The House resumed consideration of the motion that this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the government and of the amendment.
:
Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to contribute to this debate today in support of budget 2024.
The budget aims to make our country fairer for everyone, for all generations. As one of the younger MPs in this place, I have heard countless times from people my age and younger how difficult it is for them to visualize the future they had always imagined for themselves.
Millennials and gen Zs are the first generations who are not doing better than their parents. They grew up with a promise that they can do well in school, work hard, get a good job and live a great life. Today's economy is proving all of that to be difficult. Many did really well in school and have great jobs, yet they are still finding it difficult to make ends meet.
Many of my friends, my age and younger, still live with their parents because they cannot afford to buy their own place. At this point, rent is so expensive that it simply is not worth it. Young Canadians are having a hard time getting approved for a mortgage, and some are requiring their parents to act as guarantors. That is if they are lucky enough to come from a family who is well off enough to provide that signature.
This has to change. The backbone of our economy is our youth. They are our present and our future, and they deserve their hard work to pay off. They deserve at least the same opportunities as their parents and grandparents had in order to achieve a good life.
This is why our government put in place, in the last couple of years, the tax-free first home savings account to make it easier for Canadians to save for their first homes. Up to now, over 750,000 Canadians have opened an account to save money to put into a down payment faster, with the help of tax relief.
Budget 2024 proposes an additional support for Canadians to be able to afford a home faster. First off, we know that for homes to become more affordable we need to increase supply. Budget 2024 would include an additional investment of $15 billion in new loan funding for the apartment construction loan program, bringing the program's total to $55 billion since 2017. This new investment would help build more than 30,000 additional homes across the country.
Budget 2024 would also top up the housing accelerator fund to increase the supply of housing faster. This fund would work with municipalities to cut red tape and to fast-track the creation of at least 100,000 new homes across Canada. The investment in budget in 2024 is $400 million over four years and would help fast-track 12,000 new homes in three years.
Another measure that would be extended for an additional two years is the ban on foreign buyers of Canadian homes. People who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents would continue to be prohibited from buying homes in Canada, as this practice has brought up the value of our homes.
While building new homes is a longer-term solution to bringing down the cost of housing, there are other ways that budget 2024 would aim to help young Canadians buy and keep their first homes. The budget proposes to enhance the Canadian mortgage charter in several ways. It would allow a five-year increase of the amortization period, allowing for a 30-year amortization for first-time homebuyers purchasing newly built homes and making it possible for more young Canadians to qualify for and afford their monthly mortgage payments.
For those who already have a mortgage and whose terms are coming to an end, renewing one's mortgage with today's rates seems quite daunting. However, the Canadian government will be working toward making permanent amortization relief available to protect homeowners who meet specific criteria. Eligible homeowners would be able to reduce their monthly mortgage payment to an amount they can afford for as long as they need to. This would give them an opportunity to stay in their homes for longer.
While housing is one of the most important points in budget 2024, I would like to turn to a few other great supports for Canadians that would be funded in this budget. I will not spend too much time talking about the national school food program because I have already spoken about it at length in this place. I could not be happier that this investment of $1 billion to help kids eat a healthy meal at school has seen the light of day. The only private member's bill I have ever had the opportunity to present in this place, in my time as an MP, was on this very program, because as a teacher, I know just how badly it is needed.
Budget 2024 proposes an investment of $1 billion over five years for the federal government to work with provinces, territories and indigenous partners to expand access to school food programs, with support beginning as early as the new school year. The program is expected to provide meals for more than 400,000 kids each year and is expected to save the average participating family with two children as much as $800 per year in grocery costs, with lower-income families benefiting the most.
Also incredibly important is that the federal government recently introduced legislation that would help make essential medications more accessible and affordable for Canadians, which is a landmark move toward building a national pharmacare program that is comprehensive, inclusive and fiscally sustainable. Bill , the pharmacare act, describes the federal government's intent to work with provinces and territories to provide universal, single-payer coverage for a number of contraception and diabetes medications. Now, budget 2024 proposes to provide $1.5 billion over five years to help Canada support the launch of the national pharmacare program.
