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Results: 61 - 75 of 786
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mona Fortier Profile
2021-06-07 14:20 [p.8016]
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member opposite for giving me another opportunity to discuss our government's growth plan and how it is working for Canadians.
As I am sure the member opposite saw last Friday, Statistics Canada released its Q1 GDP number, and it is good news. The economy grew at the annual rate of 5.6% in the first quarter of the year, much better than the predicted 3.6% growth for Q1 in the budget. Budget 2021 is a growth budget that will deliver for Canadians.
View Candice Bergen Profile
CPC (MB)
View Candice Bergen Profile
2021-06-07 14:20 [p.8017]
Mr. Speaker, it is very sad to see the Liberals so out of touch with the suffering that Canadians are going through. Canadians are running out of hope and they are running out of money. The Liberals have had months to plan a road map to get our economy back on track, but they have failed to act. The U.S. has a 42% vaccine rate where its total population has been vaccinated. Ours is 7.6%. Let us be real: The Liberals have failed on all fronts, and it is Canadians who are paying the price.
Why can the Liberals not give Canadian families and businesses some certainty and present a clear plan to end the lockdowns so Canadians can get back to work?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mona Fortier Profile
2021-06-07 14:21 [p.8017]
Mr. Speaker, let me be perfectly clear that our government will always stand up for Canadian workers and families. We have supported and helped maintain over 5.3 million Canadian jobs through the wage subsidy, and our government intends on extending that vital program through to next summer.
In budget 2021, we announced that we would introduce the Canada recovery hiring program to support eligible employers by providing subsidies to offset a portion of the cost during the reopening and the hiring of more staff. We know there is still much more work to do, and our government will continue to support Canadian workers and families.
View Pat Kelly Profile
CPC (AB)
View Pat Kelly Profile
2021-06-04 11:49 [p.7975]
Madam Speaker, announcements and promises are not a correction mechanism.
Small businesses are drowning in debt and need their customers back. The government's failure to procure vaccines and make prudent use of other tools has kept too many businesses closed for far too long and contributed to the recent brutal jobs numbers.
Will the government finally table a plan for areas under its jurisdiction for a safe and permanent reopening?
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
2021-06-04 11:50 [p.7976]
Madam Speaker, as the member opposite knows, it is the provinces and territories that are responsible for imposing local restrictions that may be affecting our small businesses. What the member opposite should also know is that this federal government has been there since the very beginning in order to support all of our small businesses and all of our entrepreneurs right across the country. We have introduced, of course, the wage subsidy and the rent subsidy, as well as numerous other supports, and extended those supports in the most recent budget.
View Warren Steinley Profile
CPC (SK)
View Warren Steinley Profile
2021-06-04 12:01 [p.7978]
Madam Speaker, the Business Council of Canada says that the government is stifling our economic recovery by not presenting a clear plan to reopen. Now we see, as a direct result of this inaction, 68,000 job losses in May.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has specified what citizens with two doses can and cannot do. Premier Moe has announced that if 70% of people age 12 and up are vaccinated by June 20, all restrictions in Saskatchewan will be lifted by as early as July 11.
Why is the Prime Minister's default position on reopening plans always no? Clearly, he should be thinking more like our Premier Moe. Where is the Prime Minister's national reopening plan?
View Sean Fraser Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Sean Fraser Profile
2021-06-04 12:02 [p.7978]
Madam Speaker, I would be happy to offer the hon. member a basic lesson in civics. It is the responsibility of provincial governments, as he just alluded to in his question, to bear the responsibility for the economic activities that are permissible in a community. Thankfully, his criticism of job numbers is also without merit, as it is a reflection of—
An hon. member: Oh, oh!
Mr. Sean Fraser: —the provincial public health restrictions that have been put in place to keep people safe. He interrupted me because he does not have the ability to remain calm when dealing with facts he does not agree with.
The fact of the matter is that we have had an excellent record to both protect the public health of Canadians and to support them through this pandemic from the very beginning. We will not stop until it is done.
View Kristina Michaud Profile
BQ (QC)
Madam Speaker, I will not beat around the bush. The Bloc Québécois will be voting against Bill C-262. My colleague from Jonquière said as much before me.
