44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 10, 2024 02:00PM
- Apr/10/24 2:25:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will never apologize for keeping housing costs low when I was the minister of housing, but if someone was hoping for some interest rate relief today, as a mortgage holder or as someone with a small business loan or a line of credit, they got some bad news: The Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Rates are staying high long because, as the Governor of the Bank of Canada said, if government spending grows, then interest rates will have to stay high to combat the resulting inflation.
Why will the Prime Minister not accept my common-sense plan to fix the budget with a dollar-for-dollar law to bring down rates?
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- Apr/10/24 2:30:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the past three weeks the Prime Minister has made pre-budget announcements in Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction, but not today. No, today, he is at the Foreign Interference Commission. That means he does not have time for domestic interference. Health, schools, housing, dental care, early childhood centres, it is not the Bloc Québécois that fancies itself as the Government of Quebec, it is the Liberals.
Ottawa may well have the money, but Quebec has the expertise. If the Liberals want to help in an area under Quebec’s jurisdiction, they should increase the transfers. What are they waiting for?
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- Apr/10/24 2:31:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government is treating us to a veritable budget striptease, one item at a time.
The way things are going, we will be having a five-minute lock-up on April 16. There will be nothing left to announce. What will be left to spend after using billions of dollars to infringe upon Quebec's jurisdiction? What I know for sure is that competence is not a jurisdiction of the Liberal government: Phoenix, passports, ArriveCAN, processing of asylum seekers. Nevertheless, that is no reason to trample upon Quebec's jurisdiction.
Could it kindly transfer instead of encroach?
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- Apr/10/24 2:49:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has a superpower: the ability to spend other people's money. However, I would like to remind him that it is not his money he is spending. It is the hard-earned dollars of Canadians. It is clear he has no respect for Canadians or their hard-earned dollars. He is just not worth the cost.
Will his government commit to a pay-as-you-go rule in the upcoming budget to help fix the financial disaster it has caused?
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- Apr/10/24 5:44:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me take one component of what the member referenced. When we think of defending Canada over the next 20 years, think in terms of specialized maritime sensors, $1.4 billion; satellite ground station, $222 million; and tactical helicopters, $8.4 billion. There is a great deal of money being invested in the Canadian Forces for domestic and international roles, very critical roles that we play. There is a genuine commitment to get us up to 1.7% or 1.8% of Canada's GDP. I think we are doing, overall, reasonably well.
At the end of the day, members should give the proposed 20-year plan within the budget a serious look and get behind it. If they support the Canadian Forces, as they like to say they do, then they should be supporting some of the initiatives, getting behind them and voting. That includes family members or, more specifically, members of the forces. Members should not do what the Conservatives did last fall, when they literally voted against increases in the salaries of members of our Canadian Forces. They intentionally chose to do that.
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- Apr/10/24 5:46:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all I would ask the member is this: Is it true that in the budget, there will be $2.7 billion less spending on defence over the next three years, yes or no?
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- Apr/10/24 5:46:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the good news is that next week we are going to get the budget. The member will have ample opportunity to peruse it. There are a lot of good things in there for Canadians. We understand the many benefits and issues around affordability that are so important to all Canadians.
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- Apr/10/24 6:23:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again I want to stress that pricing pollution does not cause financial stress. In fact, the Canada carbon rebate sends more money back, particularly to those families who are experiencing food insecurity and poverty.
However, since the member opposite wanted to use food banks as an example, I would like to read the policy recommendations for Alberta food banks from Food Banks Canada.
Under recommendations on “Accountability”, it reads:
Introduce a provincial poverty reduction strategy
While Alberta made significant headway in the reduction of child poverty between 2015 and 2020...thanks to...the federal Canada Child Benefit, the lack of a comprehensive plan with clear goals and indicators stymies the ability of government and stakeholders to work together with a common vision.
The second section is “Affordable Housing”. Despite what the member opposite just said, housing is expensive in Alberta. The report goes on to say, “Dedicate 0.5% of the provincial budget every year to affordable rental housing construction”. This is something they have not done.
The next section is “Adequate Income Support”, or decent work that pays. They are asking the provincial government in Alberta to help more. Alberta's premier, Danielle Smith, could start by stopping the price hike on gas that she did on April 1, which was more than the price on pollution.
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