Debates of April 22nd, 2021

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Trois-Rivières.

[Louise Charbonneau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Richmond Hill for his presentation.

Let me get back to child care. We know that Quebec is a pioneer in child care services, which were first put in place by Pauline Marois. Like the Finance Minister today, she too shattered the glass ceiling. Women do politics differently.

Since Quebec already has a child care system, will the Liberals agree to provide the province compensation without conditions?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is great that Quebec has demonstrated leadership. I am sure we will benefit from that leadership in ensuring that, as we roll out the program, we will succeed. We are in this together, as I said, and we appreciate the leadership that the Province of Quebec has demonstrated. We will commit to working with Quebec to ensure that the funding that is available will benefit the province in other areas, such as being able to build capacity and getting incentives for early childhood educators to get trained and more effectively participate in this.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Madam Speaker, the member for Richmond Hill is right when he talks about the importance of child care. However, in 2015, when the NDP ran on $10 per day child care and a $15 minimum wage, we were ridiculed on both scores by the Prime Minister and his party. If the Liberals had actually introduced the child care plan they introduced in this budget in 2015, it would be in place right now, six years later, instead of something that will not benefit people who are affected by the pandemic right now.

Will the Liberals act immediately to implement the $15 minimum wage? Could the member tell me why the government has announced a reduction of 40% to pandemic payments under the CRB that will be introduced prematurely before the pandemic is actually over?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member asked three different questions. One was on child care, and I am glad that both the NDP and the Liberals are aligned on ensuring child care is more affordable. I am looking forward to getting support on our budget from that party and the member as it moves forward.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure today to rise virtually on the first budget tabled in over two years.

Before I begin, I would like to congratulate the Minister of Finance on being the first female to table a budget. Whatever our differences and beliefs, this is a significant step toward equality, and I congratulate her.

While I am pleased that the government finally tabled a budget, that is unfortunately where my positive comments mostly end. My hope was that this budget would contain provisions—

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I would like to remind my colleague and good friend that he was going to notify the Speaker that he would be splitting his time.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to split my time with the fabulous member for Niagara Falls.

My hope was that this budget would contain provisions that would provide a road for economic recovery. Unfortunately, while the government announced record spending, it did not introduce a responsible economic recovery plan. This is something my constituents are rightfully concerned about, as the debt that will be incurred will be felt for literally generations.

The temporary measures put in place during the pandemic were always seen by me as a bridge to brighter days, a future where Canadians could return to their normal lives, content in the knowledge that Canada was secured by a thriving private sector and a supportive government. However, increasingly it appears the government is content to build a bridge to nowhere, a future not of abundance and freedom but instead characterized by debt-created scarcity.

In a report last week, the C.D. Howe Institute warned “fiscal stability would still be jeopardized by the prospect of other expensive initiatives recently floated by the federal government.” The fact that the private sector is recovering through its own determination, perseverance and innovation seems to be not deterring the government from making record expenditures. “An improving economic outlook has weakened the case for stimulus”, is what the RBC said, “though the government's appetite to spend hasn't changed.”

The Liberal government's solution may very well do more harm than good. A recent Parliamentary Budget Office report noted that another stimulus package was not what was needed now. While temporary stimulus of this magnitude would likely provide a significant boost to the Canadian economy, it would result materially in larger budgetary deficits and higher federal debt over the long and medium term.

None of this spending is conditional. The government is going to spend it anyway, without knowing what will happen in the economy in three to five years. The public is completely and unfortunately being desensitized to these massive deficits. Running $30 billion for one program used to be a lot of money. This is revenue that could be directed to support our important social safety net. For example, in 2026, the government will spend $8.3 billion on child care, but $39 billion on debt interest payments.

Every day this year, we will spend $422,465,750 more than what we will generate in revenue. Every Canadian is taking on more than $100 every day in new federal debt. For a family of four, that equates to more than $3,000 a week in new federal debt. Many families do not earn $3,000 a week in total, much less taking on $3,000 each week in new federal debt.

The government's own fiscal projections show that in four years we may have a debt-to-GDP ratio of under 50%. Talk about moving the goal posts. This rivals them setting a target for vaccinations such that, if we achieve it, we may be in the top 100 in the world. According to this projection, this unremarkable achievement is a goal that we should not be attempting to achieve, but even if we do attempt to achieve it, it may be impossible. The problem with this idea is that it expects nothing unexpected to happen. However, we know, from 9/11 to the great financial meltdown to the global pandemic, nearly always something unexpected happens.

Prime Minister Harper rebuilt our financial house after the financial crisis of 2008, which allowed us to weather this latest crisis, despite five years of excessive spending. The challenge we are facing now is that we will simply not be able to weather another significant economic shock. The next shock could come any number of forms, perhaps a collapse in the housing market, the escalation of global tension, a rise in inflation or in interest rates, the devastating impacts of climate change, because even though we in the House have committed to reducing our carbon output, China continues to dramatically increase theirs.

