- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Cumberland—Colchester
- Nova Scotia
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $134,737.37
- Government Page
- Mar/21/23 3:07:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps that is too little too late because we know the government promised 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. To date, none have been delivered. This is in spite of the fact that there are more than 50,000 doctors and nurses in Canada who are not working in their chosen profession. The Conservative blue seal program would allow internationally trained health professionals a clear pathway to licensure and a clear answer with respect to their credentials within 60 days of coming to Canada.
Why has the government constantly and consistently betrayed qualified new Canadians? When will the Prime Minister take action?
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- Mar/21/23 3:06:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, there are almost six million Canadians without access to primary care. In my province of Nova Scotia alone, almost 140,000 people do not have access. Two days ago, the Conservatives over here introduced a blue seal program under which there will be a common standard for doctors trained elsewhere to gain a licence here in Canada. Canadians are beyond frustrated knowing that the doctors who have immigrated to this country are only to be left out in the cold.
When will the Prime Minister admit his wrongdoings and take action on behalf of all Canadians?
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- Feb/16/23 3:22:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I find it interesting. The government has failed over the last eight years, and certainly we have heard multiple times about provincial jurisdiction.
We also heard the Liberal Prime Minister talk very clearly in the House about the 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners he was going to hire for Canada. I heard the member mention again today the federal support for doctors. I was in that sector for a very long time. Where are the 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners? How many have the Liberals actually hired and when is this going to happen?
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- Feb/16/23 11:18:33 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, hopefully members of the House will begin to understand that using meaningless words is not helpful to Canadians. I am not sure how to exactly make that point because it seems to be lost on many people who come here and attempt to do business.
What we do know very clearly is that the health care system we have, as mentioned very passionately by the former president of the Canadian Medical Association, is a system that is on the brink of collapse. Continuing to go on about grand ideas and priorities is in no way, shape or form going to operationalize any ideas in this country, which is really what we need. I guess, in the vernacular, we need people who are actually going to do something.
Many groups have put forward great ideas about pathways, road maps and priorities, etc. There has been talk about a lot of money that is going to be spent, has been spent or should be spent. What do we have? We have a system that is no different.
We know that after eight years of the Liberal government, we have people waiting and waiting. Very sadly, the waiting is now waiting until they are dead. This is the ridiculous and heartbreaking nature of a system that we in the House and the government, as I am putting the blame squarely at the feet of the Liberal government, have allowed to happen. People are literally dying in emergency rooms. That is the point where we need to begin to consider how to operationalize those things and what sort of leadership the federal government needs to bear to change the system.
I was fortunate enough to have worked in the health care system as a family doctor for 26 years. Four of those years was serving our country in the military. Even way back then, we knew very clearly that there was a shortage of physicians. Part of the work that I was required to do as a physician was to go other bases around this country so that other physicians could have a vacation. That is a rotation that we did.
As I transitioned from my miliary life into a practice in Truro, Nova Scotia, it became very clear that changes were happening in our health care system. Of course, as we all know, we have an aging population, which is felt more acutely perhaps in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec than elsewhere in the country, but at that time we also knew there was a dwindling of resources available, both financial and health human resources.
I had the privilege and opportunity to be a part of the health human resource study that was done by the Standing Committee on Health. It was a decent study, but I am still not entirely sure that there is a pathway forward on how to operationalize the ideas. One of the things that makes me the saddest is understanding that the folks I had the opportunity to work with, and who continue to work in the system are, as we might say, burned out, tired, frustrated, angry and hurt. How do we begin to change that? If we do not look at the system as a whole and begin to look at ideas on how to change that and change it quickly, then we are going to continue down the same path. It does not really matter how much money we pour into the system. We must focus on the people who are the greatest asset of the system.
I heard my colleague on the Liberal side talking about how data saves lives. I have to say it cuts right to my own heart to hear him say that data saves lives. People save lives. The doctors and nurses who are working on the front lines in emergency rooms and in small places across this entire country are the people who save lives. Does data help? Sure, it does. We have been talking about data strategies since I cannot even remember when, since the Stone Age, and we still have no real data strategy.
We can talk about it all we want, but until somebody has the courage to begin to operationalize that and work collaboratively with provincial governments, we are never going to get to the point where anything happens. For me, in coming here for the last 18 months, that is the most frustrating. When do things happen in the government? When do things get done? Who does the work?
