Debates of April 17th, 2018

Motion for Travel

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

(Motion agreed to)

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-74, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures, be read the second time and referred to a committee, and of the amendment.

Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hard-working MP for Ottawa West—Nepean.

I am pleased to rise today to talk about Bill C-74, the budget implementation act. This budget is focused on one principle, and that is to make sure everyone has a fair chance to succeed and realize his or her dreams. The government's focus has been to bring down barriers that are holding our economy back and to make sure our economy grows in a way that makes middle-class families stronger.

I am proud to share the news of that success with the House today. The numbers are clear. Our economy is growing and families are getting stronger.

Over the last two years, our economy has started to grow faster than the entire G7. More than 600,000 jobs have been created, and the unemployment rate is down to a nearly 40-year low. Middle-class Canadians are feeling better about their future, whether they want to pay down debt, save for their first home, or go back to school to train for a new job. We are proud to support them by making smart investments in the things that are important.

We raised taxes for the top 1% so that we could lower them for middle-class families.

Through the Canada child benefit, we also increased support for nine out of 10 families, putting more money, tax-free, in the pockets of parents for them to spend on things that they need.

There is still a lot more to do to make sure that the benefits of a growing economy are felt by more and more people, and that is why we are taking action through budget 2018 to do that.

We are creating opportunities where every Canadian has a real and fair chance to work and to succeed, and that includes Canada's hard-working women. By reducing the gender wage gap and increasing the participation of women in the labour force, we are growing the economy in a way that helps all Canadians. A recent Royal Bank study estimates that if women participated in our workforce at the rate men do today, we would boost the size of Canada's economy by 4%, which is equivalent to $85 billion.

We also need to make sure that those currently working are supported and able to keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets. That is why budget 2018 introduces the Canada workers benefit, a new tax benefit that would put more money in the pockets of low-income workers. That is real help to more than two million Canadians who are working hard to join the middle class. Low-income workers earning $15,000 could receive almost $500 more from the Canada workers benefit in 2019 than they would have received in 2018. Altogether, these actions mean almost $1 billion of new support for low-income workers under the Canada workers benefit.

Like the Canada workers benefit, the Canada child benefit is a key part of our plan to strengthen the middle class and help the people who are working hard to join it.

During the first benefit year, over three million families received more than $23 billion in Canada child benefit payments. Nine out of 10 families are receiving on average almost $2,300 more in benefits, tax free.

In my riding of Surrey—Newton, every month more than $8 million dollars are delivered to families that need it the most. This money helps pay for day care, food, and so many other supplies that are critical to healthy and happy families.

Budget 2018 also reflects the priorities of Surrey—Newton by making investments in building more affordable housing, tackling the issue of guns and gangs, building more transit, and cutting small business taxes.

To make our streets safer, we are investing over $300 million over the next five years and $100 million a year after that to bring together all levels of government to increase intelligence of illegal trafficking, border security, and support for police.

However, we also need to support those needing treatment. That is why we are investing over $230 million over the next five years to work with provinces to expand programs that provide treatment and support to those with addictions.

We are also making historic investments to build rapid transit across Canada. For British Columbia, we have committed $4.1 billion that will bring more buses and build rapid transit in Surrey.

We are also cutting taxes for small businesses from 11% to 9%. This will save small businesses money and keep Canada competitive.

Surrey attracts thousands of young families and new Canadians every year. They bring with them their hard work, willpower, and innovative ideas and start-up businesses to help achieve their dreams. We want to support them. I started my small business in Surrey because I knew how great a place it was. I am very proud and delighted to raise my family and run my business in Surrey—Newton.

These are some of the smart investments that are going to make a real difference to all Canadians by giving them the tools, support, and opportunities to reach their full potential and realize their dreams. Budgets are about choices. Do we invest in our future or make cuts? How do we support the middle class? How do we work to make Canada a prosperous and strong nation where every Canadian can fulfill their dreams?

I proud we made the choices that invest in making families stronger, furthering equality, and building infrastructure that support Canadians and future generations. If people work hard, they deserve a fair chance to succeed. It is our job here to eliminate the barriers that stand in the way of that. I am proud that budget 2018 makes that progress.

The equality, freedom and justice of our country is what the world looks to. We need to keep on ensuring we do everything we can to maintain that level so we remain a model and true leader in the world for equality.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I noticed that the member completely avoided talking about the fiscal situation that Canada will be facing with the sky-high deficits and this incredible new debt that we are taking on, so I do not really have a question for the member.

