Agreed.
No.
House of Commons Hansard #211 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was families.
House of Commons Hansard #211 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was families.
Opposition Motion—Care for VeteransBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders
Some hon. members
Agreed.
No.
The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton
All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.
Opposition Motion—Care for VeteransBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders
Some hon. members
Yea.
Opposition Motion—Care for VeteransBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders
Some hon. members
Nay.
The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton
In my opinion the yeas have it.
And five or more members having risen:
Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC
Mr. Speaker, we request that the division be deferred until tomorrow, May 12, 2015, at the expiry of the time provided for government orders.
The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton
Accordingly, the vote is deferred until tomorrow at the end of government orders or just before the period set aside for private members' business.
I see the hon. member for Northumberland—Quinte West rising.
Rick Norlock Conservative Northumberland—Quinte West, ON
Mr. Speaker, I think if you seek it, you will see unanimous support for seeing the clock at 6:30.
Opposition Motion—Care for VeteransBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders
Some hon. members
Agreed.
The House resumed from May 8 consideration of the motion
Opposition Motion--Feminine Hygiene ProductsBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders
Conservative
The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton
The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of the member for London—Fanshawe, relating to the business of supply.
Call in the members.
The House resumed from April 30 consideration of the motion.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Mr. Speaker, the government continually sings from the song book of reducing corporate taxes to create more jobs, but it needs to look at the evidence. In 2012, tax policies that began in 1995 resulted in $264 billion in uncollected tax revenues. Where are the jobs that should have come from those tax reductions? By Conservative logic, those kinds of tax cuts should leave no Canadian who wants a well-paying job without one.
We all know the truth. Tax cuts do not create jobs. Not only have we lost over 400,000 good manufacturing jobs in Canada, but the gap between rich and poor in this country has steadily increased. The middle class is shrinking along with the government coffers.
Economists understand the importance of a healthy middle class to a thriving economy, and Canadians understand the value of a good paying job. Putting food on the table, providing a safe home, caring for children and elders, and paying for education are priorities for Canadians.
We cannot continue to rely on the price of a barrel of oil to dictate whether Canadians prosper or go unemployed. Recent global realities make that very clear. The recent drop in oil prices has resulted in that sector's decision to remove $23 billion in capital spending in this year alone, throwing thousands of Canadians out of work.
We can neither protect nor create good paying jobs that support families and local economies with corporate welfare. The loss of Kellogg's in London, Ontario, was yet another blow, not only to the London area but to the Canadian middle class. This clearly cannot continue, but what is also clear is that the Conservatives have no plan.
Fortunately, New Democrats do have a plan. It is a plan that includes diversification and innovation. It is a plan that would seize current and important opportunities in Canadian manufacturing and usher in the next generation of investment and innovation. It is a plan that would extend by two more years the accelerated capital cost allowance, which is scheduled to expire later this year. It is a plan that would introduce an innovative tax credit to encourage investments in machinery, equipment and property used in research and development.
Creating jobs requires investing in infrastructure. Helping cities build 21st century transit, for instance, will not only create manufacturing, supply and construction jobs, but will make our cities attractive to future businesses.
Ensuring accessible, affordable and universal child care is vital to building a thriving economy. Not only does it create the environment where children are cared for while parents go to work, it creates jobs in the child care industry. Studies have shown that every dollar invested in child care is returned twofold to the government. The NDP plan includes universal child care at $15 a day.
A truly accessible, affordable, universal health care system is a fundamental keystone to the Canadian identity. The federal government has a role to play in ensuring that.
Last week, I hosted a townhall in London—Fanshawe with the Canadian Medical Association. Its representative, Dr. Virginia Walley, did not mince words. The CMA recognizes that a shift from institutional care that wastes 30% in bureaucracy and inefficiencies is necessary to address community health care needs such as home care. We need federal leadership to create a model that includes more quality home care. Like child care, home care puts trained, educated Canadians back to work and providing services.
I have already spoken to the House about the ways in which a universal pharmacare system would provide vital prescription drugs to every Canadian who needs them and save $7 billion. That is $7 billion that could be reinvested into child care, health care and home care programs.
Instead of being creative and innovative, the government creates barriers to job creation. When will the Conservatives stop enacting measures that strangle our economy?
EmploymentAdjournment Proceedings
Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia
Conservative
Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, with that diatribe and socialist nonsense, I do not even know where to begin.
Let me start with child care. Our government has brought forward a plan that will support every single Canadian family with children. We are going to be increasing the universal child care benefit for young people under six years of age by $60 a month, raising it to $1,920 per year. We are going to be raising by $60 a month a new benefit for young people aged six to 17 years old, which would increase it by $720 a year. Families with multiple children are going to enjoy a massive increase in the amount of money they will get from the universal child care benefit.
On top of that, the family tax cut will allow families with different incomes to share the higher wage with the lower wage, which will lower the tax burden on that family overall. Let us think about two teachers making $50,000 a year each. I was a teacher myself. They pay significantly less tax than a tradesperson who is making $100,000 and has a spouse who stays home with the children. That is an unfairness in the system. That is the type of measure we are putting forward. We are bringing tax fairness for families into the system and raising the amount of the universal child care benefit to support child care for young families. We are supporting families.
On health care, in every year that we have been in power we have provided a 6% increase in transfers to the provinces to deliver health care, and we have guaranteed that these increases will continue into the future. Provinces can now expect increase after increase for years into the future, supporting the health care system that they are constitutionally mandated to deliver.
In terms of job creation, since the pit of the economic recession in July of 2009, we have increased jobs in this country to the tune of 1.2 million net new jobs. That is one of the best job records in the G7.
In terms other job creation that we are working on, we have continuously supported manufacturing through the accelerated capital cost allowance and by keeping EI premiums and CPP premiums low, because we know that increasing payroll taxes would kill jobs in this country. The opposition parties would love to do that, but not my party. Conservatives understand that high taxes kill jobs and low taxes help create jobs. Low taxes allow job creators to continue to employ more people.
What we do not need is higher taxes in this country. What we need is more taxpayers, so our focus is on creating jobs and making sure more people are employed. That is our goal and that is our plan, and we know that this fall Canadians will support that.
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Mr. Speaker, every time we talk about innovation, the Conservatives call it a diatribe.
Conservatives turn away from the issues that matter to Canadians while New Democrats listen. We have a plan that includes diversity, innovation, and investment in small business. One example is London Sciencetech, a small but influential leader in new solar energy technology. It recently hosted a visit by the Minister of State for Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. MPs from London West, London North Centre and Elgin—Middlesex—London were there, and while they appeared to be happy to use the business as a photo op, just as the Prime Minister did with Electro-Motive Diesel, they were not interested in hearing any concerns about federal cuts to science research and experimental development. Such cuts would adversely affect local businesses like Sciencetech, something I wrote to the minister about in 2012.
New Democrats understand the value and the critical necessity of creating an economy based on diversity, innovation, and human development. Why do the Conservatives not?