SoVote

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

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Jun/21/23 9:12:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciate that the member for Don Valley East spoke about needed investments. I know he is a supporter of investing in people with disabilities. We are on the verge of seeing Bill C-22 receive royal assent, but we still do not have any money in the budget to deliver the Canada disability benefit. Can he speak about what he can be doing over the coming months to ensure that in next year's budget we see a historic investment in Canadians with disabilities being lifted out of poverty through the Canada disability benefit?

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Mr. Michael Coteau

Jun/21/23 9:13:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am a fan of much of the advocacy work the hon. member does. The question was what we should do over the next few months to build more supports for people with disabilities, and it is to do exactly what we have been doing in the last year. It is to identify the issues that are important to us, build it into a budget, consult people and come back to the House and vote for a budget that actually invests in people.

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Mr. Wilson Miao (Richmond Centre, Lib.)

Jun/21/23 9:13:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am privileged to rise in the House today on behalf of the people of Richmond Centre, and I am grateful for the trust and support from my constituents that allows me to be their representative in the chamber. Before I speak to the opposition motion, I have very exciting news I would like to share with Canadians. On July 1, as we know, it is Canada Day. However, the first-ever Chinese Canadian museum in Canada will officially open for exhibition in Vancouver's Chinatown. This July 1 is also the 100-year anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act. As a Chinese Canadian, I am proud of my Chinese heritage. Chinese Canadians have made remarkable sacrifices and shaped our national fabric. We are excited to see our rich history and foundational contributions to Canada showcased at the newly opened, first-ever Chinese Canadian museum. We shall not forget the story of the determination of Chinese Canadians. We must continue our commitment to reconciliation and continue our efforts to build a stronger and more inclusive Canada for everyone. An hon. member: Oh, oh!

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Jun/21/23 9:15:18 p.m.
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Order. There seems to be a member online who has his mike open. I think we have remedied that now. The hon. member for Richmond Centre can continue.

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Mr. Wilson Miao

Jun/21/23 9:15:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this government has been working on creating a more inclusive Canada since day one. I am pleased to note the opposition party is as focused as our government on cost of living issues. In the current global inflationary environment, it is appropriate that we are discussing the issue of the rising cost of living, but it is also important to bear in mind that this issue has been top of mind for our government since long before the global pandemic struck and before Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. In fact, making life more affordable has been a central focus of our government's effort from day one. The measures we have introduced to make life more affordable include reduced child care costs, the Canada child benefit, the Canada dental benefit and tax relief through an increased basic personal amount. Through climate action incentive payments, our government is keeping affordability in mind as we fight climate change. Since 2015, close to 2.3 million fewer Canadians are living in poverty. Income inequality has continued to fall. The labour force participation rate for women aged 15 to 64 years is at record highs, and young Canadians have access to a greater number of good-paying jobs than before the pandemic. There are 890,000 more Canadians employed than before the pandemic, which is more people than the entire population of New Brunswick. These are strong fundamentals, but we know there are challenges ahead. We must contend with a slowing global economy and elevated interest rates around the world, and we will continue to take action to do so. We are fortunate that Canada's inflation rate is lower than that of our G7 partners, such as the U.K., Germany and the United States. Also, inflation is down from its peak last year, but it is still high. This means that, despite Canada's strong recovery from the pandemic, and despite all the new supports we have provided, there are still too many Canadians who are struggling with the impact of the recent ongoing wave of global inflation, especially lower-income Canadians, who are more exposed to the impact of rising costs. This is precisely why, by introducing the one-time grocery rebate in budget 2023, our government is providing much-needed relief to those who need it most and helping to ensure they can continue to put food on the table. We know that it would not be reasonable to provide this support to everyone, as it would put pressure on prices for everyone and complicate the Bank of Canada's effort in addressing inflation, so the new, one-time grocery rebate will deliver targeted inflation relief to 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families who need it the most. The grocery rebate is being delivered to eligible Canadians on July 5 by direct deposit or cheque. I ask those who are watching to please make sure to check their account or mailbox. The royal assent of Bill C-46 has made this benefit a reality. The passage of Bill C-46 is also allowing us to deliver a one-time top-up to the Canada health transfer for provinces and territories, which is worth an additional $2 billion. This will allow them to reduce wait times for surgery and support emergency rooms across Canada. This funding is to be used to improve and enhance the health care Canadians receive and is not to be used by provinces and territories in place of their planned health care spending. However, as announced by the Prime Minister in February, we will be providing nearly $200 billion in additional federal health funding to provinces and territories over the next decade. Our actions show that health care is a top priority for our government because health care is a priority for all Canadians. Canadians are proud of our universal publicly funded health care system. It is at the very heart of our identity as a country. Dental care is an important component of our health, too, but seeing a dentist can be very expensive. That is why our government has committed to fully implementing a permanent Canadian dental care plan by 2025. Currently, the Canada dental benefit is providing eligible parents and guardians with direct, upfront, tax-free payments to cover the costs of dental care for their children under 12 and has supported more than 305,000 children to the current date. However, it is not just children who need affordable dental care. That is why budget 2023 delivered a transformative investment to provide dental care to Canadians who need it, with $13 billion over the next five years and $4.4 billion ongoing to implement the permanent Canadian dental care plan. The plan will provide dental coverage for uninsured Canadians with annual family incomes of less than $90,000, with no copays for families with incomes under $70,000. The plan will begin to roll out by the end of 2023, which will both improve the health of Canadians and make life more affordable. Of course, it is not just the cost. There are also other factors that may prevent Canadians from accessing dental care, such as living in a remote community or requiring specialized care due to disability, which is why budget 2023 proposed funding to establish an oral health access fund. This fund will complement the Canadian dental care plan by addressing oral health gaps among vulnerable populations and reducing barriers to accessing dental care, including in rural and remote communities. Our government is investing in health care because it matters to Canadians. It matters to their children, parents, seniors, friends and neighbours. Investing in health care is critical to building healthier and safer communities across Canada. Whether they are ensuring they have money to put food on the table or the health care they need when they need it, Canadians can be sure of one thing: Our government will continue to support them. We will continue to be there to provide more help to those who need it most. We will continue to make life more affordable. We will continue to support the middle class. We will continue to build a stronger economy, and we will continue to make sure no one is left behind.

