Debates of April 23rd, 2018

Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Madam Speaker, I wonder if the hon. member has looked at the public safety committee's unanimous report on mental health and public safety officers, a term that includes first responders. This budget actually includes $20 million for a new national research consortium and $10 million for an Internet base to reach out to rural and remote communities, plus additional funding for RCMP officers. Has the member spoken to public safety officers in her community? I have spoken to public safety officers in my community and across the country, and they are thrilled with the investments we are making in their mental health.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Madam Speaker, the people I have talked to are not thrilled with the response. They see the need as being much greater, and this $10 million is a drop in the bucket to address what is really a chronic problem, not just among first responders but even among nurses in hospitals.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Madam Speaker, over the last two years, Canada's economy has been fuelled by the hard work of a stronger middle class, combined with our government's historic investments in people and communities. Canada now has the fastest-growing economy in the G7 and has added more than 600,000 good, well-paying jobs since we were elected.

I am pleased to speak today to budget 2018, which supports our commitment to building an equal, competitive, sustainable, and fair Canada. Our strong economy, anchored by a low and consistently declining debt-to-GDP ratio, means that our government has the confidence to make the investments in our future that will strengthen and grow the middle class and lay a more solid foundation for future generations of Canadians.

As vice-chair of the status of women committee, I have had the privilege over the past two-plus years to work extensively on the issues of gender equality, gender-based violence, women's access to justice, and women's economic security. That is why I was so pleased to see so much of this work reflected in this year's budget, which puts gender at the heart of decision-making, helping to support women and girls, address harassment and gender-based violence, reduce the gender wage gap, and increase the participation of women in the workforce, which in turn helps boost economic growth for all Canadians. Recently, in my riding, I held a budget breakfast with business and stakeholders like Halton Women's Place, Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services, and the Halton Multicultural Council to highlight this focus.

There is no reason that women should earn less than their male colleagues for the same work. Budget 2018 would move forward with new, proactive pay equity legislation to ensure that employees in federally regulated workplaces receive equal pay for work of equal value. Our committee heard about the importance of both parents sharing parental leave to support gender equality in the home and in the workplace. Budget 2018 would provide $1.2 billion to introduce a new employment insurance parental sharing benefit, giving greater flexibility to parents by providing an additional five weeks of “use it or lose it” parental benefits when both parents agree to share parental leave.

During the course of our committee study on gender-based violence, we heard that there is a need for federal leadership to support a national approach to eliminating sexual violence on post-secondary campuses and removing the stigma for survivors seeking support, and the government is delivering. Budget 2018 would commit $5.5 million over five years to develop a national framework to ensure comprehensive and consistent approaches in addressing gender-based violence in post-secondary institutions across the country.

This government believes that advancing gender equality is a responsibility that should not fall exclusively to women and girls. In my community, we have seen the success of the engagement program at Halton Women's Place and the SAVIS male ally network in engaging men and boys to end gender-based violence. The government would provide $1.8 million to Status of Women Canada to develop an engagement strategy for men and boys that would promote equality and pilot innovative, targeted approaches to addressing inequality, making Canada a world leader in this area.

The government would provide an additional $86 million over five years, and $20 million per year thereafter, to expand Canada's strategy to address gender-based violence. New investments would focus on preventing teen dating violence, developing anti-cyber-bullying initiatives, expanding investments to front-line crisis centres, and equipping health care professionals to provide appropriate care to survivors.

We know that there are not enough women in skilled trades. To encourage women to pursue careers in the trades, the government has allocated $19.9 million over five years to pilot an apprenticeship incentive grant for women that would result in a combined $8,000 of support over the course of a woman's apprenticeship as she works to become a welder, a machinist, or a pipefitter, or work in other skilled trades.

A few months ago, I hosted the Minister of Small Business and Tourism at a round table in my riding with a group of female entrepreneurs. We heard about the need for resources to help them scale up their businesses. Therefore, I am thrilled that budget 2018 would help women entrepreneurs do just that, with the new women entrepreneurship strategy.

