House of Commons Hansard #153 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
I would remind hon. colleagues that one person at a time has the floor. Now the hon. opposition House leader has it.
Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Mr. Speaker, I was asking the Prime Minister about the Standing Orders changes. If he wants to be accountable, he needs to answer some of these questions directly.
We now find out that the Liberals want to shut down this House and only have it open four days a week. Canadians have to work five days a week. The Liberals should as well.
Again, does the Prime Minister commit that if any changes are to be made to the Standing Orders, he will have agreement from all parties in this House? Yes or no.
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected a government with a big idea of how we were going to help Canadians. That is exactly what we are going to do. We are always looking for ways to make the workings of the House more efficient, better able to serve Canadians, both in their ridings and in Ottawa. We are happy to open a discussion about whether we should make Fridays a full day of work, instead of the half day that the Conservatives seem to want.
We are happy to do more work for Canadians. Let us just figure out the best way to do it.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' plan for infrastructure includes a massive privatization bank that could double the cost of infrastructure to Canadian taxpayers. Their plan also seems to include the privatization of Canadian airports. I am wondering if the Prime Minister could show Canadians exactly where in the Liberal election platform this was ever mentioned.
Since he has no mandate to do so, will the Prime Minister guarantee that he will not privatize Canadian airports?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure bank was a campaign commitment that we campaigned on to demonstrate the fact that we understood there was room for global investment of private capital in Canadian infrastructure. It is a way of leveraging more money to build things like public transit, like power grids, the kinds of things that Canadians need more of. These are investments we are willing to make.
As for more details, we are looking forward to sharing those with all Canadians on Wednesday when we present our plan to continue to grow the middle class in the country.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has not answered the question because he cannot do so. He does not know where to find this answer in his election promises.
Where in their platform did the Liberals promise to privatize airports? Nowhere. They never talked about it. Airport privatization is no small detail. It will increase fees for airline passengers across Canada.
Either the Prime Minister is making it up as he goes or he always intended to privatize airports. Which one is it?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know, as all Canadians will, how we are going to create growth for the middle class by investing in our future and in training.
The hon. member will see just how willing we are to invest in the future of this country by giving more money to the middle class, which the hon. member voted against when he refused to vote for our bill to increase taxes for the wealthy and lower them for the middle class.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, that is not true and he knows it. We voted for that.
The Prime Minister also committed to a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples and to right historic wrongs. The term “nation-to-nation” is not a political slogan. It must mean dealing as equals and an awareness of past betrayals. However, the Liberals argue that they are not even bound by the decisions of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
How can the Prime Minister claim to believe in a nation-to-nation relationship when he refuses to end discrimination against first nations children and when he continues to fight them in court?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, no relationship is more important to this government than the one with indigenous peoples. That is why we put forward historic amounts of money, $8.4 billion in last year's budget, to start the long work of reconciliation.
We agree that there is much more to be done, but we know that whether it is eliminating long-term drinking water advisories, boil water advisories, or making sure that thousands of indigenous Canadians started school last September in new schools, we are making concrete differences in the lives of indigenous Canadians, young and old.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
The truth is that he is fighting first nations children in court, Mr. Speaker. That is what he is doing.
The Liberals also promised that they would put an end to the tax loophole involving stock options for CEOs, which benefits only the rich.
Two weeks ago, the Liberals voted for an NDP motion that specifically called for that loophole to be ended. If the Liberals are refusing to do so now, they will have misled the public and the House.
Can the Prime Minister therefore guarantee that, in this budget, he will put an end to this tax loophole that benefits only the wealthiest in our society?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, our first act in government was to lower taxes for the middle class and to raise them for the wealthiest 1%.
The hon. member and his party voted against that measure that was designed to reduce taxes for the middle class. The fact is that, on Wednesday, everyone will see a budget focused on the growth of the middle class and on the assistance that Canadians so sorely need after 10 years of Conservative government.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, 10 years of Conservative government resulted in a budget surplus of $2.9 billion. I would like to thank the Prime Minister for giving me the opportunity to remind the House about this truth that is so dear to Canadians.
Speaking of numbers, the government will table its budget 50 hours from now. People are worried because they do not trust the government, especially the Prime Minister. We have questioned the Prime Minister non-stop about whether he would be increasing taxes on health and dental insurance plans. He finally said no, and six days later, he voted contrary to his own words.
Can the Prime Minister assure Canadians that they will not have to pay—
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Order, please.
The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.
