44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 30, 2024 10:00AM
- Apr/30/24 4:27:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we absolutely respect the jurisdiction of Quebec and all provinces and territories. There are many examples of the government working hand in hand with Quebec and the provinces. I give the example of the national child care program, which is such a good example. Quebec is a recognized national leader in child care. With due respect, we will continue to work hand in hand with Quebec and the provinces while respecting the jurisdictions.
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- Apr/30/24 4:28:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House on behalf of those I represent in Winnipeg South Centre.
The budget is one of the most important documents tabled in this chamber every year. It is something that sets forward the priorities for the government and a vision for the country moving forward.
I also have a tremendous amount of respect for the process that ensues after a budget is tabled, and that is that we get to engage in dialogue here with our colleagues, who are themselves representing tens of thousands of people in the communities they come from. I appreciate the opportunity to engage in that dialogue with them here today.
As always, I will try my best to practise my French. My Bloc Québécois colleagues will likely ask me a question, so I will try my best to speak some French during the debate and I will certainly speak French when answering their questions.
When I knocked on doors during what was my increasingly not-so-recent by-election in June this past year, I talked to constituents who conveyed a number of priorities to me. Of course, the priorities of voters are as varied as the voters themselves. However, there were a number of issues that emerged frequently as the top priorities on the minds of those in Winnipeg South Centre.
They were focused primarily on the environment; on mental health and addiction, and health care broadly speaking; on reconciliation; and on affordability, with a particular focus on housing. It is with respect to those priorities that I rise today and focus the contents of my speech with regard to this budget.
With the environment, there is no doubt that we are at a crisis level, both here in the country and globally. Smoke fills the air we breathe during the summertime, preventing kids from going to camp or the elderly from going outside. Droughts make the fragile soil crumble in places like Manitoba, where I come from in the Prairies, leading to devastating consequences on the foundations of homes, which lead to significant costs and irritants on the part of constituents.
There are dangerous heat waves that make life dangerous for vulnerable citizens, most particularly the elderly in my riding. There are, of course, increased costs that come along with climate change. I have had the pleasure of serving on both the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food as well as the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs since joining colleagues here in Parliament, and I have noted how often concerns around climate change and the environment are raised in the context of our discussions at those committees.
The Canadian Climate Institute, which is a nationally respected organization of scientists and policy experts, has recently published a report that speaks about the state of affairs vis-à-vis climate change and climate policies in Canada. It is important to note that policies are working.
Without the combination of environmental policies we have in place now, which were put forward by our government, emissions would be 40% higher than they are. By 2030, if the combined policies we have implemented thus far remain in place, we will see a reduction in emissions that equals the combination of both the province of Ontario and the province of Quebec together.
We are continuing to protect the environment, and we are doing it in meaningful ways, but I want to take the opportunity to talk about how we are protecting the environment, specifically in my home province of Manitoba.
We have made historic investments in Lake Winnipeg, a place that is not only one of significant importance personally to many of those I represent, but also one of the world's largest freshwater lakes. It plays a critical role in the preservation of our environment.
The same is true for Lake of the Woods in Ontario, just over the Manitoba border, which my hon. colleague from Kenora represents. As I have stated in the House before, he serves as my member of Parliament there. We have intentionally invested in the preservation and the sustainability of that valuable area of water as well. The Seal River watershed is one of the world's largest remaining intact watersheds that, and it is something that, working alongside first nations communities and the provincial government in Manitoba, we have invested in to ensure its protection moving forward.
It is important to note, thanks in large part to the work of my colleague, the hon. member for Winnipeg South, that there is a new national water agency, which will be headquartered in the heart of the Prairies, in Winnipeg. This is going to play a critical role in how we sustain and preserve our environment for generations to come.
Canada must do its part, not only from a moral grounds perspective, but also from an economic perspective, in terms of our relationship with trading partners. If we do not have aggressive policies in place domestically that effectively counter the impacts and the disastrous consequences of climate change, then we will be left out of future trade deals with our partners, and worse, we will be taxed on our imports. It is critical that we maintain direction like the one we have established.
