44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 21, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/21/23 4:01:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2023 fall economic statement.
Our government was elected on a promise to deliver for the middle class, and our economic plan is focused on building an economy that works for everyone, with good jobs that people can count on.
Major investments in public transit, in EV battery factories and in new energy projects are not just red ink in our fiscal statement. They are truly investments—decades-long investments—in the economic growth which creates middle-class jobs, raises incomes and makes middle-class communities more prosperous.
Like the transcontinental railway a century ago, these are foundational investments that only governments can make. We believe in Canada and we believe in the incredible possibility of Canada's future. That is why we are making the investments that Canada needs in order to make that bright future a reality.
Affordable early learning and child care is, likewise, an investment in our social infrastructure, and it is also transformative economic policy. It gives children the best possible start in life and saves middle-class families thousands of dollars a year while also supporting record women's employment, thus helping to address the labour shortages which contributed to inflation. When I announced our plan to build a Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, some people were skeptical, and justifiably so. After all, it was a promise that had been made and broken for five decades. However, today, just two and a half years after we launched our plan, it is working. Child care fees are down by at least 50% across Canada. In six provinces and territories, we have already brought child care costs down to just $10 a day. We are on track to deliver outstanding nurturing care for $10 a day everywhere in Canada by 2026.
The women of Quebec are the ones who showed us the way in terms of affordable child care. Our plan supports the creation of 30,000 new spaces to make child care even more accessible throughout la belle province.
Enhancements to Canada's social safety net, ranging from the Canada child benefit to the Canada workers benefit and the Canada pension plan, are about driving down inequality, raising incomes and ensuring, by design, not by trickle-down, that everyone can truly share in our country's prosperity. With investments in our economy, our communities and a new generation of middle-class careers, we have focused relentlessly on ensuring that government investments deliver real economic opportunities for all Canadians. That is our economic plan.
Think about how far we have come. Right after a decade of austerity under the Conservatives, our government has lifted nearly 2.3 million Canadians out of poverty. Inflation is coming down, wages are going up, and private sector economists now expect Canada to avoid the postpandemic recession that many had predicted.
Thanks to our economic plan, Canada is today a global investment destination of choice. In the first half of this year, Canada received the third most foreign direct investment of any country in the entire world. That was more investment per capita than any of our G7 allies, more than the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France or Japan. The IMF projects that Canada will likewise see the strongest economic growth in the G7 next year.
What does all of this mean for people? It means that our economy is creating great jobs for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. I am so glad to be able to say that over a million more Canadians are employed today than before the pandemic.
We all have more work to do, but our economic plan is working.
Now, I do not want to deny the reality that many Canadians are facing today. I absolutely understand that after three difficult years—with a global pandemic, global inflation, and global interest rate hikes—Canadians are worn out, frustrated and feeling the squeeze.
What Canadians deserve today is for us to address the very real pain that so many are feeling—with a hopeful and achievable vision for our country's future. That is my priority. That is our government's priority, and that is the priority of our fall economic statement.
The foundation of our fall economic statement is our responsible fiscal plan. In the face of global inflation, the government has reduced the deficit faster than any other country in the G7 has. With inflation down from 8.1% last year to just 3.1% today, we are taking care not to feed inflation, by carefully targeting new investments towards the priorities of Canadians today and towards the future growth that makes our finances sustainable.
Canada maintains both the lowest deficit and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios in the G7. With a new reduction in public service spending, the fall economic statement builds on the $15 billion in refocused spending that I announced in the spring. We are ensuring that Canada's finances remain sustainable, because that is how we will be able to continue investing in Canadians for years to come.
Built upon our responsible fiscal plan, our fall economic statement has two objectives. The first is to continue to support the middle class at a time when some prices are still high and mortgage renewals are looming.
That is why we are making generational changes to competition law in Canada.
This historic step includes cracking down on predatory pricing and other tactics that big corporations use to raise costs for Canadians. Competition law may sound esoteric, but it is not. This is new, significant, concrete action that will help stabilize prices and provide more choice for Canadians.
We are cracking down on the junk fees that Canadians are saddled with every day, and an investigation will soon be launched into the international roaming charges that drive up Canadians' phone bills. We are lifting the GST and HST on counselling and psychotherapy services so that Canadians can receive the support they need. We are extending employment insurance to parents who adopt, and we are introducing a new leave for federally regulated workers who are grieving from miscarriages, because every family, no matter how it comes together, needs time to bond, and every parent should have time to heal from the painful loss of a pregnancy.
To protect Canadians who are struggling with their mortgage payments at a time of higher interest rates, today I am announcing the new Canadian mortgage charter, which details the tailored mortgage relief that Canadians need and can expect from their banks if they are in financial difficulty. Our goal is to help Canadians through an incredibly challenging time by making sure they have the support they need in order to afford their mortgages and keep their homes when renewing at a time of higher interest rates. We are committed to taking further action if necessary.
