House of Commons Hansard #201 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was ads.
Christian Paradis ConservativeMinister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie
Mr. Speaker, first, our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the disaster.
I was pleased to announce today that there would be a matching fund. We stepped up very fast in this situation with an initial $5 million in humanitarian aid. Then today I am officially announcing that there will be a matching fund.
Canadians should be proud of that. They are generous and they will be able to participate with the government to ensure we help the Nepalese to recover.
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, as the death toll of this weekend's devastating earthquake in Nepal continues to rise, our hearts go out to all those affected.
Could the government give us a further update on the relief that Canada has offered so far and on the assistance that is being provided to Canadians who are caught in this disaster?
Christian Paradis ConservativeMinister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie
Mr. Speaker, as I just mentioned, we had an initial response with $5 million announced last weekend in humanitarian aid. This contribution will help to provide safe drinking water and food to those in need, and provide medical supplies and shelter.
On top of that, I just announced that now we established a matching fund. After that, we will continue to monitor and take action necessary to assist in this crisis.
We will deploy soon the emergency stockpile from our storage facilities. We are monitoring the situation to ensure that—
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, in his latest budget, the Minister of Finance decided to send the bill for his regressive measures to our grandchildren. He is not dealing with the huge economic, social and ecological debt that the Conservative government is leaving to future generations.
Why did the minister table a budget that clearly benefits the wealthiest Canadians instead of introducing measures to help middle-class families?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, obviously the NPD believes that people earning less than $60,000 a year are too rich. Almost two-thirds of individuals who maxed out their tax-free savings account contribution earn less than $60,000 a year. We are allowing them to save more without having to pay tax on the interest.
The New Democrats want to raise these people's taxes. We will not let them do that.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians will be paying for the Conservative handouts to the wealthy for generations to come. Adding insult to injury, the Conservatives will actually spend $13.5 million of our money for ads on their bad ideas.
Today the PBO confirmed that Conservatives would give billions to the wealthy, while leaving middle-class Canadians falling further and further behind. These latest Conservative handouts will cost tens of billions of dollars this year, and the doubling of the TFSA will give the wealthiest 20% twice as much as all other Canadians combined.
With so many families struggling to find affordable child care and looking for work, why are the Conservatives so fixated on helping out the wealthy?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, the New Democrats think that people who earn less than $60,000 a year are wealthy. That is what they are suggesting.
The people who will benefit from the increased contribution limit of the tax-free savings account are those who have already maxed it out. Two-thirds of them earn less than $60,000 a year. Maybe they had a small inheritance from a deceased family member. Maybe they are required to take the money out of their RRSP or RRIF and are therefore looking for a place to shelter it from the hands of government.
The only way they will be able to do that is by re-electing a Conservative government. The NDP would tax that money away.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' finance minister has already admitted that our grandkids will pay for his handouts to the wealthy.
The Conservative proposal to double the TFSA limit is a scheme that overwhelmingly rewards the wealthy. It is kind of like some perverse Robin Hood tax going on. According to the PBO, the wealthiest Canadians will get almost ten times more than the entire middle class combined. That leaves middle-class families working harder than ever to make ends meet, while having to pay for this latest Conservative handout.
Why are Conservatives spending $13.5 million advertising handouts for the wealthy, yet are refusing to invest even one single dollar in creating child care spaces for everyone else?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, let me quote from the Department of Finance of Canada, “about 60 per cent of the individuals contributing the maximum amount to their TFSAs had incomes of less than $60,000 a year in 2013”. That is on page 235.
The NDP members want to raise taxes on people earning less than $60,000 a year. That is exactly the wrong thing to do for our families. They want to take away the universal child care benefit and raise taxes on families. We will not let them do that.
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is telling Canadians to be frugal while he is wasting over $750 million on ineffective partisan advertising. He would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayers' money on self-promotion than on helping the middle class, creating jobs and growing the economy.
Will the Prime Minister commit today to put an end to this wastefulness and submit all advertising to a third party review process before it is made public?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, we are informing families of the tax cuts and enhanced benefits we are offering them. Let us start with the tax cuts. We are implementing tax cuts for families that will allow couples to split their incomes and reduce their taxes by $2,000 a year. We are also increasing the universal child care benefit to $2,000 for every child under 6 and $720 for every child between 6 and 17.
The Liberals do not want families to know that these benefits exist because they want to take that money away and raise taxes.
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Mr. Speaker, what the Liberals do not want is $29 million on 9,800 billboards, neither do Canadians.
The Prime Minister cynically preaches restraint, yet he spent more than $750 million on ineffective and wasteful partisan advertising. He would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars on self-promoting advertising instead of helping the middle class, creating jobs and growth our economy.