Budget 2018 would also commit $50.4 million over five years to address sexual harassment in the workplace, $25.4 million of which would be dedicated to boosting legal aid funding across the country. In addition, the government would invest a further $25 million to develop a countrywide outreach approach to better inform workers about their rights in cases of workplace harassment.

Our Oakville North—Burlington community is growing rapidly, and as it grows, the needs of the community grow and change with it. With budget 2018, the government takes a people-centred approach to investing in Canadians, from helping young people find work placements to empowering new Canadians to contribute to a growing economy that benefits us all.

I know that my constituents are excited about the creation of an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare, which was announced in the budget. The council would begin a national dialogue that would include working with experts from all relevant fields, as well as with national, provincial, territorial, and indigenous leaders.

In my region, over 13,500 children live in low-income housing, and over one in 10 children live in poverty. To encourage a stable supply of affordable rental housing across the country, the government is committed to providing $3.75 billion over the next three years to support housing projects that address the needs of modest- and middle-income households struggling in expensive housing markets.

Our government would also provided an additional $448.5 million over five years to the youth employment strategy.

Employment is the key to the successful integration of newcomers in Canada, but for many newcomer women, there are significant barriers, including both gender- and race-based discrimination, precarious employment, and lack of community and social supports. To help reduce these barriers, the government has allocated $31.8 million to support programming for newcomer women who are also members of visible minorities.

Moving on to public safety and access to justice, whether through the guarantee of a fair and equitable justice system or the knowledge that their private information is secure, Canadians deserve to feel safe and protected. The budget commits to a number of measures that would benefit the efficiency of Canada's safety and security institutions, without compromising our shared values as an open, inclusive, and welcoming society.

Addressing operational stress injuries and post-traumatic stress injuries in public safety officers is an issue I have been deeply committed to. Having studied the issue at the public safety committee and spoken to first responders and public safety officers both in my riding and across Canada, I know that our investment in mental health has been well received. There is $20 million over five years to support a new national research consortium to address the incidence of post-traumatic stress injuries among public safety officers, as well as an additional $10 million to develop an Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy pilot to provide greater access to care and treatment across Canada. Recently, I was joined by first responders in my riding to share this news locally, and I know they appreciate the government's recognition of the issue and the funding we are providing toward their mental health.

Budget 2018 proposes investments of $506.6 million over five years, and $108.8 million per year thereafter, to fund a new national cybersecurity strategy that would ensure secure and resilient Canadian systems, provide a trusted federal source for cybersecurity information for Canadian citizens and business, and support effective collaboration between different levels of government and international partners.

Finally, I know that my constituents place a great value on preserving Canada's nature, parks, and wild spaces. In budget 2018, the government is making investments to preserve Canada's natural heritage, while helping to grow a healthy and sustainable clean economy. To support Canada's biodiversity and protect species at risk, the government would make historic investments totalling $1.3 billion over five years, one of the most significant investments in nature conservation in Canadian history.

These are just a few highlights of budget 2018, and time does not permit me to further outline the investments our government is making to grow our Canadian economy for all Canadians.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, the special committee on pay equity tabled its report in June 2016. Canadian women have been advocating for pay equity legislation for over 40 years. We talked about it in 2016. It was mentioned in the budget, but unfortunately we have seen no money in the budget implementation act as far as implementation is concerned.

I wonder if the member might wish to comment on how people might be cynical to think that this legislation is not coming very soon. With no money to implement it, how can we actually see it roll out on the ground for Canadian women?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her party's advocacy on this issue.

There was a special committee on pay equity, which was one of the first things our government did after being elected, and it came forward with recommendations. I would be disappointed if anyone was cynical based on what was in the budget. We have committed to introducing proactive pay equity legislation, something this government feels is incredibly important for federally regulated employees to have. There is no reason that women in the workplace should not be making the same as their male counterparts.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Madam Speaker, in the last campaign, our colleague, as did many of her colleagues, promised that there would be no more omnibus legislation by the new government. The Liberals promised there would be no time allocation. However, we have both of those things happening in one day.

A couple of weeks ago, the finance minister tabled a budget in the House that indicated Canadians could expect a deficit of $18 billion in this budget, which is three times what was promised in the campaign. Today we find out through the Parliamentary Budget Officer that it is not $18 billion, that it has risen now to $22 billion for the next year. Is the member proud of the inability of her finance minister not to more accurately predict what the budget deficit will be?

