Evidence of meeting #206 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was important.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
I think that's not the right way to characterize that. I'd like to ask Nick if he wouldn't mind coming up and providing more fulsome discussion.
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Nicholas Leswick Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Yes, you bet. I'm Nicholas Leswick, assistant deputy minister of fiscal policy at the Department of Finance.
Those amounts were recorded in budget 2019. They were effectively the unwinding of provisions that were made in previous periods—previous budgets and previous fall updates—where the government had effectively set aside money for future spending in future budgets. The amount of money you cited is effectively the unwinding of those provisions in the budget 2019 period. It was funding the measures that were outlined in budget 2019.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
For clarity, it's the opposite of what you were saying. This is our having made a provision. It is—
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
It's what the Parliamentary Budget Officer was saying, to be clear.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
That's exactly right. It's exactly the opposite. It's the unwinding of a provision that was there. There's no need for a source of funds. That was the source of funds.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
That is the opposite of the understanding of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. So far he has been much more accurate in predicting your financial decisions and their consequences than you.
Mr. Minister, I'm going to quote here from Reuters news, which says, “China restarted construction on more than [50,000 megawatts] of suspended coal-fired power plants last year”. Further, the article goes on to say that satellite images show China has “quietly resumed” construction in 2018 on dozens of previously shelved plants, making it a “glaring exception to the global decline” of coal use.
Did you get any commitments from China that it would stop building coal-fired plants when you handed over a quarter of a billion Canadian tax dollars to the China-controlled Asian infrastructure bank, yes or no?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
The decision to get involved with international development banks is, as we see it, important for the global economy. We see it as important, in particular, for less-developed countries. It helps to create export markets for Canadian goods. It helps to improve the global economy. That's what we seek to continue to do. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in question is an international development bank that's looking to improve the economic success of some less-developed countries, which we see as particularly important in the globe.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
This is a bank that will fund projects in China.
According to the CBC, China is the second-biggest military spender, with expenditures set to rise by 5%—that's to $250 billion—in military spending in the 24th consecutive increase in that country's military budget. You claim that China is a less-developed country in desperate need of our help. It's economy is growing five times faster than Canada's. Why do you think that China and this China-controlled Asian infrastructure bank need Canadian tax dollars more than Canadians do?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
I can just repeat that we see working with international development banks as an important part of ensuring that our global economy continues to be successful. It helps people in less developed countries around the world. It's helping Canadian exporters find markets. These are all important issues. We'll continue to be part of those global banks, together with our allies. The case of the Asian—
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
The OECD is estimating that China is going to spend over $8 billion on its civil and military space program—a luxury by anyone's imagination. You consider the country so poor that it needs a quarter of a billion Canadian tax dollars, Minister.
Can you understand that when Canadians look at your giving their money away to this China-controlled bank and see that country maxing out its military and space programs, that your priorities are completely out of whack?
Liberal
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
I think it would be important for Canadians to understand that we see it as important to work with development banks. We do that alongside like-minded countries. In the case of this particular bank, which is independent of any government—
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
We've made investments together with Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and many other countries in order to work to ensure that we make a difference around the world. That has direct benefits to Canadians, for all those producers of Canadian products who are able to find international markets because economies are—
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thank you very much for being here once again before the Standing Committee on Finance. I'd like to point out that this is not your first appearance here.
I will ask my first question on behalf of the seniors in my riding of Hull—Aylmer.
Since 2015, the government has taken steps to help our seniors on several occasions. We increased the guaranteed income supplement by approximately $1,000 in 2015, for seniors who live alone. We concluded an agreement with Quebec to broaden the Quebec Pension Plan so that retired people will receive up to 50% more when they retire. However, even with those changes, there are still seniors in need.
Minister, can you tell us about the measures in Budget 2019 to help our seniors?
