House of Commons Hansard #70 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was budget.

Topics

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:40 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

Order, please. When the Speaker is standing the members are sitting.

The member's time has expired. I tried to give him a signal but he never looked at the chair and I cannot give people signals if they never look at the chair.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Yukon.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT

Mr. Speaker, I want to set the record straight on one item before I ask my question.

The member suggested that all opposition parties were in support of the budget. I want to make it categorically clear, on behalf of all Liberals, that this opposition party totally opposes the budget. We have always opposed it and we will continue to oppose it.

There was a technical slip-up in Parliament and one vote slipped through. If the government wants to make a big issue out of the fact that it only received support due to a technical mistake, then that is a pretty weak case to make. Maybe it was the same type of mistake that people made in electing the Conservatives once they see the budgets and the recent budget cuts.

The member talked about the importance of seniors and the fact that they had not suggested an increase in the pension deduction since 1975, which is true, and it is too bad that they did not do that, but for those seniors who do not get the pension deduction, why did the government harm seniors by increasing their income taxes from 12% to 12.5%?

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Mr. Speaker, in answer to the first comment the hon. member made, the records show that there was no opposition regarding our budget. I thank the hon. member for his party's support regarding it. This government pays attention--

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:40 a.m.

An hon. member

It is history.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Exactly so. It is history. It is on the record. I thank the member again for his support.

As I mentioned, many of our seniors are on pension incomes. Our pension income action will actually benefit 2.7 million pensioners and it will remove 850,000 people from the tax rolls. It is a very strong measure in favour of our seniors.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:45 a.m.

NDP

Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, many seniors do not file income tax returns and many of them, through no fault of their own, do not receive the guaranteed income supplement even though they are entitled to it.

Would it not be a much better use of taxpayer money to help the poorest of our seniors by adding more funding to the guaranteed income supplement? Seniors would then have real money in their hands.

The member said that if seniors have filed their income tax returns then they should automatically receive the guaranteed income supplement. However, if seniors do not apply for it or if they do not know how to apply for it, they do not receive it. Even if they receive it, they end up getting a small amount of money.

Would increasing the guaranteed income supplement not be a better way to spend the budget surplus? This would give our seniors some income security and real money in their pocket. It would also help to have a national pharmacare program so seniors would not have to pay so much to buy the drugs they need.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

October 26th, 2006 / 10:45 a.m.

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Mr. Speaker, there are many different ways to assist seniors and we have taken a very dramatic step in assisting our seniors by doubling the amount of pension income that is non-taxable, that is doubling it from $1,000 to $2,000. We have also taken other measures, for example, lowering the GST, so when they spend money they are actually saving on the GST.

We are helping seniors on other matters. such as health care. One of our priorities is ensuring that health care is more readily accessible to our seniors.

I would like to talk about the surplus. We put $13.2 billion down on the debt, thereby saving Canadians interest charges of $650 million per year. The $650 million per year will be reinvested for the benefit of Canadians. We have other strategies that we will be presenting in the future to further assist our seniors.

I would like to underline that Bill C-28 takes direct action to benefit seniors, especially those on fixed pension incomes.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:45 a.m.

Conservative

Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure to speak to Bill C-28. This budget is full of good news for the people of Canada and the people of Edmonton Centre. I intend to highlight the benefits that it will have in my community.

I am very proud to represent the constituency of Edmonton Centre. This is a time of great economic growth in the province of Alberta, but that growth also comes with great challenges that must be met if we are to enjoy the benefits of growth. The vibrant and diverse people of Edmonton are up to this challenge, and I am pleased to see in this budget that the government is giving them the tools that they need for this task.

First, I would like to talk a little about the constituency of Edmonton Centre. The riding includes the downtown core as well as some of the oldest residential neighbourhoods in the city. It includes part of the scenic river valley, one of the oldest municipal golf courses in Canada, and the oldest municipal airport in Canada, Blatchford Field.

A tour of the riding will show us the Alberta legislative buildings, as well as the Royal Alberta Museum, the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Citadel Theatre, the Francis Winspear Centre for Music and the historic Hotel Macdonald. There are corporate headquarters, along with a thriving small business community and the World Trade Edmonton Centre.