There are many other things we could talk about with respect to broken promises in this budget. Could she indicate to the House how she feels about those broken promises?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Madam Speaker, I do not see any broken promises in this budget. In fact, I see the commitment our government is making to invest in Canadians.

We have the fastest growing economy in the G7 and we have one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios. This means we can invest in all Canadians today and ensure that everyone can participate in the economic recovery happening right now.

I am very proud of what is in the budget. I am very proud to be delivering on what we promised. We actually put a gender analysis on a budget for the first time in Canadian history, of which I am incredibly proud. I am proud to take it back to my riding of Oakville North—Burlington.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague mentioned repeatedly the “fastest growing economy”, but what we heard today from the PBO is that the U.S. economy this year will grow 50% faster than ours. Next year, it will grow 25% faster. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the world economy is expected to grow 100% faster than the Canadian economy.

I wonder if my colleague would care to correct her comments about Canada being the fastest growing economy this year.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Madam Speaker, we can look at what is going on in Canada right now. Just recently, UPS, which is headquartered in my riding, announced it would be investing $500 million to create 1,000 new jobs. I am really proud of that. It shows that businesses are confident in where the Canadian economy is going, so they are making the investments they need to grow their workforce in Canada. Five hundred million dollars is not a small investment to be making to create 1,000 jobs.

Alleged Premature Disclosure of Contents of Bill C-75

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to provide a response to the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for Niagara Falls on April 17 with respect to the alleged premature disclosure of the content of Bill C-75.

My hon. colleague, in his statement, argued that the right of the House to first access to the text of the bill had been infringed. Our government takes these allegations, and the Speaker's recent decisions on related matters, very seriously.

I would argue that the matter before us today does not meet the requirements to be considered a prima facie breach of privilege. In fact, there was no premature disclosure of the bill.

On the subject of the confidentiality of a bill, the Speaker previously stated in his April 19, 2016, decision that:

....the House cannot allow precise legislative information to be distributed to others before it has been made accessible to all members.

This statement echoes the decisions of previous Speakers, such as Speaker Milliken's October 4, 2010, decision, which stated:

It is indisputable that it is a well-established practice and accepted convention that this House has the right of first access to the text of bills that it will consider.

Speaker Milliken also stated, in his November 1, 2006, decision, that:

The key procedural point....is that once a bill has been placed on notice, it must remain confidential until introduced in the House.

Again, I reiterate that all the rules have been complied with. In the present case, the article that the hon. opposition member referred to was published after the bill was tabled in the House.

At the core of the current debate lies the concept of parliamentary privilege. Matters of privilege and contempt can be broadly defined as: (1) anything improperly interfering with the parliamentary work of a Member of Parliament; or (2) an offence against the authority of the House.

The situation brought forward by the hon. member for Niagara Falls does not fit any of these categories, as no individual MP has been impeded, and there has not been any offence against the authority of the House.

Failing to see how anyone's right have been compromised or infringed, I would respectfully submit that this matter does not constitute a prima facie question of privilege.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I appreciate the additional information that the parliamentary secretary has provided. We will certainly take it under advisement as we look into this a little further.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that 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

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-74, the budget implementation bill. It is a daunting task, given the bill is over 500 pages and amends 44 pieces of legislation. It is an omnibus bill for sure, which is unfortunate in and of itself.

What is even more unfortunate is that the bill does not include all the things the government put forward in the budget. Just prior to getting up to give my speech, I made a comment about the fact that the pay equity legislation was not included and no dollars were in the budget to implement that pay equity legislation should it eventually come. This is disappointing.

The bill misses bringing a lot more needed change to address the inequity in the lives of people, to ensure the change that everyone pays their fair share of taxes, and the change we need to build an economy that is working for everyone, not just a few.

Child care, housing, and affordable prescription medication are the three issues that my constituents in Saskatoon West see as a need for real change, and fast. I raised these same issues in my very first speech as an elected member of Parliament. Three budgets later, I am still raising these issues, and those whom I represent are still waiting for the promised change.

