Debates of Feb. 4th, 2019

Opposition Motion—Taxes

[Jennifer O'Connell]

Mr. Speaker, we have been focused on working with content creators and dealing with measures that work for everybody. We have made investments for content creators. The Minister of Heritage has worked with Netflix to ensure that there is content that reflects our country's priorities. In addition, when the ministers were negotiating the new NAFTA, we ensured that Canadian content was an important and integral part.

We know that a focus on Canada's rich and unique diversity across this country is critically important. That is why it is found in multiple levels of our government's priorities.

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

Mr. Speaker, I made an effort not to use the word “culture” in my question. I did not say culture or content. I spoke about the GST, which Netflix, unlike its competitors, does not have to pay. In return, I heard more rhetoric about culture.

Could I just get an answer that is not more obfuscation?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I acknowledge that the comments by the member for Longueuil—Saint-Hubert are interesting. However, this is not a point of order. The member will have several other opportunities to ask questions.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we heard a lot from the Liberal member about how good things were in Canada.

From talking to people in Alberta, as well as right across the country, I know things are not looking quite so rosy. One of the things that is very aggravating to people in general is when politicians promise things. People try to accept it. They look at the platforms and so forth.

We know that in 2015, the party across the way promised tiny deficits and that we would have a balanced budget this year. However, we know that has not come to fruition. We now have debt going through the ceiling. Billions and billions of dollars that are being spent could be spent on health care and other programs.

Why did the party across the way absolutely not tell the truth, saying that it would have a balanced budget? It has just not come to fruition. In fact, there might never be a balanced budget if the Liberals stay in power.

[Jennifer O'Connell]

Mr. Speaker, our commitment to Canadians was to ensure we grew the economy for everybody and not just the wealthy millionaires who the Conservatives looked after during 10 years of feeble economic growth under the Harper Conservatives.

The Harper Conservatives' type of investment included fake lakes and gazebos. This meant they could not balance the budget. They added $150 billion to the debt and they had some of the worst growth since the Great Depression.

Our investments are in Canadians, not fake lakes, not gazebos. Canadians are seeing the results.

[Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague spoke about the investments that we had made in Canadians.

When we look at the motion before us today, Canadians can clearly see that the Canada child benefit is putting $2,000 more into families pockets, compared to 2015. That is having a real impact.

In order for Canadians to have utilized some of the tax credits that the Conservative Party named in the motion, they needed to afford to pay for it in order to get that tax credit somewhere down the road. We have changed that. We have made our policies such that we are putting more money in their pockets so they can choose to do what they want for their families.

Could my hon. colleague speak a little more to the investments we have made in Canadians?

[Jennifer O'Connell]

Mr. Speaker, that is precisely what we heard from Canadians in 2015. What I certainly heard from people when I was knocking on doors was that those benefits were really only helpful if people could afford them in the first place. They also wondered whether it was the type of program they actually needed.

The Canada child benefit is tax-free money that goes to the families that need it most. This has made a transformational difference in the lives of Canadians. As I have said, 300,000 children have been lifted out of poverty. Somehow the Conservatives seem to think this is a bad thing, that this should be cut and that we should not send that support and help to the families that need it most.

The Conservatives believe in austerity and cuts, and Canadians will suffer for it.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is clearly in denial. The facts remain that 46% of Canadians are $200 a month away from insolvency. The member can talk about how much better the Liberals have made it, but how can a government then go and implement a carbon tax that will be six times what it has already talked about, costing thousands of extra dollars for people who are already that close to insolvency.

Why is a Liberal government, which is supposed to be open and transparent, keeping that information from Canadians?

[Jennifer O'Connell]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the member opposite's riding specifically.

On average, families in her riding receive $7,400 each year because of the Canada child benefit. Is she going to turn to those families and tell them they do not need it anymore, that they do not need those funds or the help with the cost of living and that it is going to be taken away because the Conservatives believe in cutting and austerity?

With this program, the average payment in her riding is actually $620 a month and 16,000 children are benefiting in her riding alone from the Canada child benefit. Why does that member want to take this support away from those 16,000 children in her riding?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Sherbrooke.

I am pleased to participate in the debate. I know the member for Carleton started this discussion and talked about a number of different things, including the issue of Dalton McGuinty, the Ontario Liberals and taxation policy. What has been left out of that is the history which is so important when we talk about fairness for consumers, accountability for Canadians and how we continue to deal with debt from the former Harper government bringing in the HST.

