SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 305 - Apr/30/24

Mr. Adam van Koeverden (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, Lib.)

Apr/30/24 11:41:04 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, like most members of Parliament, when I am home for the week, I usually get out and do a couple of school visits. Last week, I was lucky enough to go to Martin Street Public School, and I heard from some really smart fifth graders. To hear the member opposite suggest that fifth graders are not intelligent or do not have any business, suggesting that we should engage with them, I strongly disagree— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Apr/30/24 11:41:40 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Conservatives seem to have taken offence to that and are now heckling the member on his assertion that fifth graders do understand a lot and can contribute. Perhaps you could ask the Conservatives to keep the heckling down so the member can properly ask his question.

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/30/24 11:41:53 a.m.
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That is getting into debate. The hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.

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Mr. Bob Zimmer

Apr/30/24 11:41:56 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the point made by my colleague was that the fifth graders were smarter with financial decisions than the government. That was the point.

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/30/24 11:42:08 a.m.
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We are descending into debate. The hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni is rising on the same point of order.

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Mr. Gord Johns

Apr/30/24 11:42:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is so hard to speak at this end of the House without getting heckled by Conservatives. It is next to impossible to even hear someone next to us. This really needs to be addressed.

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/30/24 11:42:31 a.m.
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I appreciate that, but I am also hearing a lot of heckling from all corners in the chamber. I will remind everyone who happens to be in the chamber, including Conservatives, the NDP, the Liberals, the Greens and the Bloc Québécois, on occasion— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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Mr. Adam van Koeverden

Apr/30/24 11:43:09 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my point is that an average fifth grader knows that it is unproductive to heckle, name call and denigrate people on the basis of how much one person knows or another person knows. Does the member not know that it is the job of the Bank of Canada and the Governor of the Bank of Canada to think about and consider monetary policy? It is not so much the role of government to talk about and think about monetary policy. I know the Conservatives have made much hay out of the Prime Minister's statement that it is actually the job of the Bank of Canada to talk about and think about monetary policy and that it is the federal government's job to make economic policy, fiscal policy and decisions on spending. The fifth graders of Martin Street Public School know the difference and perhaps the Conservatives could learn fifth grade civics, because that is where we learn about the jurisdictions of the various institutions in our government and country.

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/30/24 11:43:09 a.m.
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If we want to talk about heckling in the House, I will remind people that they should not be heckling the Speaker. I would also remind people to be judicious in their discussions and, of course, to keep the chatter down in the chamber. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Ziad Aboultaif

Apr/30/24 11:44:06 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would excuse the hon. member opposite. It is like the Prime Minister asking him to sell a radish as a strawberry. They are trying to convince Canadians of their mismanagement and inability to balance the budget whatsoever. This is the situation. Philosophically, if the Prime Minister does not think about fiscal responsibility and fiscal or monetary policy, what does he think about? This— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/30/24 11:44:41 a.m.
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The problem is that members are still heckling everybody all the time. The hon. member for Edmonton Manning.

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Mr. Ziad Aboultaif

Apr/30/24 11:44:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are complaining about the Conservatives heckling. They are heckling because they do not accept any logic, reality or truth. This is the shape of a government with which we are dealing. If their Prime Minister does not think about monetary policy, that means we are in trouble and we are, indeed, in trouble because of that type of thinking.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Apr/30/24 11:45:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, grade 5 students certainly know a lot. The students in the member's riding of Edmonton Manning asked me a simple math question, which I will ask the member. The member said that the Conservatives were going to axe the carbon tax. Let us do the math on some of this tax in Alberta when it comes to fuel. Three cents is the Government of Canada's carbon tax. Four cents is the United Conservative Party of Alberta's fuel tax, but gas went up 20¢. Therefore, who gets rich from the 13¢ that the member never talks about? Who is getting the 13¢? Could the member do the math on that?

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Mr. Ziad Aboultaif

Apr/30/24 11:46:06 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think we are speaking of two types of residents. I receive so many complaints from Canadians, from Albertans, from my riding and from his riding, my neighbour riding, about the carbon tax. The hon. member needs to convince his own constituents about the carbon tax and explain how crazy life has become since it was increased. He and his party have supported the government in increasing the cost of living for Canadians, as well as the cost of groceries. If the member can convince his own people in Alberta, then I will be satisfied.