We also need more support for persons with disabilities who face significant barriers to financial security, Budget 2024 proposes funding of $6.1 billion over six years and $1.4 billion per ongoing year for a new Canada disability benefit, with payments to eligible Canadians, which would start in July 2025. The Canada disability benefit would establish an important support for persons with disabilities and would ensure a fairer chance for persons with disabilities. It would fill a gap in the federal government's social safety net and is intended to supplement, not to replace, existing provincial and territorial income support measures.
Another aspect I was thrilled to see in budget 2024 is continued mental health support for our young people. The budget proposes an investment of $500 million over five years, beginning in 2024-25, with the goal of reducing wait times and providing more options for youth in need of mental health care. The reason this is so important is that 32% of young people who seek mental health support are unable to access care because of the cost. Whether we are talking about mental health issues brought on by the pandemic or those brought on by the postpandemic economy, gen Z needs that extra help, and the government is here to provide it.
We know that Canada's success, now and tomorrow, depends on the success of its youngest generations, but too many young people feel as though the reward for hard work, which is a secure, prosperous, comfortable middle-class life, is out of reach. For students, even with increases in financial supports, many still need more help to cover rising costs. Budget 2024 announces the government's intention to extend, for an additional year, the increase in full-time Canada student grants from $3,000 to $4,200 per year and interest-free Canada student loans from $210 to $300 per week, in time for the new school year. With this change, Canada's student grants will have doubled in size since 2014.
Grants for part-time students, students with disabilities and students with dependents would also be increased proportionately. Increased grants would support 587,000 students, and increased interest-free loans would support 652,000 students, with a combined $7.3 billion for the upcoming academic year. However, since federal student grants and loans are intended to help cover the cost of shelter, the formula used to estimate students' housing costs has not bee updated since 1998.
Budget 2024 proposes to modernize the shelter allowances used by the Canada student financial assistance program when determining financial need. This new approach would provide additional student aid to approximately 79,000 students each year. The government would also incentivize post-secondary institutions to build more student housing, and would provide the low-cost financing needed so that more students could find an affordable place to call home.
To aid the transition from school to the work world, work-integrated learning opportunities, such as co-ops and internships, are a proven way for post-secondary students to gain the valuable skills, education and real-life experience necessary to get good-paying jobs in important and growing fields.
To create more work-integrated learning opportunities for post-secondary students, budget 2024 proposes to provide $207.6 million for the student work placement program, which has already created over 192,000 work opportunities for post-secondary students since 2017-18. Likewise, the government would invest to create more youth job opportunities to build their skills and to gain meaningful work experience, which will be critical to Canada's economic growth potential in the years to come.
To create 90,000 youth job placements and employment support opportunities, budget 2024 proposes to provide $351.2 million for the youth employment and skills strategy. This includes $200.5 million for Canada summer jobs, including in sectors facing critical labour shortages, and $150.7 million for the youth employment and skills strategy program.
We cannot ignore those younger Canadians who choose to work for themselves and to launch their own businesses, which is an important part of a growing economy. To empower young entrepreneurs, budget 2024 proposes to provide $60 million over five years for Futurpreneur Canada, a national not-for-profit organization that would provide young entrepreneurs with access to financing, mentorship and other business supports to help them launch and grow their businesses.
I can see that my time is up, so I would like to wrap up by saying once more that I support budget 2024.
:
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for .
Just before I begin debate, I would like to wish a happy graduation to my niece. She has worked hard and deserves all life has to offer, and Auntie Tracy is proud of her.
I rise today on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country to speak to the 2024 budget, one of the most consequential pieces of legislation the House of Commons debates every year. This is now the ninth year the NDP-Liberal government has chosen to run deficits in its budget. I was in my community all last week meeting with businesses and not-for-profit organizations and attending all kinds of events. I had days with back-to-back meetings with people who reached out. Not one person said they were happy with the Liberals' budget.
One resident said the budget is like throwing spaghetti at a wall. Another said her family has lived in the Okanagan for generations and now the whole extended family is considering leaving Canada as no one can get ahead. Another person explained how moderately successful people who have worked hard and followed all the rules are being crushed by the government. A small business owner said, “So much for building up my small business to fund my retirement.”