In fact, the HST was not just a harmonization of the sales tax by the Conservatives, agreed to by the Liberals in this chamber, to get through a minority Parliament. It was also done with Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberals and the Liberals in British Columbia as well. We are still paying the interest for that tax as we continue to run deficits. The Conservative government borrowed around $6 billion to bribe Ontario and British Columbia. The absurd reality is that Canadians are paying interest on a new tax put on other Canadians.

For those who want to say that the HST was just a simple harmonization of taxes and that there were no new taxes, there were. There were new taxes for a number of different things, such as car repairs, hair cuts, school supplies, retirement savings and even on parking fees at a hospital. When someone visited a loved one in the hospital, the Conservatives added a new tax to that visit. There are many more examples of that harmonization, but I want to focus a little on the economics behind it.

In particular, Stephen Harper and his government arranged a $4.3 billion transfer to Dalton McGuinty, despite all of their banter and rhetoric about the hatred toward the McGuinty government and its behaviour. However, the former Conservative government found a co-operative partner with the McGuinty government to bring in this new tax. They knew it was not popular.

It was the same thing in British Columbia, which led to a number of different votes and measures. The government borrowed that money to bring in new taxes on everything from car repairs, hair cuts, school supplies, retirement savings and even visits to loved ones in the hospital.

The member for Carleton may have forgotten about those new taxes his government implemented, but I and Canadians have not. In fact, requested an analysis of it. It was not done by a left-wing think-tank, which the member always likes to embellish upon in the House. It is called the Library of Parliament. The Library of Parliament has economists, lawyers and researchers who serve all members, including the member for Carleton. These people provide members of Parliament with good advice and good materials every day.

The report, which we requested from the Library of Parliament, said:

In 2009, the federal government agreed to transfer about $5. 9 billion to the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia to help fund the provincial costs of transitioning from their current retail sales tax systems to a harmonized sales tax (HST) that would be collected concurrently with the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST). With respect to these proposed transfers, the province of Ontario would receive two transfers from the federal government : the first, valued at $3.0 billion, upon implementation of the HST or Ontario Value-Added Tax... and the second, one year later, valued at $1.3 billion. The province of British Columbia would receive a single transfer of about $1.6 billion upon implementation of the HST or British Columbia Value-Added Tax...The federal cost of these proposed transfers - including the principal and associated interest cost is almost $ 10 billion dollars...

The amount of value that we have over interest and the subsequent cost is closer to $10 billion that we are currently paying for this new sales tax.

That is a problem because it occurred at the time when we were entering a recession. At a that time, the Harper government, which had co-operation with then Liberal leader Ignatieff, was able to bring in this new tax in a minority Parliament. We are still paying for it to this day. The $10 billion that we have now incurred between the payout and the interest will still continue to accumulate and snowball. It will be the lottery money that Canadians will never receive as taxpayers. They will never collect any of the earnings, but they will get all of the negativity of it. Unfortunately, they have already bought their tickets over and over again. It is the worst type of lottery system that one can imagine, yet we are in it for the long haul.

I would like to transition to sales tax, which is also about affordability and the protection of Canadian consumers. The HST was added to things like car repair. This was done at a time when some automotive companies were doing an improper thing by blocking or conditioning people to choose certain service models when they had to get their car repaired. The Conservative government was introducing a new tax to people while rewarding the companies.

I had a bill called the “right to repair” bill, which was adopted by the Conservatives as a voluntary agreement. I thank them for that and for their support. As a result, companies had to follow laws similar to those in the United States. My specific point on this is that we were taxing Canadians on consumer goods for companies that were engaging in bad behaviour.

That goes to my next point, which is with respect to the pipeline that the government has purchased. We have a government that has reduced corporate taxes in the past. We have seen the continuation of this policy. At the same time, the Liberals have been willing to turn away from the fact that we are paying for a bailout with respect to the Kinder Morgan pipeline and we are going to continue to pay for it.

There is an important message regarding the HST that marries with the current financial investment we have. It is interesting to use the car analogy with regard to the purchase of the pipeline and it being problematic. We purchased this pipeline but when we drove it off the lot, the cost of it, or the price we could get back, depreciated because there was a small market for getting rid of it. The warranty on that pipeline was poor at best, if not non-existent. We have already seen not only in Canada but also in the U.S. that it requires extensive repairs and maintenance. The return for those repairs will be very minimal.