We have two of the busiest hospitals in the city, as well as two of the largest post-secondary institutions in the province. There are new condo developments in historic old houses. There are many shops devoted to antiques, as well as many private galleries showing off the best that western Canadian artists and artisans have to offer.

Edmonton's menu of fine restaurants rivals any city in Canada. There are industrial areas and beautiful parkland. The area is as rich and diverse as Canada itself. There are many seniors' residences alongside condos where young families are moving to bring up the next generation.

There has always been a large immigrant community in Edmonton Centre. Where once Ukrainians came to build better lives for themselves and their children, we see the same thing happening with new Canadians from China, Vietnam, Somalia, Sudan and many other places around the world.

I would like to touch upon the importance of students and the measures that the government has taken for their benefit. At schools, like Grant MacEwan Community College, I am extremely pleased to note that post-secondary students will now have their entire scholarship, fellowship and bursary incomes exempt from income tax. For many of these students, that money represents their entire income and this will free them from having to juggle a part time job while studying for exams. More than 100,000 students will be affected by this measure.

Another institution that is important to Edmonton is the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. This school is the largest supplier of skilled trades and apprentices in the province and supplies fully 17% of apprentices for the entire country.

Several measures in the budget will apply specifically to students at NAIT. I have been to many forums at NAIT and I have been fortunate to be part of a major funding announcement for new programs and services. I have talked to the students at these events and have listened to their concerns. People accept that tuition fees are part of getting a good quality education, but one of the single biggest costs associated with getting an education and which affects the students' standard of living is the cost of textbooks. It is for that reason that budget 2006 has instituted a new textbook tax credit. This will help students where they need it most, and this credit applies to both full time as well as part time students.

Apprentices are critical to the future of the Alberta economy and, in fact, Canada's economy. There is a surge in demand now and this government is moving to ensure that that demand is sustainable. That is why we have introduced the $2,000 job creation tax credit. Eligible employers will now receive a tax credit equal to 10% of the wages paid to qualifying apprentices in the first two years of their contracts, to a maximum of $2,000 per apprentice per year. This helps maintain a supply of apprentices by ensuring that people look at this training as a stable opportunity for future jobs. It will also encourage employers to grow their businesses with a steady supply of skilled labour.

Once the students leave NAIT, they will also receive a benefit from this budget in the form of a $500 deduction for tradespeople's tool expenses, as has already been mentioned. This measure recognizes the cost of tools beyond the $1,000 that is covered by the new Canada employment credit and provides yet another helping hand exactly when and where it is needed.

Successful students are vital to our future and are represented in the budget by several measures, but I also want to highlight another segment of our population that needs a helping hand.

Our senior citizens have lived and worked through some of the darkest times as well as the brightest. They have raised families. They have fought Canada's wars in the cause of freedom. They have started and run businesses and they have paid a lot of taxes. For too many of them, however, life is a struggle, being caught between the rock and a hard place of a fixed income and a rising cost of living.

It is for this reason that the initiative to raise the maximum amount of pension income, which can be claimed as pension income credit, is so important. Since its inception 30 years ago, the credit has been $1,000. Recently we measurably increased it to $2,000, affecting 2.7 million taxpayers and taking 85,000 taxpayers off of the tax rolls altogether. Those people have worked so hard so we can enjoy our prosperity. It is critical to know that 85,000 pensioners will no longer face the burden of income tax due to this budget, and I am extremely pleased to be able to say that.

Another new credit in the budget will help seniors, but it will also help students and all of us. I am referring to the $500 public transit pass credit. One does not have to spend a lot of time in Edmonton Centre to see how important the public transit system is to that community. Whether it is students making their way to college or school, seniors shopping for groceries or businessmen heading for downtown, the Edmonton transit system covers all parts of the constituency and is relied on by a very large number of people.

This new credit will increase ridership and, thus, also increase the frequency of services. It will also reduce the amount of air pollution that is caused by the large number of cars on the road. This is a tangible measure to conserve our environment and protect the health of Canadians and its value will be felt by those who need it most.

