House of Commons Hansard #41 of the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.

Topics

Response by the Prime MinisterPrivilegeGovernment Orders

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

I thank the member for that.

(House in committee of the whole on Government Business No. 8, Mr. Anthony Rota in the chair)

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Pursuant to order made on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings at this time. The committee will now consider Motion No. 8 under government business.

Before we begin the debate, I would like to inform hon. members of how the proceedings will unfold.

Pursuant to orders made earlier today, the Chair will recognize a member of each recognized party and a member of the Green Party. Each member will be recognized for not more than 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for questions and comments. Members may split their time with another member.

Members participating via video conference who want to ask a question or make a comment on one of the speeches, can let the Chair know by using the “Raise Hand” button on the video-conferencing platform.

Members who are present in the House can rise as they usually do.

We will now begin the debate.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:10 p.m.

Honoré-Mercier Québec

Liberal

Pablo Rodriguez LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

moved:

That the House take note of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken by the government to respond to it.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Debate. The hon. finance minister.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:10 p.m.

Toronto Centre Ontario

Liberal

Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, since our government last provided an economic report, COVID-19 has spread swiftly across the globe. It brought a new disease to our headlines, our dinner-table conversations and eventually our shores.

From the beginning, we have followed the guidance of public health officials. Governments across Canada have put lockdown measures in place to slow the spread of the virus and ensure that our health care systems could deal with the scale of the challenge that we faced. Businesses closed. Schools closed. People stayed home. Our daily lives became unrecognizable.

Many of us stopped going to work. Many others had to face this new reality without a job, and with the endless worries that brings. Many others had to go to work on the front lines, where work took on new risks and new meaning.

We went months without seeing our friends and relatives in a time of great fear and concern. We looked for new ways to gather, to connect and to mark the milestones in our lives. We spent a lot of time on video calls. Most importantly, we took the time to take care of one another.

The nature of this crisis is completely unprecedented. It is a public health crisis and an economic crisis. Our collective decision as Canadians to put each other's health above all else has meant we have flattened the curve faster than many other countries. Our average daily new cases have declined by about 80% from their peak in late April. Canadians' efforts saved thousands of lives. However, Canadians also made great sacrifices to get here. Millions of Canadians lost their jobs, lost hours or lost wages. Businesses of all sizes are still facing uncertainty.

Through rapid and broad support, our government has been able to protect millions of jobs, provide emergency income support to families and help keep businesses afloat during the worst of the storm. This support is helping Canadians get back on their feet and has prevented serious long-term damage.

This pandemic is not over and we cannot let up on our commitment to one another. I want to take a moment to salute the work of the Department of Health and Dr. Tam during this crisis.

Today, our government is presenting an economic and fiscal snapshot. This document provides Canadians and parliamentarians with a picture of where our economy is right now. It is transparent about what we know and what we do not know. Forecasts are always uncertain, so with this snapshot we are providing our best prediction of the economic situation in Canada to the end of the current fiscal year: to March 31, 2021. Trying to predict further would be potentially misleading.

The possibility of further outbreaks looms on the horizon, and accurate long-term forecasting is impossible in such a volatile environment. I know Canadians understand how hard it is to make predictions right now.

I will tell the House what we know. We know that the unemployment rate went from historic lows in January to historic highs in May. We know that low-wage workers, young people and immigrants bore the brunt of employment losses in March and April and that, while some jobs returned in May, the sectors many women work in have been slower to rebound. We know that many women are shouldering the burden of unpaid care work at home, looking after children and providing care for sick relatives. The lack of child care services could delay women’s return to work.

We also know that vulnerable groups have been hit harder by this pandemic and are continuing to face challenges. This crisis has exposed and amplified many inequalities in Canada. I am thinking about Canadians who work to get by on low income, the people who process and prepare our food, temporary foreign workers, our seniors in long-term care.

We know that energy workers faced a double hit after the shock to global commodity prices, and that employment in mining and oil and gas support services has fallen by over 15%. We know businesses are still facing challenges. The Canada emergency wage subsidy is helping impacted businesses protect jobs and remain poised to rebound. We encourage businesses to take advantage of the program and hire more workers.

We know the best economic policy continues to be containing the spread of the virus. If we can keep the transmission rate steadily declining, we can help ensure a stable and steady economic recovery. If we do not, the gains of our sacrifices these past four months will be lost. Around the world we have seen what happens when reopenings are rushed.