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Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Jun/21/23 9:24:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that seemed like a very well-reasoned, well thought-out speech. However, the motion that we are debating right now has a question, and the question is whether or not the government should be called upon to table a plan to return to balanced budgets. I wonder if the member would agree that governments, no matter what their political stripe, should strive to at least create a plan to have balanced budgets?

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Mr. Wilson Miao

Jun/21/23 9:24:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is my understanding that we are still paying the debt from the Great Depression, and it is important for us to understand what the biggest priority is right now to serve Canadians in need. We understand that prices have been inflated after the pandemic for many reasons, and we are here to debate how we can deliver more supports and resources to those in need across our country. It is always top of mind with our government to understand the needs of Canadians. That is why we implemented the CCB, the dental care plan and other supports to help Canadians get through this hard time.

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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

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

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Mr. Wilson Miao

Jun/21/23 9:27:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his concern. I have full respect for seniors across Canada. Here is a little background about seniors in my riding of Richmond Centre. We have the highest poverty in our seniors community. Before I was elected, this was already the case. Understand that our government has also implemented the new horizons program to support seniors in need, adjusted the age from 67 back to 65 and supported our seniors with a one-time GIS support. These are things that our government is considerate of in helping and supporting seniors in Canada.

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Mr. Greg McLean (Calgary Centre, CPC)

Jun/21/23 9:28:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the member about something he said in his speech right at the end. He said that they will leave no one behind. That is what the Liberals said in 2017 when they talked about the just transition for the coal workers. I have looked at that program very thoroughly, and every one of those coal workers got left behind. We know we have to transition off coal, and we have been transitioning off coal. However, the Liberals said they had $185 million for coal workers. They spent $58 million of it, and all of that went into a slush fund for government revenue. If members take a look at what happened to the actual workers, they will see that unemployment in those cities went up by 10% and the value of people's houses went down by two-thirds. Can the member across the way tell me how that actually translates into not leaving anybody behind, like the Liberals promised to do? It is completely false.

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Mr. Wilson Miao

Jun/21/23 9:29:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if I can really listen to opposition members saying this because, when they were in government, they cut off a lot of support for Canadians. Although, yes, there was a lot of tax being cut, let us keep in mind that there are a lot of families who also suffered from these tax cuts. What I meant, personally, by saying that no one is left behind is that we are there to listen to all Canadians and to understand their needs so that our government can address the solution directly. This is important because we want to make sure that all Canadians are being served.