We can have priorities and ideas and that kind of stuff. I am not saying that the Liberal government does not have priorities and ideas, that it does not put money toward things, but they are things that I do not necessarily agree with.
I think that the other thing is that there is no work being done. When is something actually going to happen? When is Beau Blois, who is an emergency room physician in Truro, Nova Scotia, actually going to feel the difference, in an operational sense, of something that we are actually doing?
We can, again, use all kinds of meaningless words and talk about things over and over again, but for that man, who also has a family, runs a business, and works very hard in our community, when is the operational rubber going to meet the road? When is something actually going to happen that is different? Until that point, we know that we will continue with this system, which lets down Canadians and Canadian health care workers.
For me, having been in that position, that is something that makes me very, very sad. From a very personal perspective, I know that the people who are working in the system care deeply about their patients, and doing a good job, and they care very deeply about the system as well. They are aware of the difficulties in the system. They call every day with ideas and ways in which they believe that the system could actually be changed to make it better. I think that the shame of it all is that after eight years of the Liberal government, all we get is more ideas and planning and priorities and meaningless talk that does not operationalize anything.
I know what is going is happen today. Somebody on that side of the House will chirp at me to say, well, it is the provincial government and I am talking about jurisdictional issues, and guess what happens? Absolutely nothing happens.
That is the sickest part of it all. We can talk about this until we are blue in the face, but until somebody actually does something that creates an opportunity for change and operationalizes something, nothing happens. That leaves the emergency room doctor, Dr. Beau Blois, still doing what he is trying to do, even though he works very hard and many hours in a multitude of different health care settings in my area.
Another guy that I have worked with for many years, Dr. Wayne Pickett, works in four or five different emergency rooms around rural Nova Scotia. Why does he do it? He does it because there is a need. He has tremendous skills. He is a compassionate doctor, and I would be happy to have him, if I needed the work, work on me any day.
That being said, how do we change the life of the Dr. Wayne Picketts of the world? How do we change things so that, in an operational sense, we can see change on the ground, so that the Mary Smiths and whoever we want to talk about, the Ednas of the world, get care?
How do they realize that they not have a family doctor any more and they are having a difficult time getting their prescriptions refilled? How do we also then take virtual care and make it a reality?
We have had conversations about virtual care, but if we go to the doctor and all we do is see them on a screen and nobody is there to examine us, how do we know that what we have told the doctor is right, that it is actually the case? How do we rectify the fact that using virtual care is significantly increasing the amount of diagnostic imaging that needs to be done?
Why is that? It is because the doctor, instead of actually seeing us and examining us when we have a sore arm, says, “Well, I guess your arm is sore, and that is unfortunate, so let's get an x-ray done.” Whereas, if we had an experienced practitioner, someone could actually see us to examine us and then realize that maybe we do not need an x-ray done, that we have another problem.
These are things that we are facing. When we think about it, we have an electronic medical record in Nova Scotia. I think that is worthwhile explaining, because I am not entirely sure that everybody understands how this might work.
If I have an electronic medical record in my office, and I am working in the emergency room and one is my patient, then I can look at their records. If I have an electronic medical record, and somebody else comes whose family physician has the same electronic medical record, in the emergency room, I cannot look at their electronic medical record. It does not make any sense.
Until we take these very practical problems and decide to make a difference, all we are going to do in the House of Commons is speak meaningless words that fill up Hansard. Those are some examples of very practical things we could do.
I am not being particularly critical, but I think we have a decent system in Nova Scotia. I know it is similar across the country. There are people struggling to get blood work done. It takes a long time to book an appointment. We now have a combination of systems that is difficult for seniors to access because it is computer-based. How do we rectify those things? How do we help seniors in our communities who are struggling with that?
When we look at those things, we know there are significant issues that need to be operationalized. I realize that the default in this grand institution we are in is to say something is a provincial issue. We do not have leadership here. We need to begin by looking at innovative ideas and how we can tie them together from province to province, and if we have a crisis in this country, we know that it is possible to show significant federal leadership, which sadly does not happen now.