Moreover, at a time when the government is saying “no” to housing and to equality on a number of different issues, we are paying interest in perpetuity for a pipeline that somewhat exists. We have the land rights for expanding it, but we know we will never see that happen. We also have all the legacy of that to pass on as debt.

There is a lesson that should be learned with respect to the Conservatives' HST debacle, for which we continue to pay. There was supposed to be a cascading effect that would be passed on to consumers, that by harmonizing the tax, things would get easier and better, and Canadians would get the break. We were supposed to see that benefit, but where is it? We have not seen that. Have cellphone prices become cheaper? Have insurance prices gone down? Has electricity pricing and other pricing related to things for houses and repairs gone down? No. Where is all the economic benefit that was promised through the HST? It has never materialized?

The other argument was that it would magically improve manufacturing. This has not been the case. We just had the announcement that General Motors was pulling out of Canada. Supposedly, the HST was added to help manufacturing but it never helped. It never swayed the day.

I could make the same argument with respect to this pipeline. Supposedly it is magically going to open up new economic and other opportunities that we are supposed to benefit from, but we have not seen them in a concrete way. Furthermore, no cost-benefit has been done with respect to the borrowing that will take place. We have invested billions of dollars and we will pay in perpetuity for it and for the interest incurred on it.

To conclude, when we look at taxation policies and a motion like this, we should be getting some value back if Canadians are going to give something up. Something has to break, be it health care, education or the environment, and we are going to pay for it and pass it on to our young people. Unfortunately, the motion again reinforces a broken record of the Conservatives, who say that they are fiscally accountable and responsible, but the reality is an example like the HST.

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

Mr. Speaker, as I listen to the Conservatives and the NDP, the first thing that comes to my mind is how focused this government has been on Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be part of it. We have seen many different policy initiatives from this government that have given strength to Canada's middle class. By doing that, we have given strength to our economy, and we are seeing results. We are seeing incredible job numbers that we have not seen in decades. We are talking about 800,000 plus. We are seeing other opportunities, such as the enhancement of social programs.

All in all, I believe that Canadians will see what we have been able to accomplish in three and a half years and recognize that there is more to be done, and we hope to be able to do that into the future.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I did not hear a question there.

The government has missed opportunities. It is a mediocracy we have. A malaise has taken over, and that is unfortunate. It is hard work that sets things up. I would point to the General Motors example. The government was presented an auto policy two years ago in Detroit. Ironically, we had to go to Detroit to meet with the domestic auto industry from Canada. Ray Tanguay presented a domestic auto policy report for Canada. The Liberals paid for that report. They asked him to do that report. They have done nothing since that time. One year later, the Minister of Industry had to go on bended knee to Detroit to meet with General Motors to hear an explanation as to why we are getting the lion's share of the layoffs and firings versus the United States.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague about the impacts he is seeing in his riding. We know that the Liberals have increased taxes in so many ways and have put in place a very uncompetitive business climate. Could the member share how these increases in taxes are impacting the businesses and jobs in his area?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, being a border community, we can see the effects of government decisions and the lack of support. For example, I would note community benefits for the Windsor—Detroit region. I know that the member is active with regard to the Blue Water Bridge. It is very important work that has blended the border more solidly into the community in terms of being a partner. That is versus the Ambassador Bridge, in my riding, which is seen as a very hostile relationship. The government made what is called an order in council to build a new bridge. An order in council does not pass the chamber here and it does not go to the Senate. It is basically a gift; just peel the ribbon off the package, and there it is.

Bad policy has created indecision and uncertainty as we build a new public border crossing, the Gordie Howe International Bridge. This one is lurking out there as another issue, with no community benefits and no connection to the community. It is indicative of mediocrity and malaise. The Liberals try to please everyone, including a U.S. billionaire, versus doing the right thing for Canadians at the right time.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today to speak to the Conservative opposition motion.

I feel as though I am dreaming. It was only last Tuesday that the Conservatives moved another motion on taxes. Today is Monday, February 4, and we have a motion before us that deals with basically the same subject, does pretty much the same thing and will probably have the same outcome. When you do the same thing twice, you often get the same outcome.