For nine years, the Liberal government, propped up by the NDP, chose together to double the size of the federal debt, which is on track to lead to a generational debt crisis for the children of today and tomorrow. Together, those parties chose to support expensive, third-party consultants, at the same time as seeing a decline in accountability in federal department services, with many departments not meeting their own minimum service standards. They chose together to increase taxes, including the carbon tax, excise tax and payroll tax.
What are the results of the Liberals being propped up by the NDP? It is a cost of living crisis that is destroying the spending power of working-class families and causing a record number of Canadians to have to go to the food bank. People are losing hope.
After nine years of the , it now takes the same amount of time to save for a down payment on the average home that it used to take to pay it off. People have a lower quality of life than previous generations. People have more mental health and addiction issues than at any time in the past.
I was hopeful that the Liberal ministers, in their ninth year of government, might listen to Canadians.
Conservatives were clear about what we wanted in this budget in order to support it. We wanted the government to axe the tax on farmers and food by immediately passing Bill in its original form, which would give farmers in my community and across the country much-needed tax relief. We wanted the Liberals to build homes, not bureaucracy, by requiring cities to permit 15% more homebuilding each year as a condition for receiving federal infrastructure funding. We wanted the government to cap its wasteful spending with a dollar-for-dollar rule to bring down interest rates and inflation, which presently impacts Canadians in many ways, including mortgage renewals.
Just like a family managing its household budget, Ottawa should always look to find a dollar in savings before looking for a dollar in new spending. Sadly, the NDP-Liberal government did not meet any of these common-sense requests. The has again chosen the same inflationary deficits that have pushed Canadians into a cost of living crisis.
In listening to the present her budget, I was particularly struck by one line. In her budget speech, the Minister of Finance discussed the importance of not passing on ballooning debt to our children. That is exactly what the budget does.
That is what the NDP-Liberal government has been doing for nine years; just look at the numbers. Budget 2024 forecasts that the federal debt will rise to $1.2 trillion this year and the interest Canadians will pay in servicing that debt will increase to $54 billion this fiscal year. That is more than the government intends to spend on provincial health care transfers.
The budget also shows that the government raised $51 billion in revenue from GST last year. That means that every cent of GST that every Canadian, business or not-for-profit organization may pay on the products and services they buy will not go toward a single government service program. It does not matter if someone buys a key chain or a car. If they pay the government GST, it will not be used to pay for roads, health care or armed forces. Instead, that amount will be used solely to pay the interest on the government's credit card.
Canada is not paying down its debt. Canada is paying the interest on our debt, while the debt still grows. That means these payments will only increase by a projected $54 billion again next year, $57 billion the year after, $60 billion after that and $64 billion after that. From now until the end of this decade, taxpayers will provide the government with $289 billion, which would not be used to pay for any public services Canadians depend on.
As the shadow minister for persons with disabilities, I have been greatly concerned with the government's string of broken promises regarding the Canada disability benefit, which all parties in the House supported. The Liberal will not even acknowledge that persons with disabilities are in a cost of living crisis.
I asked her three times yesterday at the human resources committee, and the most she would say is that it has been “a challenging time”. We heard testimony during the Canada disability benefit legislation at the human resources committee that persons with disabilities were considering medical assistance in dying because they could not afford to live.
The Liberal government's pushing off implementation until late into 2025, with a peek into the limited regulations and amounts that might be, saw widespread backlash from my local residents and from national groups representing persons with disabilities. Many persons with disabilities are already among the hardest hit by the cost of living crisis, but apparently the does not agree.
Five years of Liberal minister photo ops and announcements on this benefit have produced another broken promise. Ironically, the NDP-Liberal government's 2024 budget title is “Fairness for Every Generation.” Skyrocketing federal debt will consume more of our tax dollars, while potentially threatening future social, environmental or security initiatives. This is not worth the cost to any generation, and it certainly is not fair to young adults and kids who will bear the brunt of paying the debt down.
This unwavering commitment to higher debt and deficits has characterized the Liberal government's last nine years. We have seen a doubling of rent, mortgage payments and down payments. There are reports of people not meeting the mortgage stress test and having to sell their homes to rent, only to find rent to be more expensive than their mortgage payment. It is a real concern that there is a big wave of both residential and commercial renewals coming this summer. Insolvencies are already increasing.