I am going to shift gears a bit and talk about mental health. There has been a lot of talk about mental health and not much done about it. We know that since the pandemic, one in three Canadians has suffered significantly with their mental health. We also know that the Liberal government has put together studies which would suggest that 25% of Canadians not being able to access mental health care is a reasonable number. I think it should be zero. There should not be anybody out there who struggles to access mental health care. In this country, the greatest country in the world, we allow that to happen, and that is a travesty. That is absolutely unacceptable.
What is at the heart of that? I think there are a few things at the heart of it. It is a reflection of the state of this country. The sad state is that everything is broken. People feel defeated. They do not feel like they have hope. They do not feel like they have a future. They do not feel like they have a voice. When people feel like that, we have to reflect on how that makes us feel inside as people. How does that make us value ourselves and our contributions, not just to our families but to our country and communities? How do we invigorate people so they can actually feel like they are contributing to this country and get that wonderful feedback so they know they did that?
What are the other things in mental health that are important? There are a few things. Certainly, we have heard from counsellors and psychotherapists to know that the Liberal government is still charging GST on their services, which is a burden. We know that it would be a very easy fix to allow counsellors and psychotherapists to not charge GST on their services, which would then allow a greater number of Canadians access to the services they deserve.
What about mental health funding? To the people who are listening to what we are doing today, they know that in the 2021 platform of the Liberal government, it said it was going to fund a Canada mental health transfer up to the tune of $4.5 billion. Here we are, and year after year goes by. We had the fall economic statement. There is another budget coming up to talk about more money.
I have to mention something. I was on the MAID committee, and its members wanted to talk about funding. I said, “Great, let us talk about funding. Where is the $4.5-billion Canada mental health transfer?” The member opposite had the audacity to say it has been transferred. Everybody in the House knows that not one penny has been transferred under the Canada mental health transfer.
If it were not so incredibly gut-wrenching, nauseating and inappropriate, it would actually be funny because the member said that maybe we transferred it under another name. Why would it be under another name? The government announced a $4.5-billion project, and it wants me to believe that it transferred that money under another name. That is baloney. That is shameful.
Now, here we are, and Canadians are suffering. I heard my colleague across the way say he realized that Canadians were suffering with their mental health. If the Liberals have committed the money, why do they not just send it to the provinces and allow them to do things?
What we will hear from the government is a strange thing, and I want to be clear on it. The Liberal government is going to tell Canadians that it does not want to transfer the money because it wants the provinces to be accountable for it. The wasteful Liberal government is holding back money that could help the mental health of Canadians because it wants accountability. It wastes money on everything every day and it does not want to help people with mental health. I find it absolutely and shockingly ridiculous that we are even hearing this type of retort from my colleagues across the way.
We have had eight years of the current Liberal government and what do we have to show for it? Perhaps some statistics might be helpful.
When someone goes to see their family doctor, and the doctor realizes it is something they cannot take care of themselves, they send the patient to a specialist. The specialist may recommend some treatment. I do not know if members know the number, but the wait time is six months. That is the longest it has been in 30 years.
What is perhaps an even sadder statistic is that five million Canadians do not have access to primary care, with perhaps 130,000 in my own province of Nova Scotia. We know there are 1.228 million people waiting for procedures in Canada.
We could also look at diagnostic imaging. For folks out there who may not know what that means, it is CAT scans, MRIs and regular X-rays. We know those wait times are the longest they have been in forever.
What else do we know? We know we have drug shortages in this country. We brought Health Canada and the minister to the health committee to talk about the shortages of pediatric ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and what answers did we get? We got absolutely none. They said they were going to work on it and maybe get some in, but we know that when people go to their pharmacies, the cupboards are still bare.
What else do we know? We know there are critical drug shortages of every pediatric oral antibiotic that, if I was working as a family doctor, I would prescribe for children with bacterial infections. We know that every one of them is short. As I said previously, we also know, from the words of Dr. Katharine Smart, former Canadian Medical Association president, that we are in a system on the brink of collapse.
What else do we know? After eight years of the Liberal government, we know, as I mentioned right off the top, that people are dying in emergency rooms around this country. Somebody died in my own riding in Amherst in the emergency room, a lady named Holthoff. It is a sad state of affairs. There are no words to describe that. Those are things that should not be happening in Canada.
