House of Commons Hansard #61 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was spending.

Topics

HousingOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Hochelaga Québec

Liberal

Soraya Martinez Ferrada LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion (Housing)

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

We are determined to level the playing field. Not only must we advance the right to housing, but we must also advance buyers' rights in order to ensure that the rules are fair for everyone. What we want is for everyone to have access to a home.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Madam Speaker, the Liberal-NDP government is pricing Canadians out of their own lives. Instead of coming up with solutions, it likes to refer to other countries’ inflation levels. I have some numbers for it. France is at 4.4% and Japan is at 1.2%. However, comparison does not help a millennial afford a home or give hope to Canadians who are one paycheque away from bankruptcy. It is Liberal spending that is leaving a debt load for future generations.

When will the government take responsibility for the position it has put Canadians in and cut its spending?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Burnaby North—Seymour B.C.

Liberal

Terry Beech LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, global inflation is having a significant impact on household budgets. While Canada's rate of inflation is below that of the U.S., Europe, the G7 and the OECD, we are continuing to focus on making life more affordable.

We are indexing important programs, such as the Canada child benefit, OAS and GIS, to the cost of living. We are implementing an economic growth plan that creates job, grows the economy and doubles the amount of residential construction so that millennials can afford their first home. We are doing this while unwinding Canada's pandemic deficits and reducing our debt-to-GDP ratio because that is the fiscally responsible thing to do.

Carbon PricingOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC

Madam Speaker, the cost of living continues to affect Canadians.

In rural ridings like mine, we do not have access to transit. Workers have to use a car to get to work. With rising gas prices, Canadians are having a hard time making ends meet.

The Conservative Party moved a motion to pause the carbon tax hike, but our greedy Prime Minister only sees dollar signs, not the difficulties being faced by ordinary working people.

Why is the government unwilling to give Canadians a break so they can catch up after a two-year pandemic?

Carbon PricingOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Outremont Québec

Liberal

Rachel Bendayan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

Obviously, increased energy costs are a result of the war in Ukraine, but the federal government is here to help Canadians deal with the rising cost of living, whether it is through subsidies for dental care, programs that make it easier to access housing, or the fact that we are helping lower the cost of child care.

We are here to help Canadians, and I would like to thank my colleague for his interest and for his question.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Madam Speaker, before the Liberals even presented their NDP budget, they were proudly bragging about how inflated tax revenues, from tax increases and inflation, would let them spend even more than before. They proudly announced the billions added to the national debt, yet for all that spending, they cannot explain to my constituents why food and house prices will only continue to rise. The Liberals point their fingers away from themselves.

Is the government ever going to connect the dots and see that its continued high spending means higher costs of basic necessities for hard-working Canadians?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:35 a.m.

Burnaby North—Seymour B.C.

Liberal

Terry Beech LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, the leader of the Conservative Party herself has already admitted that the extraordinary investments that were made over the course of the pandemic were necessary to protect Canadian families and Canadian workers.

Our plan has worked. In fact, we have maintained the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 while growing the economy and recovering 115% of jobs lost due to COVID-19. Canada was able to do this because of our prudent fiscal management. It is now time to unwind the pandemic deficits and continue to grow our economy while reducing our debt-to-GDP ratio. This is what good fiscal managers do, and it is going to allow us to make Canada and life—

The EconomyOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

The hon. member for Thornhill.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Melissa Lantsman Conservative Thornhill, ON

Madam Speaker, aggressive rate hikes are coming and that is because the government continues to spend recklessly. Here is what that means for an average Canadian. If they are lucky enough to buy a house for the $800,000 that it costs, with a 2% mortgage they are paying about $3,400 a month for mortgage payments. The potential of a 3% rate hike means $3,400 turns into $5,200.

Why is the government drowning Canadian homeowners in the debt of tomorrow to pay for the pet projects of today?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Burnaby North—Seymour B.C.