I want to quote directly from the budget. We are looking at an $18.1-billion deficit, which is three times larger than what was promised two and a half years ago during the election. If the 2008 recession repeated itself, we would be looking at a $42.7-billion deficit. That's because the government has basically frittered away all of the controls on spending in order to meet the goals it has in mind, but none of those goals are about restructuring and ensuring the stability of Canada's finances for the future.

It is always nice to talk about how much money the Liberals are supposedly shovelling out the door to Canadians. What they are not saying is that they are borrowing that money. All of those young Canadians who are getting the child benefit today are going to be asked to pay it all back, plus interest, in the future. Page 359 of the budget also shows that if we add up all federal government debt, plus crown corporation debt where a lot of this debt is now hidden, they have over a trillion dollars in borrowing in 2019. That is debt that our kids and their kids and their kids will have to pay in the future.

As much as the member may believe this is good for the people of his riding, the people in British Columbia, let me give a quick example in relation to deficits: they will need two and a half Trans Mountain pipelines just to balance the budget, and right now they do not even have one.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Calgary Shepard for raising this issue. I want to tell the hon. member and Canadians that we are growing the economy in a way that benefits the middle class, and that plan is working. Since November 2015, the economy has created nearly 600,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate is the lowest in 40 years. With our plan, the debt-to-GDP ratio is being lowered and will fall to 28%, the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio among G7 countries.

This means our debt is affordable and our deficit will be reduced in a way that is a responsible part of our economy and ensures that we make smart investments in people and in businesses that are going to make a difference in the coming years.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I noticed my colleague mentioned, quite a few times, people working hard to join the middle class. I just want to remind the member that the government said it would move forward with pay equity legislation because women in Canada make less than men in Canada, and it will not matter how hard women work if they are being discriminated against.

Why is there no money in this budget to implement pay equity legislation? The government has said it is a feminist government. We have been waiting. We have been told it is time to act. We would like to see some action. I would like an answer from my hon. colleague as to when we are going to see that action.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister and this government understand well that gender equity is not only the right thing to do for Canadians but also a smart thing to do. That is why we want to make sure that Canadian women get what they deserve, and they deserve more. In today's age we can see that Canadian women are among the world's most educated women. The hon. member for Saskatoon West brought up a very genuine concern about the legislation. I can assure her that this legislation will be brought forward this year, and I am certain that when it comes forward, the hon. member will be able to support it and we will be able to pass that legislation.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is a tremendous pleasure to rise today to speak to the budget implementation act, the first step in implementing budget 2018, a truly progressive, activist budget that will create even more opportunities for Canadians.

This budget is the first to integrate a full gender-based-plus analysis to make sure that women in Canada are included in every aspect of the budget. It is significant to me that the budget does not look at women only as beneficiaries of government policy but as full contributors to our national economy, because we know that we see better outcomes when women and diverse groups of Canadians are included.

Budget 2018 is about growth, increasing the GDP, and ensuring that everyone can contribute to their fullest potential.

Canada is a country built on hard work, and we solve problems by working tirelessly and helping each other. The budget also invests in people. Over the past two years, our economy has been growing and strengthening. Our investments are working.

Our plan to invest in Canadians is working. Our current GDP growth is the highest in the G7, at 3.2%. For comparison, the second-highest are Germany and the U.S., at only 2.4%. We have a low and declining debt-to-GDP ratio. The proportion of our debt compared to our income is going to be the lowest that we have seen in 40 years.

The International Monetary Fund says Canada's net debt-to-GDP ratio is the lowest in the G7, and in fact it is less than half the G7 average. The IMF says that Canada's economic policies should go viral. What this means for Canadians is over 600,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate has dropped from 7.1% to 5.7% since we took office. That is the lowest unemployment rate in the last 46 years, in my lifetime.

Why are we seeing this growth? It is because we are investing in the future. We are making smart investments in infrastructure and innovation, and we are seeing the impact of these investments in my riding of Ottawa West—Nepean. There is $5 million for Nelson House women's shelter. LRT phase 2 will bring light rail to Algonquin College and all the way to Moodie Drive. We are investing in 42 new affordable housing units for seniors linked to the Carlington Community Health Centre, and there is $22 million to Algonquin College for a new centre for innovation and entrepreneurship, including indigenous entrepreneurship.