Many in my riding had high hopes that the Liberals, given their promises on the campaign trail, would have moved the needle substantially on all three issues by this point in their mandate.

Let us start with child care. There are zero new dollars for child care in this budget. To date, the government's investment in child care has been more symbolic than anything. It is not a priority for the government. If it were, three budgets later we would not be talking about the lack of affordable and accessible child care.

In December of last year, I had the honour of meeting with an extraordinary group of women. They were participants in the trade journey program at the YWCA in Saskatoon. The trade journey program is a bridging program for women who are seeking a career in one of three trades: carpentry, plumbing, or electrical. I was invited to share some of my tips and, dare I say, survival skills for working in a male-dominated profession. My workplace was politics and their soon-to-be workplaces would be in the skilled trades.

As often is the case, I find myself so impressed and in awe of the determination of these women and their tenacity in the face of the both personal and institutional challenges of sexism and racism. As with almost 99.99% of the conversations I have with women in my riding, the conversation turned to child care. They were emphatic of the need for and the importance of affordable and accessible child care to their success as journey persons. They just could not understand why the government did not understand how critical child care was to their success in the workplace and to the health and well-being of themselves and their families. I agreed with them. I really did not have an answer for them as to why, regardless of what political party was in power, women continued to have to fight for child care.

The fight continues as we once again see a federal government paying lip service to one, if not the one, social policy that would improve the lives of so many women in our country and really increase the productivity of the country as a whole. A truly feminist government would understand this and by now would have invested what was needed to bring about real change for women.

Let me turn to affordable prescription medication. Almost a million Canadians give up food and heat to afford prescriptions in Canada. Affordable prescription medication is key to the health and well-being of all Canadians, to a sustainable universal health care system, and to the people in my riding of Saskatoon West. In conversation with older adults in my riding, the high costs of medication always comes up. It is raised because of the challenges of living on a fixed income and with that, the challenges of maintaining a home or an apartment, to be able to pay rent or a mortgage, and to pay for medication.

What happens, as was documented in a recent study, because of the unaffordability of medication? People get sick, they stay sick, and they end up going to the doctor for multiples visits and, in some cases, even end up in the hospital.

More than 1.6 million Canadians, just over 8% of people who were prescribed medication in Canada, did not fill their prescriptions or skipped doses because they could not afford it. In a riding with a median income below $40,000 a year, I represent a lot of people who are doing just that: skipping doses or not filling prescriptions at all. The UBC study that surveyed over 28,000 people found that people without insurance, lower-income people, and young people were more likely to struggle to afford medication. Women were twice as likely as men to report that they struggle to afford medication, as were indigenous people.

Canada is the only country with a universal health care system that does not include free access to prescription medication. It is time, after studying the issue to death, by governments, researchers, by Parliaments, to stop kicking the proverbial can down the road. I would like to use a phrase made famous by a certain shoe company, “Let's just do it”. However, instead we are going to study it again and offer ourselves further advice. It is time that the government moved from the hope to the hard work of pharmacare.

The only people benefiting from yet again more talk, more consultation, and no action are the pharmaceutical companies, which continue to gouge Canadians and the health care system. Canadians pay some of the highest drug costs in the world. If, right now, Canadians were paying even just the average prescription drug costs of OECD companies, we would have paid $3.6 billion last year. Instead, we paid $13.7 billion. That is a lot of home care services. That is a lot of money to address the crisis in mental health for young people.

Most of us are tired of hoping and wishing for the day of a universal prescription drug plan for all Canadians. It is time to stop giving excuses and start the work of implementing pharmacare in this country.

My final comments on the trifecta of challenges that folks in my riding face are on housing.

Last November, the highly anticipated national housing strategy was released. However, in the budget implementation act, we see no new legislation. The Prime Minister clearly stated at the launch of the national housing strategy that housing rights are human rights. However, instead of legislation and debate on a bill to legislate the right to housing, we continue with consultation. I believe that we need much more hard work on this file. We need more specifics. We need promised new investment now and not years down the road, and certainly not after the next federal election.