Liberal

Terry Beech LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, we just recently had an election where the Conservatives committed to spending more than what we proposed. They pretend to be good fiscal managers, but this is impossible if they are not committed to evidence-based decision-making.

Our government will lower our debt-to-GDP ratio every single year for the next five years. Unlike the Conservatives, we will do this while fighting climate change, investing in housing affordability and building a Canadian economy of the future alongside our indigenous partners.

News Media IndustryOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Bloc

Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC

Madam Speaker, these are tough times for local and regional newspapers. Even as they grapple with challenges brought on by online competition, they have to contend with changing habits as “Publisac”, the plastic bag used for door-to-door flyer distribution, fades from view. Across most of Quebec, the unassuming Publisac is how our regional newspapers are distributed because Canada Post charges exorbitant rates for delivery.

Given the ongoing decline of Publisac, Canada Post needs to be ready to take over and deliver local and regional papers at special rates.

I have talked about this with the Minister of Canadian Heritage, who was very open and told me he would take care of it. He even made a media announcement the day after our conversation. I would like an update because this is a pressing issue for our press.

News Media IndustryOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

St. Catharines Ontario

Liberal

Chris Bittle LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Madam Speaker, Bill C-18 is good news for small media. Thanks to collective bargaining, small media will be able to make agreements. We wrote into the law that tech giants would have to make those agreements with a diversity of media, not just the big ones.

Local media are essential to so many communities, and we will support them through budget 2022, which I hope the Bloc will support. We added $50 million in the last budget to support small media.

News Media IndustryOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Bloc

Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC

Madam Speaker, I really liked the parliamentary secretary's answer, but it was a good answer to a question I did not ask. The answer had nothing to do with the question.

Local and regional news has been dwindling before our very eyes for the past 20 years. This did not become a crisis overnight. I am not talking about digital media; I am talking about the distribution of local and regional weekly papers.

Given the impending situation and the gradual disappearance of Publisac, every dollar that a weekly paper needs to spend on Canada Post delivery is one less dollar it can spend on the newsroom. Every newspaper carrier who will have to be hired, all the effort put into distribution, that is effort that will no longer be put into newsrooms and the essential news the paper can print. This is very worrisome.

When will the minister announce special rates for Canada Post to deliver our weekly papers?

News Media IndustryOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Mount Royal Québec

Liberal

Anthony Housefather LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. We completely agree that local media needs to be supported through programs like the Canada periodical fund.

As the member knows, Canada Post is a Crown corporation that is at arm's length from the government. Canada Post makes its own decisions on delivery and fees.

However, the government will work with Canada Post to do what it can and also support local media.

Public Service of CanadaOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Madam Speaker, misuse of taxpayers' money, sexual harassment and special treatment for wealthy tax dodgers. No, this is not a Liberal cabinet meeting but rather misdeeds at the CRA that were exposed by whistle-blowers, whistle-blowers who have been public exposed by the very person in government who is meant to protect them.

Will the President of the Treasury Board do the right thing and commit to ensuring every single one of these whistle-blowers is protected from retribution by the government for exposing this scandal?

Public Service of CanadaOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Hull—Aylmer Québec

Liberal

Greg Fergus LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the President of the Treasury Board

Madam Speaker, our government believes those who disclose serious wrongdoing should be protected. The Office of the Public Security and Integrity Commissioner of Canada is an independent agency of Canada. It is mandated to allow anyone to disclose wrongdoing in the federal public service.

I have been advised that information has been removed by the Federal Court, and a new certified tribunal record is being produced. Later this year, our government will be launching a review to strengthen the protection of whistle-blowers. Clearly, this incident raises serious questions, which we will discuss in that review.

National DefenceOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Madam Speaker, the PBO has exposed $15 billion in unexplained defence spending in the budget. Now, in a briefing with the PBO, we were told it asked finance but that finance said it did not know and to go ask DND. It asked DND, but DND said that it did not know and to ask finance. It went back to finance and finance said, “Well, we don't know the details. Maybe it's just a forecast.”