Our Canada child benefit has raised 300,000 children out of poverty in our country. In Ottawa West—Nepean, over 16,000 children benefit. On average, each family is getting about $640 a month tax free.

Our new Canada workers benefit will lift 70,000 low-income Canadian workers out of poverty. In fact, a worker earning $15,000 a year will receive $500 more and be able to take home more of his or her paycheque.

We have invested $5 billion in mental health and $6 billion in home care, on top of a $1.4-billion increase in the Canada health transfer, and this budget adds $20 million for autism.

We are supporting seniors with the increase to the GIS of $967 a year for the poorest seniors and a new $20-million fund for dementia caregivers, and we are enhancing the Canada pension plan so that in the future the maximum benefit is going to increase from $13,600 a year to $21,000 a year.

We have kept our promise on a pension for life for veterans. In fact, a 50-year-old fully disabled veteran will now be receiving $9,000 a month tax free for the rest of his or her life.

We have introduced a national housing strategy that commits $40 billion to cut homelessness in half in our country. There will be 100,000 new units, including new family housing units on Michèle Drive in Ottawa West—Nepean, and 300,000 units are going to be repaired or upgraded.

Here in the national capital region, I am very pleased to note there is $55 million to the NCC for critical infrastructure and $73 million toward a new national library combined with the Ottawa Public Library.

Our growth is taking place because we are working to ensure that we are not leaving out half of the population when it comes to our economic prosperity. I am talking about women.

Budget 2018 is significant in addressing the gender wage gap and enhancing women's workforce participation, which is not only the right thing to do but is good for the economy. We are doing this in a number of ways, including through proactive pay equity legislation based on the report of the special committee, which I was very proud to have chaired. I commend the work of the committee members from all parties.

There are five weeks of additional “use it or lose it” parental leave for the second parent, usually the father, which will rebalance the burden of caregiving in our country. There was $7.5 billion in previous budgets for child care, which is creating over 40,000 affordable child care spaces. There are changes to EI that allow more flexibility for parents and caregivers. We are supporting women in high-income jobs, such as in STEM. There is $1.4 billion in financing for women entrepreneurs, because we know that only 16% of businesses in Canada are owned by women, and we want that number to increase. There is also almost $20 million in apprenticeship grants for women in the trades.

We are making Status of Women Canada its own department. We are allocating $100 million to front-line organizations that support survivors of gender-based violence. We are extending the unified family court pilot project, to make it easier for people who are going through a separation or divorce, by allowing them to deal with a single legal system. We are providing legal assistance for victims of workplace sexual harassment.

I am also very proud that budget 2018 would increase our international assistance envelope by $2 billion to make our feminist international development policy a reality. We know that we see more progress toward the sustainable development goals and longer lasting peace agreements and better outcomes when women are included in the design and implementation of development projects.

Our economic growth is also a result of a successful policy of progressive international trade. Between CETA and the CPTPP, our preferential market access for Canadian goods and services has increased from 31% to 63% of the global market.

Diversity is Canada's strength and is at the very heart of our identity. This is why our government committed to investing $23 million in multiculturalism programs to find new ways to combat discrimination, with a focus on racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples.

Our most important relationship is with indigenous people. Over the past three budgets we have committed over $13 billion for indigenous peoples, more than double what was in the Kelowna accord.

We are fully implementing human rights tribunal orders regarding services to indigenous children. Almost 20,000 children are currently receiving care as a result.

Boil water advisories have been lifted in 52 communities, with 81 to go, and all of those will be done by 2021.

We are investing in housing, schools, recreational infrastructure, and mental health supports.

We are doing all of this while ensuring fairness in taxation. Canadians in the middle-income bracket are now paying 7% less in income tax, and those in the top 1% are paying more.

With respect to small businesses, 97% will see a decrease in their taxes.

We are going after overseas tax avoidance through 1,000 offshore audits, 40 criminal investigations, and $44 million in penalties to third-party advisers.

We are investing in Canadians. Austerity was tried by the previous government and did not work for Canadians. We are growing income, and making benefits more inclusive. We are ensuring that women and other equity-seeking groups can be full and equal participants in our economy. We are already seeing the results, with the lowest unemployment rate and the strongest economy in the G7.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to my colleague and I have a question for her regarding the funding of and focus on seniors.