I want to shift now to talk for a few moments about mental health and addiction. This issue is deeply personal to me for a number of reasons. One is that I have several very close family members who, for years, have struggled with addiction and with mental health issues. I cannot count how many times I have received a knock on the door by a police officer who had to drive a family member to the emergency room, have visited family members on a psychiatry ward or have engaged in very difficult tensions that emerge in families when we try to figure out the best ways to support those we love as they deal with mental health and addictions crises.
In addition to that, my mother is one of the leading addictions doctors and specialists in the province of Manitoba. It is something that gives me tremendous pride. It is through much of her work that I am not only inspired to help but also derive much of my information and understanding of the issues.
I want to talk very briefly about the ways in which this budget would address some of the mental health and addictions crises we are facing in the country. Recently, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions visited my hometown of Winnipeg with me, and we visited the only mobile overdose prevention site between Thunder Bay and, I believe, Saskatoon. It is called Sunshine House, and it is a remarkable place. In a recent report done through an independent audit, there were 26,154 visits in one year, last year, to Sunshine House, which fortunately resulted in no deaths and only 20 overdoses. Suicide prevention is a critical component of the government's policy, and the introduction of the suicide crisis helpline is very important for the future of our country.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which is located in my riding of Winnipeg South Centre, is doing amazing work not only in the country but also around the world to protect children, specifically, from online harms. We would provide funding that would allow it to continue to do that important work. I was very pleased to see, particularly as a former teacher and principal, that there would be $500 million invested in a youth mental health fund.
I want to elaborate a little on reconciliation, which is the final piece. I will not have time to expand on it; although, if one of my colleagues is gracious enough to ask me a question regarding that, I would be happy to take some time to respond. I want to note that so much of the legacy of residential schools is still with us. I saw it every single day when I worked with young indigenous kids and their families. I am so pleased to see that there is $96 million in the budget that would help to support survivors, as intergenerational trauma still very much applies when we talk about the challenges we face.
With that, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to rise today on behalf of those I represent, and I am happy to take questions now from my colleagues.
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- Apr/30/24 4:38:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do want to take this opportunity to congratulate my friend and fellow former Carleton alumnus on his by-election win and to wish him well in the upcoming Liberal leadership race; I think he would do better than some of the prospective contenders.
I want to ask the member a serious question. He spoke, toward the end of his comments, about mental health and about suicide prevention. As I understand it, it continues to be a policy of the government that it wants to pursue, at some point, the legalization of medically facilitated suicide for those with mental health challenges. Concurrently, the government continues to consider and to speculate about extending that regime to include minors. I know the member talked about reconciliation. Many indigenous leaders have spoken out against these proposals, as have many others. As a former teacher and a former principal, does the member agree with the government's intentions to eventually extend medically facilitated suicide to those struggling with mental health challenges?
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- Apr/30/24 4:40:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I look forward to selling my colleague a membership; although, we offer them for free now, so he does not have to worry about that.
In all seriousness, I suspect that my colleague is referring to some recent debates we had around extending medical assistance in dying in this country to those suffering from irreparable psychological conditions. I do think this is a very challenging conversation. However, I can speak to the experiences that I have had with some young people, over the age of 18, but young nonetheless. They have been in my office, sitting across from me and talking about the experiences they have had and about some reasons that they have wanted to continue to advocate for themselves to be eligible for the same types of assistance in dying protocols that are in place for those with irremediable physical illnesses.
I recognize, absolutely, that it is a challenge. I would be happy to continue the conversation with my hon. colleague in a format that would perhaps allow us to delve into the complexity and the nuance a bit more. However, I do look forward to continuing that conversation with constituents I represent.
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- Apr/30/24 4:41:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we all think that it is essential to ensure that everyone has access to housing and health care, especially when we are in our ridings and we see how hard life is for our constituents, those who are around us every day.
It is important that the federal government use its spending power to make the necessary transfers for infrastructure, particularly when it comes to housing and health care. The federal government is infringing on other jurisdictions by wanting to set conditions that the provinces and municipalities have to meet in order to get that funding.
Since the federal government decided to infringe on our jurisdictions, what conditions does it intend to impose before it will transfer money for housing to Quebec?
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- Apr/30/24 4:42:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as a member representing a riding outside Quebec, it is kind of hard for me to give an answer about something that has to do with Quebec.