The budget has measures to help out the thriving small business sector in Edmonton. Small and medium enterprises are the real engine of our economy and they need a clean and sustainable supply of fuel on which to run. That fuel is capital and our new government wants to keep their tanks full.

Specifically, the government is reducing the current tax rate of 12% on qualifying small business income to 11.5% in 2008 and to 11% in 2009. In addition, we are increasing the amount of income a small business can earn before it has to pay federal tax from $300,000 to $400,000 as of January 1, 2007.

I take great pride in going back to the riding to tell business owners that we are listening to them, that we understand their concerns and that we are taking steps to help them solve their business problems and develop even more jobs and prosperity. Some of these small businesses are companies that provide tax advice to people who are fighting the high cost of living and the high cost of taxes at the same time. They are the ones who have known for a long time that there is an inherent advantage to being a small business owner when the tax man comes knocking.

There are many more deductions that people can claim and a variety of options for lowering the overall tax burden. Those who receive regular employment income rather than owning a small business have always suffered in comparison, but budget 2006 recognizes that unfairness and treats the problem properly with the Canada employment credit. The new credit covers things like personal computers, stationery, uniforms, clothing and a long list of items that people sometimes are required to purchase for their work. If they were small business owners, this would all be deductible as the cost of doing business.

Now the people who earn employment income will be recognized as well. Every Canadian who receives employment income will get up to $500 for the 2006 calendar year and $1,000 for 2007. This benefit will be felt by all working Canadians, especially the low income earners who face barriers in the form of work related expenses.

This budget makes a difference. It is targeted and focused on helping those who need help while providing much needed tax relief for all Canadians.

The seniors and students in my riding will see a significant difference in their cost of living when these tax measures take effect. Working Canadians will take home more of their money at the end of the day. Small businesses will be able to grow without extra penalties and be able to increase employment. In short, this budget is good news for Canada, good news for the province of Alberta and good news for the riding of Edmonton Centre.

I am privileged and proud to be part of the government that has delivered this budget to the people of Canada and I encourage all opposition parties to help us in making the bill become law as soon as possible.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:55 a.m.

NDP

Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

Mr. Speaker, maybe my colleague from the Tories can help me to understand part of the thought process that went into the making of the budget. A lot of us were shocked at the $1 billion worth of cutbacks that were announced recently. Yet when the Conservative Party introduced the budget, there was no mention of the lost revenue associated with offshore tax havens.

How can the Conservatives justify the cutting, hacking and slashing of $1 billion out of relatively small increments from many important little programs and turn a blind eye or have wilful blindness to the fact that tax fugitives are denying the federal government up to $7 billion per year of lost tax revenue in offshore tax havens, such as Barbados?

I know the previous government tore up 11 tax treaties for different countries in which people could hide their money. They call it tax motivated expatriation. We call it sleazy, tax cheating loopholes. It left only one, the very tax haven where the former prime minister has his dummy companies and enjoys this tax haven status.

Why would the Conservative Party not close the door on this outrageous and egregious violation of principles and ethics called offshore tax havens?

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:55 a.m.

Conservative

Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, part of my response is we inherited a 13 year old elephant. It cannot be eaten in one sitting.

Perhaps the member for LaSalle—Émard's company still derives benefit from work that perhaps has been left undone. I cannot say what will come in the future and all the measure the government will take. I do know there will be a succession of Conservative governments over the next many years. Those governments will continue to address issues as they come up. The government will continue to address the needs of Canadians.

With respect to the billion dollars in savings that was recently announced, a lot of that money, as I am sure this member surely knows, was money that was never committed to anything in the first place. It was money that was idly sitting by and doing nothing. That money has been redirected to programs that will help all Canadians, average Canadians, everyday Canadians.

The $650 million that the government will save next year and every year after in paying down the national debt will also go to helping Canadians. This is what the Conservative government is all about and it will be all about this for many years to come.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

10:55 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, I remind the member that he is talking about a $13 billion surplus left over from the great work of the previous Liberal government. He is also talking about a good economy and a strong country.