Our government has understood, from the moment this pandemic began, that it was our role to step in to support Canadians and stabilize the economy. The COVID-19 economic response plan is the most substantial peacetime investment in Canada’s history, representing more than $212 billion in direct support and nearly 14% of GDP in total support.

Let me share some numbers. About three million Canadian workers have had their jobs supported through the Canada emergency wage subsidy, and that number continues to grow. Over eight million Canadians were able to pay for groceries and rent because of the Canada emergency response benefit. Over 680,000 small businesses have received interest-free loans thanks to the Canada emergency business account. Fifteen million low- and modest-income Canadians have received a special GST credit top-up. This week, 6.7 million seniors who receive the old age security pension will receive a supplementary payment.

We have also invested in community organizations that provide services to the most vulnerable, including more than 500 women’s shelters that address the immediate needs of women and children fleeing violence.

The Prime Minister’s leadership has shown all of Canada that their government would put workers first and be there for our most vulnerable. If there is a resurgence, we are ready to do more.

Faced with the most profound downturn since the Great Depression, our government acted to support the economy. Every investment we made was in response to COVID-19 and was time-limited. From income support for Canadians to loans for Canadian businesses and non-profits of all sizes, we worked to make sure our programs left no one behind, and we did it fast. We were guided by three principles: speed, scale and simplicity. I think we delivered on all three.

Some will criticize us on the cost of action. They will point to the size of our deficit in 2021. It is a testament to the shock COVID-19 has had on our economy. However, our government knew that the cost of inaction would have been far greater. Those who would have us do less ignore that without government action millions of jobs would have been lost, putting the burden of debt onto families and jeopardizing Canada's resilience. At a time when Canadian workers and families are facing significant hardship, austerity and tightening one's belt is not the answer.

Our fiscal discipline in the years leading up to this, combined with Canadians' hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, meant that Canada was resilient and ready to face this challenge. With a crisis of this magnitude, someone was going to have to shoulder the costs. The federal government was uniquely placed to take on this responsibility.

Over the past quarter century, provincial debt has outpaced federal debt by $225 billion. Household debt-to-disposable income has increased to over 175%, close to a record high. To date, nearly $9 out of $10 in COVID-19-related direct support delivered to Canadians and Canadian businesses is financed by the federal government.

We took on this role because it was the right thing to do. Thanks to our rapid and substantial investments, unemployment will be lower, consumer spending will be higher and our economy will recover sooner than it would have had we done nothing.

If we had not stepped in with the Canada emergency wage subsidy, millions of jobs could have been lost forever during the worst of the storm. Without the Canada emergency response benefit, Canadians would not have been able to cover their daily expenses.

Our investments have meant that Canadians and Canadian businesses, instead of drowning in debt and closing up shop, will be better positioned to get back at it.

We came into this crisis on strong footing, with a net debt-to-GDP ratio considerably lower than all of our G7 partners.

Even after our historic investments, Canada will continue to hold this low-debt advantage. This, combined with historically low interest rates, gave us the balance sheet to deploy our fiscal firepower to support Canadians.

If we think back to the 1990s when Canada's debt needed to be reined in, interest rates were high and public debt was extremely expensive. At that time, our public debt charges were close to 6% of gross domestic product. Now, Canada's debt charges are only around 1% of GDP, and even after all the investments we have made to support Canadians, the cost of servicing our debt is expected to go lower this year. In fact, our total public debt charges for 2020 will actually be $4 billion lower than forecast last fall.

However, we, collectively, will have to face up to our borrowing and ensure that it is sustainable for future generations. Canada's debt structure is prudent. It is spread out over the long term, and it compares well with our G7 peers. We will continue to make sure this is the case in the months and years to come as we move toward recovery, and as we deal with the aftermath of this unprecedented event.

Throughout this crisis, under the Prime Minister’s leadership, we have been working in coordination with provincial and territorial governments to protect Canadians at a level we have never seen before.

Since March, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have hosted 15 first ministers meetings. I have personally taken part in 14 meetings with provincial finance ministers.

We have accomplished a lot together, procuring hundreds of millions of pieces of personal protective equipment, making sure that health care workers have a secure supply. We have helped give essential workers a well-deserved raise. It was clear to all of us that our collective actions were going to get us through this crisis.

Canadians want to get back to work, but they want to do it safely. That is why we are working with provinces and territories on a safe restart agreement worth more than $14 billion.

We are proposing to invest in a safe, sufficient and adequate supply of child care, so that parents, especially mothers, do not have to choose between going to work and ensuring their children are taken care of. We also want to build capacity to test and trace and continue to provide world-class health care to Canadians.