We will vote against the bill for one very simple reason. We refuse to provide this type of subsidy for fossil fuels and non-renewable energy. That is what Bill C-262 is about. It is a new subsidy for fossil fuels disguised as a tax credit. Let us be clear. Some subsidies can be effective for fighting climate change. However, tax breaks for carbon capture and storage, which is what Bill C-262 provides, are not effective.
In this case, the captured carbon is actually being used to continue extracting oil and extend the lifespan of aging reservoirs. In addition to being ineffective in terms of protecting the environment, the proposed measure is unfair to taxpayers. Quebeckers' money should not be going to fill the coffers of Canadian oil companies. To encourage businesses to capture and store carbon, we must increase the price per tonne of carbon. It is no secret that there should be a financial cost to polluting for oil companies. Why else would they stop polluting?
If we increase the price per tonne of carbon, that upholds the polluter pays principle. That is the key to an effective environmental policy, but when it comes to the environment, Canada is behaving badly. It is on track to miss its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, and it is failing to reduce its fossil fuel subsidies.
Economic recovery and support for jobs must not come at the expense of climate action. It is high time we invested in a real transition focused on our renewable resources, our knowledge and our regions. That is what an independent Quebec would do, and Canada would be well advised to do the same. Let me get back to Bill C-262.
It is quite clear that the purpose of this bill is to weaken the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. It is no secret that the Conservatives oppose the carbon tax, even if they now claim the opposite.
The numbers speak volumes. The effects of climate change will cost Canada dearly. According to a new report released yesterday that was spearheaded by 20 or so researchers and funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, in addition to multiple environmental threats, climate disruption will also have a major impact on Canadians' health, and that will result in huge costs to society.
In fact, the scientists estimate that the costs of death and lost quality of life will be $86 billion per year by 2050 and $250 billion per year by 2100. That is enormous. They also warn of the effects of the increasingly frequent and severe heat waves happening across the country. The report shows that this widespread increase in temperature will have “a large negative impact on productivity”. The researchers calculate that it could cause the loss of 128 million work hours annually by end of century, which is the equivalent of 62,000 full-time jobs, at a cost of almost $15 billion. Those are frightening numbers.
The climate crisis is not a myth. We must fight it and stop presenting bills like Bill C-262 that only serve to delay debate on tangible, effective solutions for reducing greenhouse gases. The worst part of all this is that we are lagging far behind.
Already, in 2019, a report produced by Environment and Climate Change Canada concluded that Canada's climate was warming twice as fast as the global average and that over the next 10 years, the whole country would be severely affected as the consequences of warming continued to intensify. It is clear that we have not a moment to lose.
The problem with moving forward with carbon capture and storage technologies as proposed in Bill C-262 is that they distract from the need to reduce sources of emissions and divert attention from the actions required to do so quickly and effectively.
The tax credit proposed in Bill C-262 is actually inconsistent with the logic of carbon pricing and the carbon tax. Setting a price on pollution will never be an incentive if the public absorbs the cost of managing emissions. The price on pollution must lead to changes in behaviour and to commitments to start working on an energy transition. Bill C-262 undermines that goal.
With Bill C-262, the Conservatives are once again proposing a solution that socializes the environmental costs of economic activity while retaining the profits and benefits in the private sector, namely the oil companies. What is appalling, not to say completely ridiculous, is that the Conservatives are trying to sell this as an ecological solution to fight climate change when they do not even recognize its existence. If they believed in it, they would bring forward credible, science-based solutions, not bills that seek to destroy the only serious, concrete tool Canada has implemented to reduce its emissions, namely carbon pricing.
Earlier I said that the economic recovery and support for employment must not happen at the expense of the climate, and I want to come back to that because it is a crucial point.
The Bloc Québécois believes that it is quite legitimate for the government to make public expenditures, including tax expenditures, to support employment and the economy. This obviously includes the energy sector, but is not limited to the western oil and gas industries. If Quebec already relies on the production of renewable energy for almost 99% of its needs, Canada also has potential renewable energy and can choose to end its dependency on fossil fuels.
If the government believes that the recovery is an opportunity to accelerate the energy transition, as the Bloc Québécois and Quebec do, federal investments must be made in sectors of the future. Oil is not one of them. Oil is not a renewable energy despite what certain members believe.
In the first months of the pandemic, the Bloc Québécois brainstormed about the type of economy we want for Quebec and how to launch a recovery that serves the transition to a green economy. After extensive consultation throughout Quebec, the Bloc Québécois presented a green recovery plan that includes transferring adequate financial resources to Quebec to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and at the same time prepare for an ambitious green recovery with a focus on the regions.
