Mr. Speaker, the government has opened its wallet anytime a corporate CEO shows up. Loblaws was given $12 million. Kinder Morgan was given $4.5 billion, which is $1 billion more than the government should have paid for the old pipeline. There was $14 billion in corporate tax cuts for CEOs from Bay Street just last November.
Here before us is a bill with great words, but it does not have the action and the funding that is required. As members know, some noted indigenous scholars have given the Bill an F in a report by the Yellowhead Institute. It notes, “While Canada is presenting Indigenous jurisdiction as the main selling feature of this Bill, without adequate funding, this will simply be jurisdiction to legislate over our own poverty.” The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has said, “It does not meet the...need in addressing the humanitarian child welfare crisis in Manitoba.”
This is because the government does not walk the talk.
With respect to the most recent budget, even though the minimum amount of money required to address the crisis taking place in child welfare across the country is $3 billion, the government gave less than half of what needed to be allocated.
That is really the issue here. Yes, it is a good bill, but the funding has not come with it. The government has not walked the talk, and that is why so many indigenous communities are criticizing the government's hypocrisy. The government is the height of cynicism in presenting good legislation but not backing it up with the required funding. It provided less than half of the minimum needed. The government was not even willing to give the minimum.
Are the Liberals not ashamed that they were not willing to walk the talk that is required to make the bill's aims a reality?