This budget projects unemployment to rise to 6.5% this year. Despite the telling us, at the human resources committee in December, that he had a plan to address it. We have not seen that plan.
All these issues are not coincidences. They are the consequences of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal deficits driving up costs.
David Dodge, the former Liberal-appointed governor of the Bank of Canada, said that this budget is the worst he has seen since 1982. The previous finance minister, Bill Morneau, has also criticized it. The Bank of Canada and former Liberal finance minister, John Manley, both confirmed that the federal Liberal government's deficit spending was pressing on the inflationary gas pedal, forcing the Bank of Canada to balloon interest rates.
Liberal ministers have been travelling the country to create photo ops for their new spending. However, new spending outlined in budget 2024 would not meaningfully impact consumer costs if inflation is not brought under control, therefore, lowering interest rates. The government, at the same time, continues to increase taxes. Rising food and gas prices are predicted to rise through 2024.
I have no confidence in the government. My Conservative colleagues and I will vote against the Liberal government's ninth deficit-and-debt budget.
:
Madam Speaker, I would like to echo the question that the member from Calgary just asked about being in the riding. I was not in his riding; I was in my own. However, in all the years I have been involved in politics, I think I have never had such an outpouring of negative commentary about the current state of affairs and the current government. Likely, if they were in their riding last week, all 338 MPs heard the same thing.
This budget is called “Fairness for Every Generation”, and I would argue that it has been many generations since life has felt this unfair, if members hear what I am saying. I would think the reason is that every age group has been negatively impacted by the current government over the last nine years. Seniors who retired within the last 10 years, who had saved money, who had paid off their home and who figured their money would last them until they no longer needed it, are now in peril. That is now, for the first time, a question mark. Will they have enough to retire? Maybe a place where they are paying rent, if they sold their home and moved into an apartment or wherever they chose to live, was $1,200 or $1,500 a month. In my area, for example, it is over $2,000 a month now. A number of different components of high government spending have negatively impacted seniors.
For families, whether it is a couple looking to have kids or a couple who has kids, whatever the kids' ages are, there are unbelievable skyrocketing costs. For people driving their kids back and forth to hockey, baseball, soccer or whatever they are doing, it is monumental how much things cost now. High government spending, out-of-control deficits, out-of-control debt and increasing interest rates have led to probably the most unfair period of time, at least in my lifetime and likely beyond that.
Back in 2015, this is what former prime minister Stephen Harper wrote about what the Liberals would do: “Permanent deficits, higher taxes, and more debt, as proposed by the Liberals and the NDP, will wreck our economy, cost you money and possibly your job.” Can members imagine? He said that over nine years ago. He predicted this. He knew what the and his staff behind him, pushing all the buttons, would do. They were going to spend, spend, spend and destroy 20 years' worth of fiscal stewardship that would have led Canada to be among the elite in the world. That is what Stephen Harper said in 2015. He also said that “imposing carbon [tax] schemes” would “[drive] up the price of everything Canadian families buy—including gasoline, groceries, and home heating fuel.
It is easy for us to be the Monday-morning quarterback now and say “of course this is what has happened”, but this is what Stephen Harper said nine years ago. He knew all this was going to happen. It was very obvious. The Liberals have done that. They have increased costs.
I was at an annual general meeting earlier in the year, and the president and general manager of the co-op was commenting on the price of fuel, because the co-op sells fuel. It also sells propane to people who heat their homes with propane and to farmers as well. The general manager looks at the bills to see how bad they are. He was not making a political statement because I was there; he does not owe me anything. All he said was that, from his perspective, the single biggest and kindest thing the government could do for families in Huron—Bruce and across the country would be to get rid of the carbon tax and come right off it.
However, the Liberals continue to pile-drive on Canadian families and price people right out of homes. In fact, Liberal members of Parliament are getting up and giving speeches admitting that constituents in their riding who would have been able to afford homes 15 years ago cannot afford homes now. They are living in basements. One Liberal member of Parliament said as much.
I would also like to go back in time to when Jim Flaherty was the finance minister. He was probably amongst the best finance ministers of all time, if not the best. When he would deliver his budget, it was called an economic action plan. It was a plan to boost productivity, make economic gain, keep an eye on the government's finances, look at trade deals and grow the wealth of all Canadians. We have all heard the story about the high tide that lifts all boats and makes everybody do better. That is really what a Jim Flaherty budget was about.