We know, after eight years of the Liberal government, that the Prime Minister refused to meet with premiers. When he eventually met with them and gave them a package, he said, “Here is your money. Hit the road. I don't want to hear any of your talk about this anymore.”
We know there is a significant crisis in the health care system, and we know that right now it is borne on the backs of the folks who continue to work on it, folks whom I have had the privilege and opportunity to work with. We know that if we do not operationalize our ideas in this great House, nothing is going to change. That is the sad concern I have: that nothing is going to change and we are going to continue down the same path we are on. We need to have great leadership in this country, and right now we do not have it.
I will end with an interesting take on this. If someone wants a solution to health care, they should elect a Conservative government.
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- Apr/26/22 12:53:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always an extreme pleasure to rise here in the House of Commons to represent the good people of Cumberland—Colchester as we debate the spend-DP-Liberal budget of 2022. I think it is important to understand this budget in the context of my province, my riding and my constituents, and of course to understand the budget itself.
My home province of Nova Scotia is mentioned four times in the 300-odd pages of the budget and the gazillion other pages. There is a discussion about twinning parts of the Trans-Canada Highway, a reference to remaining project funding through the failed Canada Infrastructure Bank and a reference to a Nova Scotia agreement on offshore revenues. I am not sure the relevance of all those things. The final reference is about the shortage of doctors and nurses in Nova Scotia. We all know the Prime Minister promised 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners, whom he is going to create out of thin air, but that has not materialized. Sadly, 88,000 Nova Scotians do not have a family physician. We also know very clearly that we are short 60,000 to 70,000 nurses in the entire country. We have that burden as well.
Sadly, despite requests by all the premiers unanimously, there is no funding committed for an increase in the Canada health transfer. The Liberals did talk about loan forgiveness for physicians and nurses, but they must agree to work in rural or remote areas. Physicians can easily, as I well know, accumulate 250,000 dollars' worth of debt during their education, and the proposed loan forgiveness of $60,000 seems woefully inadequate.
Another major concern in my riding of Cumberland—Colchester is agriculture. Aside from the government's bungled creation of the potato wart problem due to its ineptitude in its relationship with the United States, there is no other mention of agriculture in budget 2022. In Canada, we have eight agricultural colleges, and in my riding we have one. The fact that there is no mention of agriculture in the budget and no funding for agriculture is just a sad misplacement of priorities.
We also know that this comes at a time when Canada could play a significant role on the world stage with respect to feeding the world. This great responsibility comes in relation to Russia's illegal war on Ukraine, which my colleague spoke about in depth. The opportunities that exist now for Canadian farmers come at a time when fuel prices are at an all-time high in the history of our nation. Of course, there is also an unfair tax on fertilizer that the government continues to place against farmers. This is a gross abuse of our farmers at a time when the potential for feeding the world is at an all-time high, and sadly we wonder whether Canada is going to be able to participate in that at all.
The budget speaks a bit about the environment and climate change. We are unsure of how this is going to relate to Nova Scotia, with the vague wording in the budget of “proactive management of marine emergencies and...more types of pollution”. I do have an idea of what that means, but certainly there is no proverbial meat on the bones to help people understand how that may relate to Nova Scotia.
There is no mention at all of climate change as it relates to the Isthmus of Chignecto, which I have had the pleasure to speak about here in the House before. We know this is a vital land link that links Canada to the great province of Nova Scotia. There is no mention of that and we know it is a climate emergency waiting to happen.
We also know in Nova Scotia, and hopefully my colleague from Winnipeg knows this as well, that seniors are important to all Canadians and certainly to those of us in Nova Scotia. The crisis that seniors are dealing with now, the affordability crisis, does not appear to be talked about in the budget either. There is no new financing added to the cheques of seniors. It is sad. The budget does mention undertaking another study, spending money that could easily be put in the pockets of seniors for a yet-to-be-named aging at home benefit. There does appear to be financing for seniors who need to make their home more accessible and for projects allowing seniors to participate in their communities more fully. However, as we know, this does not put oil in their tanks, gas in their cars or food in their bellies.