Nevertheless, my colleague did talk about health care, and I am proud to say that, a few months ago, the Premier of Manitoba, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Health, other colleagues and I were in Winnipeg announcing $630 million for Manitoba's health care system. I know that will make things a lot better for the people I represent.
I am sorry that, as a Manitoba MP, I was not able to answer my colleague's question about talks between Quebec and Canada. However, I am certainly interested in continuing the conversation.
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- Apr/30/24 4:43:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Winnipeg South Centre mentioned reconciliation. I know that the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls is one that has profoundly affected communities in his home province of Manitoba.
It was good to see mention in the budget of the red dress alert. However, we were disappointed to see the very modest budget commitment to that service. By comparison, the 988 suicide crisis helpline received $156 million over three years for implementation. The commitment in the budget for the red dress alert is $1.3 million over three years.
How does the member explain what seems to many people to be a huge discrepancy in the funding? Do not get me wrong; the suicide crisis helpline is essential. I am simply noting the disparity between the numbers.
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- Apr/30/24 4:44:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I know there is an alignment of values and shared principles when it comes to supporting communities. I had the pleasure, as an educator, of working alongside many indigenous families when I was working in schools. I have seen the pain and the trauma that come as a result of over a century and a half of oppressive policies here in Canada. I am happy to continue the conversation. It is certainly something I have engaged in a discussion—
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- Apr/30/24 4:45:06 p.m.
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Resuming debate, the hon. member for Port Moody—Coquitlam.
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Madam Speaker, I am going to share my time with the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.
I am standing today as a woman in Parliament. Every time I enter this place, I am aware of how different my experiences in life are from those of the men who have tried to keep women out of this place for 100 years or more. My colleague, the member for Winnipeg Centre, said it explicitly recently when she called out the Conservative Party's infringing on the status of women committee. The fact that the Conservatives recently chose to arbitrarily remove the respected chair of the committee not only disrespected the voices of women on the committee but also was symbolic of how the women in the House of Commons are often punished when their voice is too strong, by a system designed to benefit men in power.
As I was reading through the budget this year, it was with the lens of being a woman and how, for 100 years, our needs have been second, for example with respect to child care. I have often said in the House that the only reason I am standing here is the $5-a-day day care I had access to when I lived in Quebec. That fact allowed me to go back to school and become a programmer analyst. That allowed me to capitalize on opportunities in the new, digital economy of Y2K. I know how important affordable child care is for women, and I am so pleased to see in the budget, with investments in educators as well, that it is going to be a gateway of economic empowerment. That reality for women cannot be understated.
Child care is the second-largest payment for families after housing. I am incredibly grateful to the leader of the NDP and the member for Winnipeg Centre for finally forcing the government to enact affordable, quality child care in this country. The Liberals would not have done it on their own; they proved that over the past 25 years. It was 28 years ago that I benefited from the $5-a-day day care in Quebec. That is how long the rest of Canada has been waiting for accessible, affordable child care.
The Conservatives would not have offered this type of child care at all. In fact, the Conservatives would walk back any kind of public, affordable, accessible child care if they were ever to get into power. I never want to see that.
The budget is not an NDP budget, but there are clear examples of the difference between how the NDP uses its power for good to support people and how Conservatives continue, with their gut-and-cut ideologies, to hurt people. Conservatives have used their past powers to make their corporate friends even richer by instituting $60-billion corporate handouts, which I want to say the Liberals have continued to support, while they cut services for women, families, seniors and persons with disabilities. By contrast, the NDP, with only 24 MPs, forced the government to enhance the social safety net that lowers costs for Canadians by addressing affordability, health care, housing, climate and more.
With that in mind, I need to address right away the deficit of respect the Liberals have shown for persons with disabilities, as it relates to the Canada disability benefit outlined in the budget. What is in the budget is not the Canada disability benefit in reality or in spirit. The Liberal government never seems to run out of money for handouts to giant corporations and rich CEOs, but when it comes to the benefit promised to people living with disabilities suddenly the government offers only crumbs.
Offering only $200 a month through the Canada disability benefit, hidden behind an inaccessible and inequitable disability tax credit is not recoverable for the government. It is insulting, and the government needs to adhere to the NDP amendments to Bill C-22 and those that came from the Senate, to ensure that the benefit will lift persons with disabilities out of poverty.