She highlighted that the government, in the 2016 budget, provided increased funding for the guaranteed income supplement, the GIS, and the OAS. In fact, there was support from all parties for that. However, that was two budgets ago. Last year the government did nothing other than to reannounce the 2016 GIS and OAS. In this year, the second year, there is no new announcements for seniors. It has reannounced and reannounced.

Seniors see that the government is ignoring them. Senior stakeholders across Canada are saying that seniors are being ignored because there is no minister for seniors. I believe the member cares about seniors. Does she think it is fair that seniors are being ignored again? She has made statements that were made two years ago. There is nothing new in the budget for seniors.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is one of the most important questions for my constituency, because it has a higher proportion of seniors on average than almost anywhere in the country. Therefore, I thank the member for bringing that up.

In fact, there is new money for seniors. Not only are we putting $20 million into a dementia strategy, we are also looking at a very successful pilot project that happened in Atlantic Canada, and we are going to be expanding that.

The money that was mentioned in previous budgets is now starting to flow.

In this budget, we have also added caregiver benefits for those people who need to stay at home and need some flexibility to look after their aging parents. We have put more into home care, health care, and things that matter to seniors, including housing.

I am very proud the member has given me the opportunity to talk about the Carlington Community Health Centre in my riding. It has all of the health services and other social services that seniors need. We are building 42 new affordable seniors units for 80 seniors. They can go down the elevator and they have the health clinic and all the other services there. I hope that model will be an innovative approach which will be spread across the country.

We are for our seniors in my riding of Ottawa West—Nepean and across the country.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I had the honour to serve on the special committee for pay equity with my hon. colleague in 2016, which seems like a while ago now.

There was some disappointment that we did not have a unanimous report. None of the witnesses who came forward at that committee felt that it would take the government 18 months to implement pay equity legislation, so I was concerned. It is now well past 18 months. We are still looking for that implementation of pay equity legislation.

I wonder if the member can give us any idea of when we will actually see pay equity implemented for women working in the federal sector.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her hard work on the pay equity committee. I would note that the only criticism that was made of that report was that it was not going fast enough. There is a pretty good consensus across parties on the need for pay equity.

To answer the member's question in short, it will be this year. The budget actually includes proactive pay equity legislation, where pay equity will become a human right.

In fact, I was particularly pleased, because the budget goes even beyond the 2004 Bilson report and accepts the recommendations of our special committee on pay equity that pay equity apply not only to the federal public service and to the federally regulated sector, but also to all federal contractors. This is about the broadest definition that we can have of pay equity and pay transparency.

I am extremely pleased that we will be bringing in pay equity legislation that, once enacted, is going to cover 80% of Canadians.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

It is my duty, pursuant to Standing Order 38, to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, Employment Insurance; the hon. member for Trois-Rivières, Housing; and the hon. member for Calgary Rocky Ridge, Taxation.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hard-working member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.

The leader of Her Majesty's loyal Opposition said it best when he said that never before in Canadian history had a a government spent so much to achieve so little.

As a member of Parliament, it is my honour and privilege to serve the people of Perth—Wellington and to represent their views in this place. When I rise in the chamber to speak, I like to do so with them in mind.

I think of the seniors in my riding who have worked hard all their lives and are now approaching their golden years, looking forward to their retirement. They have concerns because the government has left them without a minister responsible for seniors. They are concerned because the cost of living is going up and is sure to go up even higher with a carbon tax on everything.

I think of families, moms and dads in my riding who work hard, who put in extra hours so they can keep gas in the car, so they can pay their montage or their rent, so maybe they can put their kids into a sporting activity or sign them up for piano lessons or art classes, or maybe take a day off and go on a short family vacation with their kids. I think of those families that are working hard every day, but are not being listened to by the Liberal government.

I think of young people, people of my generation and younger, who are graduating from university, who are starting their first real job, who are trying to pay off their student loans and may put a few dollars away for that down payment to buy that first home. However, new rules and regulations are constantly coming out from the Liberal government that make it harder for those young people to get into that first home.

Especially in Perth—Wellington, where agriculture is the biggest driver of our local economy, I think of farmers, farm families that quite literally feed the world and yet we see nothing from the Liberal government.

It is even worse than that. We see a government that has over the past number of months, especially last summer with its proposed changes to corporate taxation measures, labelled farmers and farm families as tax cheats. I think of those people.

I think of seniors, of families, of young people, of farmers and farm families. This budget fails them.

In the short time I have on offer today, I would like to touch on four key points: the debt and the deficit; infrastructure; issues related to agriculture; and of course taxation.