In 1993, when the Liberals replaced the previous Conservative government, they inherited a $42 billion deficit. It took an immense amount of time and work on behalf of Canadians and our government to regain the proper resources it needed to reap the benefit.

How does the member justify the recent cuts? The government has taken $17 million out of the adult literacy program. This program has tried to help people who clearly want a hand up, not a handout. These people want to improve their life and contribute to the productivity of Canada.

The government cut the Status of Women program and the court challenges program. These programs helped people to move voices and various agendas forward.

How does the member justify those kinds of cuts when the government has a $13.2 billion surplus?

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11 a.m.

Conservative

Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, if the member wants to talk about history, we can go back and talk about what the Conservative government started with the legacy left by Pierre Trudeau. It is not a pretty legacy.

If the member wants to talk about cuts, these cuts were made to programs that were not delivering a return on the investment.

The government is committed to adult literacy. This is evident by the $81 million it is spending next year to address literacy. No actual literacy programs have been cut. An example of the cuts is an organization in Manitoba. It was receiving $353,000 a year in Canadian taxpayer dollars. It was delivering $10,000 a year in what could be loosely called a deliverable in terms of bursaries. That is not a very good return on investment.

The $2.5 million that was saved from administration in the Status of Women programs will be reinjected into actual programs that will actually help Canadian women. The Conservative government is about actually helping Canadians, not supporting administrative programs that create jobs for people who, frankly, should go out and get a real job.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is always so interesting to participate in these debates and hear how everybody has their own terms and their own thoughts about what are successful programs and what are not. Our whole intent, as elected officials, is to help Canadians and ensure our country continues to be productive. We all have choices to make on what we consider are priorities.

I am pleased to have a chance to speak to Bill C-28 today and to tell members why I cannot and will not ever support the bill before us. Frankly, it is nothing short of being a disgraceful, selective document that panders to the very narrow electoral base of the Conservatives. As such, I believe it is bad for our country.

Yesterday marked the 13th anniversary of the 1993 election, when the Liberal Party won government from the Mulroney Conservatives. Our Liberal government eliminated that deficit of $42 billion and balanced our budget, finally, in 1997, with the help of Canadians and with the leadership shown by the government. We went on to record eight consecutive balanced budgets and restored the nation's AAA credit rating.

I would remind members that we were at a point of almost bankruptcy and were being referred to as a third world country. I also remind members of the amount of work that Canadians had to do to get us out of that debt and to put our country on a balanced footing.

We slashed the federal debt, both as a percentage of the economy and in absolute dollar terms. Canada's debt to GDP ratio dropped by 50% over our government's tenure. We achieved the best fiscal record of all the G-7 group of world-leading economies and the best of any Canadian government since Confederation in 1867. We are very proud of that.

Prior to this past spring, the federal Conservatives last balanced a budget in 1912. We wonder what the future will hold as we go forward.

However, I will go back to the present situation.

The minority Conservative government inherited the best fiscal situation in Canadian history and it is failing Canadians now by neglecting the future challenges in putting forward this visionless budget. It is a simple case of some sort term gain and long term pain for our great country, which we have all worked so very hard to build over the last 13 years.

Budget 2006 has done nothing to bolster Canada's productivity and make it more competitive on the world stage. David Crane and other senior newspaper columnists talk about how important it is to have that productivity agenda moving forward. There is nothing in the budget that relates to that or is going to be investing in those areas.

The budget neglects to make any significant improvement and investments in education and innovation. Our Liberal government had a concrete vision that would have put us at the forefront of competitiveness and innovation. This lacklustre and visionless budget contains virtually nothing in this regard.

Another example is our last fiscal budget update provided $2.5 billion for university research, which is an extremely important area for our country. The Conservative budget provides $200 million, which is less than one-tenth of our commitment. Under the Liberal government, the best and brightest were flocking to Canada, due to our sound investment in research and development.

How will Canada compete on the world stage, in the future, with a visionless budget? How can Canada continue to nation-build when it has a government and its budget that cares more about politics and how to score points than sound fiscal management?

The minority Conservative government is continuing its legacy of failing Canadians through our post-secondary education system, forcing the provinces to go it alone and abandoning our students across the country. I remind hon. members that our students are our future.