We are not fooled when a bill like Bill C-262 is introduced in the House. It pretends to be green, but in fact it serves those who oppose the fight against climate change and want to perpetuate Canada's dependence on fossil fuels. We are not fooled when the Liberal government promotes a green image in public, but in fact funds outdated energies to the tune of billions of dollars. I am thinking about Alberta oil. I am thinking about the Trans Mountain pipeline. I am thinking about the transfers to support the offshore oil industry in Newfoundland. These are all examples that clearly illustrate the inconsistency between the Liberals' environmentalist claims and their support for the fossil fuel industry.
The Bloc Québécois will do everything in its power to prevent even more of Quebeckers' money being spent at the expense of the planet, which is what is currently happening. Despite the Prime Minister's rhetoric about climate change and a green recovery, federal subsidies for fossil fuels reached $1.91 billion in 2020. That is an increase of 200% compared to 2019.
The other parties may like to apply a green sheen to their policies, but our support for public-funded environmental measures is based on the intrinsic value of each of those measures. Our challenge for the recovery, in addition to proposing bills that build on the strengths of Quebec and its regions, is to remain vigilant and to oppose false green economy solutions. As for the fossil fuel subsidies, we will oppose them vigorously, every time. We will storm the barricades every time the government tries to use the pandemic to justify them.
View Jeremy Patzer Profile
CPC (SK)
Mr. Speaker, provinces will be reopening soon. There are signs of hope again despite all the many losses associated with COVID-19 and living under prolonged restrictions.
For almost a year and a half now, families, seniors, youth, workers and many vulnerable groups have struggled. Canadians have already been through so much, and there is still a lot of work left to be done. It was always true that when the worst fears and immediate damage from COVID were over, more people would need attention and support as they worked through the aftermath.
A full recovery for Canada will take time and serious effort. It cannot be done without ensuring we bring back the million jobs that were lost. This has to be done in every sector and every region of the country. However, the Prime Minister’s mind is elsewhere, trying to “reimagine” the economy instead of focusing on the basics.
Canadians can count on the Conservatives based on our strong record in the last recession. We will work to make it happen for small business, women, youth and all Canadians in one year.
This is our recovery plan: secure jobs and secure the future.
View Greg McLean Profile
CPC (AB)
Mr. Speaker, Alberta has been an engine of economic growth for our country, but since the Liberals came to power, Albertans have suffered from their failed economic experiments. We suffered through job losses when the Liberals decided to work against Canada's oil and gas industry. During the months of lockdowns and uncertainty, we have experienced the highest unemployment rates in the country. Canadians need a dependable path out of this pandemic and we need a government that is serious about economic recovery.
Canada's Conservatives got Canada out of the last recession and we have a plan to recover the one million jobs lost during the pandemic. We are offering a clear alternative to the risk and uncertainty that is imagined by the Liberal government. The Conservative plan will safely secure our future and deliver economic growth and jobs for Canadian workers and their families. Our work will help those Canadians who have suffered the most during this pandemic and create opportunity in all sectors of the economy and in all parts of the country.
View Mary Ng Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mary Ng Profile
2021-05-31 20:04 [p.7676]
Madam Chair, good evening to all members attending today's committee.
With the rapid rollout of vaccines, I am optimistic that we will be able to reopen our economy, and with the investments we are making in budget 2021, we can look forward to a strong, sustainable and inclusive economic recovery.
Our government's COVID-19 economic response plan has protected millions of jobs, provided emergency supports to countless families and kept businesses afloat throughout the pandemic. We have had the backs of Canadians and businesses since day one.
Budget 2021 sets us up to finish this fight against COVID-19 and to keep Canadians healthy and safe, all the while building a better, fairer and more prosperous future for generations to come. The time to act is now and this budget puts us on the right path. However, this is not 2009. We cannot afford to take a decade to recover from the COVID recession.
We are taking prompt, decisive, responsible action.
We are making ambitious and targeted investments to accelerate job and business growth, driving toward faster recovery than if we did not take any action. This is the most small-business friendly budget in Canadian history.
We are extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy to September, with flexibility to go further than that if public health measures require it.