For the third consecutive budget, the Liberal finance minister has blown past the the Liberals' $10 billion deficit projection promised in the election campaign. They promised three years of teeny tiny deficits and then a return to balance by 2019. This year we see an $18.1 billion deficit and next year it will be $17.5 billion. The government's own finance department projects that the government will not return to balanced budgets until 2045. What is worse is that there is not even a plan to return to balanced budgets.

When the government is asked in this place and in committee as to when it will return to balanced budgets, there is no answer. There is not even an acknowledgement of the question. This leads to two logical conclusions. Either the Liberals simply do not know, which is entirely possible with the Liberal government, or they do know and they are keeping it from Canadians. Canadians deserve to know, because this affects their lives. This affects how they raise their families, how they invest in their businesses, and how they expand the economy.

The Conservatives do not just believe in balanced budgets because we like the concept of them. We understand that if we do not take care of our own fiscal house, we cannot invest in the priorities of Canadians.

In the next number of years, the financing of the national debt will increase by $8.7 billion. By 2022-23, that is $8.7 billion more that will not go to help families. It will not go to help infrastructure investments in our rural and small-town communities. It is not going to be in health care transfers. It will not go into public safety measures. Rather, that is $8.7 billion that will go to international financiers rather than being invested in the Canadian economy and in Canadians.

That leads me to the next point I would like to highlight, and that is the importance of infrastructure investment. I just mentioned the $30 billion over three years, $10 billion per year, that the Liberals promised their deficits would be. In exchange for these small deficits, they would increase infrastructure funding. However, here we see the government delaying its infrastructure funds to future years and yet we are still seeing massive overrun deficits. In fact, the budget forecasts that $2.2 billion in infrastructure funding will be pushed back past 2019 and an additional $2.4 billion will be pushed back past 2023.

It is not just the Conservatives who are raising the alarm on this, it is the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the same position the Liberals used to highlight when they were in opposition. In his most recent report, the PBO said, “Budget 2018 provides an incomplete account of the changes to the Government's $186.7 billion infrastructure spending plan.” The PBO requested the new plan, but it does not exist. He went on to say, “Roughly one-quarter of the funding allocated for infrastructure for 2016-17 to 2018-19 will lapse. Both legacy and new infrastructure programs are prone to large lapses.” How can they spend $180 billion on infrastructure without a plan? When it comes to the Liberals, they might try, but Canadians know better.

When I look at my rural communities, at the towns, small towns, and cities in Perth—Wellington, I see infrastructure projects that would have a meaningful impact on the local economy being looked over. I see important projects like roads and bridges, water and waste water. I have communities that have development freezes on because they do not have the wastewater capacities to expand, and yet we see delay after delay from the Liberals when it comes to infrastructure funding. This type of delay is unacceptable, but it is because the Liberals do not have a plan. When they have no plan, they will fail and that is exactly what we are seeing with the Liberals.

I want to touch on agriculture. Agriculture is the economic driver of our communities, yet in this budget, it warranted barely even a mention. On our rural communities, there was barely a mention. On our farm families, there was barely a mention. The farmers and the farm families I talked to have concerns. They have concerns about the future of NAFTA, yet there is no plan from the Liberals. They are concerned about the added regulatory burden, and yet more and more regulation is being layered on them by the Liberals. People are worried about the impact of carbon taxes, and yet the Liberals are going full speed ahead. People are worried about things like the Canada food guide changes that could diminish dairy and red meat as part of the food guide, and they are worried about the negative impact front-of-package labelling could have on healthy food choices, like yogourt for example. These are the concerns I am hearing from the people of my riding.

This of course brings us to taxes. We have tax after tax from the Liberals. We have the carbon tax, which in effect will amount to a tax on everything. Anything that is transported by road will have a tax on it. Anything from food to goods and services will be taxed by the Liberals. In last year's budget, we saw the excise tax on alcohol with a permanent escalator tax, meaning that in perpetuity, taxes will be raised on these products year after year automatically without the approval of Parliament. This is simply wrong.

This budget fails. It fails Canadians. It fails to restrain deficits. It fails to invest in rural infrastructure. It fails in its lack of transparency. This budget is not good for Canadians. It will hurt Canadians. People in our rural communities, like those in Perth—Wellington, will be hurt the hardest.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague suggested this budget would hurt the most vulnerable Canadians. I would note that over the last two years, the Library of Parliament estimates we have lifted 700,000 people out of poverty, which perhaps corrects the record when my colleague suggests our spending has done so very little.