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Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Jun/21/23 9:29:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to take a moment to thank the great folks of Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley for placing their trust in me to represent them in this austere chamber, as we have reached the last day of the session. It has really been the honour of a lifetime, I have to say. The topic we are discussing today, at the end of the day, is a fairly simple concept. The motion is just asking the House to call upon the government to table a plan to return to balanced budgets. I have been listening patiently to the speeches from opposition parties tonight, and other than in the Bloc, it is difficult to find a member in the Liberal or NDP caucuses who can even really say the words “balanced budget”. It is almost like it is sacrilege to even raise the topic or it is somehow a partisan argument to say that governments should strive to balance their books. It is like they are allergic to the concept. However, it has not always been that way. Liberals have not always been this way, and the NDP has not always been this way. I remember back in the early 2000s, in my home province of Manitoba, when Gary Doer was Premier of Manitoba. He was Premier of Manitoba for just over 10 years. It is interesting. I know the members of the NDP caucus are fans of Gary Doer, and many Manitobans are still to this day fans of Gary Doer. In fact, he was appointed as the Canadian ambassador to the United States by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a very well-respected parliamentarian. Do members know what Gary Doer did for 10 years between 2000 and 2010, every year? He brought in balanced budgets: 10 of them. Another interesting thing about Mr. Doer, and the reason I am talking about him, is that one of his MLAs was a lady by the name of Jennifer Howard. Jennifer was a very popular MLA. She was part of that government that brought in 10 balanced budgets, and she voted every year, 10 years in a row, for all these balanced budgets. Today, Ms. Howard is the chief of staff to the leader of the NDP, so I am hoping that at least Ms. Howard might have a conversation with the leader of the NDP and talk to him about the real history of the NDP and the sense of fiscal responsibility that the NDP has had throughout its history. When it comes to the Liberal Party, we do not have to go back very far to find the desire to have balanced budgets. I mentioned earlier in one of my questions that Paul Martin recognized this. Unfortunately, he was forced to recognize it. The Government of Canada had hit the wall by 1995. It could not borrow any more on international markets; news media sources were calling Canada an economic basket case. The government had no option to get things under control, so contrary to the partisan spin many of the Liberals like to say, that Liberals would never cut anything, the fact of the matter is that the deepest cuts in Canadian history were made by finance minister Martin and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 1995 cut transfers to provinces. I remember it very well, because Gary Filmon was the Premier of Manitoba, and he was all of a sudden looking at billions of dollars in shortfalls to fund health care in Manitoba, and provinces across the country were scrambling. To be fair to Paul Martin, I do not think he did it because he wanted to. He did it because he had to, but the problem is that it should have never gotten to that point, and that is the point of my speech. We have the chance to right the ship. All we are asking the government, and it is a very reasonable request that I do not see how one could say is partisan in any way, is just to come up with a plan to say how it is going to balance the budget. It is actually not so remote, even for the current government, at all, or for the finance minister, because in November she tabled the fall economic update. In the fall economic update, she projected a balanced budget, in fact, a $4.5-billion surplus in the 2027-28 fiscal year. Obviously, the Liberals had a plan to bring the budget back into balance. I really think this was a very reasonable request. I want to talk a little more about the motion. It basically says that budget 2023 adds more than $60 billion of new spending, or $4,200 per family, and that inflation in Canada increased following the introduction of the $60 billion in new Liberal spending. I should have mentioned earlier that I will be splitting my time with my esteemed colleague, the member for Calgary Centre. I apologize for not mentioning that earlier. The reality is that members opposite will make the argument that inflation has come to our shores. It is not the government's fault, it is a worldwide phenomenon that Canada is certainly not immune to. The problem with that is that many economists have now confirmed that inflation is homegrown. In fact, one of them is the Governor of the Bank of Canada. We had the opportunity to question him in the finance committee. I asked him if government spending had been less, would inflation have been less. He said that, yes, inflation would have been less. Clearly, fiscal policy has an impact on inflation, as does monetary policy. I know members opposite do not want to take it from me. They view all Conservatives as coming at this from a partisan perspective, but maybe they will take it from the IMF, which just released a report. The International Monetary Fund, which Canada has a member of since 1944, put out a report that urged Canada to bring back a debt anchor—

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The Speaker

Jun/21/23 9:37:27 p.m.
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I am just going to interrupt the hon. member. I am going to ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to step outside. I know it is the year-end and people are having a fun time in the hallway, but the sound is echoing into the chamber and it is making it difficult to hear everything the hon. member has to say. I am sure everyone is listening with bated breath. The hon. member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, who has two minutes and 22 seconds remaining.

