House of Commons Hansard #353 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was balanced.
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, that is a good question, and balance is always necessary. We need to consider how we can remain competitive while still ensuring that our tax system is fair. Our goal is to achieve balance in a system that works for the country. We will be able to do both at the same time. That will be our approach.
Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Minister of Finance thought it was a good question, but I would have liked an answer.
The federal tax rate for large corporations has fallen from 28% to 15% since 2000. The amount of dead money, meaning assets and cash held by those corporations, increased dramatically beginning in 2000. On the whole, corporate tax cuts have not helped create jobs, and that money has not been invested. It has been channelled into financial speculation and massive corporate executive paycheques.
Here, again, is my question for the Minister of Finance. Will he refrain from cutting corporate taxes in his Wednesday update?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, what we can say is that it is very important to have a certain level of investment in our country. We need to make sure our system is competitive but fair. That balance is very important. That is our goal, but we know that when things are going as well as they are now, when our economy is growing and our unemployment rate is very low, it is time to secure our future. That is our goal for Wednesday's update.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, in a country as rich as Canada, too many families are living paycheque to paycheque or are living in poverty. While Liberals continue to claim that the economy is doing well, they fail to acknowledge that families in Canada are dealing with record levels of debt. Time and time again, Liberals show they are more interested in giving tax breaks to wealthy corporations, while telling Canadians they have to wait.
Jagmeet Singh and the NDP have sent our plan to the finance minister. Will he listen, stop with the corporate giveaways and invest in Canadians?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, we will continue to invest in Canadians. In fact, what we know is that approach has absolutely worked over the last three years. We have brought hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty through the Canada child benefit. We have helped innumerable seniors through the guaranteed income supplement increase.
We are going to continue to focus on our core goal of assuring that families across the country are doing well, and that those who are challenged have a great opportunity. We will do that by making sure not only that they are doing well, but that we are investing in our future.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, Canadian families are dealing with record levels of debt. The Liberals now have our plan, so they have no excuse not to make the right choices. Canadians expect investments this week that will lessen the financial burden on Canadian families and help businesses thrive. The time for eternal discussions on universal, single-payer pharmacare has long passed. Canadians and businesses continue to spend billions of dollars on medication for themselves and their employees. Would the Liberals make the right decision and implement universal pharmacare now?
Ginette Petitpas Taylor LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that Canadians are proud of their publicly funded health care system, one that is based on their needs and not on their ability to pay. However, we also recognize that we can do better and that is why I was pleased in March of this year that we announced the implementation of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare program. I truly look forward to receiving the recommendations of Dr. Hoskins that will be brought forward in the spring of 2019.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, Canadians were misled three years ago, because on page 76 of the Liberal Party election platform, the Liberals said they would run modest deficits for three years and then return to a balanced budget in 2019. The modest deficits became huge deficits, and balancing the budget in 2019 is sheer fantasy.
With this Wednesday's economic update, will the Minister of Finance, who broke his election promise, at least have the honour and decency to tell Canadians when we will return to a balanced budget?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, we know it is very important that we continue with our approach, which is improving the lives of Canadians across the country. This approach is working for people who now have good jobs. We will have the opportunity to continue with our approach and make sure that we are investing for the future, not only in the business world, but also to make things better for families.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, the update will be presented on Wednesday. Any accountant in any company will make sure the numbers balance when giving an economic update. However, it is certain that the numbers will not balance on Wednesday. There will be a deficit.
If the Minister of Finance cannot keep the promise he made to balance the budget in 2019, could he at least give Canadians an update and tell them when he will balance the budget?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, obviously, it is very important to find an approach that works. Unfortunately, the previous Conservative government had an approach that created lots of deficit but not a lot of growth.
Our approach is very different. We are investing in Canadian families. We have one of the highest levels of growth in the G7 and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. We are going to continue with our approach because it is working.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud to have ensured that Canada was the first G7 country to emerge from the worst economic crisis the world had ever seen.
However, our country is governed by a man who came up with the unbelievable economic theory that, and I quote, “the budget will balance itself”.
