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Decentralized Democracy

Jean-Denis Garon

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Bloc Québécois
  • Mirabel
  • Quebec
  • Voting Attendance: 65%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $114,073.56

  • Government Page
  • May/29/23 7:55:32 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the government continues to heavily subsidize fossil fuels with taxpayer money. For years, we have been waiting for a definition of an effective subsidy for fossil fuels. On two occasions in her reports, the Auditor General told us that she was not even able to evaluate whether subsidies were effective because the government had not even provided a definition. Can the minister today provide a definition of an effective subsidy for fossil fuels?
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  • May/29/23 7:54:54 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, before the Axworthy reform of the 1990s, 64% of Canadians were covered by EI; today, 40% are covered. Does the minister believe that going from 60% to 40% is the right way to help the unemployed who have bad luck in the labour market?
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  • May/29/23 7:54:24 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, approximately 60% of workers who lose their jobs will not be covered by EI. Does the minister believe that to be a sufficient rate of coverage?
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  • May/29/23 7:53:34 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, this democratic chamber, the House of Commons, voted in favour of a bill introduced by my colleague from Lévis—Lotbinière, from the Conservative Party. This bill would enable people with very serious illnesses to receive 52 weeks of employment insurance sickness benefits. The minister is offering six months, but in many cases, including when chemotherapy is needed, treatments can last from six months to two years. Is the minister telling these sick people that they have to go back to work?
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  • May/29/23 7:52:43 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, when it comes to the wage subsidy program, the government got helping workers confused with Halloween because the Liberal Party was caught with both hands in the candy bowl. Liberal Party of Canada employees received wage subsidies. Does the minister think that the political parties that benefited from wage subsidies should have to pay taxpayers back?
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  • May/29/23 7:51:27 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, this budget allocates approximately $80 billion for so-called green subsidies. We do not know whether they are green or not because the government has always refused to define what constitutes an effective fossil fuel subsidy. Approximately 30% of these subsidies go directly to fossil fuels. That is approximately $24 billion to $25 billion. Is the Minister of Finance not embarrassed to tell unemployed workers in Quebec and the rest of Canada that she is going to take $25 billion to $27 billion out of their pockets when that money is going directly to fossil fuels?
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  • May/29/23 7:49:48 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, indeed, just over $25 billion in additional funding was put into EI during the crisis. That was a small portion of the $250 billion to $300 billion that the Government of Canada spent to help Canadians and Quebeckers during the pandemic. For the other programs, unlike EI, Quebeckers and Canadians have decided to stand in solidarity and band together to cover all of these pandemic-related expenses through the government's consolidated fund. In this case, the government is going to take another $25 billion out of the pockets of businesses and unemployed workers over the next seven years. Does the government not think that it should show solidarity and treat this spending as pandemic spending instead of dipping into people's pockets for the next seven years?
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  • May/29/23 7:48:12 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, there is the EI spring gap for temporary workers. There is the problem of inadequate coverage through the EI system. There is the actuarial financing of the EI fund, which is poorly suited to economic cycles and major disasters like the one we just went through. We have been calling for EI reform for years. Since 2015, the Liberals have been promising EI reform, but we have seen nothing of the sort. Most recently, we were promised EI reform by August 2023, which is right around the corner. There was absolutely nothing in the budget. The actuarial calculation shows that an extra $25 billion will be taken from the pockets of unemployed workers between now and 2030. Is the minister committed to keeping her government's promise to reform EI, or to at least announce a reform, by August 2023?
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  • May/29/23 7:46:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, during the pandemic, we saw significant gaps in the social safety net, especially Canada's social safety net, which led to the use of a set of temporary measures. Naturally, all parties quickly agreed to them. One temporary measure after another was implemented. Ultimately, these measures were poorly targeted and very costly. Although it does not want to do so for China, does the government plan to launch a public inquiry into the reasons for these gaps in our social safety net so that, in the event of another crisis, we need not reintroduce the temporary measures one by one, since we know how costly they will be for taxpayers and future generations?
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  • May/29/23 7:45:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I notice that the longer the answers are, the more they seem like a “no” in disguise. We know that during the pandemic, health care was underfunded, that there was a shortage of hospital beds that led to people being turned away, and that the pandemic measures needed to be extended. If, during the pandemic, we had had a dental plan like the one the minister is planning, how many more hospital beds would Quebec have had as a result of that dental plan?
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  • May/29/23 7:45:07 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I like clear answers. Do the minister and her government plan to offer the Government of Quebec the right to opt out with full compensation? Yes or no?
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  • May/29/23 7:43:56 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the minister confirmed that she supports the ongoing underfunding and that she also borrowed on behalf of the provinces. This is not a gift from the federal government. The money that the federal government sent during the pandemic was borrowed money. Now there is no money for health care, but there is money for a dental plan. This is being done with the help of the federal spending power, which is the instrument of the fiscal imbalance. The federal government is going to expand this program. The Government of Quebec and the Quebec National Assembly are unanimously calling for Quebec to be given the right to opt out with full financial compensation. Will the Liberal government give Quebec the right to opt out with full financial compensation?
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  • May/29/23 7:41:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, this is the first government budget that we could describe as a postpandemic budget. Obviously no one here in Parliament is to blame for the virus. However, the programs that might have helped us to get through the pandemic at the time are the responsibility of this Parliament. We need to learn important lessons and make corrections. We also need to prepare for the next crisis that could arise. The government boasts about having signed agreements with the provinces on health. These agreements were imposed. Out of the demands that were made by the provinces and Quebec, only $1 out of $6 was granted. Before the Liberals came along, the transfers covered 24% of provincial health costs. Now they cover just 22%. With these new agreements, which are not real agreements, we are back to 24%. They are perpetuating the chronic underfunding of health. Does the minister recognize that the federal government's chronic underfunding has left us short on hospital beds and that the measures to counter the pandemic, which hurt our economy, had to be excessively extended?
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