These discussions will be critical to the well-being of Canadians.

The road to economic recovery will be long and uncertain. Going forward, anything we do must be about growth, resilience and creating opportunity for those who are most impacted by this crisis. We need to invest in an economy that is greener and more diverse: an economy that creates opportunity for young people, low-income Canadians, people with disabilities and women, and that supports our most vulnerable, including LGBTQ2 communities, indigenous peoples, black Canadians and other racialized people in our country.

This pandemic has identified clear gaps, and it is giving us a chance to reset. We witnessed the ways in which people were falling through the cracks, particularly those who live in long-term care. Many of them are our parents and our grandparents who built this country. We need to do better by them. In the coming months, we will need to come to these problems with dedication, with compassion and with ingenuity.

Eighty years ago, Canada faced some of the worst days of the Second World War, and the government faced monumental and difficult choices. In this House, like today, there were those who criticized the government for not doing enough, and others who said it went too far. However, despite the criticisms of the debate, the resolve of Canadians to fearlessly face the emergency of their time never wavered.

Today, as we evaluate the details of our measures and the scale of their reach, I want to tell this House that we left no stone unturned, and every decision we made was guided by our belief that the well-being of Canadians had to come above all else. We have worked to lay out an economic response plan that is comprehensive, that is ambitious, and that serves those who need help the most. We have done so in the belief that Canadians would be able to fight the spread of this virus and come roaring back. We have done this to build a bridge to a safer place, from which we can build a stronger and more resilient future, just like in the Second World War.

I know that Canadians have what it takes to come together for the greater good. I have seen it in health care workers, 80% of them women and many of them immigrants, who day in and day out put their own health at risk to help others. I have seen it in the businesses that have retooled to build ventilators, masks, gowns and more. I have seen it in the women and men of the armed forces, who have served by caring for our most vulnerable in our long-term care homes. I have seen it in the millions of small donations, small acts of kindness, and the big and small sacrifices Canadians have made to fight this virus.

I want to take this moment to send a message to those who have lost loved ones during this time. All of Canada shares in their pain.

Canadians are resourceful. Canadians are resilient. Together, we will get through this and build a better, fairer and stronger Canada.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:25 p.m.

Regina—Qu'Appelle Saskatchewan

Conservative

Andrew Scheer ConservativeLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, so much of what the finance minister just said is not true. I do not have enough time to enumerate it all, because we only have a few minutes for questions and comments.

The government was wrong. It was wrong to leave our borders open for longer. It was wrong when it said it was going to have enhanced screening at airports, and it was slow to fix the gaps in its own programs. So many Canadians have been let down by the government. It has refused to fix the wage subsidy. It has refused to remove the back-to-work penalty for people who want to take available shifts, and it has refused to implement the back-to-work bonus that Conservatives have proposed to help people fill available shifts and help local businesses get back on their feet.

The government has also refused to fund the Auditor General so that she can keep track of this massive amount of new spending and historic levels of deficits and debt. All she wanted was about $10 million to make sure she could go through the programs, but the minister did find $15 million kicking around for the Deputy Prime Minister's political office.

Can the finance minister tell the House exactly what the $15 million that he gave the Deputy Prime Minister will be going to?

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:25 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, we have, during the course of the last number of months, taken as our very first order of business to support Canadians, to back them up, to create jobs and to help provide a bridge toward the future, but at no time during this period have we forgotten that governing our country is equally important. We have tried to make sure that we could continue to have the government work to make sure that we could actually deliver for Canadians.

One of the biggest challenges we have faced as we have done this is thinking about how we actually deliver to Canadians. When the history of this pandemic is written, I think that history will say that we delivered not only at scale, but at speed, and that is because we not only came up with the right policies, but we found a way to deliver them.

I will say that our government will continue to make sure that the resources to be able to create that policy and to be able to deliver those results to Canadians are there. I would say that the Deputy Prime Minister is one of those important people in our government who have helped us to make an enormous difference during this challenging time, and she will continue to do that as an important member of our government.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:30 p.m.

Bloc

Alain Therrien Bloc La Prairie, QC

Mr. Speaker, we were told that the government was spending all of the necessary funds during an unprecedented time. That is clear to everyone, obviously, since we have a $243-billion deficit. We certainly feel it as well

However, the thing people are forgetting is that Quebec and the provinces are the ones on the hot seat when it comes to health spending. The provinces and Quebec are the ones that had to respond to this pandemic and ensure that the health care system could adequately meet the needs that we had to address because of the situation.

