44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 11, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, my question to the member concerns both legislative and budgetary measures. On the issue of the affordability of groceries, the government, in the last budget, came forward with a grocery rebate, which literally put cash in the pockets of somewhere in the neighbourhood of 11 million Canadians. I wonder if my colleague can provide his thoughts as to why that was an important thing to do for Canadians.
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- Dec/11/23 3:53:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I realize that I have not been here that long, but as it would certainly appear the member has been here much longer than I have, he would well know that every vote against the budget item from the opposition, which it is appropriately meant to do, would be a confidence vote against the government for the reckless fiscal attitude it has concerning—
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- Dec/11/23 3:53:43 p.m.
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I do understand the point the hon. member is trying to make, and I am sure the parliamentary secretary knows full well that all budget votes are confidence votes. It is on the record now.
The hon. parliamentary secretary.
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- Dec/11/23 7:21:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we know we need stable, predictable, ongoing funding so that communities can provide the services that they need. We know that it affects children. We know that it affects operations. I know that, in general, Indigenous Services Canada's funding has increased by 156% since 2015. I would love to look specifically into this piece around the tribal council funding. Again, it is incumbent upon all of us. We have the 2024 budget ahead. I will need help in asking for this increase. It is going to take all of us to ensure that this is a priority for our government. I hear the member on this. I am also concerned. I would specifically, again, like to look into it and I will get back to the member with that information.
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- Dec/11/23 7:34:48 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in response to my colleague's question, the Parliamentary Budget Officer disagrees vehemently with his conclusions. After the study he did, he said that the department was failing miserably in the context of the targets it set for itself. In fact, he said that the results are actually declining in spite of the increase in spending.
It is government's Parliamentary Budget Officer that is disputing the government's claim that its investments are working. He is the one who is saying that the results are not getting better and, as I said in my speech, that the conditions measured are declining. That is the sad part.
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- Dec/11/23 7:49:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, one thing of note is how the department has doubled in size in the last 10 years, from about 4,000 to almost 8,000, and the budget has increased significantly as well. The Liberals seem to always judge success by how much money they are spending on things. We see that the budget has gone up and the number of employees for the department has gone up, yet the Auditor General pointed out that they have not made any progress on this. Would the member agree with me that we are obviously not getting good value for money here?
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- Dec/11/23 8:35:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, one of the concerns I see with Indigenous Services Canada is that there has been quite an increase in funding since the Liberal government took office but, as the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed, this increase in funding has not led to a similar increase in the ability of ISC to achieve its goals.
This means that for first nations, including 42 throughout the Kenora riding, we have not seen the increase in services and the increase in the standard of living that we would expect and that we need to see to help these communities and help these people thrive.
Can she provide some comments as to what the government is going to do to ensure that these dollars are flowing to where they need to go, rather than just bloating the bureaucracy further?
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- Dec/11/23 9:30:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the point he overlooked mentioning is that we actually had to haul the minister into the public accounts committee to discuss the horrible report. I think that was only the third time in the past 100 years that this has been done.
Another thing the member forgot to bring up, and he brought up a lot of excellent points, is that the ministry blamed first nations for a lot of these problems. I remember being aghast. This is the first time we have actually written, in a dissenting report, a call for the deputy ministers, who have been negligent, to be terminated. I still believe that the deputy ministers who have so failed on this report should lose their jobs over this, and that the minister should resign over it as well. It has been disgraceful.
There is $12 million in permanent money for infrastructure every year, and $88 million for Tesla. We asked the minister whether there was money in the estimates for addressing this, and her comment was, “Well, aren't you going to vote for us in the budget, then?” It has nothing to do with supporting the budget. There was no money in the estimates, and it is not in the departmental plans either to address this tragedy.
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