We are also announcing new supports to bridge the recovery, such as the Canada recovery hiring program, as 500,000 Canadians are still unemployed or have reduced hours because of the pandemic. We will invest $600 million so that businesses can hire more workers or increase hours and compensation for those they already have.
We also announced significant investments to support the success of diverse entrepreneurs through the Black entrepreneurship program, the women entrepreneurship strategy and investments for indigenous entrepreneurs. This is part of the greater action our government is taking to make our economy more inclusive and to bridge the gaps that racialized and under-represented entrepreneurs and businesses have faced for far too long.
Budget 2021 is ambitious.
It will not just get us onto the road to recovery. It will take us where we need to go to be competitive, to be more prosperous and to become even more resilient. Since my first day as minister, I have been focused on ensuring that businesses have the tools they need to start up, scale up and access new global markets. COVID-19 and our economic recovery have only increased the importance of this work.
Our businesses need the tools and the financing to compete in today's economy. That is why we are expanding the Canada small business financing program loans of up to $500,000, with a potential line of credit of up to $150,000, to provide liquidity for start-up costs and intangible assets, such as software for data management and supports for intellectual property. We have also committed to taking decisive action to lowering credit card fees for small businesses, helping to make consumer interactions more beneficial so that our main streets can be even more competitive.
Beyond financing, we want to ensure that our Canadian entrepreneurs have the expertise and tools to protect their Canadian innovations in the increasingly intangible global economy. The pandemic has greatly expedited the shift to the digital economy. More businesses have gone online in the last six months than in the last 10 years.
The pandemic has also shown the importance of businesses needing the latest tools, technologies and expertise to compete. In budget 2021, we are investing $4 billion for small and medium-sized businesses to go digital and to adopt new technology so they can grown and be even more competitive. This will support some 160,000 businesses and create jobs for nearly 30,000 young Canadians.
It will ensure long-term post-recovery growth and competitiveness.
Today, our small businesses are just a click away from being exporters, and we want to support as many as possible to grow around the world, while anchoring their success here in Canada, and to create jobs.
We have seen another global shift, one to sustainability. We know that the environment and the economy go hand in hand, which is why we have also announced $1 billion over five years to help draw in private sector investment for Canadian clean tech projects, ensuring that they remain competitive and on the cutting edge of innovation. This will help us reach our target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Through this budget, we are setting up our businesses to start up and scale up now, and to be ready to succeed and thrive in the economy of the future.
While travel has been limited through COVID-19, I have not let it slow us down in our efforts to create opportunities for trade and investment, to diversify our trade and to develop solutions to supply chain challenges, especially for essential goods. COVID-19 should not and cannot be used as an excuse to stop trading or to turn inward with protectionist policies.
International trade has been critical to create jobs and opportunities for growth. This is truer in our economic recovery more than ever. By working to implement the new NAFTA, CETA and the CPTPP, Canada's businesses are able to access new markets to expand their companies.
Canada and Canadian workers from coast to coast will benefit.
We have continued our work to ensure that Canada's 14 free trade agreements, including the new NAFTA and the recent trade continuity agreement with the United Kingdom, continue to serve Canadian interests and Canadian businesses, entrepreneurs, workers and families.
Earlier this month, I met with my Mexican and U.S. counterparts to discuss the implementation of the new NAFTA, and to work together on our shared priorities, such as the environment, labour and inclusive trade, for our shared economic recovery. From steel and dairy, to forestry and clean tech, we have the backs of Canadian businesses and workers in all sectors.
Our government has pivoted during the pandemic to support Canadian businesses through virtual trade missions to France, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea; through the first Canada-Africa clean growth symposium; and through our virtual CETA road show last year. With over 2,000 entrepreneurs attending, we have made international trade more accessible. We have led over 150 business-to-business connections for our Canadian businesses.
We continue to take a team Canada approach to help businesses and entrepreneurs succeed here at home and abroad with Canada's trade tool kit: the Trade Commissioner Service, Export Development Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada, the Canadian Commercial Corporation and Invest in Canada. They are all working together and focused on supporting Canadian businesses and their needs.
Budget 2021 will support the Trade Commissioner Service by providing $21.3 million over the next five years, and $4.3 million on an ongoing basis, to boost Canada's clean tech exports. We will work with our international partners and multilateral institutions to reduce unnecessary trade barriers and restrictions, keep supply chains open and build back a more resilient and inclusive economy. We will continue to work together, as we have done throughout the pandemic, including through our work on the WTO's trade and health initiative, to ensure that our essential health and medical supply chains remain open and resilient.