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Mr. Marty Morantz

Jun/21/23 9:37:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the compliment. I know everybody is waiting with bated breath to hear what I have to say next. I will try not to disappoint. The fact of the matter is the IMF is now urging Canada to bring a debt anchor and to keep fiscal policy tight. What does that mean, keeping fiscal policy tight? It means moving toward balanced budgets, not just relying on what they might call fiscal guardrails or reducing debt-to-GDP ratios, but actually having a hard fiscal anchor. This is the IMF talking, not me. A hard fiscal anchor. What they mean is a plan to get back to balanced budgets. The Bank of Canada, to its credit, has been engaged in a policy of fiscal tightening, trying to reduce the money supply and raising interest rates, trying to grapple with the scourge of inflation. The problem is that the fiscal policy of the Government of Canada is running counter to that. We have loose fiscal policy in this country, meaning that billions and billions of dollars are still going out the door of the budget this year. It was $495 billion, almost half a trillion dollars. Mr. Speaker, I know you have been here for a while, and I know you know that is a lot of money. It is way more than it was even in 2019. We have a real issue in this country, and I think we need to bridge the gap. We need the government and its coalition partners to take this concept seriously, go back to the drawing board and at least come back with a plan. That is all this motion asks for, not to balance the budget tomorrow or at two o'clock this morning when we are voting on the appropriations, but to come back soon with a plan, just like they had for 2027, to bring the budget back into balance.

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Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis, Lib.)

Jun/21/23 9:39:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we often hear from the other side that the price on carbon is fuelling inflation. However, I look at reports of the Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem's appearance before the finance committee in February. I will quote a newspaper article. In terms of the impact of the price on carbon on inflation, he said that, “prescribed annual increases to the price on carbon add about 0.1 percentage points to headline inflation.” That is not very much. Also, “He added later that scrapping the carbon tax completely would reduce inflation by half a percentage point in the year that it was done, but would not have any impact on inflation in future years.” The idea of always coming back to the price on carbon as the culprit contributing to inflation is a bit misleading, really. It does not reflect the thoughts of the Bank of Canada's governor.

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Mr. Marty Morantz

Jun/21/23 9:41:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think there was a question in that. I will take it as a comment. I did not talk about the price of carbon in my speech.

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Mr. Luc Thériault (Montcalm, BQ)

Jun/21/23 9:41:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about a plan to return to balanced budgets. We agree that governments need to be able to plan ahead. It is only right for us to be able to see a plan. My colleague is worried about inflation. Pensioners on fixed incomes and seniors are struggling to make ends meet. Does he not think that instead of giving $20 billion in subsidies to oil companies that made $220 billion in profits in 2022, we should take some of that money and increase old age pensions and ensure that our seniors can live better?

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Mr. Marty Morantz

Jun/21/23 9:42:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, finally I hear another member of Parliament say it is a good idea to have a plan to balance the budget. I hope that the members of the Liberal Party are paying attention to the good common sense of the Bloc MP, the instruction of the IMF, and not just relying on how they view partisan interests of other members of Parliament.

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Ms. Lindsay Mathyssen (London—Fanshawe, NDP)

Jun/21/23 9:43:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I actually really enjoyed the hon. member's speech, especially at the beginning when he talked about how incredible the NDP has been in balancing provincial budgets. It is because, at the time, the NDP ensured all people were paying their fair share, including CEOs and corporations. The share they paid was equal to what they owed. Considering the NDP's incredible record of good fiscal management, building a social safety net and ensuring there was balance while supporting people, I want to ask the hon. member this. Why will the Conservative Party not follow our lead and call on this government to implement a windfall tax on excess profits?

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Mr. Marty Morantz

Jun/21/23 9:43:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, only the NDP members could think that increasing taxes on Canadians will make life more affordable for Canadians. I do hope they pay attention to Mr. Doer's record, and come around and support our motion.

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