Still, I find it strange that the Conservatives have moved another motion about taxes. Its purpose is definitely to scare us and to scare Canadians. It also contains several paragraphs, from (a) to (k). It says things like “would have cost up to $2,000 per household”; “up to $2,000”; “up to $225”—we are talking about tax credits here—“up to $560 per student”; “up to $85 per worker”; “could cost up to $1,000”; “as high as $5,000 in the future”.

Note the conditional tense used here. Paragraphs (j) and (k) even state, “this government tried to tax”. The Conservatives are using the same old scare tactics; they claim that the government tried to do certain things so as to justify today's motion, but the Liberal government has already rejected these claims.

The Conservatives are once again resorting to their old scare tactics, but the real driver behind this motion is the Conservatives' fiscal policy, which is out of touch with reality. They want to resurrect their fiscal policy, a policy that did not work for Canada during their decade in government. They cut taxes on big corporations and multinationals from 22% to 15%, which failed to yield the results expected by prominent neo-liberal economists who say that cutting taxes boosts economic activity. The Conservatives' fiscal policy, which is based on theories like that, clearly did not produce the desired results.

Currently, Canadians' debt levels are among the highest in the world. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are on the verge of bankruptcy, one paycheque away from financial disaster. There is also a severe national housing crisis that requires concrete measures. I raised that subject last week in the debate on the NDP's opposition motion.

We rarely have an opportunity to move a motion for all MPs to vote on. When people in our party have that opportunity, we raise important issues that matter to Canadians' everyday lives. We do not engage in fearmongering to score political points. When NDP members have a chance to move an opposition motion, we take it very seriously. We develop real policies and real proposals. We do not just jot things down on the back of a napkin just for the sake of putting something out there and triggering a debate on taxes. I am curious about what the Conservatives are trying to accomplish here, but, just like last Tuesday's motion, I do not think this one will amount to much.

Last week's motion asked for taxes never to be increased again in Canada, and today's motion says substantially the same thing. At the end of the motion, it says that the House should “call on the Prime Minister to provide written confirmation that the government will not further raise any taxes on Canadians”. It does not mention any specific time limit, circumstance or taxpayer. That is the main reason why the NDP will be opposing this motion.

I said it last week, and I will say it again today: in 2019, we cannot tie our hands by promising not to raise taxes on anyone, under any circumstances and for an unspecified amount of time.

That would not be responsible, yet the Conservatives are doing it anyway. However, we know all too well that the Conservatives are not fiscally responsible. Let us not forget that they added $150 billion to the public debt when they were in government. In any case, one of the main reasons we are against this motion is that we must not tie our hands today, February 4, 2019, by promising not to raise taxes for an indefinite period.

The NDP has options. We have the courage to say that we can raise taxes, that we can get more taxes from the richest citizens, who are currently not paying their fair share. It is important to have the courage to say that in this debate. As I was saying earlier, under the Conservatives, big multinational corporations got their taxes cut from 22% to 15%. That did not yield the desired economic results. It did not confirm the theory of trickle-down economics, which is that tax cuts for big multinationals trickle down and benefit everyone.

On the contrary, large multinationals, the banks in particular, are pocketing record profits, while people are sleeping on the street right outside their doors. Every year they pocket more and more money, and the government gives them tax breaks. They stash their money away without putting it back into the economy. The figures show that the large profits stashed away by large multinationals lie dormant and are not reinvested into the economy. The money does not trickle down to benefit the vast majority of Canadians. This is a reality that seems to be lost on the Conservatives, who are forever caught up in their tax-cuts-for-everyone ideology.

I apologize for repeating myself, but this topic is so similar. Last week I spoke of the need to understand that taxes serve a purpose in our society and in the world. They allow the public to receive services. Everyone contributes to a common pot so that everyone can then receive quality services. We are fortunate in Canada to have quality public services that are accessible and affordable, and ideally, sometimes even free.

In fact, taxpayers paid for these services. Having everyone contribute their share to a pooled fund is a way for society to organize itself and ensure that we can get decent services. Once again, the Conservatives do not seem to grasp the concept of people helping each other. In a community, we can pool our resources to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit.

When we look at the real cost of public services, we see that the majority of people get more services and money than they pay into the pooled fund. That is how we make society inclusive and give everyone an equal opportunity to succeed. That is why we must go even further. The NDP thinks we must go even further to give everyone an equal opportunity. Those who have the means should contribute more to this pooled fund to serve as many people as possible as well as those who need it most, in other words, the less fortunate.

