Debates of Dec. 5th, 2016

Bill C-29—Time Allocation Motion

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We have time for a very brief question.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Madam Speaker, I wonder if the hon. Minister of Finance knows that budget 2016 has been very positive for Manitoba, in terms of infrastructure.

In the riding of Provencher, the village of St-Pierre has received $1.5 million for lagoon expansion. In the riding of Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, the City of Selkirk has received $3 million for water supply. In the riding of—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I indicated just a very brief question. If we want the minister to answer, we have to get the minister to answer right now.

The hon. Minister of Finance.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is exactly the case: we have moved forward on these sorts of projects to make a real difference in Manitoba and other parts of the country where those investments will help Canadian families today and tomorrow.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings at this time and put forthwith the question on the motion now before the House.

The vote is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

[Some hon. members]

Yea.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

All those opposed will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #168

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I declare the motion adopted.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want to ensure that I do not comment on the current or past presence of any member of Parliament, which I know is out of order. My point of order has to do with the future.

We noticed that today the Prime Minister has a meeting scheduled right at 2:15 p.m. The event is one of the only meetings he has today, and the meeting is here in Ottawa. We want to be able to help the Prime Minister accommodate his open and accountable government. In the message that he gave to his ministers he said that he thought it was important to be in Parliament to answer honestly and accurately. In order to help the Prime Minister do that, I would ask for unanimous consent of the House to move question period for today as follows: that notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, on Monday, December 5, 2016, members may make statements pursuant to Standing Order 31 at 4 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. and oral questions shall be taken up not later than 4:15 p.m. instead of 2:15 p.m. in order to help the Prime Minister, and the House shall proceed to the ordinary daily routine of business at 5:00 p.m. instead of 3:00 p.m., followed by government orders.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Does the hon. opposition House leader have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

The House resumed from December 2 consideration of Bill C-29, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2016 and other measures as reported (with amendment) from the committee, and of the motions in Group No. 1.

Report Stage

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I wish to inform the House that because of the proceedings on the time allocation motion, government orders will be extended by 30 minutes.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to speak in the House, even if it is after the government has decided not very many members of Parliament should actually get that opportunity. That is what we are facing here again today. We are seeing a government that is very proud of the fact that 60 members of Parliament have spoken to this. Last time I checked, there were 336 members in the House of Commons currently, with two vacancies, so that is fewer than 20% of members of Parliament being afforded an opportunity to speak to the budget implementation act. The government has brought down the hammer. It has shut off debate. It does not want members of Parliament to speak in the House.

It is kind of funny. I just did the Liberals' mydemocracy.ca survey where they ask things like, “Do you think members of Parliament should better represent their constituents or should they toe the party line?” We have seen their preference here today. Instead of representing their constituents, getting up and defending their own budget, they get up and defend cutting off debate in the House.

It is shameful but it is becoming a part of their routine business. They said, “Trust us. We will do things so much differently.” They talked about real change. The only real change is, after Friday, a single hour of debate on the budget implementation act at this stage, they brought in time allocation. For the people at home, that means they no longer want members of Parliament to be able to debate this.

It is no wonder the Liberals do not want Canadians and members of Parliament debating the bill, because it is about their economic performance. The budget implementation act speaks to their ineptitude, quite frankly, on the economy. That is what we are seeing day after day and time after time. Their economic plan, if we could even call it that, is not working.

Statistics Canada said on Friday that for the second month in a row all job gains were in part-time positions and noticed the jobless rate only fell because fewer people were seeking work. Some 8,700 full-time jobs were lost in November. Gluskin Sheff chief economist David Rosenberg said that the latest numbers were clearly a case of “nice headline, shame about the details”. In fact, full-time employment in Canada has not risen in almost a year and a half. What happened just a little over a year ago? This government took office. Since it has taken office, it has not created a single net full-time new job. It is outrageous.

The Liberals talk about how we need to get this passed so that they can deliver on their economic platform. We need to prevent that from happening as much as possible because it has been an unmitigated disaster. They have misled Canadians time after time, and their budget is the primary example of where they have done that.

I want to continue to quote from David Rosenberg. He said the Liberal economic performance is “in a word, pathetic and attests to a usually high level of uncertainty among the business community, writ large”.

There were 8,700 jobs lost just in November. That was in addition to the 100,000 jobs that have been lost in the energy sector since the government took office. Its plan, if we can call it that, is simply failing Canadians.

The budget, and the budget implementation act, is a litany of broken promises. The Liberals promised in the last campaign that they would have a $10-billion deficit and that it would be gone within the time of their mandate, that within four years there would be no deficit and we would be back to a balanced budget. One year later, it is now a $30-billion deficit, and there is no plan to ever get back to a balanced budget. That is the Liberal record. They no longer even pretend they are going to get back to a balanced budget. That is after our Conservative government left them with $2.9 billion in surplus, and over 1.3 million net new jobs was our record. In one year, they have blown through the entire contingency fund they had set aside in their first budget and they are three times more money in debt.

What does that mean? It means that future generations, our children and grandchildren, will pay higher taxes to pay that money back. Canadians know, when they borrow money, they have to pay it back. The government has said that it was just going to borrow a little bit. It was going to spur the economy on to create all kinds of jobs. It has not happened. It is a record of broken promises.

The Liberals also said that they would be cutting the small business tax rate for communities like mine in Chilliwack—Hope. Small and medium-sized enterprises in Chilliwack—Hope are the backbone of my community. Every major party in this place promised in the last election that we would cut the small business tax rate to 9% from 11%. Every single one of us here in the major recognized parties campaigned on cutting the small business tax rate to 9%.