To elaborate, the $40-plus billion of planned spending connected to the national housing strategy over the next 10 years only budgeted $11.2 billion of new money. The rest of the funding envelope is a rearranging of current programs, loan funding, and of course the important matching funding from the provinces and territories.

The government's response to what, for many, is a crisis in affordability and a rising number of people living on the street is not good enough. We have a minimal investment of new dollars, the largest allocation of new investment coming three years down the road, and we have a huge 10-year horizon for the investment. The speed and the amount of the investment does not match the urgency faced by many communities, including my own. When we look at the amount of investment specifically focused on those Canadians with no roof over their heads, and the target number of reducing the number of Canadians who are homeless by 50% over 10 years, we do not see a government with the resources or the plan in place to truly recognize housing as a human right.

We know that the growing number of Canadians living on the street without the safety and security of a place to call home are often young people, and a large number of those young people are those who have aged out of the foster care system and are LGBTQ2 youth. We must speed up the investment. We must set more aggressive targets. We must work harder and set a much more courageous timeline if we are to make a difference in the lives of these young Canadians.

We are still waiting for a separate strategy for indigenous people living in urban centres. We saw a very modest amount of funding in the previous budget, but no detail.

Sorry, I did not realize that I had run out of time. I look forward to offering more during questions.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Madam Speaker, it is always good to hear from my colleague from Saskatchewan. I think we share priorities in terms of child care, affordable housing, and pharmacare. On the issue of child care, it is not this budget that she should look to, but the budget of 2016, which invested $7.5 billion over the next 10 years. Those accords have been signed with the provinces. That money is being spent. In my province, 100,000 new regulated day care spaces are being funded as a direct result of that budget.

On the issue of pharmacare, I agree that it is not being implemented immediately. There is a strategic plan being produced by a panel of experts that will show us exactly how to do that. I invite her to be standing in this House next year when we do just that, in terms of acting on those recommendations.

On the issue of affordable housing, I am gobsmacked. I remind the member opposite that her party only promised $40 million for homelessness over four years, which was $10 million extra a year. In our very first budget, we spent $100 million more than the previous year. We doubled it from $100 million to $200 million, which means we are going to be spending $400 million on homelessness over the four years of our term of office, not the paltry, meek, timid $40 million promised by her government.

Where it really gets me is when she says there is no new money for housing in this budget. There is close to $2 billion that is new for rental housing in this budget. If we look at her platform in the previous election, the final three years of their mandate there was zero, zero, zero. That is the NDP platform they think we should follow as bold advice.

Is she serious that no money is being spent, or is she just pretending that no money is being spent to make a political argument?

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, I guess I will thank my hon. colleague across the way for his comments, although he did not quite reflect what I said. What I had talked about is that the majority of the new investment into housing is coming after the next federal election. Of the $40 billion I have heard my hon. colleague repeat over and over, only $11 billion is new investment. I am not denying that the government is not looking at rearranging programs. We are hopefully going to hear some of the details about this next week, and maybe there will be improvements.

My point was that from my perspective as a member of Parliament, and from the work I have done in housing and homelessness, it is not enough money and it is coming much too late. The largest investment is after the next federal election. I think we can do better.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am seeing this recurring theme with the NDP whenever we bring forward a piece of legislation or proposition. It is always asking why we are not doing it faster. With respect to cannabis, why are we not doing this faster? With respect to pharmacare, why are we not doing this faster?

The reality of the situation is that these things take time. It takes time to properly plan this so it is executed correctly. However, I take issue with her comments with respect to child care. The truth of the matter is that when this party came into government, we changed the rules for the CCB. We created a new program where nine out of 10 families get more money for children now. This particular budget goes on to strengthen that. An individual single parent making $35,000 a year will now see an additional $560 a year to help with their children's expenses.

I am wondering how she will bring herself later on today to vote against this when we are doing real, solid things for children and families who have children.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, I guess what I am saying is there is not enough in this omnibus budget for the residents in my riding, in particular for those women I met at the Trade Journey program.

I am not denying that the Canada child benefit has helped people. However, the program does not matter if there is no access to affordable universal child care; it was not going to be helpful for these women. They were not saying that they were not appreciative of the Canada child benefit; they were saying that what they wanted and needed was universal affordable child care.