That being said, I would be remiss if I did not mention the failures of the Liberal government, which has done nothing to improve the situation since taking office. This is a Conservative motion, but unfortunately, we have to admit that the Liberal government has failed to take action to address serious crises, particularly the housing crisis, which I mentioned earlier. The government has been ignoring the housing crisis, but immediate, concrete action needs to be taken. The government is doing a little but certainly not enough to properly address such a crisis.

Let's talk about the Liberal government's poor choices. Governing is all about making choices, making decisions. The most recent example is the government's decision to buy an oil pipeline. The Liberals bought the pipeline for $4.5 billion U.S. when the Parliamentary Budget Officer's assessment shows that they could have gotten a lower price. That was a choice that the government made. Rather than investing in Canadians and the housing crisis, the government would rather invest in a 60-year-old pipeline and its expansion, which, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, could cost up to $10 billion to $12 billion more.

That is the reality of the choices the Liberals are making. They decided to invest in a pipeline rather than in the well-being of Canadians.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, earlier in the debate today the parliamentary secretary made a comment about how the Liberals are in place to grow the economy for everyone, yet everyone does not seem to include everyone in my riding and other parts of Canada, because the Liberals are killing the oil and gas sector. They are killing pipelines.

The hon. member is well aware of the carbon tax and how it will be $20 a tonne on April 1 and will go up to $50 a tonne and will go even higher after that. We are continually asking the present government what that figure will be, but it refuses to give that answer.

I would like to hear from the member how he feels that is going to affect his constituency and his constituents in creating jobs and how he feels it is going to affect the economy.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which is on another one of the Conservatives' favourite topics, the carbon tax. We are really doing the rounds, talking about all their favourite subjects, from taxes and the carbon tax to balanced budgets. We will have covered virtually all the Conservative bases by talking about those three topics.

With regard to the carbon tax, I think it is important to point out that, in the jurisdictions where it has already been introduced, people have been receiving some form of compensation, such as rebates. I think compensation is necessary, which is what the government is currently planning.

Last week the Minister of Environment and Climate Change said that Canadians will receive $307 from the government. That number is interesting. It proves that the Liberals expect the carbon tax to have economic repercussions.

Compensation is obviously necessary, since those most in need are going to be compensated. On top of that, we are going to reach the policy objective, which is reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

I hope all parliamentarians would agree that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The world's foremost economists are saying that a carbon tax is a good way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Why not introduce such a tax and provide compensation for those who need it?

[Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I agree. Here we are with another opposition day motion talking about taxes, so it is a little like groundhog day for the Conservatives. I also agree with him about the Conservatives' fearmongering with this motion. It seems to be a repeat of things they are accustomed to doing.

As my hon. colleague looks through this long list of cancelled tax credits in the motion, I am sure he and his constituents are aware that they would have had to have been able to afford these programs in order to receive the tax credit. With our Canada child benefit, our national poverty strategy and our national housing strategy, we are taking a holistic approach to ensuring Canadians are well off. Would he not agree that programs like the Canada child benefit ensure that Canadians have more money in their pockets and that it is not only a better strategy than the Conservative one, but one that allows them to choose what they want to do for their children with the money?

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her intervention. I also thank her for raising the matter of non-refundable tax credits, something the Conservatives are obsessed with, especially when it comes to public transit and children's fitness and arts tax credits.

The members across the way seem to forget that you have to pay taxes in order to get non-refundable tax credits. I would remind the Conservatives that the least fortunate Canadians need these non-refundable tax credits the most. However, those Canadians cannot get these tax credits because those who are better off are the ones who pay taxes. When the Conservatives talk about these tax credits, they fail to mention that these are non-refundable tax credits.

They need to face the facts. The numbers speak for themselves: those who benefit from these tax credits are mainly, but not exclusively, the wealthy. This policy was endorsed by several economists who reviewed the use of non-refundable tax credits. It is time to have another debate on why we should make these tax credits refundable.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here today to speak to the opposition motion. I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Edmonton Manning.

Today I will be talking about the taxes that the Liberals have increased, their adverse effects, and the future.

To start, let us talk about the taxes that the Liberals have raised.

Since they came into power in 2015, the Liberals have made continual attempts to raise taxes on Canadians and on small businesses. Overall, middle-class Canadians are paying over $800 more in taxes. How did we get there?

