House of Commons Hansard #130 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was treatment.

Topics

FinanceOral Questions

January 31st, 2017 / 2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Denis Lebel Conservative Lac-Saint-Jean, QC

Mr. Speaker, our population is part of our democracy, and that is why changing something like that has to be done through a referendum for our democracy.

The economic challenges associated with our main partners, the Americans, are considerable. In the U.S., the President said that he wants to lower taxes and cut bureaucratic paperwork that he deems useless.

How will Canada respond? What is the plan? We need more than words. What plan will we use to help our businesses and to keep our jobs at home, in Canada?

FinanceOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, we will engage with the Americans so that we can continue to work with them. Of course we have plans here in Canada that will help our economy and improve the situation in the future. The tax situation for the middle class will be good, but we will also make investments to improve our future growth. That is our plan for Canada and the middle class.

FinanceOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Denis Lebel Conservative Lac-Saint-Jean, QC

Mr. Speaker, just before the holidays, officials from the Department of Finance were forecasting a huge deficit until 2055. There is a solution. It is not that they forgot to count things, it is that the Conservatives will come back and balance the books before that date.

We are very concerned by what is happening. If people spend more money than they have, one day the banks will come along looking for the keys to their cars and houses. The Liberals seem to think that money grows on trees. How will we be able to deal with that? Reckless spending is not the solution. We have to keep creating jobs at home. It is not enough to raise taxes, as they are so used to doing. How are they going to handle it?

FinanceOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance report says that our economy is viable in the long term. The report also says that it is very important to make investments in order for our economy to improve. That is exactly what we will be doing. The report does not take our investments into account, nor the rate of growth we will achieve with our government's program. We will therefore continue with our program for the economy in order to improve the situation, now and in the long term.

TaxationOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has responded to a formal Order Paper question asking him to define the middle class:

...it is not possible to pin down a specific income range that would capture everyone who is in the middle class. ...Canada has no official statistical measure of what constitutes the middle class.

Now we understand why the Liberals' middle-class tax plan gives an executive earning $200,000 a year $800, while giving a worker earning $45,000 a year nothing, nothing except a carbon tax on gas, home heating, and groceries.

How can the Minister of Finance help the middle class when he openly admits he does not know what it is?

TaxationOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, in fact what I would like to tell the member opposite is we know the middle class is all those people who were left behind by the previous government, all those people who feel like they have not had an increase in pay in the last generation. We know that the people who are feeling like they are struggling to get by and who need—

TaxationOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

TaxationOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order, order. I am having difficulty hearing the answer. I know that all members want to hear the answer.

The hon. Minister of Finance.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, as I said, for all those left behind by the previous government, all of those people who have not felt like they have had a real pay raise for the last generation, what we did for them was we lowered their taxes: the average individual of the nine million people, $330 less in taxes; the average family, $540 less in taxes. For those who have families, for those nine out of 10 families, there is significantly more money to raise their children.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, left behind by the previous government? I seek the permission of the House to table the chart I have in front of me which shows that incomes for the median, for the middle class in Canada did fall dramatically under the previous Trudeau administration, stayed largely stagnant, and then skyrocketed under the previous Conservative government.

Do members know where I got that chart? It was the very first chart in the very first budget of that finance minister. If the minister does want to help the middle class, why does he not start by reading the chart in his budget, and follow the examples of his predecessors?

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to talk about the real numbers with the member opposite.

For the nine out of 10 families who got the Canada child benefit, they are, on average, $2,300 better off after tax for their families. For the most impoverished, the single women living on a low income, $6,400 after tax better off. That is not to consider the tax decreases for the middle class.

We are moving forward on a plan to make a real difference for the future of Canada, a real difference for middle-class Canadians, and a real difference for those people who are really struggling to get by.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC

Mr. Speaker, since the Minister of Finance wants to talk about real numbers, I have a good number for him: 13 million.

Thirteen million Canadians may end up paying more tax if, God forbid, the government decides to tax health and dental insurance. In addition to those 13 million workers, it will affect family members too for a total of 24 million Canadians who could be affected by this bad Liberal decision.

