- Member of Parliament
- Liberal
- Humber River—Black Creek
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $134,163.57
- Government Page
- Nov/28/23 4:24:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to stand today for a few minutes and speak about this bill that is here as an opposition day motion. I found the conversation actually quite comical as I was observing it.
I will be sharing my time with the member for Lac-Saint-Louis.
Rather than indulge the Conservative partisan attacks on the pollution price, let us talk about what matters most to all Canadians. That is our economic plan that will support the middle class and build more homes faster, which the minister introduced last week and that really tackles so many issues when we talk about affordability and what matters to Canadians right now. It is putting bread on the table and having a roof over people's heads. Those are things that our government has, since 2015, worked on extensively. I am very proud of what has been done to ensure that there is bread on the table for thousands of people. Without some of the programs we introduced, that would be a seriously problem for them today.
As everyone saw last week, our government continues to deliver an economic plan that supports a strong middle class. It is something we have been working on since 2015, to enforce that, so the middle class has access to good jobs and good housing. We are building more homes faster; taking concrete action to help stabilize prices, which is critically important; making life more affordable; and protecting Canadians with mortgages, which is something that many are very worried about.
Canadians did not expect the interest rate to go up to what it is today. I reflect back on the first house we bought. The interest rate was 6% and I remember thinking how bad that was. It was not much longer after that it ended up at 19%. We are very wary of what mortgage rates are and the impacts they have on Canadians. The minister has introduced a plan to work with the banks to help Canadians and protect them from that.
Simply put, we are taking action on the priorities that matter most to Canadians today, and we are doing so in a way that is fiscally responsible. Our government's economic plan is very responsible and I am very proud of what is in it. In the face of global inflation, our government has reduced the deficit faster than any other country in the G7. In fact, Canada maintains both the lowest deficit and net debt-to-GDP ratios in the G7. If someone were to listen to question period, they would think that doom and gloom was everywhere, that the world was caving in and that nothing was moving forward. Canada is in a very good fiscal position because of some of the investments we have made.
With inflation down from 8.1% last year to 3.1% last month, we are taking care not to feed inflation by carefully targeting new investments toward the priorities of Canadians today, and toward the future growth that makes our finances sustainable. This includes, through new reductions in government spending as part of last week's fall economic statement, building on the $15 billion in public service spending reductions that we announced in the spring.
It was not only about how we were helping people in a monetary way, whether it was building homes or making other changes, but it was the spending reduction of $15 billion, which was significant. Clearly, the opposition rarely mentions that $15 billion. We were able to do that at the same time as focusing on the stuff that matters the most, which is increasing the number of homes that will get built.
We are ensuring that Canada's finances remain sustainable because that is how we will be able to continue investing in Canadians. Not only is our economic plan fiscally responsible, but it is clearly working. Canada's unemployment rate for the last 21 months has been lower than at any time between 2006 to 2015.
Over a million more Canadians are employed today compared to before the pandemic. Wages have outpaced inflation for the past nine months. Private sector economists now expect Canada to avoid the recession that so many had predicted.
The International Monetary Fund projects Canada to see the strongest economic growth in the G7 next year. That is a very important statement and is very much contrary to much of what we hear from the opposition, which never wants to say anything good, only finding ways to say something that would bring the country down, making people worried and concerned about the future.
According to the OECD, in the first half of this year, Canada received the third-most foreign direct investment of any country in the world and the highest per capita in the G7, again.
Now, I know that perhaps that sounds overly positive. We know that for many Canadians, this remains a challenging time. We need to assure Canadians that their government is making the right investments and that Canada is the envy of many parts of the world.
Higher housing costs and still-elevated consumer prices are putting pressure on families every single month. To combat inflation around the world, the world's central banks have implemented the steepest series of interest rate increases in decades. These interest rate increases have led to a slowing of the Canadian economy and, frankly, the slowing of the global economy. It is not just about Canada. Canada does not live in isolation. We are part of the global economy.