When we talk about the most vulnerable Canadians, we talk about what was the working income tax benefit and is now the Canada workers benefit, and we see a $500-million increase, including making it automatic, which is another $200-million increase per year for the people who need help the most. Surely that is helping the most vulnerable Canadians.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague brought up the concept of the WITB, the working income tax benefit, which of course was introduced by our former Conservative government and our former minister of finance, the Hon. Jim Flaherty. It gives me a great opportunity to talk about the record of Jim Flaherty, a man who, during the early years when we were in a strong economic position, paid off $40 billion of the national debt. He did that so that when we entered the global economic recession of 2008-09 we had the fiscal capacity, the financial room, to invest in key infrastructure projects that benefited the Canadian economy. It is because of the leadership of people like Jim Flaherty that we were able to come out of that recession stronger.

Now, in a time when the economy is growing, we have deficits. We have large deficits, meaning that if we were to enter another economic recession, we would not have the fiscal space or capacity to respond as we did in 2008-09 because of the strong leadership of Jim Flaherty.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I very much enjoyed the part of my colleague's speech about agriculture because I have the honour of serving as our party's agriculture critic. I very much agree with him that our farmers do such incredible work in this country and really are the lifeblood of so many rural communities, including mine on Vancouver Island.

When Canadians are trying to get service from the CRA these days, first of all, many are not able to get through. Those who get through are getting wrong information. The government likes to pay lip service to all these measures and say it is cracking down on tax evasion, but most of the difficulties seem to be landing on small business owners and small farmers. We are hearing about how the government is tackling tax evasion, but in reality it is only paying lip service.

Meanwhile, we get two classes of people in this country: those who play by the rules, and those who have a different set of rules that allow them to take advantage of these sweetheart deals.

We also have the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which is going to privatize our infrastructure, and where private investors are going to demand a rate of return that is ultimately going to cost the taxpayer more.

I would like to hear my hon. colleague's comments on these measures and how they really affect and trickle all the costs down to the members of society who need the help the most, while an upper tier gets all the benefits. I just do not see any action from this Liberal government to fundamentally tackle these problems in our society.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague hit on two key points: one, the challenges with the CRA, and two, the challenge of the infrastructure bank. I would even expand the infrastructure bank to include the Asian infrastructure bank, for which the government is sending half a billion dollars overseas to invest in infrastructure there. These programs are not benefiting the rural communities the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford and I have in our constituencies. They are not providing the farmers and the farm families with the infrastructure needed to get their products and goods to market.

On the subject of the CRA, like many members on all sides of the House, I am often involved with casework with my constituents, helping them out when they face challenges with CRA. In the past couple of years I have been in office, I am finding that issues caused through challenges with the CRA have been steadily increasing.

I find this really problematic, because a lot of times those who are being faced with these challenges are those who are least able to deal with them. They are working part-time, working night shifts, or picking up extra hours to try to raise their families. Often, single parents are being faced with these measures from the CRA, and they are unable to deal with it. Dealing with these challenges is something we face in our office, because of the challenges the CRA is presenting them with.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is with overwhelming confidence, which was given to me during my recent renomination by the people of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, that I participate in today's debate regarding the deteriorating state of finances in this country.

The 2018 deficit budget gets low marks for fiscal credibility. Deficit budget 2018 is a greed budget, much like deficit budget 2017. Nowhere is there any sign of evidence-based decision-making being used in the deficit budget. There is too much unaccounted-for new spending. Spending on government waste is growing too fast, and there is no real commitment to deficit elimination or the environment.

The budget has no fiscal credibility. The fiscal credibility of a budget can be judged against four basic principles. Fiscal policy must be realistic, responsible, prudent, and transparent.

First, fiscal policy must be realistic. Fiscal policy should be based on sound analysis and a careful, balanced view of economic and fiscal prospects, challenges, and risks.

The sound fiscal policy that was practised by the Conservative government has been replaced with subsidized environmentalism. Subsidized environmentalism in Canada is when one group of taxpayers is forced to pay carbon taxes to clean up actions and pollution by others.

An Ottawa Valley example of this is the creation of an Ottawa River watershed council bureaucracy. Technocrats then look for new ways to tax and regulate private property, while ignoring the fact that every year Ottawa—Gatineau dumps billions of litres of raw sewage into the Ottawa River.