At first, the Liberal government gave $500 million to the provinces and Quebec. That is the equivalent of roughly $100 million for Quebec. Recently, the Government of Quebec said that additional health spending as a result of the pandemic alone has exceeded the $3-billion mark, and it is not over yet.

Health falls under the jurisdiction of the provinces and Quebec and it is written in the Canadian Constitution that the federal government must bear part of the burden of health spending. The federal government used to fund 50% of health spending. Then it reduced that amount to 25% and now it funds just 20% of health expenses.

Will this government make the necessary effort to provide money to the provinces and Quebec with no strings attached so that they can have a bit of breathing room in the sector that has been the hardest hit by the pandemic?

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, I must first repeat that it is very important to us that we work with the provinces, including Quebec.

The numbers speak for themselves: The federal government invested $9 out of every $10 in direct support for Canadians. That totals $212 billion to ensure an economic recovery that will put people to work after the pandemic. That is very important.

We will continue to work with the provinces, including Quebec, to ensure a safe recovery. That is why we need to have serious discussions and negotiations. We will absolutely continue to work with the provinces and to provide support to protect people across the country.

Today's update is clear: We gave the vast majority of our support to the people of our country in an extremely difficult situation.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Mr. Speaker, as the minister knows, I am a former teacher, so I would like to give him my grades on this economic and fiscal snapshot.

First, he gets an A for accessibility. There is no doubt that the finance minister, though he is working very hard, has been accessible to finance critics and to the finance committee every week. That is appreciated, and that collaboration is important.

Second, in terms of expenditures, I would give a passing note of perhaps a C+. That grade could be higher if supports are given to people with disabilities, the poorest of the poor in this country, who have not received a single cent throughout this pandemic, though the banking sector has received $750 billion, three-quarters of a trillion dollars. People with disabilities should be coming before bankers, in my opinion. Supports for municipalities and supports to changes in the wage subsidy can also bring that grade up.

However, the grade in terms of revenues is an F. The reality is that no action in this economic and fiscal snapshot addresses what is a porous and appallingly unfair tax system. There is no action on tax havens, though that costs us $25 billion a year. There is no action on the wealth tax, though the PBO says that it could provide $6 billion to $9 billion a year, and the increase in concentration of wealth means this must be an imperative. There is no action on the web giants, who are getting away with not paying their fair share of taxes. There is nothing that actually addresses the revenue side so we can continue to provide services and enhance services to Canadians.

We cannot afford the free ride that so many profitable corporations in Canada have been receiving, and we cannot afford any more of this profoundly unfair tax system.

Why does the snapshot not take action on the revenue side? Why does it not take action on tax havens? Why does it not take action on a wealth tax? Why does it not take action on tax loopholes? This would give a higher grade overall to the finance minister.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, let me first just acknowledge that the finance critics from all parties of this House have tried to work constructively all the way through this. We have worked to listen to their commentary, just as we have worked to listen to the commentary from business groups and labour groups across the country.

The nature of this pandemic has meant that we have had to act with speed and with scale. It has also meant that we have needed to make changes as we have moved along in the delivery of the programs to make sure that they actually have the desired impact on Canadians. That will be our continued approach as we face these challenges.

The member opposite points out something that I think is important. We do believe that it is important for us to recognize there are some challenges that people with disabilities have faced over the course of the pandemic. That is something that he has brought up to me on numerous occasions and something that we are certainly trying to work toward.

We will continue to think about the ways we can address this pandemic. We will be focusing right now on the safe restart, working together, we hope, with Canadians across the country, with people in this House, so that we can safely and appropriately get back to work. That will allow us, we hope, to find a way to ensure that our system works, that we have the appropriate revenues and that we have a way to move back to an approach where we can invest in the long-term future of Canadians.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:35 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Mr. Speaker, I echo the comments from my friend, the New Democratic Party finance critic. The minister has indeed been accessible.

I have a very specific question. This document is a snapshot. I know that if someone has a crystal ball, it is pretty murky right now. We cannot see very far ahead. However, I do wonder how it is that on page 20 of this document there is a reference to a payment for people with disabilities as though it has happened. We know that it has not.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, we are demonstrating with this document all of the policies that we have put forward and are working on actually delivering for Canadians. We recognize that there are things that we do not know.