Nobody, including the Prime Minister's millionaire friends who helped draft this budget, know when the next shock could be.

What will we do if this shock happens and we have a debt-to-GDP ratio in excess of 50%, or even just below 50%? We simply will not have the firepower to respond to it. However, maybe we will be extraordinarily fortunate and not experience an economic downturn in the next 10 years. Maybe interest rates will remain at historic lows, which may mean that maintaining a 50% debt-to-GDP ratio might be sustainable. Even if that were the case, I still have some skepticism that the government would be able to stay within its means.

The best projections for the future are usually generated by studying the past. The government was elected in 2015 with a promise to deliver a balanced budget after running several itsy-bitsy, modest deficits, then it said it would maintain surpluses for the remainder of its mandate. This, however, did not happen. The budget did not balance itself, as it turns out. Balancing the budget would have taken relatively modest tweaks to either increase revenue or reduce spending, but the government simply lacked the ability, discipline or the will to make this happen.

Achieving a debt-to-GDP ratio of less than 50% would require a massive reduction in government expenditures in the coming years and would involve tough decisions, including inevitably bringing to an end many pandemic support programs. The government, which could not reduce spending or grow revenue by billions pre-pandemic, is now telling us it will reduce spending not by billions, but by hundreds of billions. Please excuse my skepticism on this.

The finance minister, in her budgetary address, repeatedly stated that her plan for the future would grow the economy out of debt. In principle, I agree with that approach. Economic growth is the best and maybe the only path forward to help us maintain our jobs and pay down our massive debt. However, this budget simply will not achieve that stated objective. This budget continues the unprecedented level of spending and government interference in the economy.

Over 2,000 years of economic history has proved to us, over and over again, that while the government can build a framework to support businesses, it cannot create economic growth by itself. Let me be clear that only the private sector, only Canadian workers through their perseverance, tenacity, work ethic and innovation, can expand our economy. While the government cannot in itself create economic growth, it can certainly inhibit or even stop economic growth by overburdening the private sector with needless regulation and excessive taxation

The budget's forecast of $1.4 trillion of national debt has the potential to starve our economy and future businesses of the capital they need to grow and expand. The servicing costs of this debt will force our government to put a greater burden on our workers and confiscate their ability to invest in our economy.

Why, then, would the government table a budget that introduces unneeded stimulus and massive amounts of spending? French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote that democracy will endure until the day that politicians realize they can bribe people with their own money. It is clear to me that the government is utilizing the power of a budget to table an election platform, not an economic recovery plan, with the hopes of buying Canadian votes with their hard-earned money.

We have reached a moment of truth. There is a tipping point, if not in this budget, then in the next election. We must decide whether we believe in Canadians or in an ever-expanding federal government. Do we believe in democracy or bureaucracy? Do we believe in Canadians' ability to decide their own destiny, or in an ever-growing centralized government that controls Canadians' lives?

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

Madam Speaker, the rhetoric is rich today. The member started his speech by talking about how Stephen Harper saved us from great turmoil during this time because Stephen Harper put the right conditions into the economy to achieve the economic growth we had. Then, later in his speech, he said that the government could not create economic growth. He is basically saying Stephen Harper is to get all of the credit for us being able to get through this time, but at the same time governments cannot create economic growth.

Can the member try to explain to me why he thinks that Stephen Harper was able to do it, yet governments, generally speaking, cannot?

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, I always enjoy the vim and vigour, if not the content, of the member's interventions. What I would say to him is what I said in my speech, which is that the government absolutely has a role. It has a role to create framework in order to make a fair and equitable economy, but it is the private sector that ultimately generates growth. In some cases, and in fact many cases, the best thing the government can do is get the heck out of the way.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member outlined very well the stark contrast that exists within this place between the left-leaning ideologies of the three other parties and Canada's Conservatives, who are ready to get this country moving.

I ask him to comment further on the glaring debt scenario. When I read through the budget, I see not only the disastrous fiscal path our country is on but that the real debt management strategy of the government is simply to refinance, refinance and then refinance some more. Could the hon. member comment on that?

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, the reality is there is only so much capital, so much money, out there. If we direct those monies to the private sector, we get jobs, we get taxes and then we can sustain our important social safety net. If debt starts to take off, and starts to syphon more of that income away from the private sector, we get into a negative spiral where we will have higher taxes and lower government services, as we saw in the Chrétien era.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Speaker, I appreciated my colleague's comments about the idea of resilience: the fact that our institutions need to be prepared for further shocks that could come. If COVID has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected and to prepare for the possibility of serious disasters and to respond to them. The point is made very well that if we are not prepared for the possibility of major disasters, and if we do not have the fiscal capacity to respond, we are leaving ourselves in a great deal of danger for the future.