First of all, a lot of the tax credits that were in place under the previous government were removed. We need only to look at how much that cost. Let us think of the fitness tax credit, which was $1,200 per child. A family with two or three children could have received $3,600 right there. The education and tuition tax credits were also removed. I remember having two children in university, and the amount received then was $5,000 per child. We are talking about thousands of dollars in taxes there. When the credit is removed, it essentially means that taxes are being increased.

There were many Canadians who were taking advantage of income splitting, and depending on their income, that could be as much as $12,000 or $13,000.

If we add up the number of things that were taken away, it could be as much as $20,000.

For all the Liberals' talk about adding back a child benefit and how a family with young children would get $5,400 each, a family with no young children but with kids in university would be much worse off. We see that in the data that shows that 46% of Canadians are within $200 of insolvency every month. That is the result of the Liberal government continually squeezing them.

The Liberals have tried to squeeze Canadians in other ways, such as trying to raise taxes on health and dental benefits. We sounded the alarm and were able to get them to walk back on that. They tried to put some taxes in place on small businesses that would have caused undue circumstances. They tried to tax the passive income in corporations at 73%, which clearly resulted in outrage and an outcry from Canadians. We were able to get the Liberals to walk that back.

This is important because it follows the principle that we talked about in science about boiling the frog. If we gradually raise the temperature one degree at a time, the frog will eventually die because it does not realize that it is getting into really hot water. That essentially is what has happened under the Liberals: They have increased taxes so many times that now the whole country is in hot water. Canadians are really struggling to afford to live, and that is even before we count in the carbon tax and the impact it will have.

We do not know exactly how much impact the carbon tax will have, because the open and transparent Liberal government has not disclosed that information to Canadians. The Liberals have said they will give Canadians $300 back at the end of the year and have asked Canadians to trust them that this is the amount it is going to cost. Depending on where we live in this country, if we think about an increase of 11¢ a litre on gasoline for the current carbon pricing and we think about the increase to the cost of home heating and the cost of groceries, we recognize that it is going to be more than $300. The government is really getting more money than it is going to give back, which is in essence a tax increase as well.

We know it is not going to stop there. We know that after the next election, the government is going to continue to increase this carbon tax because it is a cash grab. Documents show that this tax will increase by a factor of six. It could cost Canadians $3,000 to $5,000 a year. Let us think of what that would do to families that are already precariously on the brink.

There have been many negative impacts. I talked about the impact on Canadians, but the impact on small and medium-sized businesses is something that we are seeing in my riding, where businesses are either closing up or moving to the United States because of the tax advantages there versus operating in Canada.

What did we really get for all of the cash that the government is taking out of the pockets of Canadians? A lot of that money has not been of benefit to Canadians. Let us think about the $15 billion that the Liberals took from the municipalities that was supposed to be for their roads and bridges but was put into an infrastructure bank that has benefited nobody. What about the $1 billion the government is spending on allowing illegal immigrants to come into the country, paying to put them up in hotels for the four years needed to process them because of the backlog?

We have seen the government's many trips around the world. There was the disastrous India trip, the China trip, the Davos trip. People were flying all over the place, with 183 people going to COP 21, where the government is spending billions of Canadians' dollars with no real benefit to Canadians.

Of course, there were millions of dollars spent on the Canada food guide so we could all know that we should drink water and enjoy our food, which was a huge revelation to many, I am sure.

It seems that tax increases keep coming, and the government is not being open with Canadians about what they can expect after the next election, should we be unfortunate enough to have the Liberals remain in power.

We know that more taxes are coming. We know the Liberals tried to put in place a tax on health and dental benefits, and they will try to put it in place again. They will again increase the carbon tax. They will again reach into the pockets of small businesses, because the government has a spending problem. They are spending way more than they promised. They promised small deficits of $10 billion for three years and a return to a balanced budget this year. Here we are in 2019, and the budget is not balanced.

We cannot believe the promises made by the current government. It has a track record, depending on whether we go to the TrudeauMeter or a promise tracker, of keeping 25% of their promises, so Canadians should definitely keep that in mind as we look to the election and see what might be coming down the road.

Let us talk about the future. We know that tough times are ahead. Economists are predicting that we are approaching recession conditions, and growth has certainly slowed. After glowing accolades and the Prime Minister singing about the victories of his government, all of a sudden we see that growth is grinding to a halt and that there are concerns of a recession. Here we are with more debt than anyone could manage, and there is no end in sight. That will certainly cause us to pay more interest on the deficit and keep us from doing other things.