There will be future actions that we will likely have to take, because this pandemic is dynamic, but we did recognize in this House the importance of dealing with people with disabilities. We certainly hope that we will find support in this House for moving forward with that policy.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:35 p.m.

Regina—Qu'Appelle Saskatchewan

Conservative

Andrew Scheer ConservativeLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Carleton, one of the great, hard-working finance shadow ministers who the minister referenced, who are doing so much good work to try to help fix the gaps in the government's programs.

The finance minister has just painted an extremely dire picture of Canada's finances, but what we did not hear was any kind of a plan to support the reopening of our economy and to get Canadians back to work.

Coming out of the pandemic, every single country on the planet will be desperately competing for the same opportunities and the same investments, so where is the Prime Minister's plan to set us apart? The United Kingdom has a plan. France, Germany, South Korea and Japan all have plans. In fact, every single country in the G7 has a plan.

The government is borrowing $343 billion this year. However, the Prime Minister has no plan to help Canadians return to work. He has no plan to guide our economic recovery. He has no plan to stimulate growth or attract business investment to create the conditions for job growth.

The government is borrowing $343 billion this year. This year, for the first time ever, the net federal debt will reach over one trillion dollars. In fact, it is borrowing so much money that the Bank of Canada has to create it out of thin air. The Bank of Canada is purchasing 5 billion dollars' worth of government debt every single week.

The Prime Minister has absolutely no plan to help Canadians return to work, no plan for our economic recovery and no plan to stimulate growth, attract business investment or create the conditions for job growth.

I know this might come as a shock to a Liberal prime minister, but spending billions of dollars does not create economic growth, and handing it out to Liberal insiders certainly will not restart our economy. More Liberal tax hikes and more red tape will not restart our economy.

If we want to be competitive, we must unlock the power of the private sector, help Canadians get back to work, support small businesses, lower taxes, eliminate red tape and put Canada back on the map as an attractive place to do business.

The biggest misconception right now about the economy is that if we simply lift the restrictions and provinces reopen, our economy will come roaring back to life. The reality is that it will take leadership, big ideas and a lot of hard work. However, the Prime Minister's track record proves that he cannot be trusted to lead Canada's recovery. His sky-high taxes, wasteful spending and massive deficits put Canada in an incredibly weak position before the pandemic began.

While a responsible government would have saved while times were good and paid down debt, as our previous Conservative government did, the Liberals added $87 billion in new debt during its first four years of power. As a result, Canada is the only G7 country to have lost its AAA credit rating and has one of the highest debt levels in the AA category.

Before the pandemic, Canada's unemployment rate was higher than that of all other G7 countries except France and Italy, whose socialist policies the Prime Minister was trying to emulate. Now Canada has surpassed them and has the highest unemployment rate in the G7. In fact, we have among the highest unemployment rates in the OECD, falling fourth right behind Greece. This is should be a major wake-up call for the government.

There is no doubt that Canadians are struggling. The last few months have been very difficult. Millions of people lost their jobs. More than 100,000 Canadians became ill. Thousands died. Businesses shut down and many will never reopen. Canadians are watching in horror as their savings disappear.

Despite all of this, as provinces gradually reopen, Canadians are hopeful and optimistic about their futures. They want to work. Businesses want to reopen to welcome back staff and customers. They are determined to rebuild and are coming up with innovative ways to offer services as provinces.

Now, I do not know why the Prime Minister always feels the need to talk down Canada. Canadians are an endlessly enterprising people. Perhaps it is a product of our immigrant society where people have left the familiarity of home for a shot at a better life on the other side of the world, and then work hard to achieve it. Perhaps it is the inspiration that we take from indigenous peoples, resilient men and women who built Canada's first communities in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Perhaps it is our belief in freedom, limited government and the power of the free market. Regardless of the reason, Canadians have proven time and time again that through hard work, innovation and perseverance, we can accomplish anything.

Canada's economic recovery will be driven by Canadians. Governments do not create jobs, and we cannot borrow our way to prosperity. True success comes from investing in people, but the only people the Liberals are interested in investing in are the wealthy elites. While regular Canadians continue to struggle, the Prime Minister is passing buckets of money around the highest levels of corporate Canada. It started in the last Parliament when the Liberals developed their superclusters program, handing out billions and billions of dollars to corporate entities and wealthy institutions. They gave $50 million to Mastercard and $12 million to Loblaws. They gave $35 billion to the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which protects wealthy investors and puts all the risk on the backs of taxpayers. How many projects has that new Infrastructure Bank actually completed? Zero. The Bank of Canada, as I said earlier, is printing money.