Prior to the Conservatives and the NDP forcing the last election, the Liberals had made significant commitments in the November 2005 fiscal update, including $4.1 billion toward post-secondary education.

The Conservatives offer a measly Canada textbook credit, a $500 annual credit for textbooks. One wonders what that really means in dollars. This is worth exactly $77.50 per year for students who spend $500 or more on textbooks.

The Liberal Party had proposed a fifty-fifty plan to pay half of the tuition in the first and last years of post-secondary programs, which would have been worth thousands of dollars per year to students and would have been of enormous benefit to Canada and to Canada's future. Seventy-seven dollars and fifty cents will do nothing to increase access or decrease student debt.

Simply stated, the Conservative government has failed to make post-secondary education a priority.

The Liberals know that we must invest in our students and ensure that they have the tools they need to succeed in life. I am very pleased to remind hon. members that Liberals actually care about Canada's students, and I think our past practice has shown that.

In fact, in our 2006 election platform, we had proposed to expand Canada access grants to cover all four years of study and to develop a fifty-fifty plan, which would have paid for half of the tuition of all Canadian students for both the first and the last year of study. We proposed to conduct a comprehensive review of student assistance, to provide additional funding for Canadian students who study abroad, and to make a 50% increase in funding for graduate scholarships. These were all important initiatives, as I am sure all of my colleagues would agree.

These Liberal initiatives were very popular in my riding of York West, especially York University, which, I am very proud to say, is in my riding. This exceptional school prides itself on the pursuit, preservation and dissemination of knowledge. It provides excellence in research and teaching in pure, applied and professional fields, testing the boundaries and structures of knowledge. This community of faculty, students and staff is committed to academic freedom, social justice, accessible education and collegial self-governance. I am very proud to represent it.

Another failure of the Conservatives is their transit credit, which is another selective tax measure designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which we all want to see done, by increasing public transit ridership in the cities. However, a small price decrease in public transit does nothing for ridership. Those who use transit will continue to use it because it is convenient for them. Those who do not use transit will not suddenly run out and buy a transit pass for a $12 a month tax break. I wrote the book on cities and urban transit issues, so I know that this $12 will do nothing to increase ridership.

The Canada employment tax credit is essentially a $1,000 increase in the basic personal exemption, but it applies only to employed taxpayers. I favour an increase in the basic personal exemption for all Canadians, so that seniors and stay at home moms could benefit as well.

But budget 2006, while proposing this selective tax break, decreased the basic personal exemption, effectively hiking income taxes for all Canadians. The minority Conservative government's budget actually raises income tax rates in the lowest tax bracket, which it clearly denied while this was acknowledged by others.

Despite the government's claim to be helping Canadian families, it has raised the tax rate from 15% to 15.5% for the lowest income Canadians. Clearly, the lowest income Canadians are not the priority of the new minority Conservative government. I think it is nothing short of disgraceful. Low income families need our support, yet the government is quietly raising their taxes and giving tax breaks to companies.

The budget fails to provide real tax relief for low income and middle income Canadians. Eliminating Liberal income tax cuts in favour of a 1% GST cut has been panned by every serious economist in the country as a plan that will benefit higher income Canadians at the expense of those who need it most. The Conservatives are actually increasing income taxes, which means that many people who got a refund for 2005 will end up paying in 2006.

The children's fitness credit sounds wonderful but, like the textbook tax credit, it is not actually worth $500 per year. Tax credits are multiplied by the lowest bracket rate, giving this measure a final value of $77 per year. Parents across the country know that it costs a lot more than that to enroll children in much needed sports programs.

The Liberal government's great achievements as a nation builder are also at risk with this flawed budget. Canada remains an exciting and prosperous country, but we must look forward for an agenda with a renewed national purpose. Thanks to the efforts of my previous government, this country can afford a national housing program. It can afford a universal child care program. It can afford investment in research and development to ensure our future priorities.