Our government is committed to investing in the middle class, in people, and in the economy. It was this government that lowered taxes for the middle class. That is the first thing we did when we took power. We also increased taxes for the wealthy.
We also created the Canada child benefit, which has helped nine out of ten families to raise their children. We have a plan, and we will continue to move forward. We are pleased.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day barely two years ago when the current Prime Minister said that, as far as he was concerned, small businesses were a way to avoid paying taxes. Perhaps that is true for him. However, for those who are creating jobs and wealth, our entrepreneurs, small businesses are everything but that.
The reality that comes with the new American administration is that American business owners are going to pay lower taxes.
Will the Prime Minister commit, through the upcoming budget, to ensuring that our entrepreneurs can compete with their American competitors on a level playing field?
Ginette Petitpas Taylor LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my colleague for his question. Canada is well positioned on the global stage. We have a very competitive tax environment compared to the United States and other OECD countries.
People looking to invest in Canada also benefit from a very skilled and well-educated population. We will continue with our plan to invest in skills, innovation, and productivity in order to ensure that we can preserve and develop these advantages here in Canada.
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Mr. Speaker, in the first year alone, Liberal “deliverology” has failed to deliver good-paying jobs, and it was not for lack of funds. The Liberals have shot past their $10 billion modest deficits and they have no credible plan to get us back to black. Worse yet, the term “balanced budget” has now become a dirty word for the Minister of Finance, who refuses to ever use it. Why is that? Why has the Liberal government abandoned its promise to return to a balanced budget in 2019?
Ginette Petitpas Taylor LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House today to speak about the wonderful things our government has done. Since we formed government, in the past six months we have created over 220,000 full-time jobs. When we look at the unemployment rate, it has gone down from 7% to 6.6%.
Our plan is working and we are going to continue to move forward.
Alice Wong Conservative Richmond Centre, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said that small businesses are just there to help rich people avoid taxes. Clearly, he has never met the hard-working entrepreneurs who actually own small businesses across our nation. It seems he will continue the attack on these middle-class families in the upcoming budget.
When will the Prime Minister end his attack on small businesses?
Bardish Chagger LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism
Mr. Speaker, this government recognizes the important work that small business owners do and the contributions they make to our economy. Our endeavour will always be to help them be more productive, more innovative, and export oriented.
This government will continue to take a whole-of-government approach to ensure that we open up markets for 99% of businesses, which are small businesses. We will continue to work very hard for them.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has lived his first year in office like the son of a Monaco billionaire. He has travelled. He has partied with celebrities and thrown money at everyone and everything. It all has gone on the national credit card.
Now, to pay the bill, he is nickel and diming small businesses and working people, with higher taxes on work, hiring, kids sports and fuel, name it.
In this week's budget will the Prime Minister finally stop the binge before he runs out of other people's money?
Ginette Petitpas Taylor LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, our government will continue to build on the commitment to help middle-class Canadians and those working hard to join it.
The first thing this government did when we came to office was lower taxes for middle-class Canadians and we increased them for the wealthy 1%.
The other action this government took was putting in place a very generous Canada child benefit program to help hundreds and thousands of children get out of poverty.
We have also taken some steps to help our seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement for low income seniors by 10%.
Our focus is on middle-class Canadians, and we will continue to work for them.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, will the Liberals admit that they do not know what the middle class is? However, this week the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development produced a diagram full of laser beams to clarify. In it, growth beams inclusive to the middle class, which returns an engine back to growth that is transformed into expectation/mobility that is sent over to trust, which reciprocates with investment/human and physical capital. Finally, trust feeds the middle class that beams support over to trust.
Do the Liberals need Fridays off so they can continue to “deliverologize” more synergistic laser beams like these ones?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalMinister of Families
Mr. Speaker, I think all members of the House are proud to notice the interest of our colleague in real facts: facts around the decrease in middle-class income taxes, while increasing taxes for the top 1% of Canadians; facts around 900,000 seniors getting up to $1,000 more in guaranteed income supplements because we care about vulnerable seniors; and facts around the major impact that the Canada child benefit is having across the families of six million children in Canada.
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Mr. Speaker, hard-working Canadians are struggling to eke out a living, worried about growing household debt, but now we know our own banks are working against us by pressuring Canadians into even more debt and services they do not need.
How did the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada fail to notice this behaviour by the big banks? Why have we heard nothing from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions? Will the minister direct a joint investigation into the marketing and sales practices of Canada's banks, yes or no?