Now, the finance minister just bragged about the low cost of servicing that debt. Well, there is a reason why. It is because the Bank of Canada is purchasing government debt on the secondary bond market. It is creating money out of thin air, and who gets that money first? It is the wealthy investors who have already purchased government debt in the past. This is the epitome of trickle-down economics. It's throwing money around at the highest levels of corporate Canada while raising taxes on hard-working Canadians. In the middle of a pandemic and all of the economic difficulties it has caused, they raised the carbon tax and are raising payroll taxes and excise taxes. Meanwhile, there is no help for energy workers. They have refused to fix their flawed programs.

The finance minister talked about the need for speed. Well, we all agreed back in March that the government had to act quickly, and we were told that if Parliament passed these measures, they would be fixed as time went on. I note the date, July 8, and that they have still not fixed the flaws in the wage subsidy, and there are still thousands and thousands of people who have lost their jobs because of the gaps in that program. They have refused to make any adjustments to the rental subsidies that require businesses to have lost 70% of their revenue before they qualify, and, of course, they have refused to take away the barrier to people returning back to work by adopting the back-to-work bonus the Conservatives have proposed. We cannot forget that in the middle of this pandemic, the Prime Minister has let so many Canadians fall behind.

The Conservatives have been proposing constructive solutions to help Canadians all along through this pandemic. Our goal is to help workers and local businesses get back up and running as quickly as possible.

It is very disappointing that the Prime Minister did not use today's fiscal snapshot to offer the back-to-work bonus. Our Conservative plan can make the Canada emergency response benefit more flexible and more generous, to allow workers to earn more as businesses gradually open.

Helping Canadians transition back to work is vital to our recovery. A good job helps Canadians succeed. It helps their families succeed. It helps build our communities and ultimately makes our country strong.

Under the Prime Minister, Canada and Canadians are losing out. We are falling behind. We are falling behind every other nation in the G7. That is unacceptable. Canadians deserve a government that stands up for their interests. They deserve better than what they just got today.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:45 p.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Madam Chair, I see a totally different picture from the one the leader of the official opposition has just portrayed. I see a government that has been demonstrating caring and compassion, a government that has worked with other levels of government of all political stripes to make sure that Canadians in all regions of our great nation are being looked after. They are in fact the number one priority of this government, this cabinet, and this Prime Minister. That is what I have witnessed.

We have seen programs come from virtually nowhere, programs that previously did not exist, like the CERB, to serve millions of Canadians by providing them with the disposable income that is so critical for them to be able to buy the things that are necessary. I have seen businesses saved to the degree that millions of jobs have been saved as a direct result. I have seen opposition members come to the table in a positive way to contribute to making life better for all Canadians.

This is a government that truly cares and has the compassion to put Canadians first and foremost as its number one priority.

Would the member opposite not agree that it is time that we look at and focus on what is in the best interests of families in Canada and get behind programs like those that provide more support for Canadians with disabilities?

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

Andrew Scheer Conservative Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK

Madam Chair, I am not surprised that the member has a selective memory when it comes to the last few months. It seems like he is stuck in March. He is stuck at about March 22, when everybody realized that we were in an unprecedented situation and we all agreed that we would come back to Parliament to give the government the tools it needed to help Canadians.

What did his party do with that opportunity? Before members of Parliament even gathered in the chamber, before we had even figured out how to stay two metres apart, the government wrote itself a massive power grab, trying to eliminate the role of Parliament. In the middle of a pandemic when people were losing their jobs and losing loved ones, the first thought of members of his party was how they could benefit politically from it. Then, when we pointed out time and again the gaps that people were falling through, in the wage subsidy, in the CERB and the penalty for going back to work, and in the rental subsidy, the Liberals have refused to make any of those changes, leaving thousands of Canadians behind.

That is the legacy the government will take into the next election and I have no doubt that Canadians will not reward the Liberals for their slowness, their poor decisions and their inaction.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:50 p.m.

Bloc

Alain Therrien Bloc La Prairie, QC

Madam Chair, on April 29, the Bloc Québécois proposed an amendment to the CERB whereby the more one works, the higher one's income will be, independently of the amount or number of hours worked. That makes total sense. We asked the government to make that happen, and the Deputy Prime Minister said she would consider it. She even promised to make it happen.