Let us think about the $40 billion that was transferred to the provinces for health care. We know we have an aging population and a rise in chronic disease, so we definitely need more money in the health care system, but that $40 billion that we could be putting on top of our existing transfer payments is going toward paying interest to wealthy bankers and investors. I do not think that was the intent.

Clearly, the government has been wasting taxpayers' dollars. It has been raising taxes on taxpayers and it will keep doing that as we move toward the election and it is not going to be open and transparent about it. Liberals clearly do not intend to tell Canadians the real story, and that is why Conservatives moved this motion today: to make sure Canadians are informed about what has already taken place and what they can expect in the future.

[Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague said that Canada is in hot water. I want to get a sense from her of the exact temperature of that water, because it seems we are doing pretty well. We have the lowest employment in decades, which means Canadians are working. In fact, with our investments, Canadian businesses have helped create over 800,000 new jobs.

My hon. colleague went on to talk about the Canada child benefit. In her riding of Sarnia—Lambton specifically, over 8,600 payments have been made through the Canada child benefit. There are 16,000 children in her riding who have received these payments. I know my hon. colleagues on the other side are heckling, but I am sure the parents of these children appreciate having this money, an average of $600 per month.

The record of this government is that our investments in Canadians have allowed them to create jobs, put more money in their pockets and ensure they have a better quality of life.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member asked about the temperature of the water in Canada. Well, let us talk about it. When 46% of Canadians are within $200 of insolvency every month, the fact that they are working is great, but the fact that they cannot make ends meet is not great. She also referenced the number of people who have received the child benefit in my riding. The reality is that if we give somebody $6,400 and take away $7,200, they are $800 worse off. That is the situation that has happened under the current government. It has increased taxes more than what it has given back.

[Rémi Massé, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, first, I want to acknowledge my colleague for speaking French at the beginning of her speech. She did a great job, and I think it is important to acknowledge that.

The figures she mentioned come from the Fraser Institute. However, she left out some important details. The Canada child benefit was not taken into account in this analysis. The Canada child benefit has made a huge difference back home. People tell me they are getting an extra $2,000, tax free. This is a lot.

She also forgot to mention that during nine of the 10 years that the Harper government was in power, that government ran significant deficits. One of these deficits was among the largest in modern Canadian history. It was $56 billion for a single year. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the deficit during this period.

The Canada child benefit is having a positive impact on our families and has helped thousands of children out of poverty, so why did she and her party vote against this important measure introduced by our government?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. I hope to continue speaking in French. I have improved.

When it comes to the question that the member asked about the child tax benefit, there is a lot of fearmongering on the other side implying that the Conservatives would somehow remove that, which has never been said. That is point number one.

Point number two is that if we give people $5,400 per child but take away $1,200 per child for a tax credit, $5,000 for education and tuition credit, $13,000 possibly for income splitting, and then add on carbon tax and all of these things, at the end of the day, the person is worse off then they were at the beginning, because they have less money in their pocket.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today and give my first full speech in this beautiful chamber on an important issue that is near and dear to the residents of my constituency of Edmonton Manning and Canadians all across our great country.

I have been spending a great deal of time out in the community, speaking to residents about the issues that are important to them. I spent the summer knocking on doors. Over the winter adjournment, I was again out connecting with the residents. One of the biggest issues I keep hearing about in my community is that life is getting more expensive and unaffordable for Canadians. There are fewer opportunities than there were only a few short years ago. People are worried about having enough money by the end of the month, and they do not know where they are going to save for their retirement, their children's education or even to buy their first home.

In my community, Canadians are under no illusion as to why they are not able to get ahead. The Liberal government's policies are chasing away investments in Alberta. It is a fact that investments in Alberta are next to zero. That means the loss of job opportunities. We can feel it when we go door to door and talk to Albertans.

What is happing right now is preventing the private sector from creating the well-paying jobs that Canadians rely on to keep a roof over their head and put food on the table. The Liberals are also raising taxes to pay for their out-of-control spending at a time when many members of the community can barely get by.