We are so far from that today. If we go back in time to when Jim Flaherty was the finance minister, a young couple could buy a home. They could afford the down payment. They could see the day down the road when they could likely retire. Their parents, who were in their fifties at the time, could also see the day they could retire. That is now all up in smoke because of nine years of high-flying spending.
Pretty well everybody in here knows this by now, I would imagine, but we might as well review. When the Liberals were elected and were brought in, there was a balanced budget. There was a modest surplus after the great economic downturn of 2007, 2008 and 2009. There was approximately $600 billion in government debt. Today, the gross debt of this country is perilously close to $2 trillion. That is unbelievable. It is a blemish that will be on the government's legacy for all time. There is a deficit of $47 billion, which will go up between now and the end of the fiscal year for sure.
With respect to the debt-to-GDP ratio, in 2015, it was 31% and was coming down. It was 32% or 33% the year before, and it went down to 31%. Now our debt-to-GDP ratio, according to the numbers, is 42%. It is not quite a 50% disaster, but it is definitely going in the wrong direction.
I know the always says that when we compare it to the other G7 countries, we look great. If we are comparing ourselves to the worst managers of finance, maybe we do look good, I do not know, but I would not compare myself to the United States fiscally. I would not compare Canada's finances to those of Japan. Its finances are toast. It is manipulating its currency and interest rates. The United States has $34 trillion in debt. When Bill Clinton left office 20-something years ago, it was at $7 trillion and it was on its way to paying off all the debt. That is gone. It is adding a trillion dollars of debt every quarter. That is called a debt, or death, spiral. This is a perilous time. The should not say that we look great compared with the other G7 countries, because we should be comparing ourselves to what it looked like eight or nine years ago and be ashamed of our fiscal record. That is what she should look at. It is kind of like one's golf game. We do not compare it to our buddies' games, but to our own.
Another thing we have heard about is the AAA credit rating. RBC just said that Canada's AAA rating is in trouble because of the spending; it can be downgraded. B.C. has been downgraded three times in three years and now sits at an AA-.
The last point I will make before I turn it over is that we are entering into a period of what I call the trifecta of trouble because of this. We have backed ourselves into a corner with inflation, interest rates, mortgage rates and the Canadian dollar. If we have to raise rates because inflation is a little sticky, then the interest rates are going up, which will further compress the housing problem, as well as the Canadian dollar.
Maybe in questions and answers, we can look into that further. I appreciate the time and look forward to questions.
:
Madam Speaker, I rise in the House today to discuss our government's priorities in budget 2024. I will be splitting my time with the member for .
In my speech today I want to focus on certain priority areas for my residents in Brampton South that I believe this budget responds well to. As I met with families, businesses and organizations in my riding, I have heard about serious issues and challenges that they wanted their federal government to address. Issues such as addressing auto theft, implementing national pharmacare and supporting our youth, seniors and families are just some of the concerns I have heard from my residents. I am going to highlight some effective advocacy of the members on this side of the House that has helped us achieve important progress and fairness in Brampton and for millions of Canadians.
Let me start with the response to auto theft. I have heard through consultation, as well as on the doorsteps of my residents, that we need to work together with all levels of government to urgently respond to this issue. This is exactly what we are doing.
Hundreds of cars have been stolen. Auto theft is not a victimless crime. It harms thousands of Canadians every year. No one should wake up to discover the car they use to get to work, school or the grocery store has been taken from them. This is why the Liberal government is cracking down on auto theft with a robust plan to make it harder to steal and export vehicles.
Members of the 905 caucus, the auto caucus and the Brampton caucus have also advocated for tougher penalties for the offenders, something we have heard from our local law enforcement. This is why the government is also moving forward with harsher penalties under the Criminal Code for those who commit an auto theft-related offence.
Budget 2024 announces the government's intent to amend the Criminal Code to provide additional tools for law enforcement and prosecutors to address auto theft. New criminal offences will be created related to auto theft, such as possession of an electronic device used to steal cars, and new offences for those who involve youth in their crimes.