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Mr. Robert Kitchen (Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC)

Apr/30/24 11:46:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have also received many letters from my constituents about the same issues. They talk about how disgusted they are with this budget. The reality is that they see it as unfair. Part of what they talk about is how the government is promoting fairness, yet the Liberals have failed to mention that when they came into power, the national debt was $600 billion. Now, it is $1.2 trillion, and when looking at the budget, it says that in five years the national debt will be up another $280 billion. That does not seem fair to the gen Z and the millennial Canadians as they progress five years down the road because they are going to have to pay for it. Could my colleague comment on that?

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Mr. Ziad Aboultaif

Apr/30/24 11:47:46 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is no fairness in making people's lives miserable. There is no fairness in making people's lives unaffordable. There is no fairness when people cannot buy food to feed their kids. There is no fairness in what the government is doing, and they must stop. This is what Canadians are asking us for. This is what my constituents are asking me for.

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Hon. Judy A. Sgro (Humber River—Black Creek, Lib.)

Apr/30/24 11:48:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very glad to stand today to give some comments on this very important budget, which really is a framework as we are moving forward. I am very pleased to share my time with the member for Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, a former member of our international trade committee, who we miss at the committee now, but she has moved on to other things. I have been speaking over this past weekend, especially with my constituents, with other community leaders and with family and friends, about the budget because—

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/30/24 11:48:54 a.m.
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I know there is some debate going on in the chamber. I would ask those individuals who are having an extra debate or a continued debate to take it outside into the lobbies. Of course, they are not listening to me because they are into that debate. Maybe the hon. member for Edmonton Griesbach and the hon. member for Edmonton Manning would take their conversation outside. That would be great because we do have somebody chatting. The hon. member for Humber River—Black Creek.