That is why having an economic plan that is fiscally responsible is so very important. By continuing our commitment to responsible fiscal management, we are able to continue helping Canadians navigate these economic headwinds.
Our government's support for the middle class did not begin in response to the pandemic and Canada's quick recovery from the COVID recession. Since 2015, as I mentioned earlier, we have been investing in Canadians, ranging from the Canada child benefit, which my riding has benefited from by at least $14 million, to enhanced benefits and pensions for seniors, to stronger public health care and a Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care.
The issue of early learning child care is that it clearly allows many of the women in our country who were not able to go to work to have affordable child care and be able to move on with their own careers, which just makes Canada stronger.
These foundational investments have supported Canadians' incomes and higher numbers of Canadians participating in the labour force, including a record number of working-age women. Historic investments in infrastructure and Canada's growing clean economy will have both short- and long-term economic benefits, helping to create good careers and vibrant communities, and grow our economy for decades to come.
I have met many women, especially when campaigning, out knocking on doors. I talked to many women about how they wanted, so much, to be able to go to work and to have a career. However, having their children was a holdback, and now having affordable child care really opened the door for them, whether it is on a part-time or full-time basis. It allowed them to start pursuing a career.
Not only does a strong federal balance sheet allow our government to make the necessary investments to strengthen our social safety net and improve Canadians' quality of life, but it also gives the government the ability to respond to future challenges.
This was not an accident. This was part of a bigger plan from 2015. Since emerging from the pandemic, the government has maintained a commitment to its fiscal anchor, reducing federal debt as a share of the economy over the medium term. This metric is key not only for fiscal sustainability, but also to preserve Canada's AAA credit rating that helps maintain investors' confidence and keeps Canada's borrowing costs as low as possible.
Our economic plan, outlined in the recent fall economic statement, delivers on our fiscal anchor, enabling Canada's federal debt-to-GDP ratio to decline from 2024-25 onwards.
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- Apr/26/22 12:08:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to see you in the chair and pleased to be back in the House. I hope everybody had a restful period of time and we are all back here now.
As I rise in the House today to speak to this year’s budget, I will be sharing my time with the member for Mississauga—Streetsville, a wonderful new member of Parliament we have here who is doing great things and who is great to work with.
Several weeks ago, when it was announced that our Liberal government had made a supply agreement deal with the New Democratic Party, I was concerned about that, and I made that known. I am a firm believer in helping and supporting not just Canadians, but those all over the world as we continue, but I am also, like many of my colleagues, a very strong believer in fiscal responsibility. With our country still in an unknown due to COVID, a war on Ukraine, and any other potential things that could come our way, I was unsettled about how we could meet those needs and still remain financially responsible as a government.
I have to congratulate my hon. colleague, the Minister of Finance, as I no longer have those concerns because she struck the perfect chord in this budget. My concerns about the arrangements that we had made on the supply deal and the impact it was going to have on the direction of our government were very much unfounded, because we were able to produce a budget that, yes, delivered on things that mattered to other people but, importantly, we were fiscally responsible, and I was very pleased with all of that.
Before I speak further on the budget, I want to mention page 101, which says “Protecting Our Freshwater”. It might sound like an odd thing to be concerned about as a Toronto member, but we have to be concerned about our lakes. It is an ongoing subject that I have been involved with for some time when it comes to the invasion of sea lamprey in our lakes and the agreements that we had between Canada and the U.S. We were not paying our share to ensure that the invasive sea lamprey were not allowed to continue to cause the kind of damage that they do in the Great Lakes.
I have been lobbying on that issue with my former staff member Greg McClinchey and others. With the help of the member for Niagara Centre and his continued persistence, it is in the budget, with significant funds that will truly be our support in dealing with invasive species like that. I want to congratulate Mr. McClinchey and the member for Niagara Centre for pushing it over the line. I am glad it is done. It does not matter who gets the credit if it gets done, and it is going to make a difference in the Great Lakes and our cities.
