Debates of Feb. 11th, 2014

Financial Statement of the Minister of Finance

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have had this debate in this place before, and also with the provincial and territorial ministers.

Employers and employees in Canada today, in a fragile economy, do not need additional burdens. What they need is as much money as they can get from their hard work to support themselves and their families.

For this reason, we froze EI rates.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all Canadians, let me congratulate the minister for his work in returning Canada to a balanced budget in 2015. While other countries struggle with their finances, Canada is showing the world that strong fiscal management is the right path for job creation and economic growth.

On a personal note, I want to thank the minister for including the missing person's index in this budget. I worked on that as a private members' bill eight years ago.

I would also like to thank the minister for his work on supporting charities and on encouraging charitable giving in Canada. Given the important work charities do in every community, what will economic action plan 2014 do to help charities?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the learned member for Burlington for his service on the House of Commons finance committee and for his work with the chair, the member for Edmonton—Leduc. That committee has given advice on making it more efficient for charities to operate by permitting them to operate electronically with the CRA, for the first time ever; allowing charities to use modern technology, like computers, when fundraising; and encouraging Canadians to voluntarily donate land to conservation charities with increased tax relief. All of these measures are contained in the budget, and I thank the committee for its hard work.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister of Finance for his comments. However, I have to say that he did not oversell this budget. It truly is what he promised: a do-nothing budget. He certainly has lived up to that.

There are almost 300,000 more Canadians unemployed today than before the recession, people who are very concerned about their and their families' economic futures.

There is a whole generation of young people who are looking to the government for some hope and opportunity. I dare say that they are all sadly disappointed.

Clearly the government is delaying any new ideas and initiatives until next year, when it is more politically advantageous for itself, which is a cynical approach to the many families who are struggling so hard across this country. I do not think those middle-class and working families, who are being nickel-and-dimed every day by measures the government has taken no action on, appreciate the government playing politics with their incomes and their day-to-day lives.

The government has focused instead on challenging those who would raise voices of opposition, such as public servants, labour unions, and environmental groups, who are very concerned about the chill it is creating across the country when it comes to basic civil liberties.

We are also concerned that the government has taken no action to improve the lot of veterans who are concerned about the cuts to services in many communities across this country.

There are some measures the New Democrats have proposed, like banning pay-to-pay billing, which the government has said it would act on. We will wait to see if it will follow through on that. We have seen announcements like this before.

We notice that there is nothing on bank fees, ATM fees, or credit card fees. Many of the no-cost measures that would make the lives of Canadians more affordable are totally missing from this budget, not to mention the ecoENERGY home retrofit tax credit, which would have been a job creation measure, which the government has not announced.

We have great concerns about this budget. We are looking forward to returning to the House tomorrow to speak further to the budget.

With that, I move:

That the debate be now adjourned.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Pursuant to Standing Order 83(2) the motion is deemed adopted and the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m.

(The House adjourned at 4:51 p.m.)