In real life, budgets do not balance themselves, so could the Minister of Finance finally tell us when he will balance the budget?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, we will continue with our approach, which is to ensure that we have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of all G7 countries. That is very important. At the same time, we will continue investing in the future. Our investments are really working. We need only consider the unemployment rate or Canada's economic growth, which was the highest in the G7 last year.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, the trust fund twins, the Prime Minister and finance minister, inherited great fortune: a balanced budget, booming world and U.S. economies, rising commodity prices, record low interest rates, and roaring housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto. That was a $20-billion windfall for the Liberals and they blew every single penny. The Prime Minister keeps telling us that the budget will balance itself. If so, when?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, let us consider what we actually inherited. We inherited $150 billion of additional debt generated by the previous government. We inherited an unemployment rate of 7.1%. We inherited a growth rate that was among the lowest since the Great Depression. Where did we get to? We turned that around with one of the highest rates of growth in the G7 and the lowest rates of unemployment. I will take the Liberal economic record over Conservative economic rhetoric every day of the week.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, when Jim Flaherty became finance minister, he made the responsible decision to pay off $30 billion in debt, which prepared Canada for the great global recession, the greatest financial crisis in world history since the Depression. That is why we were the last to go in and the first to come out of that crisis. By contrast, the current Liberal government has a booming world and U.S. economy, with record low interest rates, multiple factors with which it had nothing whatsoever to do, and it has squandered all of it. When will the budget be balanced?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, actually we had a whole lot to do with what is going on for Canadian families across the country. We had a lot to do with lowering the middle-class tax rate from $45,000 to $90,000 by 7%. We had a lot to do with—
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Order. Order. I am hearing an awful lot of noise. Members have to remember that each side will get their turn, and when it is their turn, not when it is not their turn, is the time to speak.
Order. The hon. member for Newmarket—Aurora will come to order.
The hon. Minister of Finance.
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, we had a lot to do with the introduction of the Canada child benefit, which made a huge difference across the country. What we had the most to do with is the fact that the average family with two children in 2019 will have $2,000 more in their pocket than in 2015. Canadians are better off. Those are the facts. Those are the facts that matter for Canadians across this country.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, even if we take into consideration the $800 tax increase on every middle-class family in this country, the tax increase targeted at moms and dads who take their kids to sports or students who buy textbooks or pay tuition or the tax increases on small businesses, even if we take into consideration the $20 billion of extra revenue that poured into the government's coffers last year, it has blown every single nickel. The question is this. When will the budget be balanced?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I guess it is important to deal with the facts one by one by one. Let us think about what was just said. What was just said was that people's taxes went up. Wrong. People's taxes went down. What was said is people are worse off. Wrong. What we have is a Canada child benefit, making the vast majority of families better off. Most importantly, what we find is that for small businesses there were lower tax rates in 2018, and lower tax rates in 2019.
The facts are just wrong. The good news is the economy is growing. We have the lowest unemployment rates we have seen in a generation. We have much more confidence for the future.
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Mr. Speaker, the forced sterilization of women is still happening in other parts of the world, and believe it or not, it is also still happening here in Canada to indigenous women.
Article 22.2 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires that all states take measures to ensure that indigenous women enjoy full protection against all forms of violence and discrimination.
Will the Liberals launch an inquiry to put an end to this situation and make restitution for the harm done to the victims and their families?
Jane Philpott LiberalMinister of Indigenous Services
Mr. Speaker, the coerced sterilization of any woman is a clear violation of her reproductive rights. We know that, unfortunately, indigenous women and other vulnerable women have faced coerced sterilization. We absolutely abhor this practice and we are working with partners, including the provinces, health care providers and medical professionals, to make sure that it is very clear that this should not go on. We are working with the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ensure that indigenous peoples have access to culturally appropriate and safe health care.
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Mr. Speaker, can members imagine being told they cannot see their newborn child until they agree to a procedure that will mean they will never have another child in their life or being sterilized with no knowledge or consent? This is the reality for at least 60 indigenous women in this country of Canada, with some cases as recent as 2017. This is more than just a gross violation of human rights and a product of systemic racism, this is enough, enough apologies, enough talking points. How will the current government make sure that it never happens again?