Can the member share further the importance of building resilience, of not assuming everything is always going to be fine going forward, and of preparing ourselves financially and in other respects for the possible challenges we might face in the future?

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, I serve on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, so I hear the Auditor General repeat again and again that governments must be prepared for the unexpected. We must plan. It is not exciting to invest those monies, but unless we have the resources to respond we will be in a difficult situation.

Increasingly under the Liberal government, both in good times and bad, we have spent away those resources, so when we get hit by that next shock we may be in a very difficult position. That is why we need to secure the future.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

We have time for a very brief question from the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, we have had decades of trickle-down economics with tax cuts to the wealthiest and to corporations, and this has not worked. When we put stimulus money into the economy and provide for people to ensure they can make ends meet, that is trickle-up economics. That money is spent in our communities and helps our economy grow. It helps small businesses, it—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

A very brief comment from the member for Northumberland—Peterborough South.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Madam Speaker, that is just factually incorrect. If we look at Venezuela, the Soviet Union and Cuba, we can see what that creates. Those types of socialist policies create scarcity and poverty. I am for abundance and freedom and for the Canadian—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Statements by Members, the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

Earth Day

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Speaker, on April 22, 1970, I was in high school and organized for the first Earth Day. For 50 years, every April 22nd, I have said “Happy Earth Day”. I have to say this year that the words stick in my throat somewhat. If I say “Happy Earth Day” to the earth, which is battered, abused and gasping for breath, what does the earth say?

Brilliant indigenous writer Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote, in Braiding Sweetgrass, that we in our society suffer from “species loneliness, estrangement from the rest of Creation.” However, she gives me hope. She wrote this:

Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.

With that, let us all say “Happy Earth Day”.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, today, Canadians across our beautiful country will be celebrating Earth Day, a nationwide movement to address climate change, engage in environmental conservation and initiate a green recovery.

Our government believes that climate change is real. That is why in this budget we will invest $1 billion in the clean technology sector. This will fuel the growth of innovative companies in my riding like Greenbrain Inc. and LumeSmart that are committed to bettering our planet and preserving our resources.

I am proud to represent the beautiful riding of Richmond Hill, which has been recognized for planting nearly 10,000 trees in 2020.

I would also like to recognize members of my environmental community council who are passionate environmentalists and have advocated for green initiatives.

I am proud to be a part of a government that will act on climate change. We must all do our part to preserve our magnificent planet, earth. Happy Earth Day.

The Budget

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Madam Speaker, on Monday, 287 million kilometres away, we witnessed history as NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made its first flight on Mars. On that same day, right here in the chamber, Canada received a historical ideologically partisan budget.

The Ingenuity helicopter spent 39 seconds airborne. In that same 39 seconds, Canada's national debt increased by over $400,000.

The Perseverance and Ingenuity project is estimated to cost $2.7 billion over its life cycle for a massive step forwards in scientific research and exploration. Budget 2021 adds to over half a trillion in deficit spending since 2016, which is a massive step backwards for Canada's economy.

Water disappeared from Mars 3.8 billion years ago. I pray we do not have to wait that long for future generations to pay the debt down.

I believe we must act responsibly—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé.

Earth Day

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Madam Speaker, today being Earth Day, I would like to salute those who care for the earth, who sow, who reap and who earn their living off the land. Farmers play a crucial role in occupying and protecting our territory and in ensuring the ecological future of our regions.

Our land has green potential, and the federal government has to help realize that potential. Quebec's food sovereignty must be supported. The pandemic revealed how important that is, but maintaining a local farming sector with low food mileage is also a green choice.

We need to capitalize on Quebec's trademark clean energy to promote alternatives to propane and gas. Ottawa has to make massive investments in researching alternatives to neonicotinoid pesticides because that is important. We also have to promote labelling so Quebeckers know exactly what they are putting on their plates and can buy local.

On this Earth Day, let us salute our farmers and let us all work together to support green agriculture.

Long-Term Care

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Madam Speaker, all Canadians living in long-term care facilities deserve to live in safe, modern spaces. Unfortunately, the pandemic has shown that all too often this is just not the case. In the city of Guelph alone, 10 residents of long-term care homes have passed away from complications related to COVID-19.

As we mourn their loss, we must also work to ensure that this type of preventable tragedy is never allowed to happen again. That is why I am proud to announce that on Friday, the federal government is contributing 80% of a $1.8 million investment, in partnership with the provincial government, to upgrade HVAC systems and improve the air quality in long-term care homes in Guelph, so that they are safer for both residents and health care workers. This represents just one small step forward in fixing the crisis in our long-term care system.