Ontario taxpayers subsidize polluters in wealthy California, thanks to the signature Liberal policy of carbon taxes and the Toronto Liberal carbon credit swap auction. Forget the myth of so-called green jobs. The only green jobs are temporary and have come at a huge taxpayers' expense. Special tax benefits, including the federal government's accelerated capital cost allowance and the Canadian renewable and conservation expenses allowance, prop up the myth of green jobs.

Other subsidies, including the federal government's ecoENERGY for renewable power program, $1.4 billion over five years in deficit budget 2017, and continuing large research and development assistance for industrial wind turbines, explain why the finance minister refuses to provide a realistic date to Canadians when the deficit budget will be balanced.

Take away the taxpayer handouts, and those temporary jobs quickly flee to the next foolish politician willing to pay “greenmail” with other people's money. Environmentalist David Suzuki has stated that only by reducing the standard of living of Canadians will Canada meet the reduction of emissions in the Paris accord. I congratulate someone for actually stating what that international agreement is really all about.

What does reducing economic growth mean? It is the year-to-year decrease in production, distribution, and consumption as expressed by gross domestic product, GDP. In the short term, borrowed money, the huge deficits buried in this deficit budget, hides the impending collapse of the Canadian economy. We can just think of Greece or Cyprus. Without economic growth, there will be no money to pay for the debt that is piling up on the backs of our children and their children. There will be no money to pay for health care, pensions, affordable housing, or cleaning up the environment.

The deficit budget is resulting in Conservatives attracting a new generation of Canadians, who are upset with the bad spending and big deficit budgets of the Liberal Party. I am now seeing more and more individuals who are cluing in to the radical, left-wing agenda of the Liberal Party, a party they might even have supported with a selfie, but not anymore. There is no doubt in the minds of these individuals that the radical, left-wing policies that have turned Ontario into a have-not province are being shoved down the throats of all Canadians by the puppet master, Gerald Butts. The Doctor Evil of Ontario politics, Gerald Butts was behind the Liberal “greed energy act”, which lined the pockets of Liberal Party insiders with their industrial “Wynne” turbines. That is “wind” spelled W-y-n-n-e.

The resulting skyrocketing electricity prices led to seniors and others in Ontario on fixed incomes to suffer from energy poverty.

The carbon tax that Wynne put on electricity has now been carried forward by Butts to Ottawa. The Liberal Party has ordered all the provinces to charge carbon taxes. Thankfully, more and more Canadians have come to the conclusion that carbon taxes are nothing more than a green hustle. Carbon taxes are just that: taxes.

Adopting carbon taxes in Canada raises global carbon emissions by offshoring economic activity from relatively environmentally friendly places, like Canada, to places with lax environmental laws, like China. Data from the World Bank reveals that China, and other developing countries, produce far more carbon per dollar of economic output, at purchasing power parity, than do western nations. China shows no signs of decreasing its emissions any time soon. China is currently building hundreds of new coal-fired power plants, which will ensure its CO₂ emissions continue to rise for decades to come.

Taken together, these facts mean that every factory pushed out of Canada due to carbon taxes actually increases global emissions dramatically, and this will continue to be the case for decades to come.

Mismanagement of the Canadian economy has resulted in the largest flight of capital since records started being collected. Domestic capital is being replaced by foreign capital. The problem the finance minister has created with his excessive borrowing is relying too much on foreign money to finance the deficit.

It is no secret that Gerald Butts, from his position in the Prime Minister's Office, has been working behind the scenes to shut down Canada's pipelines. His scheming is starting to fall apart with pipeline company Kinder Morgan calling out the federal government for its behind the scenes manipulations.

What the Liberal Party did not count on is one of Kinder Morgan's largest institutional investors, BlackRock, moving to protect the over 114 million shares it has at stake.

BlackRock is the largest institutional investor in the world, controlling trillions of dollars. BlackRock has been given preferential access to the federal infrastructure bank. A BlackRock executive sits on the finance minister's secretive advisory council on the economy.

BlackRock has basically told the federal government, “If you want us to put our private equity into your infrastructure bank, we expect lots of money. Protect our shares in Kinder Morgan.” BlackRock is also saying that if the government plans to use the infrastructure bank to bail out the pipeline and it is using BlackRock's equity in its bank to do it, either the government guarantees BlackRock's investment or it walks.

