Madam Speaker, it is a real honour to sit in my constituency office today and join you virtually to speak on this important motion that was brought forward by my colleague, the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.
I have been listening to the speeches today, and I can see that the Liberals and the Conservatives are most likely going to vote against our motion. That is fine, because those two parties are very much the defenders of the status quo. They are fine with little incremental changes and tinkering around the edges, but they will never, as individual parties, bring forward the substantive change that we need to get progress in our country.
Of course they are going to oppose our motion, because if they were to support our motion, they would in fact be admitting that their records in government have gotten us to precisely the point that we are at today. This is a blemish on their records, because Canada has been ruled by a succession of Conservative and Liberal governments, and we still have these vast systems of inequality that exist in our society. We need to only look outside our constituency offices to see it every day. It is certainly true for the people here in Cowichan—Malahat—Langford.
They may come at us, as New Democrat members of Parliament, and they may come at me, but I do not need their approval. I am here for the people of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. I am here to suggest and implement policies that are actually going to make their lives better.
There is a real consequence, if the people of this great country do not see their politicians echoing the struggles they face each and every day in their lives. That consequence can be seen just to the south of us in the United States of America, where the American people have looked to the Republicans and the Democrats. The real problem of their political system is that those two parties have become so out of touch in so many ways with the struggles that Americans are facing that it has led to a form of extremism, and we would be kidding ourselves in Canada if we did not recognize that very real threat.
It is time for the politicians of this country, especially at the federal level, to recognize the struggle that so many Canadians are going through and to actually bring forward policies that are going to make a real mark on that. That is why I am very happy to see this motion.
We can look at the statistics, and the fact that Canada's billionaires, during this pandemic, have made out like bandits and seen their profits increase by multiple amounts, while everyday Canadians are struggling. They have seen their jobs disappear. They have seen their small businesses shut down, and those who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs have either seen their hours reduced or the benefits attached to them completely wiped out. This is a huge moment in our country. A lot of people use the word “unprecedented”. We do have precedence. We have not seen this level of struggle since the Great Depression, and we absolutely must take the opportunity that we find ourselves in right now to actually bring forward measures that are going to make a difference.
What are we suggesting as New Democrats? We are suggesting that those at the top, those who have made these kinds of profits, pay a little more, and that those who have made excess profits find those excess profits taxed, as we did in the Second World War, so that those with fortunes of $20 million or more are subjected to a 1% tax. If someone is lucky enough to find her or himself in that position, a 1% tax amounts to little more than a rounding error. This is really to put a sense of fairness and a sense of balance back into our tax system.
The Liberals and Conservatives have been talking in their speeches, giving excuses about why this system would not work or asking about the specifics. The specifics really can be worked out at a later time. What we want to see through this motion is intent: an intent by the government to actually get serious and formally acknowledge, to the people of Canada, that they agree there is a problem, that this motion should be supported and that the specifics should be worked out at a later time.
I talked about the statistics of Canada's billionaires and millionaires. There is also the fact that during this pandemic, when Canada's big banks went looking for money the government immediately offered $750 billion in liquidity supports.
However, we have Canadians, persons with disabilities, who are still waiting or have just received their first payout and we are in the month November. That goes to show the discrepancy that exists in the government's priorities.
I talked a bit about the tax, but let us talk about some of the social programs these tax dollars could pay for. It is quite clearly laid out in our motion. First of all, I want to talk about a guaranteed liveable basic income. The entire New Democratic caucus and I have to give kudos to our very hon. colleague, the member for Winnipeg Centre, for her Motion No. 46 and the amazing grassroots campaign she has launched right across the country.
A guaranteed liveable basic income would make sure a predictable cash payment was provided by the government to all individuals who need it. We would bolster our current social safety net, tackle poverty at the source and make sure people have enough income each month to meet the basic human necessities of finding shelter, paying the utilities and putting good, quality food on the table.
I got into politics because I used to work as a constituency assistant. I was sitting across the table from people who were making those difficult decisions of whether they could pay the rent or put good, quality food on the table. We have been having these conversations in Canada for decades now, and here we are in the year 2020 still talking about them. Forgive New Democrats if we feel impatient about this, but we have been talking about this for decades now and feel it is now time to act.
Another thing mentioned is dental care. Dental care, as we know, is obviously a very big class distinction. One can almost tell a person's status in life by the quality of their teeth. It is also a health issue, because we know good oral health is linked to good personal health. So many people have lost dental coverage and many Canadians have to skip dental appointments because they cannot afford them. This would make a measurable difference in people's lives, as would pharmacare.
Again, our frustration with the Liberals comes from the fact that Liberals have been talking about pharmacare since the 1990s. They love to blame the NDP for it not being brought in, conveniently forgetting all the majority governments they had during that time to bring in a system. Do we need to work with the provinces? Of course we do, but the fact that we have had to wait for so long is a big source of our frustration. We feel that now is the time to put in these kinds of taxes to pay for programs like pharmacare so we can make those measurable increases in people's lives: the huge benefits.
Why are we having these specific conversations on these things? I know people are going to talk about the costs in the questions that come up afterward. Let us talk about the costs of ongoing poverty. Let us talk about the costs when people are unable to look after their health because they cannot afford prescription medications or dentist's visits. Just imagine the billions of dollars we would save in our health care system if we were to address these two gaping areas where people do not have coverage.
Similarly, with the ongoing costs of poverty and the costs that come with increased crime, here in my community of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford we are dealing with an opioid crisis and the amount of money people have had to spend to try to fend that off. These all have very real and ongoing associated costs. When Liberals and Conservatives come forward and talk about the costs, they are being extremely short-sighted. They are not looking at the benefits of implementing these programs that we will realize in later years.
I will end there. I really appreciate the opportunity to once again stand up for the amazing people of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, and I welcome any questions my colleagues might have.
