Madam Speaker, I would like to say, in appreciation, that I am speaking to the House today virtually from the traditional territory of the Qayqayt first nation and the Coast Salish peoples. I am honoured to share my time with the terrific member of Parliament for London—Fanshawe.
I want to start by talking, sadly, about the appalling loss of life we have seen through COVID-19. Today we passed a sad milestone of 24,000 Canadians who have died as a result of COVID-19. We will underscore later in the day, in the House, the death of Emily Victoria Viegas, 13 years of age, who died on April 22 from COVID-19. That death toll of 24,000 is climbing as the third wave hits across this country.
Many industrialized countries were able to put in place both vaccine distribution and measures that lowered their death rates remarkably. Canada, sadly, as we see the death toll climb, has not been putting into place the measures that are so essential to ensure that we try to avoid as many deaths as possible during this appalling pandemic.
The question around the budget really is what does the budget do to match the size and scope of the pandemic, a crisis that we have not seen in scale, size and scope since the Second World War? How does the budget put in place the important provisions for building as Canadians, hopefully in the coming months and years, will come out of this pandemic?
The instruction of the Spanish flu pandemic is something that we must all heed. The Spanish Flu pandemic, which lasted well over a year and a half, had financial and economic ramifications that took over a decade to attenuate. When we are talking about COVID-19, we are talking about measures that not only must work in the coming months as we struggle with this third wave, as frontline workers struggle with this third wave, as health care workers and first responders with all their bravery and courage, often unvaccinated, struggle to save as many lives as possible.
As we go through this, we also need to underscore the importance of having policies in place that are sustainable in the coming years to provide supports for Canadians. Sadly, this budget does not do that. It is tragic to us. The member for Burnaby South, the NDP leader, and members of the NDP caucus repeatedly raised a clear direction that would have made a huge difference in terms of putting into place that infrastructure, that ability to invest to help Canadians both through this pandemic and afterward.
We talked about a wealth tax. We talked about putting in place a pandemic profits tax, in the same way that during the Second World War we were all in this together and there was an excess profits tax that assured not only the battle to be won against fascism and Nazism, but also the rebuilding afterward; the hundreds of thousands of housing units, hospitals; education and transportation, all built because we had put into place measures that meant that we were all in this together.
Sadly, this budget fails miserably in this regard. There is no wealth tax. There is no pandemic profits tax. There are no meaningful measures that actually combat the offshore tax havens that suck $25 billion every year out of our country, $25 billion that could be put into place for housing, vaccination, education, improving our health care sector and ensuring that all Canadians across the country have the wherewithal to go through the pandemic. The government chose not to put in place any of those measures, despite the fact that the revenue that is lost or the revenue that is taken overseas is substantial. What we see in this budget is a free ride given to the ultrarich in this country. What about the COVID measures?
Sadly, the Prime Minister and the government seem to be saying “Mission accomplished,” when we know that this is far from the case, as this third wave crashes on our shores, as we see ICUs and emergency wards filled with Canadians.
Instead of putting into place measures that will continue to extend throughout the summer, in a few weeks' time the government will start slashing emergency response benefits and supports that were given to small businesses. The government will say that it put in place a measure for all those large businesses, which used the wage subsidy for dividend payments, for executive bonuses and stock buybacks. It will close that barn door in July, but it will not ask for any repayment. However, if they use the wage subsidy in the final waning weeks of when it is available, then there may be consequences.
At a time when so many Canadians are struggling, this is absolutely unacceptable that we are wrapping up all the programs, starting in weeks, that would serve to provide support as the third wave hits our shores.
There is nothing in the budget that addresses what people with disabilities across the length and breadth of the country have been facing for well over a year now. The NDP fought, and we fought vigorously, half a dozen times to push the government to finally implement a partial payment to some people with disabilities. Of the many struggles that the NDP caucus has undertaken over the course of the past year, it was probably the one where the government was most resistant, most refusing to provide support to people with disabilities.
We know that within days of the pandemic hitting, the Liberal government was willing to basically unleash cash, $750 billion given to Canada's big banks, and liquidity supports within days. Contrast that $750 billion, an unprecedented amount that pales other supports ever handed to the banking sector and pales in comparison to what we have seen from the government in this pandemic, to people with disabilities who have struggled for a one-time $600 payment that only went to some people with disabilities, by no means all. Then we are being told in the budget that the government is going to study the question in the next three years. Maybe, eventually, there will be some supports given to Canadians with disabilities.
The NDP member for Winnipeg Centre brought forward a guaranteed livable basic income proposal that the Liberals voted against. Now the Liberals are saying to Canadians with disabilities, who compose half of the people who are lining up at food banks to make ends meet, and the growing number of homeless in our country that they have to wait three years and maybe they will do something for them.
Students are being forced to pay back student loans, while the banks get $750 billion in liquidity supports. The homeless are being offered a scant number of housing units, yet we know, from the Second World War and the instruction of having in place measures that made sure we were all in this together, that the federal government was capable of building 300,000 units of affordable housing within three years of the conclusion of World War II. In this budget, there is scant provision for the homeless in our country.
There is also the pharmacare program. At a time when 10 million Canadians have no wherewithal to pay for their medication, at a time when health care should be top of mind, the Liberals killed the Canada pharmacare bill. They have abandoned any commitment to putting in place public universal pharmacare with this budget.
What the Liberals have decided to do is basically copy part of Thomas Mulcair's 2015 election platform. They are promising child care, which is significant, but we do not know whether they will keep their word. They are also promising to introduce a federal minimum wage.
We know that these promises, like all the promises the Liberals have made over the past six years, will probably not be kept.
This is a rhetorical question for my Liberal colleagues. Why do the they always put the interests of banks and billionaires before those of all other Canadians?