It is clear that the Liberal government is completely out of touch with the reality of everyday Canadians. I say that because I can see and hear that the government is trying to convince Canadians, as well as itself, with respect to the child benefit policy. The 2016 budget shows that it only gave $1 billion more to the child benefit program compared to the previous government. It eliminated three programs and replaced it with one. However, it has only given it $1 billion. That $1 billion divided by 36 million Canadians equals about $27 or $28 a year per capita. The government has convinced itself, and is trying to convince Canadians, that with that $28 it is going to fix the Canadian economy. It is a shame that the government thinks it is going to fix the Canadian economy with one single policy.

While there are numerous examples that I can draw upon, one that deserves to be highlighted happened this past Friday. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance said, without irony, that one of the reasons the Liberals scrapped the public transit tax credit was because it “benefited the wealthiest.” That is outrageous and shameful. The fact that the parliamentary secretary would even suggest that is insulting. It is an insult that is compounded when we consider that they took money out of the pockets of public transit users and then gave millions of taxpayer dollars to Bombardier to help ensure its executives received millions of dollars in bonuses. Imagine that Canadians had to lose their tax credit for giving their money away to a company that makes buses and trains. The government literally took hundreds of dollars out of the pockets of public transit users, who generally speaking were using it due to its affordability, to put millions of dollars in the accounts of corporate executives. It then had the nerve to come into this chamber and suggest to the shadow minister for finance, the member for Carleton, that it was a decision to get rid of a tax tool that was benefiting the wealthiest Canadians.

Now, over the course of the day, we have heard a great deal from the government benches about the Canada child benefit. I just spoke about how shameful it is for a government to try to base its economic policy and approach to building the Canadian economy on a single program such as this one.

We know that the government is telling Canadians that it is lowering taxes for the middle class and those aspiring to join it. Every time anyone points out the many ways that the Liberals have made life more expensive for Canadians, they point to this benefit to call them out. The parliamentary secretary did it on Friday to the members for Carleton and Louis-Saint-Laurent, and I would be very surprised if one of the members across the way did not rise in the time for questions and comments following my remarks to tell this House how many families in my riding receive the benefit and to the tune of how many dollars.

From an academic standpoint, it is an interesting argument, because the government is simply stacking logical fallacies and hoping it will get away with it. It starts with a red herring. We talk about its irresponsible tax policies that Canadians cannot afford, and it talks about the child tax benefit and suggests that some Canadians are getting more money than they were before it augmented the existing benefit that our former Conservative government put in place. After that, the government introduces the false dilemma that if some Canadians are getting more money under the augmented program, then there are lower taxes for everyone in the middle class and those aspiring to join it. Of course, that is not inherently true, or true at all, in this case. That is why they are called logical fallacies.

The government has done the same thing with the income tax rate. It lowered one number, but offset the savings that middle-class Canadians should have seen by eliminating tax credits and implementing other policy changes to make sure the Liberals would not have to curb their spending.

The Fraser Institute did an excellent job of outlining this in its 2017 report entitled “Measuring the Impact of Federal Personal Income Tax Changes on Middle Income Canadian Families”. The report concluded that 60% of the 3.88 million families covered in its study are paying more in taxes. Almost half of Canadian society is paying more taxes under the Liberal government's programs. The average increase is about $1,151 per family. The paper also considered just middle-income families, and found that 81% are paying more income taxes as well, to the tune of an extra $840 a year.

Clearly, Liberals are not just asking the one per cent to pay more, as they would like to have us believe. The numbers simply do not support the Liberal talking points, especially when we acknowledge that in the first year following the Liberals' tax changes, high-income earners paid $4.6 billion less in taxes than the previous year. One of the symptoms of mismanagement and miscalculation is when one tells Canadians that they are taxing the richest in the country while at the end of the day showing a loss of $4.6 billion in the financial statement's bottom line.

This does not even consider other measures such as the carbon tax and how this will affect Canadians' bottom line, or how the government's small business tax changes will adversely affect these incredibly essential job creators. For example, payroll taxes, CPP increases, EI premium increases, and passive income and income splitting were like war on small businesses in Canada. That is what the government was doing.

One thing we do know is that the government has tried to nickel and dime Canadians. That has been the notion of the government. It has been nickel and diming Canadians and small businesses for all they are worth. The previously proposed changes to the small business tax code would have been catastrophic, but, thankfully, due to outrage from coast to coast, the Liberals were forced to back down on some of their most economically harmful ideas.

That is one of the reasons we are here today talking about it.

I will be happy to take questions from my colleagues.