Debates of Oct. 17th, 2023

Opposition Motion—Fiscal Plan

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am thankful for this opportunity to speak to the opposition day motion, and I very much look forward to the questions by members in the House.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Madam Speaker, in today's debate on a plan to balance the budget, I keep hearing the government, its representatives and its members say that they are investing in Canadians, that they will always be there for Canadians and that they are here for them.

Under the current circumstances, I wonder if someone can explain to me why the government is not investing in a robust EI program when there are workers who are struggling. That is a federal program. It is a federal jurisdiction. It could take action. I also do not understand why the government is so reluctant to significantly increase old age security for seniors starting at age 65. That is also a federal program.

Are you willing to invest in this area and make a significant contribution, Madam Speaker—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I think the member meant to ask her question through the Chair, and not directly to her colleague.

The hon. member for Davenport.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, there were many questions in there and I could spend a lot of time responding to them. She first mentioned our deficit. I do want to mention that our deficit is down from a projected 1.5% of GDP last year to 1.4% this year. I know that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance is going to give a fall economic statement, so we will get the latest numbers some time very shortly.

The hon. member ended off with a question on old age security. When we were first elected, we ensured that we reduced the retirement age to 65, so Canadians could have access to the old age security and GIS at that age. That was a huge benefit for our seniors. We have also increased GIS. We have also increased, by 10%, the OAS for those 75 and older.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Speaker, I know that we live in very different parts of the country. I am about two hours west of the Davenport area. Our area is a rural part of Canada, where the carbon tax has absolutely had a huge cost on the heating, food, food production and everything else. Being in different areas, it is difficult to understand what the rural parts of Canada are going through.

Has the member spoken to a farmer about the carbon tax, about the cost of food production and how it impacts Canadians?

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have not spoken to a farmer, but I will when I get the opportunity.

Climate change is real. It is happening and the changes of climate are impacting our country and our society even more quickly than scientists had ever thought before. We have put a price on pollution, which is what the hon. member calls the carbon tax. We are returning all of the dollars that we collect from the price on pollution back to Canadians, back to farmers, to ensure they are covering their costs. If we do nothing, the cost will be even higher.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, the Conservatives say that this motion is to help address housing so Canadians do not lose their homes. I do not think it is a great solution, but the Liberals have not done so well either.

I am glad she did not include URN on her list of investments that government has done, because URN does not do enough. There are still gaps in investments that need to happen. One of those gaps is to ensure that there is housing funding for the territorial governments. Territorial governments are not indigenous governments, so they would not be eligible to receive housing through URN.

I wonder if the member agrees that we need to ensure that territorial governments get a carve-out for housing.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, I mentioned $82 billion, which is a significant amount of money. I am very proud of that amount of investment in housing. We need to do more at all levels, including to help support more of the indigenous needs in our country.

Last week, the Prime Minister was in the Northwest Territories. He did announce the construction of 50 new affordable homes in an apartment building in downtown Yellowknife. This project will support people who need it the most, including indigenous people, seniors, women, children and those living with disabilities.

We have to do more and we know we need to do more.

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

It is a pleasure to rise in the House today to speak to today's opposition day motion, because after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government and the Prime Minister, Canadians are hurting. The Canadian dream that my parents came to this country for is starting to slip away. Life is unaffordable.

Rent has doubled. Housing costs have doubled. The amount needed for a down payment has doubled. Mortgage payments have doubled. They have risen over 150%. Why? It is all because of the Liberal-NDP government's inflationary spending and fiscal mismanagement, which have been continuously fuelling the inflationary fire.

Inflation is nearly double where it should be, and Canadians are now paying more for heating, eating and housing. Canada's federal debt for this fiscal year is projected to reach $1.22 trillion. If we do the math, we are looking at nearly $81,000 per household in Canada. The Prime Minister is simply not worth the cost.

The Prime Minister said, as I am sure many members remember, that deficits were supposed to be temporary, tiny deficits of not more than $10 billion. He said he would only run modest deficits, but he broke that promise. He then promised to return to a balanced budget in 2019, but he broke that promise as well. Now the Prime Minister has broken the banks of Canadians.

To be perfectly clear, the Prime Minister and his Liberal-NDP government have added more national debt than all previous prime ministers combined. The current finance minister acknowledged that one of her goals was not to pour fuel on this inflationary fire, but she continues to spend, spend and spend. All this inflationary spending is causing a domino effect.

Mismanaged federal budgets, like budget 2023, which is adding an additional $60 billion in new spending, are driving up our deficit. Deficits are fuelling inflation, and inflation is causing interest rates to rise. This cannot be argued because we have seen the Bank of Canada in action. The Bank of Canada has raised interest rates 10 times in the last 19 months. Even former Liberal finance minister John Manley said, per the National Post, “Trudeau's deficits press on the inflationary gas pedal, which forces the Bank of Canada to press harder on the brakes”—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, the member is not allowed to use the names of members inside the chamber, just so he is aware of that.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I think the hon. member got the information, but yes, hon. members are not to use names of parliamentarians who sit in the chamber.

The hon. member for Oxford.

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Madam Speaker, now Canadians are on the brink of losing their homes and their livelihoods.

Just last week, I met with a home inspector who has done seven home inspections of homes in Oxford County that are going up for bank foreclosure. That is just in one week. Normally that would be in one year. That is the true impact of rising interest rates. The Liberal government encouraged Canadians to borrow when interest rates were at an all-time low, but now Canadians have one of the highest household debts of any other G7 country.