At the time, the Conservatives did not comment on the idea. Then a few weeks later, they were back on the scene talking about how adjusting the CERB was a good idea. Why is it a good idea? First of all, adjusting the CERB will encourage people to go back to work. That means it will spur growth, not slow it. Recovery will be easier if the CERB encourages people to go back to work. That is what the Government of Quebec keeps telling us.

Also, if people want to go back to work, obviously, it will cost us less in CERB payments, and everyone wins. That would mean an increase in government revenues because of stronger growth. On top of that, government spending goes down, precisely because people are getting back to work. Everyone is happy, because we end up with a situation where everyone is better off.

The Conservative Party has seen the light, I must admit. I would like to know whether the leader of the official opposition thinks that if we had adjusted the CERB from the beginning, when on April 29 our esteemed Deputy Prime Minister—

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:50 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Chair NDP Carol Hughes

I apologize, but we have only five minutes for questions and comments. We have to give members a chance to respond, and there should be at least three questions every five minutes.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

Government Business No. 8Government Orders

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Andrew Scheer Conservative Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK

Madam Chair, first, the Conservatives support the idea of eliminating the barrier for people who want to return to work. The Bloc Québécois paid the Conservatives a nice compliment by stealing our idea. That does not bother me. It is a nice compliment. It was our party that proposed giving Canadians incentives to return to work. It was our finance critic who suggested it. It came about because of the hard work of our Conservative team, which put forward ideas to improve the Liberal government's disastrous programs.

If the Bloc Québécois has seen the light and supports our position, that is a good thing.

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2:50 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Chair NDP Carol Hughes

Once again, I want to remind members that there are five minutes for questions and comments. We are going to try to get three questions in, but unfortunately there is not enough time. I remind members to keep their questions short so we can allow others to ask questions.

The hon. member for Carleton.

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2:50 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Madam Chair, what we witnessed today was, for the first time in history, something a government called a “fiscal and economic snapshot”. A snapshot is defined in most dictionaries as a quick photograph, or in modern lingo we call it a selfie, an economic selfie.

The finance minister, in talking for about 15 minutes straight, could not bring himself to utter the size of the debt or the deficit. Now, I will be the first, apparently, to do so. I ask all members to ensure they are in their seats. Anyone out there listening to this speech while operating heavy equipment might want to turn the volume down.

The government has now smashed through the trillion-dollar debt mark. The size of Canada's national debt is $1.06 trillion, with a deficit of $343 billion. To put that into perspective, when the current government took office, the entire budget of the Government of Canada was about $260 billion. In other words, the Liberals are borrowing more in one year than the Government of Canada used to spend in its entire budget not long ago.

The finance minister went to great lengths to brag about the low interest rates he is paying on the debt, as though he somehow set those interest rates himself, which raises questions about his perception of the Bank of Canada's independence. What he forgets is that those interest rates are temporary and only made possible by the cornucopia of cash that is coming out of the Bank of Canada, a bank that has created, through keystrokes on a computer, about $400 billion of new currency for government spending in less than 100 days. In other words, that is almost equal to a full quarter of GDP printed, created out of thin air by our central bank.

The Prime Minister thinks he has discovered a new idea in creating currency in order to spend it. He had best look back to history to know that this method of financing state activity can only go on for so long.

I raise all of this not because the programs to support Canadians and replace the wages that governments have taken away from them are unnecessary. They are very necessary, of course, when government deprives people, through lockdowns and shutdowns, of their ability to earn an income. It is the government's job to compensate them for that, and such measures have been necessary and generally, with exception, supported by the official opposition.

That said, we know that no nation can go on consuming without producing. The only way for us to continue to exist economically is to once again unleash the full and incomparable power of Canada's 20-million-person workforce, to let free the more than one million entrepreneurs and businesses that employ those workers.

That should have been the purpose of today's address, instead of a temporary moment of self-congratulation combined with hypnotic phrases intended to make us feel comfortable with a trillion dollars of debt. We expected that the finance minister would arrive here today with a plan to bring our economy back to life.

Instead, what he did was brag that his plan is the most expensive plan in the G7. He said that because it consumes 10% of GDP, higher than any other G7 country and higher than the G20 average, because it spends the most money, because it is the most costly, it must therefore be the best. Of course, it has simultaneously produced the worst results. Canada now has the highest unemployment in the G7. We went into the crisis with the highest save France and Italy, whose socialist policies the current government had long been trying to emulate, but now, only 100 days later, our economic position is even worse than theirs, even worse than Italy, which was among those that bore the hardest brunt of the COVID crisis.