What did we see? The Liberals got into power, and it said sorry to all the small business owners who create all of the jobs in this country, but they did not have the money for them. They had to spend it on other things. They are running a $30-billion deficit, but they cannot afford to keep their promise to them. Instead, they are going to raise their payroll taxes and make it more expensive for them to hire people. Not only were they not going to give them the break they promised, but they are going to make it more expensive.

It is no surprise, given the comments of the Prime Minister during the campaign when he said that small businesses were simply a way for rich Canadians to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. This is what the Liberal Party believes about small business in Canada, that they are simply avoiding taxes and avoiding their obligations to Canadians.

The Liberals are making life more expensive for the people in my riding by raising their taxes. They talk as well about how they are raising taxes on the wealthiest Canadians and cutting them for lowest-income Canadians, except they are doing nothing of the sort.

In my riding, the average income is $34,787 per year. Guess how much the average income earner in Chilliwack—Hope got from the Liberal tax cuts? It is zero. They do not make enough money to qualify for the Liberal tax cuts, because they kick in at $45,000 a year. Therefore, the person who actually makes the most money from the Liberal income tax cuts is someone making $199,000 a year. That might be who the Liberals represent, but in my riding, that is not who I represent. I represent middle and low-income Canadians who are looking for a break. They were promised a tax break from the current government and they got nothing.

Another group that has gotten nothing from the government is the natural resource sector. I was honoured to be named the natural resources critic, and it is a tough time for our natural resource industries. Right now in committee, we have been studying the mining industry. Mining company after mining company has come before the committee to say that a carbon tax will put more people out of work, and it may prevent projects from even starting. That is how serious this is.

The government has not adjusted its plan at all, given the surprising outcome in the United States where we now have president-elect Trump, who says he is going to cut corporate and business taxes. He has no intention of bringing in a carbon tax. Yet the Liberals continue on as though nothing has changed, as if it is still going to be Barack Obama in the White House in another month or so.

Things have changed. The landscape has dramatically shifted. If we do not adjust, we will continue to see massive outflows of capital from the natural resource sector to other jurisdictions. Businesses are going to leave this country, jobs are going to leave this country, and yet the government has done nothing except make it more expensive for businesses to operate in Canada. It is shameful. The 100,000 lost jobs in the energy sector that have happened since the current government took office will seem like the good old days if it continues down this path where people continue to look for lower-cost jurisdictions in which to operate.

Therefore, this is not a plan to get Canadians back to work. It is not a plan to make life more affordable for Canadians. It is a failed plan. It is a litany of broken promises. We on this side of the House will not support it.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Madam Speaker, I am surprised, and I am sure the member can help me understand, because he said that few people in his riding would be impacted. Let me remind him of what we have done for people in his riding.

When we cut taxes for nine million Canadians, is he saying to this House that there is no one in his riding who is going to benefit?

When we introduced the Canada child benefit, nine families out of 10 in this country are going to be better off. Is the member telling people watching at home that there is nobody in his riding who is going to benefit from the Canada child benefit?

We have increased the GIS top-up, and 900,000 seniors are going to be better off in Canada because of that. Is the member pretending that there are no seniors in his riding who will benefit?

For youth in our country, we have increased grants. I am sure there are students in the member's riding.

My question to the member is: Why does he not support measures that are going to help the same people who sent him to Ottawa?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Madam Speaker, of course, if he had been listening to my speech, he would note that the average income in my riding does not qualify for the so-called middle class tax cut of the government. They get nothing from it, and he wants to walk past that.

There has not been a single net new job created. The small businesses, as I said, that are counting on that tax cut that he promised when he was going door to door have got nothing from the government. The Liberals have broken that promise.

My constituents know that when a government comes in, it is expected to keep its promises, not break every single milestone that they promised they would deliver on within a few short months.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I have a question for my Conservative colleague and fellow British Columbian about perhaps not what is in this budget implementation act, which is of course under the guillotine of time allocation, which the Liberals said they would not use. Sorry, that was the 2015 Liberals. These are the different ones.

We have a lot of fundamental challenges in our economy. We can see the economic numbers that my friend points out and that they are universally accepted, that the economy is sputtering at best, and I am being complimentary, yet we have seen a government go out and borrow an extraordinary amount of money, much more so than it promised, and we are wondering where the results are.

There are a lot of incentives in our tax system for manufacturing and some other businesses, but not a lot for adding value to our natural resources. It seems to be remaining in forestry, oil, and other industries, raw resource extraction model is still in place. Are there any suggestions he might have to improve the state of the Canadian economy to change that particular conundrum?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Madam Speaker, I think under a Conservative government we certainly took steps to improve the tax regime for manufacturers, for natural resource industries to make sure that the accelerated capital cost allowance for LNG, for instance, in my province of British Columbia will be a big advantage.

I think there are always opportunities to incentivize the behaviours that we want to see in Canada, but we do not do that by raising taxes on small businesses. We do not do that by raising payroll taxes on small businesses, which is exactly what the government has done, which it promised it would not do.

I think Canadians are waking up to the fact that this is a government that breaks its promises.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Madam Speaker, I completely disagree with the hon. member's assumptions. Budget 2016 has been very positive for my province. One of the ridings that has benefited the most is Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, with $3.5 million for a new water treatment system in Gimli and $3 million for a new waste-water treatment facility in Selkirk.

Why does the opposition continue to vote against a budget that is so beneficial to the province of Manitoba, especially the rural municipalities?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Of course, Madam Speaker, we thank Stephen Harper for that infrastructure plan. It was the biggest and broadest in Canadian history, and we also thank the member of Parliament for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, one of the finest members of Parliament in this House and certainly in Manitoba for getting the job done for his constituents.