The Liberal government threw aside the advice and the input of disability advocates. Its own policy advisory council had resignations over the Canada disability benefit criteria. It disregarded the legislation, and worst of all, it disregarded people with disabilities. It is shameful. The government was told that the use of the disability tax credit would create a barrier to access. It did not care; it did it anyway.
While the Liberals' inadequate Canada disability benefit is best understood as an insult, there are important items in the budget that we need to protect in order to significantly reduce the cost of living for persons with disabilities and to increase overall well-being. That includes the long-overdue protection for renters to stop them from losing their homes to speculators and renovictions.
The current government, and the Conservatives before it, let this country lose affordable housing at a rate of 11:1. The Conservatives and the Liberals are the architects of the reality we are living now, walking away from affordable housing investments for decades and shovelling money to developers gentrifying neighbourhoods with investments in condos 50 storeys high. They left persons with disabilities behind, leaving them with less accessible and less affordable housing.
In the budget, the NDP forced the government to create a rental protection fund, the housing accelerator fund, and a new rapid housing stream to build deeply affordable homes. It is only because of the NDP that we are having a revitalization of affordable and accessible homes in this country.
The NDP has also secured historic expansions to our universal health care system for persons with disabilities and all Canadians, a health care system that is under attack of privatization by Conservative premiers across this country. That cannot happen. Privatization of health care and long-term care is hurting Canadians, and the NDP will not stand for it. We will always push back on privatization of health care at the same time as we advance historic wins for Canadians, like the universal single-payer pharmacare and the transformative dental care program that thousands of children in Port Moody—Coquitlam have already benefited from. We stand against Conservative ideology that puts profits in the hands of CEOs off the backs of people who are just trying to stay healthy. I echo that statement for the Liberals who are standing by and letting it happen.
The NDP pharmacare program will start with life-saving, free diabetes medication and devices and free birth control for millions of Canadians. These are equity measures Canadians cannot risk losing to a Conservative government that courts incels for votes and disregards the voices of women.
With respect to persons with disabilities, the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research Institute at Queen's University wrote, in an article in 2020, “Canadians with disabilities may skip doses of medication or neglect to get their prescriptions filled because of the cost of prescription drugs.” The article also stated that pharmacare would “remove financial barriers to prescription drugs, and overcome inequities among Canadians for this important aspect of health care.”
The Conservatives have already acted on trying to prevent pharmacare for Canadians, which is a program that would save $3.5 billion on Canadians' medications and billions more on preventing unnecessary trips to hospitals and doctors' offices, and on ongoing care for preventative illness. Another important program the Conservatives do not support is the creation of a national school food program. It was in my riding that James Moore asked, “is it my job to feed my neighbour's child?”. Conservative James Moore said, “I don't think so.” My NDP colleagues and I believe it is our job to make sure no child goes to school hungry.
I am going to close by saying women have been ignored in the economy for a long time, and I note that the Liberals put the support of a care economy, which I agree with 100%, and the launching of a national caregiver strategy, which is amazing work by James Janeiro and others in the caregiving realm, under the chapter heading “Lifting Up Every Generation” rather than under economic growth—
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- Apr/30/24 4:55:14 p.m.
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The hon. member is over time.
Questions and comments, the hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.
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- Apr/30/24 4:55:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the support that New Democrats have provided on a number of progressive measures. I believe it is important. I think Paul Martin and others, such as Jean Chrétien, might question some of the member's comments in regard to child care. Ken Dryden did a phenomenal job on the child care program. Unfortunately it never got passed through the House, ultimately.
I for one have been a very strong advocate for pharmacare for many years now. I am glad that it is incorporated into the budget. We are, from my perspective, at a starting point for pharmacare. One thing we have to look at is what we add to it, and there is no doubt that there will be a lot of discussion over the coming months and years in regard to how we can make the pharmacare program stronger and healthier.
An example would be vaccination for shingles. Could I get the member's thoughts on that issue?
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- Apr/30/24 4:56:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will take this time to say that all drugs need to be available for Canadians, and it is the work of the NDP to make sure that all drugs will be covered in pharmacare. I appreciate the member's comments on the importance of pharmacare and health care.