Today, Canada has the worst job record and posture in all of the G7. In other words, the Liberals have spent the most to achieve the least. The only thing they have today for job creation is a new $15 million fund to staff up the Deputy Prime Minister's office. I guess $15 million are enough to create 150 six-figure jobs for political staffers working now for the Deputy Prime Minister.

It is funny that the Auditor General asked for $11 million so she could do her job examining all this spending. Today, the Auditor General is doing about 14 audits a year. Ten years ago, the Auditor General's office did 28 audits a year, twice as many. Government spending today is over $600 billion. Back then it was about $250 billion. In other words, spending is up by more than double and the number of audits is down by half, which means we have a quarter of the accountability.

Today we would just assume that in this massive spending splurge the Liberals would find $10 million or $11 million for the Auditor General. Compared to the other spending they are doing, it is not very much. In fact, the government is now spending almost exactly $1 million per minute. In the time I give my speech, the Liberals could have fully funded the Auditor General. However, they did not have money for the Auditor General; they had $15 million for the Deputy Prime Minister.

I am sure that later today when I move a motion in the House of Commons that we shift that $15 million from the Deputy Prime Minister to the Auditor General, we will have no problem getting unanimous consent. I am looking around and I see violent agreement from all sides of the House of Commons. I am sure that it will be a mere perfunctory matter of procedure to get it done when I move my motion later on.

However, it is interesting that the government's only job creation measure in today's presentation was in the Deputy Prime Minister's office.

What could we do as an alternative? We as Conservatives are proposing to transform the COVID programs into pro-growth, pro-job initiatives. Let us go through the list.

We support a generous wage subsidy in order to keep our workers active and contributing as much as possible during the shutdown and in the subsequent reopening. Unfortunately though, people have to be down 30% in order to qualify for that wage subsidy. That is forcing many businesses to artificially suppress their revenues in order to continue to qualify for the subsidy. That is because their extra revenue is not as big as the wage subsidy was itself. The government is arbitrarily forcing businesses to suppress their own revenues just to stay alive. A more perverse incentive could not have been invented. If there were such an incentive, it would be rent subsidy, which requires revenues to be down 70%. Again, the instant that business rises above that threshold, they lose the ability to pay their rent.

We as Conservatives, under the leadership of our small business critic from Edmonton, have proposed that businesses be able to gently phase out their need for assistance by increasing their revenues and slowly decreasing their wage subsidy at the same time.

Second, we have the Canada emergency response benefit, a necessary measure no doubt, but the government has imposed a back-to-work penalty. If people earn more than $1,000, the Prime Minister will kick them from the CERB to the curb. We in the Conservative Party believe that we should reward work to allow people a back-to-work bonus that will ensure that every dollar they earn, every shift they take, will make them better off than they were before. Canadians believe in work and their government should always reward work. That is why the Conservatives have come forward with a pro-work, pro-growth agenda.

We call on the government to embrace growth and jobs, to once again unleash the ferocious power of our workers and our entrepreneurs to bring our economy back to life, our finances under control and our nation on solid footing.

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3 p.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Madam Chair, what we have seen over the last number of months is a government that has taken a different approach from the Conservatives, and that is a good thing. We have looked at many programs to which the member opposite just made reference, whether it is the CERB or the wage loss program. We have also been able to provide direct support to families through child care and to seniors, whether it is through the GIS or the OAS. Supporting Canadians through this difficult time of the pandemic ultimately allows us to be on a road to recovery in a much better form.

Would the member not agree, and hopefully we can get agreement on this, as a result of the way the government has invested during this time, we will be on a better path to recovery?

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3:05 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Madam Chair, I hear what my hon. colleague is saying, but the numbers do not add up. According to the statistics, we have the highest unemployment rate in the G7.

The Liberal government has spent more as a percentage of GDP than any other country. As a result, our unemployment rate is higher than that of other countries. This has not been a success, which is why we are proposing changes to rent, wages and personal income assistance programs to reward work and supplement incomes. We want to encourage growth rather than crippling it.

This is not just an economic issue for Canadians. It is a matter of values. We should always encourage and reward work, not punish it.

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3:05 p.m.

Bloc

Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC

Madam Chair, I would like to ask my colleague what he thinks about the cases of possible fraud involving the Canadian emergency response benefit that have been reported by the media. Apparently, some people have fraudulently exploited the programs. The government announced that it will be investigating and recovering that money.

Was my colleague expecting today's fiscal update to include the measures that the government intends to take?