What they asked me is why governments do not understand that, and why has it taken so long for child care to be a priority for governments at the same priority level as other things?

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

Madam Speaker, what a pleasure and privilege it is to be able to stand in this chamber and speak to the budget implementation bill. It is a bill that continues to build on what I believe is a very progressive government that understands how important it is to support Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it, to give a helping hand in trying to deal with the issue of tax inequities by having a special tax on Canada's wealthiest one per cent. We have had so many accomplishments in such a short period of time. I have said this in the past and I will repeat it now. Under this particular government, we have seen so much take place in terms of budgetary measures and legislative measures, which have had a positive and profound impact on supporting those who need it the most, Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it.

When I listen to opposition members, if I may focus on the Conservatives first and foremost, there are two things that I have come to realize. The Prime Minister talked about it at our wonderful convention that we had over the weekend. One of those is the fact that there is no change with the Conservative Party. It is almost as if Stephen Harper is still leading the party. It is absolutely amazing to see how much the Conservatives still remain out of touch with what Canadians expect of government. When I look at the ideas that the Conservatives attempt to bring over to this side of the House, it can be confusing at times. Last week, for example, we were supposed to talk about the priorities of the government. As members will recall, the members of the official opposition did not want to debate Bill C-74. Today the Conservatives are saying that they want to debate it more, yet last Monday they did not want to debate it. In fact, they brought in a motion to deal with another report as opposed to the budget. I can understand why. I can appreciate that they see how effective our budgets have been since we have taken governance.

We have worked with Canadians. We have empowered Canadians through things such as tax breaks, the Canada child benefit, something that will be indexed because of this piece of legislation. We are working with and supporting Canadians. We are supporting our communities through infrastructure dollars, with record amounts of money going into Canada's infrastructure in every region of our country. By doing that, we are giving additional strength to Canada's middle class and building our economy. By working with Canadians, we are seeing some amazing numbers. Most important is in the area of jobs. There are 600,000-plus jobs that have been created in just over two years by this government in working with many different stakeholders, in particular Canadians in every region of our country. I believe that this government has been acting on what we committed to Canadians back in 2015, and that was real change. We have seen that day in and day out, in terms of the different types of policies we have debated inside this chamber, and most importantly shared with Canadians coast to coast to coast.

I want to pick up on one issue that has been very important to me personally, and I know has been also very important to my daughter Cindy, who is an MLA in the Manitoba legislature. That is the issue of pharmacare. The pharmacare issue embodies what I believe is a very important and progressive step forward that we need to take, that we have been waiting for generations to see some tangible movement on. This Prime Minister along with this cabinet and caucus believe that we need to advance the idea. In fact, we had a standing committee, made up of members from all sides of this House, which reported last week some ideas in terms of how we can advance the idea of “one prescription”, where prescription drugs would be part of the Canada health system.

Canadians want our national government to demonstrate some leadership on this issue, and I believe we have. Earlier today, we heard the Prime Minister talk about some of the interim measures we have taken to ensure that prescription drugs are more affordable. At the constituency level, there have been many petitions and many discussions. In fact, in the last number of months I have tabled many petitions dealing with a strong national pharmacare program. If there ever was a reason to believe that it is actually doable, all one needs to do is take a look at what the government has done on a couple of specific initiatives in the last two years, in particular the Canada child benefit program.

I believe the government today has put into place, through the Canada child benefit program, a fantastic social program that has lifted tens of thousands of children out of poverty. We were able to do that in a relatively quick fashion.

On the issue of pharmacare, we recognize that there is a responsibility on the part of the national government to work with the different stakeholders. That is why, in the most recent budget, we see that there has been a task force of sorts put together, headed by a former minister of health in the Province of Ontario, to look at ways of possibly implementing a national pharmacare program.

We just came through a fantastic convention in Halifax, where Atlantic hospitality was at its best. I was very proud to listen to the speech delivered by the Prime Minister. If some of my colleagues across the way want to get a good sense of what has been taking place in the last couple of years, I would highly recommend that they YouTube it. I am sure they will enjoy it. There were 3,000-plus Liberals in Halifax who loved it.