Maybe someone on that side of the House could tell us, or perhaps finance or DND, what that $15 billion is for?

National DefenceOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Cambridge Ontario

Liberal

Bryan May LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence

Madam Speaker, we are increasing our defence spending by over 70% under the defence policy “Strong, Secure, Engaged” and budget 2022 contains an additional $8 billion in new defence spending.

The department plan only contains current capital spending that has been fully approved by the Treasury Board and Parliament, whereas the budget contains forward-looking forecasts. In other words, these are two different ways of presenting our forecasted spending.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Madam Speaker, contrary to the song the Liberal government has been singing about inflation being transitory and tied to short-term supply chain disruptions, Bank of Canada Governor Macklem is now acknowledging that inflation is going to be with us longer than anticipated and 6% higher than anticipated. This inflation costs the average Canadian worker $2,000 a year and the average family $4,000 a year.

How does the government think the average hard-working, middle-class family can adjust to and manage that kind of a shock to the family budget?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Burnaby North—Seymour B.C.

Liberal

Terry Beech LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, before the pandemic, it took only two Conservative governments to accrue more than 70% of Canada's prepandemic debt. That is because their fiscal ideology is to cut taxes for the wealthy and to cut services for everyone else.

In stark contrast, our last Liberal government paid down our national debt significantly. We have demonstrated that one can be a good fiscal manager while investing in Canadians, growing the economy and continuing to fight poverty and climate change.

Budget 2022 lowers our debt-to-GDP ratio and will help build a Canada where no one is left behind.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB

Madam Speaker, as inflation and interest rates continue to rise, Canadians are feeling the financial pain, but the NDP-Liberal government does not seem to care. It has no problem with its $53-billion deficit in this year's budget. Experts are sounding the alarm. A new report by RBC Economics reveals that “low-income Canadians will feel the sharpest financial sting from climbing inflation and interest rate hikes.”

Will the government finally admit that its reckless spending is hurting Canadians?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Burnaby North—Seymour B.C.

Liberal

Terry Beech LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, budget 2022 is entitled, “A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable”. This budget lowers our debt-to-GDP ratio and seeks solutions for the labour shortage because our jobs-based recovery strategy has successfully lowered Canada's unemployment rate to all-time historic lows.

The budget addresses some of Canada's greatest challenges, including child care, affordability, climate change, economic growth and indigenous reconciliation. It is a plan that invests in people and that will help build an economy where no one gets left behind.

Indigenous AffairsOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB

Madam Speaker, Kamloops, 215; Brandon, 104; Cowessess, 751; Cross Lake, 54. This are just a few of the children discovered in mass graves in residential schools across the country in the last year. So many children still to find, children who were stolen from their homes and families, oftentimes by the RCMP. Now the government wants the very same RCMP to assist in investigations, having given them millions in the budget.

Why did the government not just give the money directly to communities that are looking to bring their children home?

Indigenous AffairsOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs Québec

Liberal

Marc Miller LiberalMinister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

Madam Speaker, clearly, we have heard that communities, pursuant to the calls to action 72 through 76 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, have to have the leadership. It is not the place of the Government of Canada to step into communities and provide all the answers. Certainly we have to stand by and provide the financing and support to those communities, which are still reeling, to search for answers and search for their lost loved ones.

The financing for the RCMP is to complete that element of accountability. It is work in ensuring that that institution is accountable to those survivors and that work will continue.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

NDP

Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Madam Speaker, drive 100 kilometres in an electric vehicle and it will cost about $2. That kind of mileage would go a long way in helping families who are struggling today with high gas prices. The upfront cost of new electric vehicles puts them out of reach for many lower-income families.

The Liberals, in their election platform, promised an incentive for used zero-emission vehicles. B.C. and Quebec already have programs in place and yet, in this recent federal budget, we saw nothing.

Can the minister please explain why?