Crucially, we must also continue our hard work with one another and with all of our international partners to find solutions that accelerate the production and equitable distribution of affordable, effective life-saving vaccines. The pandemic is not over anywhere until it is over everywhere. We are committed to continuing our work toward a speedy and just global recovery.
I look forward to answering questions.
View Anita Vandenbeld Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Anita Vandenbeld Profile
2021-05-31 21:35 [p.7690]
Madam Chair, I would like to take the time this evening to highlight some of the important work that has been done by this government, especially by my colleagues on the Standing Committee on International Trade, over the last year.
COVID-19 has presented serious challenges for Canadian businesses looking to export and for the global trading system as a whole. Our government has been keenly engaged on these issues from the very start.
In October, the Standing Committee on International Trade heard from official representatives on Canada's efforts to support exporters and to position Canada as a leader in the post-pandemic recovery.
Officials noted the important work being done by the Trade Commissioner Service, which leveraged its irreplaceable network of international contacts in business and government, as well as its knowledge of Canada's industrial capabilities, to facilitate the acquisition of personal protective equipment, vaccines and other essential supplies needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
Throughout the pandemic, the Trade Commissioner Service has continued to help Canadian businesses connect with global opportunities and partners. Adapting to new challenges, the TCS has served 10,000 clients through virtual tools and services, and has provided more than $33 million in support through the CanExport program to companies looking to diversify their export markets.
The TCS and Export Development Canada, along with the Business Development Bank of Canada, the Canadian Commercial Corporation and Invest in Canada, are all part of what we call Canada's trade tool box. These organizations have all been working together, along with our provincial and territorial partners, with a team Canada approach to help businesses and entrepreneurs succeed at home and abroad. They will continue to do so as we recover from the economic effects of the pandemic and adopt new ways of doing business.
Continuing on from a study that began just days before the start of the pandemic, the Standing Committee on International Trade has resumed studying the World Trade Organization and the Canada-led efforts through the Ottawa Group to push for reforms of the organization to ensure that it can continue to face the increasingly challenging global trading environment. Here, again, officials laid out the important work that our government is doing to leverage the WTO in support of the global COVID-19 response and the post-COVID economic recovery. Our government is committed to a comprehensive global response to COVID-19 that leverages the entire multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core, in reaching a rapid and just end to the pandemic.
Since the pandemic began, our government has worked with international partners to advocate for open trade and free-flowing supply chains and to identify barriers to accessing vaccines and other medical products. This includes Canada's leadership role in the WTO Ottawa Group. Canada continues to actively engage on the trade and health initiative at the WTO, which aims to strengthen global supply chains and support the delivery of essential medicines and medical supplies, including vaccines around the world.
We know that the pandemic will not end anywhere unless it ends everywhere. That is why Canada has committed to discussing an international property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines under the WTO TRIPS agreement. We are committed to finding solutions and reaching an agreement that accelerates global vaccine production and does not negatively impact public health.
Canada will continue working closely with all WTO members, including engaging on new proposals from any member or group, in seeking a consensus-based outcome to address any intellectual property challenges created by COVID-19. Canada also continues to encourage the WTO director general's global dialogue with the pharmaceutical sector toward accelerating the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products, in coordination with other relevant organizations.
Our government remains committed to continued engagement with all members of the international community to find solutions to these global challenges.
More recently, the Standing Committee on International Trade and the recently established special committee on Canada-U.S. economic relations have been studying a wide range of areas to position Canada to continue to grow our exports and Canadian businesses.
COVID-19 has propelled a green recovery. Canadian clean-tech firms are driving economic growth and are heavily reliant on exports, with exports increasing 26% from 2015 to 2019, from $8.4 billion to $10.6 billion. The Government of Canada's $17.6-billion green recovery investments announced in budget 2021 build on the $3.3 billion in previous investments since 2016 to promote clean-tech research, development and adoption. This commitment helps to ensure that Canadian clean-tech firms are competitive and well positioned to export.