As such, I wanted to ask for unanimous consent to table, in both official languages, a report entitled “British Columbia Priorities Panel on Primary Care: New perspectives and possibilities for primary care in Canada”.
This is a report—
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- Apr/30/24 4:57:06 p.m.
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Is there consent?
Some hon. members: Nay.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès): There is no unanimous consent.
Questions and comments, the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
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- Apr/30/24 4:57:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on the member's comments on child care. We could have a debate about what would theoretically be a good child care system, but I think it is hard to deny that the current program from the government on child care is not delivering on the promise. We are hearing very clearly from child care providers across the country that the combination of price regulation with funding that does not match that price regulation is making it impossible for child care operators to maintain and meet the expectations. The result of this is government subsidies for some and less access for others.
Does the member acknowledge those failures, in terms of child care policy, and is she willing to hold the government accountable for them?
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- Apr/30/24 4:58:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it does not surprise me at all that the Conservatives would stand up and try to stop access to quality, affordable child care for women. I am very disappointed that the Conservatives would stand up and say no to tabling information about British Columbia's priorities on primary care. These are Canadians across this country who want their voices heard in the House, and I am very disappointed that the Conservatives' decision not to have a simple report accepted here is the way they want to act.
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- Apr/30/24 4:58:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a question, but I am not sure it is in her usual area of expertise.
We know that 90% of the francophone minority in Canada lives in Quebec. Quebec is in a minority situation, and 96% of the funding allocated by the federal government to official languages is used to support English in Quebec. For the past two years, we have heard the Liberals boast about wanting to implement measures to protect the French language, but we see nothing in the budget, which contains no financial measures to protect French in Quebec, just like there were none in the action plan for official languages.
What does my colleague think about that? Does she think it is fair that funding for official languages in Quebec is used almost exclusively to support English?
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- Apr/30/24 4:59:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam has the largest quartier of francophones in British Columbia. The executive director of Société francophone de Maillardville is Johanne Dumas. I want to raise my hands and thank her for all the work she has done, as she is now retiring, to try to get representation of francophones in Maillardville, trying to get some physical space. What I do not think is fair is that the government has been very lax in assisting those who move outside Quebec to keep their language, culture and community. It is very disappointing.
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- Apr/30/24 5:00:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Skeena—Bulkley Valley and address the 2024 budget.
I want to start with a few words about the truly shameful display that we saw today during question period. I was thinking back to my time, just a few weeks ago, on Haida Gwaii, where we celebrated the signing of a historic agreement. The president of the Haida Nation spoke about the Haida concept called yahguudang, or respect. It is about a respectful way that we govern our communities, that we engage with our neighbours and that we lead. The Wet'suwet'en, whose land is part of the territory where I live, have a similar word: wiggus.
I was thinking about those words and just how far from the spirit of those concepts this place was during question period today. Looking up in the gallery, I saw Canadian citizens looking at the governance of this country, embarrassed and ashamed of what it has become. As a member of Parliament, I too was embarrassed.
I do not speak to individual Conservative members, because there are many good Conservative members whom I respect, some of whom are in the chamber right now. However, the party and the leader are working not to try to change policy in this country, using the institution, but to erode public trust in the institution itself. We have seen that happen in other parts of the world and other parts of North America, and it is not a road that we want to go down as a country.
Turning to the budget before us, I want to start with the context. The context, of course, as many Canadians know, is that we are in a very difficult time. People across the country are struggling with increased costs in terms of skyrocketing rent, groceries, home heat and just about everything. In these times, the government has choices. We all have choices to make. As New Democrats, our vision is that we must come together more than ever during difficult times. We must lift each other up and bring in programs that support each other and support the people who are struggling. Therefore, it is in that context that we are very proud that there are things in this budget that we fought hard for. These things have long been a part of NDP policy, and we are finally seeing steps toward their implementation. I will speak about a few of them, and they have been raised.
