think that everyone can be proud and pleased that the number of seniors in Canada and Quebec living below the poverty line has decreased considerably in our eight years in power. This has always been one of our priority targets, and we managed to achieve it.
As for the cultural sector, I reiterate that we understand its value to the economy, as well as its social and political importance. That is why we have always supported this sector and why we will continue to do so.
It is true that we were unable to include in the budget all of the measures each member in the House would have liked to see, because we adopted a balanced approach. We took the measures that were necessary and adopted a compassionate approach. That being said, fiscal responsibility is also important to us, and that is why we could not do everything today.
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-47 includes several measures. The Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister did an extraordinary job listening to Canadians. As I often say, Canadians told us three things. Obviously, they brought up the cost of living, health care and dental care, but they also spoke to us about the need to build the economy of the future, a greener economy aligned with the 21st century.
Bill C-47 includes a huge number of measures to help our small and medium-size businesses and entrepreneurs in order to position Canada for success. These measures will help seize generational opportunities and create the jobs of the future, well-paid green jobs.
I would therefore ask the Minister of Finance to remind the Canadians listening this morning, because there are Canadians listening, why it is important to pass Bill C-47. How will the bill help position Canada for the 21st-century economy?
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the Minister of Industry, for his question and for the close collaboration between our two departments. Today we are building Canada’s 21st-century economy, and we are doing so by working as a team.
I completely agree that we have the opportunity today to seize the economic moment. We can also fail to do so and miss this opportunity. That is why we do not have much time and must act immediately.
I was in Montreal a few days ago, speaking to a group of Canadian investors. They told me that the measures we outlined in the budget last March were the necessary ones.
However, they also told me that it was necessary to implement them right now because, otherwise, capital will migrate to the United States and will not be invested here in Canada, where we need it.
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Madam Speaker, I do not particularly disagree with the member's concerns about the future and Canadians being able to properly take care of themselves. What I do have a concern with is the approach taken by the opposition party as we talk about deficits.
The one key part of the economic equation that the member is missing out on when he is discussing this is economic growth. The reality is that if we can grow our economy as quickly as it has been growing, it puts us in a position to be able to take on more debt.
It is not just me saying this. Every Conservative prime minister in the past has run countless deficits. As a matter of fact, if we look at Mulroney and Harper, out of the 16 budgets they introduced, only three did not run deficits.
Can the member comment on how economic growth plays into this equation?
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Madam Speaker, our budget has made it very clear that the investments we are going to make will be in companies that lead to the clean economy of the future. That has been made very clear and we will continue to stand by it.
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- Jun/6/23 2:41:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when we talk about the economy, it is important to talk about the facts and not use partisan rhetoric. I want to remind Canadians that after the budget was tabled, S&P reaffirmed Canada's AAA credit rating. I also want to remind Canadians that Canada has the lowest deficit of all the G7 countries. Canada also has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of all the G7 countries. That is the—
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- Jun/6/23 2:46:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is really appalling that the Conservatives continue to talk down the Canadian economy, but the reality is that Canada's AAA credit rating was reiterated after we tabled the budget.
The reality is that our economy grew by 3.1% in the first quarter of this year. We have the strongest recovery in the G7. When it comes to inflation, it has gone down from 8.1% last June to 4.4%. It is lower than the inflation in Germany, the U.S., the U.K., the OECD average, the EU average—
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- Jun/6/23 2:47:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is appalling for Canadians who are watching at home today is that they realize the Conservatives are blocking the clean technology manufacturing tax credit, a clean electricity tax credit and a clean hydrogen tax credit.
At a time when the world is looking to build the economy of the 21st century, at a time when we need to fight for workers around our country, at a time when we need to position ourselves for the 21st century, the Conservatives' answer is delay, delay, delay. We need to act in the interest of the country.
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- Jun/6/23 3:09:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, the government is doing the right thing. We are fighting climate change, and we are working to make life more affordable for Canadians. We understand that there is neither a future economy nor a future for Canadians if we do not tackle the climate emergency that we are facing.
We can actually all taste the smoke from the forest fires in this chamber right now. This is unprecedented.