Most stolen cars leave our country through the ports, and this is where we are putting our attention. Earlier this year, I attended the national summit on combatting auto theft where we raised the concerns of our residents about making sure we take measures to secure our ports. One of the key resolutions of the summit was the commitment of Transport Canada to work with public safety partners to identify cargo-handling risks through targeted security assessments of port facilities.
CBSA has been an important partner in fighting auto theft. Our local Peel Regional Police has one of the largest investigative teams in the country, and we are directing our federal agencies through this funding to increase collaboration on investigations. This includes exploring detection technology solutions and exploring the use of advanced analytical tools, such as artificial intelligence. We will continue our work to protect Canadian families.
Speaking of Canadian families, this budget reinforces an important national program that has already been delivering for thousands of Canadians, which is child care. Before I go any further, I want to recognize the work of our status of women committee on this file in our ongoing study on women's economic empowerment. I also want to take a moment to thank all members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for their hard work.
It is important to do everything we can to support our children. That is why the government launched a Canada-wide affordable child care system in 2021, with the final agreement announced in my riding of Brampton South. We know that more needs to be done to ensure that even more families are able to secure space for their children. This is why budget 2024 proposes to launch a child care expansion loan program. The program would offer low-cost loans and non-repayable contributions to public and not-for-profit child care providers to build more child care spaces and renovate child care centres. The new child care spaces created through the program would increase access to affordable child care in Brampton and across Canada, saving more families thousands of dollars per child every year.
We know that we need to do more to support our children, as nearly one in four do not get enough food. This has real impacts on their opportunities to grow and learn, which is why the federal government is taking decisive action to launch a new national school food program and work with provinces, territories and indigenous partners to expand access to school food programs. The national school food program is expected to provide meals for more than 400,000 kids each year. This program would ensure that our future generations have what they need to grow and help make Canada a better place for all.
As a mother, I know that it is important for us to support our children when they grow up and start their careers. Those of Canada's generation Z need the confidence of knowing they will find a good job that will help them get ahead. To help younger Canadians pursue and achieve their dreams, the government is investing to create more youth job opportunities and ensure that hard work pays off for the next generation. Budget 2024 is proposing that the Government of Canada creates 90,000 youth job placements across the country. That includes a significant expansion of the Canada summer jobs program and the youth employment and skills strategy program.
This would mean that moms and dads in Brampton could count on the availability of good jobs for their children who are starting their careers. These jobs will help students gain much needed work experience and support in areas facing labour shortages, such as health care or in senior homes. In my riding of Brampton South, I know Holland Christian Homes. There are many senior homes where students have worked before, and they will now have the opportunity to work again.
Speaking of our seniors, we know that, after a lifetime of working hard, Canadians deserve to know they have a secure and comfortable retirement. Their golden years are meant to be spent in retirement with their families. Canada's social safety net delivers the promise of a safe and secure retirement for everyone.
Seniors rely on these investments to keep a roof over their heads and food on their plates. The government's largest program, old age security, will deliver security to more than seven million seniors this year, and our government has increased the maximum GIS benefit for single seniors.
Nine provinces and territories have announced agreements with the federal government so far. We have also been working hard on the aging with dignity agreement, which would provide $5.4 billion to include access to home care. After a lifetime of their hard work and helping Canada through some of its toughest times, we have our seniors' backs.
As chair of the all-party diabetes caucus, I am proud of our government's commitments to the national diabetes framework and launching a national pharmacare program. This is something I have been advocating for since I passed my Bill , an act to establish a national framework for diabetes. Our government is now investing in a national pharmacare strategy with a focus on diabetes medication and supplies.
Budget 2024 proposes to provide 1.5 billion dollars over five years, starting in 2024-25, to Health Canada to support the launch of the national pharmacare plan. This investment would save Canadians thousands of dollars per year on contraceptives, as well as diabetes medication and supplies. Improving access to diabetes medication will help improve the health of millions of Canadians. That will reduce the risk of serious life-threatening health complications.
Budget 2024 is delivering fairness for every generation. That is why I urge all members of Parliament to support the passage of the bill.
:
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.
[Translation]
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.
[English]
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 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 , 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 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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Madam Speaker, I am going to share my time with the member for .
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 , 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 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 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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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 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 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 , 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.