Here is his opportunity. Will he commit today to ending this wasteful abuse of tax dollars and submit all advertising to a third party review process for vetting ahead of their release?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, now that the Prime Minister has balanced the government's budget he can help families balance their budgets. He brought in the family tax cut, which will allow parents to split their income to save up to $2,000 a year. He is increasing the universal child care benefit to $2,000 for kids under 6 and $720 for kids 6 through 17.
Unfortunately, 200,000 families have not signed up for that enhanced universal child care benefit. They have until the deadline of Friday to sign up to get that July lump sum payment. The Liberals do not want those parents to get any of that money. In fact, the Liberals would take it all away. That is why they are against us informing families that those benefits exist.
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Mr. Speaker, on the weekend, the Minister of Finance admitted that he had no idea how many jobs his budget would create. When challenged that the TFSA change would cost billions of dollars and create no new jobs, the finance minister said that this was a problem that the Prime Minister's granddaughter could worry about.
Well, Canadians are worried about jobs right now. Where is the minister's plan for jobs and growth for the middle class and those working so very hard to join it?
Kevin Sorenson ConservativeMinister of State (Finance)
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that the strong leadership of our Conservative government has steered Canada out of the global economic recession and has created 1.2 million net new jobs. The budget is full of new measures to create more new jobs. They are measures like reducing the small business tax rate, providing support to provinces to harmonize apprenticeship training, promoting blue seal certification and fostering training in response to the needs of employers.
We know the Liberals want high taxes on the middle class. We know that would kill jobs and set working families back. Canadians know they are better off with our Conservative government.
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Mr. Speaker, evidence from the trial of former Conservative senator Mike Duffy has given rise to new questions about the Prime Minister's Office and its involvement in unreported lobbying and communications between Mike Duffy and Enbridge executives.
Why did the Prime Minister ask Mike Duffy to send him a note on “Enbridge Line 9 problems” on February 17, 2012? What was contained in the note Mr. Duffy sent to the Prime Minister's chief of staff and Enbridge executives on February 20 of that year?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I completely reject the premise of the question and I will not comment on matters that are in front of the court.
The member could help me and Canadians recover the $2.7 million that the NDP owes them for illegal offices. That is $2.7 million that 68 members of the NDP caucus owe the Canadian taxpayers and I actually have not gone into the $1.1 million it owes for illegal advertising as well. Perhaps in a supplementary we could talk about that.
Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, we now know that former senator Mike Duffy was not appointed to the Senate just to introduce or amend bills. His discussions with the Prime Minister's entourage and the oil companies were part of his duties. His diary indicates that on April 4, 2012, he spoke directly to the Prime Minister about Enbridge projects.
Can the Prime Minister confirm that he indeed had this discussion with Mike Duffy in April 2012?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of that question, but there is another really important question.
There are 68 NDP members who used House resources in violation of the rules of this place. The member who asked this question used over $25,000 in violation of the rules of the House. I hope that she will do the right thing and pay taxpayers back the more than $25,000 she owes them.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is a matter of choice: the Conservatives chose not to help families save for retirement and not to help the unemployed find work. The Minister of Finance himself does not know how many jobs his budget is going to create.
Why did the Conservatives not invest in measures that will create jobs for the middle class, instead of favouring the wealthy?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, we are creating jobs by lowering taxes for small and medium-sized businesses.
This will allow them to hire more workers. At the same time, our program is training over 500,000 apprentices. All of these measures help create jobs, especially for our young people. The New Democrats want to raise taxes for small and medium-sized businesses to pay for the high cost of bureaucracy. We will not let them do that.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, rather than skipping over the facts, the Minister of Finance is sure his budget will leave an economic burden on future generations, while rewarding the wealthiest with billions in new handouts, but he has no idea whether it will create any jobs.
There are 1.3 million Canadians looking for work. They were looking for some help to find a good job so they could support their families and save for their retirement, but the Conservatives left them hanging. Why is giving billions to the wealthy a higher priority than creating good jobs for Canadians?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, our program for jobs is tax cuts, training and trade.
On tax cuts, we are reducing the small business tax rate from 11% to 9%. That will free up more money for small business owners to hire people in their community.
On training, we have given out 500,000 apprenticeship grants that prepares electricians, plumbers, carpenters and others for the high-paying, in-demand jobs of the future.
Free trade with Europe will create 80,000 net new jobs.
The NDP opposes all three of those steps.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the finance minister has no idea how many jobs his budget will create in Canada, but we do know that the Conservatives are helping to create jobs in Mexico.
Export Development Canada announced it would loan Volkswagen $526 million without any guarantee of Canadian jobs. The Conservatives have failed the auto sector and have lost more than 400,000 good manufacturing jobs. How can they possibly justify investing in jobs in Mexico, while 1.3 million Canadian are out of work?