There is absolutely no financial relief for the seniors who helped build this great nation. Indeed, the budget has the audacity to say that Canadians who are seniors “do not have to worry about the value of their benefits keeping pace with inflation”. I find that hard to believe. It goes on to say, “the share of seniors in poverty is only about half that of the overall population”. Is that something to brag about? I am not entirely sure it is. Is that really the ambitious goal the government has set? Does it believe it is okay for our seniors or any Canadian to live in poverty? I should think not.
This leads me to speak, in a very personal way, about Daniel, who reached out and wrote to me about his budget. He really wanted me to speak about the affordability crisis in the House of Commons, which of course we know is ongoing for many Canadians. He came to my office last week when we were home on constituency week and gave me a budget for his monthly income of less than $800.
Daniel is a frugal guy. He has a mortgage of $547. He has life insurance on his home at $35, car insurance at $84, insurance on the house itself at $125 and bank fees of $20. Phone, cable and Internet are, shockingly, $230 per month, property insurance is $35, life insurance for himself is $100 and medical insurance is $140, plus $10 a month for each medication, and he is on eight of them. His power bill is $200 per month, and on top of all of this are groceries and gas. Without any food or any gasoline for his vehicle, Daniel is paying out about $1,596 per month. He is, of course, struggling to pay his bills on his $800 monthly income, but fortunately for him, his wife can work a bit as well to help support the family.
As members can imagine, in this household there is no money left over for any extras. There is no frivolous spending. There are no extras at the grocery store. He has reduced his trips to town for groceries and other essentials to once a month, which saves on his gasoline bill since he is not going to town as much. There is no mass transit where Daniel lives, and I am not entirely sure, when I look at this meagre budget, where he might cut things out.
We are all beginning to realize that this is “just incredible”. It is really “just inconvenient”, and for some it is “just inconceivable” how we are now in a life affordability crisis.
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- Apr/6/22 3:05:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Prime Minister has not met his commitment to Canadians for 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. Oddly enough, at the health committee, we heard from the College of Family Physicians of Canada that we need at least 3,000 to 4,000 family doctors alone. Also, the Canadian Nurses Association states we are short about 60,000 nurses.
In this budget, will the spend-DP-Liberal Prime Minister admit he is failing Canadians from Springhill to Tidnish, to Stewiacke, all of Nova Scotia and all Canadians, and commit to sustainable and predictable health care funding?
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- Dec/3/21 2:04:44 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-3
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague opposite for his understanding as a physician.
Canadians, as we know, are facing significant health care provider shortages. In primary care in Nova Scotia, for instance, we are lacking care for approximately 100,000 Nova Scotians. Some of the estimates around nursing would suggest that we are short 70,000 nurses. I do not know how we are going to replace them. However, I do think there is some great information out there.
Again, as my colleague would suggest, it is going to take the effort of the entire House to correct this problem. I am not entirely sure that the Prime Minister's promise of 7,500 health care providers is going to be enough. It will take a lot of creative solutions to come up with that, but I am happy to work with my colleague opposite on the problem.
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- Dec/3/21 1:54:21 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-3
Madam Speaker, I want to make something clear to my colleagues. The reason I decided to change my profession as a front-line health care worker was to come here to Ottawa. I have been married for 31 years to my wife, Deborah, who is a pharmacist. I also have a daughter who is a paramedic, so this bill has really important meaning for me.
I wanted to come here to help create good laws, such as the one around conversion therapy, which we all worked on together. I wanted to help support my constituents to live their version of the Canadian dream, which I have been very fortunate to be able to do. I also want to help return Canada to its rightful place on the world stage, having had the opportunity to serve our great country in the Royal Canadian Air Force for nine years as a flight surgeon. Being here today to speak to a bill to protect health care workers and patients alike, so they can give and receive the care they need and desire, is truly an honour.
This is indeed a terrible situation. It is one I have experienced personally, and it is one I have seen other people experience. The abuse is mainly verbal abuse, threats and sexual harassment. As I mentioned, there are health care heroes. At the beginning of the pandemic, health care heroes were ready to give their lives for the sake of their patients. I think I talked about this in one of my other speeches.
I have often thought about this: Why do some people run into burning buildings and others run away? That is a real characterization of primary care providers and first responders alike.
