SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 218 - Jun/21/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Jun/21/23 7:38:58 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my colleague. I hope he has a great summer ahead of him. This motion is misguided. Cutting help to people is not the solution. In fact, we have seen corporate taxes go from 28% to 15% under the Liberals and the Conservatives. What has happened? Real estate trusts, banks, and oil and gas companies are raking in record profits. We also keep seeing increases in bank fees and oil and gas prices. When are the Conservatives actually going to have the courage to stand up against corporate welfare and make sure corporations pay their far share so that people get the help they need?

113 words

Context: House Hansard - 218 - Jun/21/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Jun/21/23 8:10:22 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, we have heard the Liberals say that they have everybody's back. I do not know about other members, but where I live, when I drive around, I see more homeless people than I have ever seen in my entire life. It can be seen right across the country. At least with the Conservatives, we know they are not going to build purpose-built housing. However, that is what the government promised. It is building approximately 7,000 units a year, on average. There are 300,000 people who have core housing needs right now. How is that having people's backs? This is a crisis. When is the government going to stop propping up its wealthy friends and its real estate income trusts and make sure it invests that money into making sure people have a place to live?

142 words

Context: House Hansard - 218 - Jun/21/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Jun/21/23 9:10:37 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, today I stood with the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, and its members talked about the emergency we find ourselves in in Canada. We are short 15,000 volunteer firefighters. They have seen a rapid decline, while the government has been in power, of 29% of volunteer firefighters. We know they are dealing with inflation. They have not seen an increase in their firefighter tax credit since 2013, which is a decade. They are asking for $30 million to be spread out over the 90,000 firefighters each year. We are talking about less than a 5% increase in overall firefighting costs since 2013. We know public servants have seen it, and we have seen it with the private sector. Liberals continue to find billions of dollars to finance corporations. Does he not agree the government should be increasing the volunteer firefighter tax credit to help with recruitment, respect for firefighters and retention of firefighters?

157 words

Context: House Hansard - 218 - Jun/21/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Jun/21/23 9:25:44 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the member talked about getting help to people, but what has the government done? When it comes to seniors, the government increased the OAS by 10%, but only for those who are over 75. It created two tiers of seniors. The Liberals decided to neglect those seniors who are between 65 and 75. This is despite the fact that over a third of women over 65 are living in poverty. That is actually shameful in a country like this. The PBO costed out expanding it to include those seniors who are between 65 and 75, and it would cost $1.4 billion. Guess how much that is. It is a half-point increase in corporate tax. What did the Liberals decide to do? They decided to choose corporate welfare instead of taking care of seniors, leaving the third of women who are over 65 hung out to dry. The GST rebate that people are going to see in July is to help just with inflation and groceries, never mind this increase that is needed. When will the government decide to increase corporate taxes to take care of those who need help the most, including seniors over 65, women and single women, one-third of whom are living in poverty in this country? It is unacceptable, and it is an injustice.

222 words

Context: House Hansard - 218 - Jun/21/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Jun/21/23 9:58:47 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing from the Conservatives about their corporate and free market-driven housing policies. Nowhere in the world has the free market solved an affordable housing crisis. We even heard from the member that his own city council rejected the Conservative Party's Ottawa-knows-best proposals. Will the Conservatives get on board with building non-market housing to solve the housing crisis to ensure that people have affordable, safe and secure housing in the long term?

80 words