The other issue that matters a lot to the residents of Humber River—Black Creek is that all of the provinces have finally signed an agreement for affordable day care, something with which I go back to the previous prime minister Martin, trying to get child care then. That was at least 12 years ago. Well, we finally got it over the finish line and we have agreements with all of the provinces and the territories for an early learning and child care infrastructure fund in the budget. It is going to make a huge difference in the lives of residents in Humber River—Black Creek. Many of the parents in Ontario will be able to save an average of $6,000 per year per child by the end of 2022.
What I see as most important for the residents of Humber River—Black Creek is the fact that many of the families have had to have one member of the partnership stay home, and I know that these women, many of them, wanted the opportunity to go to work. They could not find child care that was affordable. Well, now they will have child care that is affordable. They will be able to go back to school. They will be able to pursue a career. It will make a huge difference in their lives. Otherwise, they had to wait until their children were significantly grown up in order to be able to actually get on to work.
When we look at seniors in poverty, which is an issue we have talked a lot about over the many years I have been here, every year we manage to reduce the number of seniors in poverty. However, if we turn around and make sure, and this is what we are doing with child care, that we provide women and men the opportunity to work, because their children are going to be in a safe day care, an affordable day care opportunity, they can go to work and contribute to their pensions from early on, not having to wait until their children are completely grown up and out of the house before they can go to work. The cost of child care has been exorbitant and parents were simply having to make a choice. They could earn money, but they would pay it all out in child care, so it just did not make any sense for them to go forward. The more Canadians are working, the better our economy will be.
Since our government took power in 2015, we have brought forward six other budgets. Many of them have included great things that have helped the residents of Humber River—Black Creek, such as the Canada child benefit. We should not forget all the families that are benefiting throughout this country. We have helped 435,000 families out of poverty since 2015 and continue to provide almost $7,000 per child to families this year. We are increasing the minimum wage. We have also increased the amounts for the GIS and the old age security pension, things that matter to many people.
We have made investments in workers. As a result of the pandemic, we realized just how important it is to have paid sick days. We can keep our head in the sand all we want, but the reality is that if people are sick and have to pay rent and put food on the table, they are going to go to work, sick or not, and that is very unfortunate. Having 10 paid days of sick leave for federal and private sector employees will make a difference in the lives of many Canadians as we move forward.
We are increasing climate action incentive payments. Most families in my riding are going to receive over $800. I am certainly talking to them about paying attention to how they file their income tax, because there is almost $800 coming back as a result of the carbon tax that they continue to hear people criticize. It is putting money back into the pockets of many people.
I talk a lot about how important it is to use a budget to be fiscally responsible, but also to give people a hand up as we move forward, and dental health is one that we as a party and certainly I have talked about many times. I talk to people in my riding who are having a tough time and cannot get a job. They have missing teeth, and even when they try to pull themselves together to present themselves for a job, clearly they do not present themselves well because they do not have the money to have proper dental health care. We, as Liberals, have talked about it, and I think this agreement we have is a major boost. Yes, it is going to cost a lot of money, but if it makes people's mental health and physical health better as a result of having proper dental care, I think it makes a huge difference. We are phasing it in, again, in a fiscally responsible way. I think those things are very important as we move forward.
On housing, I cannot tell members how happy I am to see the amount of money going into housing, and how well we are doing with that. It is a huge subject. If people do not have a place to live or a roof over their head, it does not matter what else we do for them; that is what they need, so investing in affordable housing and making it all move forward is an extremely important thing. I am thrilled to see the amount of money that is going into housing. Co-op housing in particular is something that I have a real interest in. I would like to see a lot more of that built throughout the country, especially in Humber River—Black Creek, for the residents there.
Madam Speaker, I can see that my time is up. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I think it is a great budget, and I am very proud to stand and support it.
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