This budget is unfair and inequitable and increases taxes on the lowest income Canadians while the richest few would benefit. The Conservative government's first budget fails to address the real needs of Canadian families, abandons fiscal responsibility and fails to provide an economic vision for the future. If the government continues down this road, it will undo all of the good work that we did to put Canada at the head of the G-7 and, in the end, only the wealthy will benefit while those most in need will be left behind.

Many of the provisions in Bill C-28 underscore the selective and narrow governing style of the minority Conservative government. It has become frighteningly clear that the government is completely willing to sacrifice our long term economic health for potential political gain. This is clearly unacceptable to Canadians.

I cannot support this budget at this time. It would be wonderful if the government would stand back and try to make some of the changes that clearly need to be done to be more reflective of the Canada we want to see.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:10 a.m.

Conservative

Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague's remarks. I would comment first that it was probably the policies of Brian Mulroney, which he had the courage to bring in, and the unlimited powers of taxation that had more to do with balancing budgets than anything else. I can balance a budget if I have unlimited powers of taxation any time.

The Liberals talk about us buying something. I would suggest that the track record would show that it is not our party that buys votes. What we have been trying to do with this budget, I think successfully, and certainly Canadians seem to agree, is that we are actually buying the future with things like reducing the debt and so on.

I would ask my hon. colleague a question on a much more human level. We hear all the rhetoric back and forth all the time about people who do not care and so on. Does the hon. member honestly think that there is a single member in this House on either side, in any party, who does not care about Canadians, or that I do not care about my children, or my grandchildren, hopefully yet to come, or my parents and grandparents or my neighbours? Does the member honestly believe that people on this side do not care about the welfare of Canadians?

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:10 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, I think we all get into politics because we care about people. The question becomes what our priorities are, what we think are investments.

Evidently what we think is an investment is quite different from what you think an investment is. I think we have to make sure that we are investing in our companies, in our economy and in our productivity and innovation, but we also have to remember that there are a lot of Canadians who have not had the opportunities that many of us may have had and that we need to be investing and giving a hand up to many Canadians so they can go on to be very productive. That comes back to what we invest our money in.

When you talk about the balanced budget, you had an opportunity in the Conservatives for nine years--

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:15 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

Order, please. Two or three times the hon. member has referred to the hon. member for Edmonton Centre as “you”. I let it go hoping it would come to an end. It does not appear to be coming to an end, so please refer to the hon. member as “he” and address your remarks through the Chair.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, I will try to make sure I do not violate that in the future. I thank you and also for the apology on both sides. It is nice to know that there are people in the House who apologize easily when we do things that may upset others.

I think the whole question is that when the Conservatives were in power they had nine years and never produced a balanced budget, and we ended up getting in with a $42 billion deficit to deal with. The question is priorities. I would suggest that the Conservatives have theirs, the Liberals have theirs and so do the NDP, but I believe that we are going forward in a positive way with a balanced approach to help all Canadians.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:15 a.m.

NDP

Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, in 1989 in the House of Commons there was a unanimous vote to end child poverty in 2000. Perhaps the hon. member remembers that pledge, yet after years of surpluses we still have 1.5 million kids living in poverty. In her city of Toronto, approximately one out of three kids is living below the poverty line. The majority of people using food banks like the Daily Bread Food Bank and FoodShare are in fact children.

I heard a long speech about how we need to care about the people who are most vulnerable. I have a question. Why is it, given surplus after surplus during all these years, that there has been no significant investment to lower the rate of child poverty? In her mind, I wonder if this budget seems, like it does for me, to have continued the same tradition of taking all the surplus to pay down debt rather than invest in children.

How would the Liberals have done anything differently? It seems to me that it is the same pattern of taking all the surplus and dealing only with debt rather than investing in children.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that there were a lot of things that the previous Liberal government did while in office. There was $130 billion from decreasing taxes. Our goal has always been to achieve. Our goal would be to eliminate poverty, and the intention has always been to work toward that.

It is very multi-faceted, but when the NDP clearly shares a lot of our vision, one has to question how much better Canada would have been today if the Liberals had stayed in power with our child care programs, early learning programs and all of the investments we were making. We would have been far better off had we stayed with the Liberal government in power rather than having the NDP defeat our government.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:15 a.m.