I want to thank my wonderful colleague for her words just prior, but I will start with pharmacare. This is obviously such an essential extension of universal health care in Canada. It has been five years since the Hoskins report laid out a very clear path for the government to take to implement universal single-payer pharmacare. We are finally seeing steps toward that, with the recent pharmacare legislation that has been tabled and, in this budget, a commitment of $1.5 billion over five years for the first phases of a national pharmacare program, starting with two essential classes of medication. One is diabetes medication, which affects thousands and thousands of Canadians. I was noticing statistics from Diabetes Canada that the out-of-pocket cost of type 1 diabetes is as high as $18,000 per year. People living with type 2 diabetes are paying as much as $10,000 a year, and this is precisely the kind of cost that the first tranche of a national pharmacare program would cover. We are very proud to see that in the budget and to see the legislation that is before this House.
A national school food program is something that would lift up so many students across Canada who are going to school hungry, and the idea is that having at least one meal per day of healthy food would help those students so much. It goes without saying. I was thinking back to my experience in Terrace with the wonderful community volunteers, such as Gurjeet Parhar, with the Kalum Community School Society, as well as Helene Fleury, of the group Groundbreakers in Smithers.
These folks have been advocating for years for a national school food program. A billion dollars over five years in the budget is going to be a huge step forward, helping deliver meals to over 400,000 students across the country.
With regard to the firefighter tax credit, I want to give credit to my colleague from Courtenay—Alberni for his hard work ensuring that this is in the budget. This is going to double the tax credit for volunteer firefighters and search and rescue personnel in our communities from $3,000 per year to $6,000 per year.
Certainly, in the region I represent, which is a huge rural region, volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers play a critical role. I was in Houston the other day, talking with their search and rescue team. One figure that the individual shared with me was that, in British Columbia, search and rescue teams provide $200 million per year of value. If we think about all the volunteer fire departments and add that to the search and rescue teams, the figure would be a staggering one.
I think about folks in Bela Coola, Fort St. James, Bella Bella, Houston, Smithers, Telkwa and all the way up to Dease Lake. There, these small volunteer fire departments are made up of individuals who donate their time, contribute their personal time to keeping their neighbours safe.
This is a way we can recognize that contribution. It is going to help with recruitment and retention, and I think it is a huge step forward for our country.
Liberal budgets are often a bit of a mixed bag. There are things in this budget that are half measures and worse. There are policies that, on the surface, look as though they are heading in the right direction. However, when one looks at the financial commitment in the budget, it is hard to see how we are going to make marked progress on critical issues.
One that has received some debate already today is the government's approach to the Canada disability benefit. We were very hopeful when we saw the legislation pass that created the foundation for this benefit. However, people living with disabilities waited month after month, year after year, to find out what the amount was going to be, because the important thing here is the amount that was going to supposedly lift people out of poverty.
What we saw in the budget amounts to about $200 per month, or six dollars per day. That is a far cry from what is required to really improve people's lives in the way that is needed and to lift people out of poverty.
One of the most troubling aspects of that is that this number was arrived at without consultation with the disability community, without talking to the people who need this benefit most. It really contravenes the government's commitment to “nothing about us without us”, which is one of the promises that it made to people living with disabilities.
I want to mention the red dress alert, which is something we have been pushing hard for. I want to honour the work of my colleague from Winnipeg Centre, who has been a fierce advocate for that service, but it is $1.3 million over three years. It is hard to see how we are going to build an effective program and ensure that a red dress alert is available to families in northwest B.C. and right across Canada with such a modest investment. Much more needs to be done. We are going to keep pushing on that front.
I will end with the concept of fairness. This is how the government has framed the budget, with the idea of working towards a more fair approach to the way we govern this country. While there are some very modest changes in this budget to address inequities in the tax code, it is clear that there is much more that needs to be done.
TD just released a report showing that wealthiest third of Canadians in the country increased their wealth by 6% in the last year alone. The rest of Canadians either saw their income stagnate or go down, as a result of inflation, when it comes to their real buying power.
We need to do much more. I welcome the concept of fairness, which is something we have long spoken of, but this budget is only a very small step in that direction.
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- Apr/30/24 5:10:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to get the member's thoughts on the idea of co-operation and working together.
We do have a national situation with housing. I was very pleased to participate in a press conference where we had the Prime Minister, the premier of the province and the mayor of Winnipeg all together talking about how we are going to get more homes built in the city of Winnipeg.
Looking at the national issue of housing, would the member not agree that Ottawa does play the critical role of leadership, but it is going to take the different levels of government coming together to deal with and get optimum solutions on the housing situation?
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