Earlier, the Prime Minister twice refused to tell us if he will be imposing this tax or not.

Can the minister tell us if he will be taxing Canadians more, yes or no?

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, our first move was a significant tax cut for the middle class.

We also looked at how we can continue to have an effective, responsible, and fair system, and that is exactly what we are going to do. We will look at ways to change our tax system to make things better for the middle class. That is our real goal.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC

Mr. Speaker, what the numbers are telling us is that Canadians will have to pay more.

Unfortunately, if the government went ahead with this new tax on dental and health insurance, families would have to pay $2,000 more. Then we have the Liberal carbon tax, at $2,500, not to mention CPP increases, for another $2,200.

That is $6,700 more that Canadians have to pay because of the Liberals, and you think that is a good thing?

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I would like to remind the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent to address his comments to the Chair. I do not think he was speaking to me.

TaxationOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, as I said, our program is intended to help the middle class.

We started by cutting taxes for the middle class. Our program is to help the middle class and those who seek to join it. That is also what we are seeking to achieve as we continue to ensure that our system is effective, accountable and fair.

Human RightsOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Mr. Speaker, the U.S. President's executive order on immigration is a violation of refugee rights and human rights.

We no longer have the assurance that refugees will be welcome in the United States or that they will be treated fairly. The Safe Third Country Agreement that we have with the U.S. was based on such an assurance.

The question I have for the government is simple: will Canada immediately suspend our Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States?

Human RightsOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

York South—Weston Ontario

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen LiberalMinister of Immigration

Mr. Speaker, Canada has a lot to be proud of with respect to how we welcome refugees and open our hearts to those seeking protection and sanctuary. We are proud of the fact that we have one of the most generous and compassionate refugee systems in the world. We will continue that proud tradition and the conditions of the safe third country agreement will continue to be met.

Human RightsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, we must condemn discrimination whenever it arises, but words without action are meaningless. It is time to take some real action to address the Trump discriminatory immigration ban.

Will the government lift Canada's caps on refugees, work with our global partners to help resettle those abandoned by the U.S., and immediately suspend the safe third country agreement, or will Canadians just be left with empty words?

Human RightsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

York South—Weston Ontario

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen LiberalMinister of Immigration

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are proud of the fact that we resettled more than 40,000 Syrian refugees in 2016 and our immigration levels plan more than triples the number of privately sponsored refugees in 2017. That more than triples the level under the previous government.

We will continue to have a robust compassionate and generous refugee system.

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are losing confidence in their government and our democracy because of this Prime Minister's conduct and disregard for the ethics rules.

Accepting a helicopter ride to get to the Aga Khan's private island was irresponsible enough, but now we see that the Prime Minister thinks he is above the law and is refusing to respect the ethics rules in place.

Could someone please explain the meaning of ethics to the Prime Minister?

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Waterloo Ontario

Liberal

Bardish Chagger LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism

Mr. Speaker, as has been previously stated, the Prime Minister was on a family vacation with a long-time friend. The Prime Minister is ready to respond to any questions the commissioner might have.

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in defence of his indiscretions, the Prime Minister claimed he was visiting a lifelong friend during his new year's vacation. That defence does nothing to alleviate the responsibility to follow section 12 of the Conflict of Interest Act. The law is clear: the Prime Minister is forbidden from boarding a private aircraft in a circumstance like this.

Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility for his actions and admit that he broke the law?

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Waterloo Ontario

Liberal

Bardish Chagger LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism

Mr. Speaker, as has been previously stated time and time again, the Prime Minister was on a personal vacation with a long-standing friend whom he has known for a very long time. As has also been stated time and time again, the Prime Minister is ready to respond to any questions the commissioner might have.

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie seems to have taken a page out of the Prime Minister's playbook when it comes to lavish spending. She has used the ministerial car service 55 times to return to her riding. Everyone on this side of the House knows that an expense that is technically legal is not necessarily ethical.

In this new year, will the government members finally get their priorities straight and stop picking the pockets of Canadian taxpayers?