Personally, I really enjoyed the fact that every constituency was represented. I believe there were 3,000 Liberals attending, and I think 50% of those were individuals who were attending a national convention for the first time. The number of young people attending that convention was truly amazing.

The number one resolution was on pharmacare. The Liberal Party, under the leadership of our current Prime Minister, has recognized the value of yet another fantastic social program. For those who try to cast doubt on the desire and the drive of the government, I would recommend they take a look at what we have accomplished in the last two years, in particular with the Canada child benefit.

I believe there is the opportunity for Canadians to have hope once again that after many years of no leadership on the health care file, we finally have a Prime Minister, a Minister of Health, and a government caucus who are committed to finding out if we can make this happen. If we can make it happen, it will happen.

We are working hard and being diligent in crossing the t's, dotting the i's, working with the different levels of government, and working with Canadians to find out what they would like to see and how we might be able to proceed on this particular file.

[An hon. member]

More, more.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

There is lots more. There is not enough time. That is the problem.

When I think about what we have been able to accomplish, I think about about the tax breaks for small business, an issue that is so important. The Minister of Small Business and Tourism has talked a great deal about small business being the backbone of Canada's economy, and reducing that small business tax was an important step. It is consistent with what we did in the first budget through the middle-class tax cut, by supporting guaranteed income supplement increases to our seniors, and by enhancing the Canada child benefit program, as no other government has done previously.

We have put more disposable income in the pockets of Canadians in every region of our country, thereby supporting small businesses, because they are the great consumers. Those small businesses cultivate the economy, generating the jobs that are necessary.

There is so much more I could say, but unfortunately my time has come to an end. It has been a privilege to address yet another great budget.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am happy to hear this entertaining speech today and hear the member opposite give himself and his government so much credit for all these achievements they have made throughout the last two and a half years. He never mentioned anything about the disastrous policies, the tax increases on Canadians, the deficit, the borrowing, or the debt services, and the list goes on and on. What the Liberals were able to achieve in two and a half years would take a failed government 25 years to do. Why does the member opposite not tell Canadians about the disastrous policies and the results of them that we see every day?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, the only thing I can think of that might be somewhat relatively close to what the member is talking about is when we identified that we needed to put a special tax on Canada's wealthiest one per cent, something which the Conservatives voted against.

Most significantly, with regard to taxes, we actually decreased taxes for the middle class. Imagine hundreds of millions of dollars taken and given back to Canada's middle class. What did the Conservative Party do? It voted against it. The Conservative Party voted against one of Canada's single greatest tax breaks to Canadians, to Canada's middle class. The Conservatives actually voted against it. They are not necessarily consistent in what they say.

This government continues to remain focused on what we can do to enhance and give more power and authority to Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it, and give a helping hand for those who need it most.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague is all the more convincing because he is talking so loudly. At least it is entertaining.

I am sure those watching at home must feel sorry for the Liberals because they are constantly being told that they said all kinds of things during the campaign and that they are not keeping their promises, which is true.

A year ago, at the Montreal electric vehicle show, the Minister of Transport promised to establish a strategy for the electrification of transport, but there is nothing about that in this year's budget.

Can my colleague explain why there is nothing in the new budget about the electrification of transport?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, over the last couple of years the government has invested hundreds of millions. In particular, with regard to infrastructure and green technology, we have a government that has not only been talking about it but has committed millions going into hundreds of millions of dollars. Much of that money is going into our rural communities. In fact, we designated $2 billion of infrastructure dollars to go specifically for rural communities.

There are many different ideas out there. When it comes to public infrastructure, public transport, we would have to go back many years prior to see a government that has been more committed to advancing green technology and investing in Canada's public infrastructure and public transit.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Madam Speaker, my colleague went on and on about how the Liberal government has delivered on its promises. Not so fast.

First of all, there was a promise to end omnibus bills and then a promise to end time allocation. There was a promise to give individual members of Parliament freedom of speech to represent their constituents and a promise to have only a $10-billion deficit this year. It is $22 billion.

How can we go on and on about delivering on promises when there are so many broken promises? When will the budget be balanced?