Our second objective is equally urgent. For generations, Canada has been a country where, if one worked hard, went to school, found a good job and squirrelled some money away, there would be a home that one could afford. For generations, that promise was kept, but today, for a generation that ranges from new high school graduates to couples in their thirties making six-figure salaries, that is a promise which is under threat. Keeping the promise demands a great national effort, and that is an effort the government is stepping up to lead.
Building on the significant action we have already taken, including this fall alone, I am today announcing new measures through our economic plan to build thousands upon thousands of new homes across the country, and to build them faster. We are unlocking billions of dollars in new financing, which is money that will go towards supporting the construction of new homes for Canadians. We are supporting non-profit, co-op and public housing providers. We will be helping to cut the red tape that prevents construction workers from moving across the country to build homes, and we will be bringing to Canada more of the skilled trades workers that our construction sector needs.
We will be cracking down on short-term rentals listed on sights such as Airbnb and Vrbo, which are keeping far too many homes off the market in communities and cities right across the country. That is going to make a real difference to Canadians, and that is just what we are doing today.
We are also making it easier for more than 250,000 Canadians, and counting, to buy their first home with the new tax-free first home savings account. The federal government owns more land than anyone else in Canada, and we are going to build more homes on it. We are lifting the GST on new rental construction to make it more affordable for builders to build so they can build more homes faster. We are repairing and building hundreds of thousands of new homes, and we are financing the construction of tens of thousands more.
We have banned foreign investment in Canadian housing, and we are ensuring that property flippers pay their fair share. We are making it more affordable for families to construct secondary suites, and we have signed agreements with cities across the country to slash the red tape that is preventing homes from being built in the first place. In exchange, we are providing them with new funding to build more than 100,000 new homes faster because our country needs more homes, and we need them fast.
We must build homes in our biggest cities and our smallest towns. We must build detached family homes and secondary suites. We must build co-op housing and rental apartments. It will take all of us—the federal government and the provinces, cities and towns, the private sector and non-profits right across this great country—working together in common cause. Our government is doing our part, and we are approaching this task with the purpose, drive, and intensity it deserves. We will keep working day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year to build the homes that Canadians need, and expect, and deserve.
At the heart of the promise of Canada is the conviction that, no matter who you are, no matter what you look like or who you love or where you were born, every day represents a new opportunity. If people work hard, they can share in the remarkable possibilities of our remarkable country, with a good career that pays them well, and with a home they can afford.
Building a Canada that delivers on the promise of the greatest country in the world will be our government's work for these next two years and beyond.
Canada is not and never has been broken. We are the imperfect and remarkable creation of generations of Canadians who did their part to build a better country in good times and in tough times, calloused hand by calloused hand. There are generations of Canadians who fought fear and cynicism with hope and hard work, generations of Canadians who fought day after day to keep Canada moving forward, and generations of Canadians who believed, just as I do today, that in our magnificent country, better is always possible.
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- Nov/21/23 4:27:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us start by setting the record straight. Canada has the lowest debt and the lowest deficit in the G7, and we have had the fastest rate of fiscal consolidation. One does not need to ask me about our fiscally responsible track record. Members can talk to the ratings agencies because they have reaffirmed our AAA rating.
The question we all need to be asking the Conservatives is why they are so passionately opposed to the investments Canadians need. Why are they opposed to early learning and child care, which is working, and which is making life more affordable for Canadians while expanding our labour force at a time when we desperately need it?
Why are they so opposed to building more homes faster for Canadians? Why have they said it is “disgusting” to be investing in building more rental homes? Is it disgusting for us to be cracking down on Airbnb? Why are they so opposed to our essential investments in the industrial transformation Canada needs?
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- Nov/21/23 4:29:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to say what I think is urgent.
I think it is urgent to build housing in Quebec and across Canada. That is why, in this fall economic statement, we are investing $16 billion in housing construction. It is urgent, and that is why we are doing it now.
We also feel it is urgent to have an economic plan for the jobs of today and tomorrow. That is why we are investing in the green transition. We have made the biggest investment in the history of Quebec, according to Premier Legault, who was very proud to partner with us. We are investing in the needs of today and the jobs of today and tomorrow.
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- Nov/21/23 4:32:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona for his commitment to Canadians and for his hard work on housing.
We absolutely understand the urgency of investing in housing. We need to invest in housing today, and we need to have a plan to continue investing in housing going forward.
I am very pleased that our investments in housing right now include supporting the development of co-op housing and of lifting the GST from new co-op developments, along with providing new funding to get them built. As someone who has lived in a co-op, I can tell members that this is one of the best forms of affordable housing, and it creates great communities at the same time.
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- Nov/21/23 4:33:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we absolutely understand the urgency of climate action. That is why I am delighted that today we are publishing a timeline for our investment tax credits. They are so essential to Canada's green transition and our economic plan, which is creating jobs today and the jobs of tomorrow.
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- Nov/21/23 4:34:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition described our measures to build new homes for Canadians as “disgusting”. I will tell members what I would describe as disgusting: the failure of the official opposition to support the country fighting the world's fight right now for democracy and the rules-based international order. I am truly appalled.
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