Our close economic ties to the United States will also be of vital importance to Canada's COVID recovery. That is why Canada is engaging the U.S. administration, members of Congress and allies across the U.S. to advocate for a Canada-U.S. approach to the U.S. infrastructure package that President Biden announced in March. Canada is very much focused on achieving an outcome that would allow suppliers on both sides of the border to participate and be subject to the same requirements as U.S. counterparts. We will always take a team Canada approach, working with Canadian businesses, exporters, manufacturers and industries, as we have done for the past five years and continue to do so.
Lastly, we know that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on women around the world and has amplified existing inequalities. Today, as we look to rebuild, it is more important than ever to take concrete action to boost women's participation in the economy by placing them at the centre of our recovery efforts, including in the area of trade. This is critical not only for a speedy global recovery, but also to ensure that our supply chains will be more diverse, more competitive and more stable.
By putting women at the centre of our recoveries, we are ensuring that our supply chains will be more diverse, competitive and stable moving forward. Supporting the full and equal participation of women in trade is the right thing to do and the economically sound thing to do. Looking ahead to 2036, we could add up to $12 trillion to the global economy if we advance women's economic empowerment and access in the economy. This is how we build back better.
View Anita Vandenbeld Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Anita Vandenbeld Profile
2021-05-31 21:50 [p.7692]
Madam Chair, in 40 seconds, could the parliamentary secretary talk about how we are ensuring a green economic recovery in our international trade?
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Rachel Bendayan Profile
2021-05-31 21:50 [p.7692]
Madam Chair, our green economic recovery requires a lot more than 30 seconds to discuss.
However, the most recent climate summit with our counterparts in the Biden administration was extremely successful. We are on track for a very strong, robust economic recovery that will be based on green technologies and ensure that we fight climate change.
View Kerry-Lynne Findlay Profile
CPC (BC)
Madam Speaker, Canada’s balance sheet is in trouble. There is no sugar-coating it. We are $1.1 trillion in debt, and counting. That is more than $33,000 for every Canadian. This year alone, the government is set to spend more than $22 billion on interest payments to service that debt, which is estimated to balloon to $40 billion per year with this budget debt added in.
We are in this hole in large part because of the pandemic, but the Liberals’ overspending long before COVID-19 is why we are looking at the sea of red ink before us today. They left the cupboards bare. By next year, the Prime Minister will have added more debt since 2015 than all other prime ministers who came before, combined. Sadly, the budget has yet to balance itself, and Conservatives have always known that this magical thinking was not the approach of a serious government that cares about the work and the hours that go into Canadians paying their taxes every year.
Putting aside how we got here, my hope for this budget, the first tabled by the government in over two years, was a plan for steady growth, lasting job creation and a more prosperous future for all Canadians. I also hoped it would lay out a clear vision of economic recovery and prosperity, attainable goals that leave no Canadian behind.
What we have before us is not that. No, instead, we get risky and unproven economic schemes, a 700-plus page document with no road map to reopen Canada’s economy, and more than $100 billion in new spending on Liberal partisan priorities disguised as stimulus. The very definition of economic stimulus is spending that facilitates economic activity and growth. There is a difference between stimulus spending and just, well, spending, but the government does not seem to appreciate that difference.
Let us consider just a couple of examples from the so-called stimulus fund. There are $13 billion on pandemic supports. My Conservative colleagues and I have voted for these programs from the outset. Many Canadians faced with unprecedented realities and public health restrictions need the help right now. I will say more on this later, but that is not stimulus.
There is $8.9 billion on the Canada workers benefit, a refundable tax credit for Canadians who make less than the threshold. Again, this is not stimulus. Members should not just take my word for it. The independent, non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Officer said that only $69 billion of this new spending billed as stimulus is really that, stimulus.
Whatever one wants to call it, the sheer amount of all this new spending is simply not necessary. In fact, the Parliamentary Budget Officer noted that “the size and timing of the planned fiscal stimulus may be mis-calibrated”. Other experts agree. One might hear $100 billion and think, “Great, that is a lot of money. Surely it will kick-start the economy”, but the truth is that government spending does not equal growth.
Between 2010 and 2013, under the more fiscally responsible Conservative government, growth averaged 2.8% annually. We can compare that to the Liberals’ first four years in power, when spending rose sharply and average growth was down to 2.2% per year and was grinding down.
What I really do not understand is how, with over $100 billion in new spending, the Liberals’ budget still does nothing for the long-awaited and much-needed infrastructure projects in the Lower Mainland of my home province of B.C., major projects like the George Massey tunnel replacement and the SkyTrain expansion from Surrey out to Langley, or even smaller projects like reinforcement of the White Rock Pier, damaged almost three years ago now.