NDP

Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

Mr. Speaker, I want to focus on one thing my colleague raised. That is the low income seniors' pensions. My mathematics show that the pension cheques for low income seniors for this six month period are lower. They actually got a cut in pay due to the basic personal exemption being lowered.

The government actually lowered the basic personal exemption for seniors, from $9,200 to $8,600, I think, which means that those seniors are paying taxes on more of their earnings. Therefore, I have people walking into my office with their pension cheques from August to September and those cheques are $10 a month lower.

Has the member noticed similar trends in that the first thing the Conservative government did with its first budget was to give low income seniors a cut in pay?

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I have heard about that and I would suggest that we will be hearing a lot more from many of the most vulnerable in society, who look to government to assist them.

I was very pleased that we were increasing the GIS to many of the seniors in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and even with those kinds of increases, our seniors will continue to struggle. Many of them are having to live on $11,000 a year and are having intense difficulty doing that. They find themselves asking for family assistance. We need to be investing more.

Again, I have to say to the hon. member, had the Liberals stayed in power, clearly we would not have to be dealing with that issue.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

Shawn Murphy Liberal Charlottetown, PE

Mr. Speaker, first I want to clarify a comment that came from the member for Edmonton Centre. He attributed some of the financial success this country has had over the last 13 years to Brian Mulroney.

I remind the House that when Mr. Mulroney left office in 1993, we had a deficit of $43 billion, interest rates were close to 12%, unemployment was at 11.1% or 11.2%, and the debt to GDP ratio was 73%. Had he been in power another 35 minutes, I think the country would have been bankrupt.

However, that is not my question. My question for my colleague deals with some of the cuts that we have seen. The $5 million cut to the Status of Women was very unfortunate, although from a global perspective it was not that significant, but perhaps what is more troubling is the directive that the government would no longer finance any group that advocated for the equality of women in Canada.

Does my colleague have any reason as to why this directive was issued? What effect will it have on those groups across Canada that do successfully advocate for the equality of women in this country?

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11:20 a.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Status of Women did a lot of advocacy work on behalf of women and on behalf of many people across Canada. The fact that it will have its budget significantly cut will eliminate a lot of the organizations out there that were working on not only women's issues but on family issues. That is just one sample of what we will see in the future of what are the priorities of the government.

Removing the word “equality” from the mandate changes things very significantly as to what groups will receive funding and what groups will not. Many of these groups do not receive a lot of money, but again, it is almost sometimes a token to say thanks to some of these groups that are doing advocacy work on a bare bones budget. If they get a few thousand dollars from the Status of Women to focus on issues dealing with the needs of women, it is something we should be proud of.

Last year an independent organization recommended to the previous government that the Status of Women budget should be increased by approximately 25% so it can meet the needs of the many groups and organizations that needed that assistance.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:20 a.m.

Bloc

Pierre Paquette Bloc Joliette, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this debate on Bill C-28, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on May 2, 2006.

As hon. members know, the Bloc Québécois supported this Conservative budget, essentially because the Prime Ministerand his government promised to correct the fiscal imbalance in the next budget, which is expected in February or March 2007 to cover 2007-08. Those were the circumstances in which the Bloc Québécois gave its support.

The budget also contained provisions that addressed issues raised historically by the Bloc Québécois, such as the tax credit for public transit. I remember that a member from the Chicoutimi area—from Jonquière, to be exact—had introduced a private member's bill along those lines. We are glad to see that Bill C-28 includes a tax credit for public transit. There is also a textbook tax credit, something the Bloc Québécois has consistently called for, to give students the easiest possible access to textbooks. In fact, we would like to go ever further. I will come back to this.

Lastly, there is the tax deduction for microbreweries. I would like to pay tribute to the extraordinary work done by my colleague and friend from Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—I cannot say his name, but he knows who he is—who led the charge on this issue, which I also helped to promote and which was finally addressed in the last budget. I congratulate him on this work and on this success, which is due primarily to the efforts by the Bloc Québécois to convince the other parties, especially the Conservative Party when it was in opposition, that this request was worthwhile. I will come back to this as well.

