SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Member of Parliament

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Liberal
  • Beaches—East York
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 64%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $123,505.63

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 291 - Mar/19/24
Mr. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches—East York, Lib.)
  • Mar/19/24 4:16:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the member's mentioning those people in desperate need and the need to help them. I co-chair the all-party anti-poverty caucus, and that has been a major focus of mine since 2015. We know by the numbers that the price on pollution has a very small impact on the cost of living, especially food inflation. Food inflation has been 20% over the last two years, which is a real problem, but the price on pollution amounts to well under 1% of that. Using common sense, what common-sense measure, specifically on helping those in need, would the member like to see that would have an actual measurable impact on those people he ostensibly cares about?
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Context: House Hansard - 111 - Oct/17/22
Mr. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches—East York, Lib.)
  • Oct/17/22 3:33:19 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-22 
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Châteauguay—Lacolle. Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Poverty reduction is an issue I have worked hard to address in Parliament, including as co-chair of our all-party anti-poverty caucus. That notion of “all-party” on this issue has always been an important one because the idea of dignity and equality of opportunity for all should transcend any partisan politics. We have seen significant progress since 2015, thanks in large part to the Canada child benefit, as well as increases to GIS for seniors and the workers benefit. With respect to StatsCan’s numbers, poverty levels have gone from 14.5% in 2015 to 10.3% in 2019 to 6.4% in 2020. Of course, the 2020 levels were reached due to extraordinary pandemic income supports that have fallen away. On top of that, with the rising cost of living, many more people are being left behind than we see reflected in those 2020 numbers. It goes without saying that there remains much more work to do and the next step in that work needs to be realizing the proposed Canada disability benefit as ambitiously as possible. People with disabilities are consistently overrepresented in our national poverty numbers and that needs to change. Bill C-22 will establish the Canada disability benefit, with the goal of reducing poverty and supporting the financial security of working-age persons with disabilities. I want to see the bill realized yesterday. However, it is not enough to support the legislation. Finance needs to step up here too. The cost of poverty to our society is greater than the cost of ending poverty. Finance needs to understand that basic idea and do the right thing in realizing the promise of Bill C-22. I am going to cede the rest of my time for questions because I want to send this bill to committee as quickly as possible. I encourage all of my colleagues to work together in supporting this bill.
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