Does the government not want to help us in B.C.? Maybe it is waiting for another shipment of steel from China like the one used on the Pattullo Bridge before it commits, instead of using beautiful, high-quality Canadian steel. Much-needed infrastructure projects like this would not only create jobs overnight and stimulate the economy but also make a lasting impact on the ability to transport people, goods and services stretching from the U.S. border through several communities up to Deltaport, the international airport, Vancouver, the north shore and beyond, all key to lasting growth and prosperity.
A federal budget is supposed to be a plan for the people, for the people of Canada, our neighbours and our constituents. What do I mean by “no Canadian left behind”? What about the commuter who needs the SkyTrain to get from Langley to Surrey so she can get on another train to get to her job in Vancouver?
Why does she live in Langley or further east? It is because there is no way she can afford to live in Vancouver or Richmond or Delta or Surrey or perhaps White Rock. This budget does nothing to help her own her own home. Instead of encouraging home ownership and helping Canadians experience the achievement and pride in owning their own home, it has recently been made harder to qualify for financing, which negatively affects homebuyers and sellers, realtors, builders, developers, construction crews, contractors, building material suppliers and more.
How about the families in B.C. and across the country that continue to be affected by substance abuse? In B.C., there have been more deaths resulting from overdose than from COVID-19 in the last year. This budget does not do enough to address the opioid epidemic. Where is the comprehensive, recovery-oriented substance abuse plan?
How about the 988 suicide prevention hotline? More than five months ago, this House unanimously passed a motion put forward by my Conservative colleague, the member for Caribou—Prince George, to implement this critical three-digit resource. There is no funding for that.
How about the natural resource workers? A friend of mine recently spoke to a greeter at Walmart in Alberta who used to be an energy sector engineer but is now working a minimum-wage job to demonstrate the dignity of work to his children and put food on the table. What about him? Why is this Canadian being left behind?
What about the travel agencies across the country? About 83% are owned by women, who not only have had their incomes devastated, but have had their commissions pulled back when cruises and trips were forced to cancel. Why are these Canadians left behind?
At a $100-billion price tag, one might have thought we would see increased health transfers to the provinces, given the stress our medical system has undergone in the past 15 months and repeated calls for this from the provinces. It is not included.
Of course, budgets should not just be about spending. They should provide a clear plan for the future of our economy and how we are going to get there. This, amidst a pandemic, must include a plan for a data-driven, safe reopening. Conservatives put forward a motion on this in March, but it was voted down.
Every time I meet with small business owners in my riding over Zoom, businesses like Kin Thai in Surrey or Uli's in White Rock, they have the same question: What metrics will be used to evaluate the situation and eventually allow them to reopen to full capacity? When will it be back to business as usual? Even with expanded patio space, they need to make investments just to reopen. They deal in perishables. Businesses need to plan for the future. They need to order inventory and schedule staff. They want reasonable notice, and they want to get back to doing the work they love.
Before politics, I was self-employed in the practice of law, an entirely different business, but anyone who runs a business can appreciate the need to plan three months, six months, nine months out. The government is not giving businesses the certainty they so desperately need right now. Even if the plan had to be adjusted, given unforeseen circumstances, the government should at least set out what Canada can expect and what yardsticks will be used to adjust.
When I speak to owners of new businesses, they have an additional question: Why not us?
To be very clear, my Conservative colleagues and I have supported programs to help Canadians make ends meet during the pandemic from day one. In fact, we have often pointed out ways to improve programs, as we did with the rent subsidy, insisting the funds be paid to tenants, not landlords. I, for one, am glad the government listened.
Another area for improvement that this budget completely ignores is the ability for newer businesses, opened within the last two years, to qualify for the same supports as their peers that have been open longer. I have spoken to the ministers about this and I have written to them. We need to help them out. The investments to start these businesses were made long before the pandemic and their life savings can literally be on the line.
There are some things I like in this long budget. I am pleased to see the regional development agency for B.C. I think that is important, as long as the funds are allocated in the right places throughout the province.
Canadians waited a long time for this budget, 763 days, to be exact, the longest-ever gap between federal budgets. Unfortunately, it was not worth the wait. Too many Canadians have been left behind. They need to secure their future.
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