They provide life-saving procedures and care to many people who perhaps are not ready to receive that type of care and do not know what type of illness they have. My dear colleagues should think of this: When the pandemic began, there was a significant fear that we would get the virus, as front-line health care workers, and perhaps die from it. However, the worse fear was thinking we were going to take it home to our loved ones. I can remember taking three showers a day when I worked on the COVID unit and thinking I would lose layers of skin so that I would not take it home to my family. Also, a lot of us lived separately. Several of my colleagues bought recreational vehicles to live in the driveways of their homes.
I think that COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of health care providers and the care they provide. Our colleague from Winnipeg North talked a little about this. Sadly, though, COVID-19 has also contributed to a mental health decline among health professionals. As we know, violence against health care workers is on the rise, and it often begins at the bedside in hospitals. Sadly, it is often gender-based and racially motivated, although certainly not always.
I can give examples of violence I have witnessed from patients who were admitted to the emergency room, and in my own office. Fortunately, in my office it was often characterized by foul language and demands toward my front-office staff. I want to make it clear to people that in no way, shape or form did I find this tolerable, and I made that clear to those folks who wanted to purport that.
In my opinion, the reason for this rise in violence is multifactorial. It is related to access to our systems. It is sometimes related to things like dementia or unhappiness with the health care system, which is suffering greatly; to differing opinions on the type of care people should have, or desire to have; to the mental health changes associated with isolation, fear, sadness and irritation; or to following multiple rules and mandates and uncertainty.
I have to be clear that some of these things have been made even worse by my colleagues across the aisle with their mandates and uncertain rules for people, as well as by their lack of clarity. Unfortunately, through social media the good graces that many in my age grew up with are gone. That is not to be disparaging to younger folks. That is unfair, but many of those good graces are gone and that is spilling over into real life. It is not just in the virtual world. That, too, makes me sad.
This is also exacerbated by the 24-hour news cycle and the need to report and dissect stories and positions by pundits, politicians, professors and profilers. Does this matter? I think it does matter, because if we also do not examine the root causes of why these people feel like they are not being heard and need to act in the ways we are seeing, then we are not going to be able to act as a good government, make good policies and give folks better direction.
Why does someone become a health care worker? Why do people work in nursing homes and emergency rooms and provide in-patient care? Why is someone a health care technician, nurse, physician, pharmacist or paramedic? The unifying idea here is that they want to help people. They think it is very important that they see people who are sick and unwell, and they are caring at heart. They want to help people get through those difficult times in their lives, whether through things like bereavement, a surgical illness or mental health illness, they want to be there to help.
I also want to make it clear to my colleagues that unfortunately this type of abuse is not only directed at frontline health care workers. We have also seen it directed toward policy-makers. In my own province of Nova Scotia, we have seen Dr. Robert Strang, our chief medical officer of health, subjected to these types of actions. We have also noted that Dr. Theresa Tam has been subjected to it. We know our own colleague, the shadow minister for natural resources and former shadow minister for health, suffered threats and humiliation.
What is important here is giving good direction and clear advice to Canadians, but also to come at that, as we have often talked about here in the House over the last several days, from a position of caring and concern for our colleagues and for all Canadians, and to give them a voice so that we can hear their issues. It is somewhat counterproductive to alienate millions of unvaccinated Canadians with more and more restrictive mandates. Unfortunately, we do hear from them over and over that they are losing their jobs, they are losing their pensions, they are concerned about losing their house and how they are going to provide for their family. Those are not the types of policies that are going to help us fix this situation.
I watched the news the other day. I did hear one pastor say that unfortunately there are people out there who are going to dig their heels in all the way to their necks. We need to support the right to lawful association and for the right to express alternate opinions. As we will likely see in debates coming up in this House in the future, we know that free speech needs to be defended. In the immortal words of Voltaire, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” Colleagues, this is not about restricting the right to protest. It is about ensuring the manner in which it is done does not harm another person.
On the second part of this bill and being a rookie politician, I am not sure how well they go together or how much it will add to those folks who already have significant federal benefits. I do get concerned about the trickle-down effects this may have on provincial governments and small businesses. We know that small businesses are essential to our economy moving forward, especially in this time of significant inflation, and that is going to be important as we go forward.
I am not entirely sure what the benefit is of having these two together and what benefit the second part of the bill is going to provide. Certainly, it is a worthwhile bill to present and to send it off to committee for further study.
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