While we fight climate change, we are also putting forward such things as the grocery rebate to help Canadian families with the high cost of food. We are also cutting child care fees in half, which is saving Canadian families thousands of dollars a month—
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- Jun/6/23 3:12:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are, in fact, battling climate change, and we have the strongest economic growth of all the G7 countries. We have put in place measures that will create thousands of jobs in Canada, boosting Canada's economy for the coming years and for the coming decades. We are doing that while we reduce climate pollution by 50 million tonnes, the equivalent of removing 11 million vehicles from our roads.
We can fight climate change and we can have a strong economy, while supporting Canadians. Unfortunately, the Conservatives want to do none of these things.
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Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member was speaking about nostalgia, I was thinking nostalgically of when I used to think the Conservative Party of Canada knew something about the economy and was a business champion. What I heard in the speech were things about tax increases. I was looking for a chapter on tax increases and, unfortunately, I could not find it, but I did find a chapter on growing a clean economy and looking at what we are going to do to capture the $100-trillion investments between now and 2050 in clean technologies and the global clean economy.
I saw, “Clear and predictable investment tax credits to provide foundational support for clean technology manufacturing, clean hydrogen, zero-emission technologies, and carbon capture and storage”, all things that will get Canada into a better economic position by participating in the clean economy of the future, including not only predictable increases in our carbon pricing but also increases in money going back to Canadians.
Could the hon. member talk about the opportunities we have in the clean economy and how this budget addresses that?
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Mr. Speaker, first, I would comment that only a Liberal would stand to say that increasing a tax, the carbon tax, is somehow going to be better for the economy. Only a Liberal would say that this is the way to a better economy, to tax people a bit more. That will solve all the problems that people face. That is the first thing that just astounds me, no matter how many times I hear it from that Liberal Party.
Secondly, to his question, certainly, there are a lot of opportunities. I want to point out very clearly that there is a need for oil and gas in this world for many years to come yet, and we need to make sure that Canadian oil and gas is being used rather than that from some foreign dictatorship.
There is obviously opportunity, as he has pointed out, in some of these new emerging sectors and technologies. The problem is that Liberals talk about putting money into things, but they also set themselves up as the gatekeepers. They make it so impossible for anyone to actually invest and do anything within any of these opportunities that Canada falls behind, as it has done with the opportunities we had in natural gas.
We could have been providing the needs of clean energy in Europe right now, to displace the Russian energy, but no. This government has set up all the roadblocks it could possibly put in the way, and that is what it will do again with everything else.
It continually makes itself the gatekeeper and makes it impossible to anyone to move ahead with these things.
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Mr. Speaker, what my colleague is talking about is not a priority for Quebeckers or Canadians. I think that their priority is the economy and the need for life to become more affordable.
I just really believe that Quebeckers and Canadians want to see politicians here in Parliament focused on how to make their lives more affordable and how to ensure that we grow better economies, so people have greater opportunities in the future to get into housing for the first time, as a first-time homebuyer, for example.
That is what people are looking for here. I may agree with her somewhat that a budget is probably not the right place for something like that. I also do not think it is the biggest priority facing Quebeckers and Canadians to be worried about that. We should be focused on the economy and making sure that we are making life more affordable for Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly think that carbon pricing is one piece of the puzzle. It is meant to be a kind of market tool.
Putting a price on carbon gives companies an incentive to come up with more ways to try to get carbon out of their supply chains so that they can offer a more competitive price. Folks will be more likely to buy those cheaper products, so companies that have a lower carbon supply chain are rewarded. That is the idea. It was not originally a left-wing idea; it was a kind of right-wing idea, designed by folks who are on the political right but who nevertheless accept the reality of climate change.
I would remind my Conservative colleagues that the oil and gas industry in Alberta was built with a lot of public funds and a lot of upfront public investment. In fact, a lot of public investment continues to go to the industry, which is why we know that if we want to shift the economy somewhere else, that too will require a lot of public investment.
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Madam Speaker, by establishing an early childhood education system, we are helping women return to work and also to school. We are creating an ecosystem that supports the local economy and community support.
I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about that.
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