Because of these provisions, we are going to support Bill C-28. I will describe the bill very briefly, because the people following this debate at home must sometimes be wondering what it is about. It is extremely technical—always a bad thing—but that is the way budget bills are. Nevertheless, it will affect the daily lives of a huge number of Quebeckers and Canadians.

The bill has five main provisions. The first implements a series of tax measures for individuals. For example, it implements credits for apprentices and tradespersons. I want to point out that this is something the Bloc Québécois has been seeking for a long time. Our member from the North Shore introduced—a number of times—a private bill along those lines. It also increases the non-refundable credit for persons receiving a pension, implements a public transportation credit, which I talked about earlier, and increases the refundable credit for medical fees. This is the first main provision, which affects individuals.

The second main provision is on extending benefits to businesses. For instance, it extends to fishing businesses a number of benefits that already existed for agribusinesses. There are various measures in this second section on businesses, capital gains, the transfer of a business to other members of the family and anything to do with agribusiness tax benefits. That is the second main provision, which affects businesses.

The third main provision in Bill C-28 implements various tax measures for businesses, but on other levels. Among the measures in this bill, we find the abolition of the surtax on the revenue of Canadian corporations and an increase of the amount a small business can earn if it wants to benefit from a tax credit. This last item is particularly interesting. Tax equity has not yet been achieved in the federal tax system. This is true for individuals and businesses alike, as we have realized. The purpose of this last measure in particular is to correct, but not entirely, this unfairness in the tax system for small and medium sized business, which, I would like to remind hon. members, are the lifeblood of the Quebec and Canadian economy.

The fourth main provision or series of legislative changes is on lowering the tax rate on capital property for Canadian banks. I will come back to that another time.

Finally, the fifth main provision is on a series of measures to lower excise tax on the first 75,000 hectolitres of beer brewed in Canada in order to stimulate the growth and emergence of microbreweries.

Members know that this is a very buoyant industry in the regions. This is true of Quebec, but it is also true of the rest of Canada. However, our industry is facing ferocious competition from foreign microbreweries, especially American ones, which are not so much on the micro side. They may not qualify as macrobreweries, but almost. These are breweries producing millions of hectolitres of beer each year, while ours produce less than one million. We called for a reduction in excise tax for these businesses, like the one most of our competition is benefiting from in Europe and the U.S. As I indicated, microbreweries are not the same size over there than they are in Quebec and Canada. It would therefore be important that ours have a comparative advantage.

I will not expand any further on that. I will not be able to address all the measures contained in this bill, which, as hon. members can see, is pretty thick. Nevertheless, I will focus on those measures I saw as the most worthwhile or interesting, which I mentioned at the beginning of my speech.

The first tax measure for individual taxpayers described in this bill is a deduction for tool expenses for apprentices and tradespeople. As I said, the government is allowing expenses to be deducted up to a maximum of $1,000 or the lowest of $1,000 or 5% of the apprentice's income over the year. If 5% of the income comes out to less than $1,000, the deduction will be 5%; if it comes out to more than $1,000, then the maximum deductible amount for tools will be $1,000.

Permitting the deduction of those tools is an important step because, as a rule, these people are self-employed workers who live on incomes that are extremely variable. Some apprentices and tradespeople who work for companies are required to buy their tools at their own expense. For example, in most of the garages where our cars are repaired, the tool kits belong to the tradespeople and mechanics. They have to pay for those and, even if they sometimes are on salary, that represents an extremely significant expense.

The maximum will be $1,000 for apprentices and $500 for established tradespeople. This is a measure that we have been demanding for a long time, as I mentioned. Once again, it is late in coming but at least it is there. Tradespeople will be able to benefit from it in coming years.

This tax measure also increases by $1,000 the maximum non-refundable credit to which pension recipients are entitled. The maximum non-refundable credit will now be $2,000. This is obviously a positive measure but it does nothing to correct the poverty in which many of our older people find themselves. In particular, this does not respond at all to the demand that the Bloc Québécois has made many times. Again, I pay tribute to our former member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain, Marcel—

Budget Implementation Act, 2006, No. 2Government Orders

11:25 a.m.

An hon. member

Gagnon.