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Hon. Judy A. Sgro

Apr/30/24 11:49:24 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in these discussions, very often we all feel very strongly about different positions we take on something as important as this budget. This budget would be the playbook for the next several years in our country and would make significant headway in trying to improve the lives of all Canadians. As I indicated earlier, I have been speaking with my constituents and my community leaders. Many of them feel that the budget is going in the right direction and that it would make a difference in the lives of Canadians. At the end of the day, we have to think about why we are here and what this is all about. Budgets are laying out the future, and the future reflects the needs of Canadians. That not only means investing in social programs, but also means investing in entrepreneurs and in small and medium-sized businesses, giving them the tools they need to grow their businesses and to do everything possible to grow our country. There were announcements last week about Honda, and those kinds of investments are going to create thousands of jobs. We could reflect back on years when things were very tough. People were out of work and were just begging to find jobs so that they would be able to contribute to their families and would not have to use unemployment insurance. Now, we talk about such an abundance of jobs that we are going to have, not only today, as our economy is doing very well, but also in the future, with the investment in Alliston for the Honda EV plant. It is really the future for Canadians. This will create jobs for so many Canadians so that they can buy houses and grow their families. It means a successful Canada, so Canada is in a very good position. In spite of what we hear from the official opposition about Canada being in a terrible place, Canada is in a very good spot. We are still in the top in the G7, and we are still doing very well, but there is much more to do. I think this budget is laying out that platform for exactly what we need to do to move it forward. I am glad to see all the initiatives in this year's budget that directly address concerns Canadians throughout Canada have, but especially the residents in my riding of Humber River—Black Creek. I have often spoken about my constituents and the messages they want me to pass on here in the House of Commons, whether they are the need for social programs or for increases in Canada child benefit. I hear a lot from seniors about how difficult it is. Even with the increases, which have been significant, that we have contributed to since 2015, seniors are still struggling, and as the cost of living goes up, through our various programs, we have been able to make the kinds of changes that assist and help them, like the carbon tax rebates that all the seniors are receiving. The Conservatives continue to say that it is not acceptable, that it should not be there and that we should scrap the carbon tax. However, we cannot stop the wildfires that are happening, and we need to make sure that people are taking whatever steps are necessary to make our country safer and to make the effective changes we need to protect our systems. Budget 2024 would help make life more affordable for every generation of Canadians by creating access to more affordable housing, lowering everyday costs and growing our economy. I am sure anyone who watches question period or watches what is going on in the House knows that we have talked about investing millions and millions of dollars in housing, and it is long overdue. This should have been done a long time ago. I recall, back in Paul Martin's days, when we were going to have a national minister for housing, and that was one thing that was greatly debated. It was announced that we were going to establish a minister of housing to get back into the housing business. Unfortunately, our government at that time was defeated on a budgetary motion vote of confidence, and we did not resume the opportunity to introduce that until we started to get back into power in 2015. I would have liked to see, as the very first thing we did, the establishment of a minister of housing to get right into the housing file. However, everything takes time, as all of us in government know, and it took quite a while until we finally got a minister of housing and got the focus put some of the things we needed to do, which was to make sure that there was more affordable housing being built, that it was housing everybody could afford and that it would increase the availability in the housing stock. One thing we would do in this budget to help with that housing need would be to introduce a 30-year amortization for first-time buyers. Yes, we have thousands of buyers. I have several grandkids who are looking to buy homes, and they are looking at an interest rate that we do not control. I had a 25-year amortization, as some people in the House currently have. This is a 30-year period, which would significantly lower it, and the interest rates will help my grandkids, as well as many others, buy homes. Making it easier for Canadians to buy their first homes is really important. We are also launching a $1.5-billion Canada rental protection fund to protect affordable housing and apartments. We all hear about it when we go back to our ridings, and we hear stories about apartment buildings being converted into expensive condos. It is a real loss of what we call affordable housing and affordable rental housing. Not everybody wants to purchase housing. Some people want good, affordable rental housing. Many properties, especially the older stock in ridings like Humber River—Black Creek, are often redeveloped, and they come on the market at a very high price. That is a loss of affordable rental housing. The $1.5-billion Canada rental protection fund is meant to prevent that from happening. It would protect that level of affordable housing so that we would have more apartments for seniors, for families and for students. We have also introduced flexibilities for the federal community housing initiative. It would ensure access to funding to maintain affordability for low-income tenants and for co-op members. I have, I believe, four co-ops in my riding. They are extremely successful. I often talk to the people there. There is a long wait-list to get into those co-ops. Once people are there, frankly, they are very comfortable. They like their neighbours, and they do not want to move. The answer is not that they have to move; the answer is to have more co-op housing on the market. When there is a range of different incomes sharing housing, it builds better and stronger communities. It also provides a housing level that is affordable for a lot of people. There are some who would never be able to afford the kind of housing market that exists now. If somebody is paying millions of dollars, it must mean that they are doing extremely well, and we would hope that they have the opportunity to do that. The federal community housing initiative would provide $150 million for 47,000 homes and would make sure they will be there as we move into the future. As members can tell, I am focusing on housing, and these investments are extremely important for Humber River—Black Creek. People do not have anywhere to move. Seniors want to sell their homes, which would provide nice, affordable housing for first-time homebuyers, but they have no where to go. They do not want to go to a retirement home. They just want to go into safe rental housing that would give them a chance to continue to enjoy their remaining years. I am very proud to have York University in my riding, where many students call Humber River—Black Creek home. Over 3,000 students actually live on campus at York University. There has been a huge amount of housing built there. It is all meant to house students, but as the university grows and expands, there needs to be more opportunity. I have covered a few issues, mostly on housing, but I would like to talk about this further. I will be glad to respond to questions about pharmacare and about the new dental program, which is being received so well in Humber River—Black Creek. These are exciting times. It is a challenging time for the government to manoeuver the proper way, but I believe this budget is a good step forward, and I am looking forward to answering questions.

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Mr. Stephen Ellis (Cumberland—Colchester, CPC)

Apr/30/24 11:59:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member talked a lot about housing and the incredible number of photo ops, billions of dollars of photo ops, which the NDP-Liberal government has had with respect to housing. I have a really simple question for the member, and I am sure she can provide an answer to the House and to all Canadians. As of today, how many houses has the NDP-Liberal government actually built for the billions of dollars of photo ops?

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