How much is this going to cost Canadian taxpayers? Who will be on the hook to pay the interest charges? How much will it cost the municipalities to fight for the scarce dollars to borrow at high interest rates for roads and sewers from the federal infrastructure bank?

Is not the real reason the federal government is even being forced to act is to bail out Kinder Morgan's shareholders and institutional investors like BlackRock? Institutional investors hold over 63% of Kinder Morgan's stock. Keeping foreign institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard Group happy will cost Canadians dearly.

Canadians were made very aware through an unfortunate exchange the Minister of Environment had with Evan Solomon that she is not capable of defending her radical views without insulting Canadians. The dismissive attitude of the Prime Minister and his minister to independent viewpoints is encouraging more and more Canadians to see through the hidden agenda of radical environmentalism, carbon taxes, and pipeline regulations that are killing Canadian jobs. There are real environmental problems that are not getting attention because of carbon taxes.

Deficit budget 2018 fails to mention any of these current challenges. It makes no mention of defence. The defence department's deputy chief financial officer told parliamentarians when she appeared before committee that there is no list of projects that are being funded. It is all smoke and mirrors.

No one believes anything the finance minister is saying. Taxes are always just taxes, dollars taken away from people by government.

I conclude my participation in this debate to share the concern about the deteriorating state of the finances of the Canadian government, and what that means to average middle-class Canadian families who bear the brunt of bad spending. Everybody knows that today's budget deficits are tomorrow's tax increases. An election cannot come soon enough for the overburdened taxpayers of our country.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the member across the way that it is not all that bad. If she would stop reading the Conservative spin notes, she would find that there are a lot of wonderful things actually happening here in Canada.

The member said that the economy is in ruins, or she tried to suggest that, but we have over 600,000 new jobs. She must have been reflecting on the Harper years. In so many ways, her comments are just wrong. I cannot help but think if she is reading anything other than Conservative spin.

Does the member not recognize there are a lot of wonderful things happening in Canada today, especially if she compares us to any of the other G7 countries?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the truth of the matter is that we have seen this whole scenario already in Ontario. I know the member is from another province, but we have seen hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in Ontario sent outside the country because of high carbon taxes. The taxes built into the electricity charges are called “a global adjustment”, which is where they are hidden, just like the Liberals are trying to hide the carbon taxes on gas bills, and so on and so forth.

We have seen this happen in Ontario and now it is being replicated at the federal level. Just like Ontario which is pretty well bankrupt, so will be the country if the Liberal Party continues to rule after another election.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke's remarks, even though there are not a lot of times we agree, I particularly enjoyed her description of the infrastructure bank, which is something we will share an opinion on with the Liberals giving preferential access to insiders.

I wonder if the member is bemused by the Liberals adopting her old government's strategy of omnibus bills. In particular, I noticed her remarks on the carbon tax. She certainly demonstrates that she is an independent thinker, and our views are obviously wildly different on this topic, but would she not agree that the bill ought to be separated so that we can have a clear debate and vote on things like the carbon tax?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is actually no point in separating out the carbon tax from the rest of the budget. It is all bad. It can just stay as all one piece and be voted as one.

As for the infrastructure bank, this is a situation where in my riding, for example, from Greater Madawaska to McNab-Braeside to Horton, Renfrew, Admaston/Bromley, Laurentian Valley, Laurentian Hills, Bonnechere Valley, and so on and so forth, all the way through to Head, Clara and Maria, these small, little municipalities, for the very necessary roads and bridges they need to fix, are going to be up against the international community with the infrastructure bank. This is not very fair, and it was the tax dollars from their constituents that are funding this whole thing.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Winnipeg North who just asked a question should know exactly what the member was talking about when talked about the Wynne government in Ontario leaving a huge debt. His government is doing the same thing at the national level. If we look at just the one year that my colleague from Ontario was talking about earlier, about an $8-billion addition to this year's debt, the federal government is going to add $100 billion to the debt in Canada, if the Liberals are allowed to run out the five years that are in the present budget today. The member should know about that, because he comes from Manitoba where the NDP ran up huge deficits in those days. Now the Liberal government is trying to copy that at the national level.

I wonder if my colleague could continue to comment in regard to some of the further analysis that she knows of, because she is a member living in Ontario. It is a sad situation there. The Liberal provincial government of the day is running in an election that is only a few short months away and has indicated that the only way out of more debt is to add more debt.