This is more than just numbers and dollars. It is about real people and the impact this has on their lives. I recently told this House of the single mother in Woodstock who cried at the door because she was struggling to put food on the table for her kids. There is the young couple in Tillsonburg who went to school and got a job but now cannot access the housing market because of the rising cost of housing. There is the senior who lives in Tavistock who now relies on handouts from his family because he cannot survive on his own. He has even looked at MAID as an option. These are real people with real, devastating human consequences.

The government needs a common-sense plan. If it stops the deficits, it will stop inflation from continuing to rise, it will stop the increasing interest rats and it will stop the defaults from happening. That is why we are calling on the government to bring its financial affairs in order. We are calling on the government to introduce a fiscal plan that includes a pathway back to balanced budgets so we can decrease inflation and interest rates. We need a plan because we know that budgets do not balance themselves. I hope all my colleagues will use common sense, cap spending, cut wasteful spending, balance the budget and bring home economic stability for all Canadians.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, the member made reference to the issue of deficits. He was not here at the time, so I will forgive him for not necessarily being aware of the fact that the Conservative members of his caucus voted in support of billions and billions of dollars to support Canadian businesses and individuals. A couple of years later, they are upset with the government for spending billions and billions of dollars.

I wonder if he feels there is any sense of hypocrisy when the Conservatives at one time were saying yes but now seem to be saying no. It sounds more like it is political wins that seem to be dictating Conservative policy.

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Madam Speaker, what I do remember is having a balanced budget under the Conservative government before the Liberals took office. I remember that very clearly.

My hon. colleague talked about spending during COVID. We did not sign up for the $54 million of wasteful spending on the ArriveCAN app. We also did not sign up for the $200 billion that they have spent that was not related to the pandemic during the COVID pandemic. Although my hon. colleague talked about that, I have a very clear memory and I know what it takes to get back to a balanced budget.

Right now, under the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are struggling to put food on the table. We will fix that once we are in government.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Madam Speaker, to listen to the Conservatives, one would think that every bit of spending is inflationary spending.

Last week, the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec finally came to an agreement on a program to speed up the construction of housing, something that we voted on a year and a half ago and from which we are now finally starting to see some results. The federal government will provide $900 million.

I would like to remind the House that, at last count, there were 10,000 homeless people in Quebec alone. Does my colleague think that the $900 million that will be used to build housing to help those 10,000 homeless people constitutes inflationary spending?

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Madam Speaker, I agree that because of the Liberal-NDP government's mismanagement, we have seen a crisis in housing. New Canadians, who come to this country with a dream of home ownership, are seeing their dreams fade away. We are seeing record numbers at food banks. We had 1.5 million Canadians going to a food bank in one single month. When I talk to local food banks, they tell me the same thing: When they saw interest rates go up, they saw an increase in local food bank use as well.

It is our job to keep fighting for the most vulnerable. We have to get our fiscal house in order. We cannot spend something we do not have. We do not run our households on our credit cards, and we should not run the government that way either.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Madam Speaker, today's Conservative motion ignores the role of corporate greed and the rise of the cost of living. We know that working people and people on fixed incomes are going through very hard times, but we also know that the wealthy are getting wealthier.

Does the member support making sure that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, something they are not doing right now? Does the member support bringing in a wealth tax to begin to counteract the role of rampant corporate greed in our country and give Canadians a break?

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Madam Speaker, the member talks about greed. We have seen that with the Liberal-NDP government, which is greedy for taxpayer dollars. We have seen the government time and time again taking away hard-working Canadians' paycheques and then recklessly spending them on pet projects. We saw that with the ArriveCAN scam app, with $54 million of hard-working Canadians' money going out the window. We saw that with the passport redesign, which cost $161 million just to redesign the passport. We have seen government greed, with corporate insiders getting paid for insider contracts. We are going to stop that greed and put more money back into the pockets of Canadians.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to participate in this official opposition day debate on the cost of living, which is having a major impact on all Canadians.

First of all, let me pay my respects to my new colleague from Oxford, who delivered a very great and powerful speech, as everybody does here on this side of the House.

When we talk about inflation, that is a topic that, unfortunately, Canadians are concerned about the most today. Inflation is affecting everyone, but has the biggest impact on the least fortunate among us and on people who earn the least. That is the problem: Inflation affects everyone, but hits the least fortunate the worst. We have also seen that inflation is greedy and it infiltrates everything from housing to food to transportation.

The government has a major role to play in controlling inflation. Yes, inflation is affecting everyone, but it would not be so bad if we were fortunate enough to have a government that acted responsibly and controlled spending, which it has never done in eight years of governing. After eight years of Liberal governance, what do we see in this country? Inflation is too high and the cost of living is very high. Everything is more expensive and unfortunately the government is to blame for that.

We should remember that these fine people were elected in 2015 on a promise to run three small deficits and balance the budget in 2019. Many people thought it was bold to do that, ambitious even. Many people also knew that it would not work. Unfortunately, we were the ones who said that, and we were right because, in eight years, this government has never been able to balance the budget, control spending or keep its promise of zero deficit. This has a direct impact on inflation.

We should also remember that every time she is asked a question about this these days, the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister keeps repeating to wait, that the economic update is coming and that we are going to see measures to control inflation.

I would remind the House that a year ago, almost to the day, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance tabled the economic update. What did she say at that time? Quite a lot, when you quote her. She said, “What all Canadians want right now is for inflation to keep coming down, and interest rates to fall....that is one of our primary goals in this year's budget: not to pour fuel on the fire of inflation”.

What the minister said was ludicrous, to put it politely. A year ago, she said that we would have a balanced budget by 2028, and that anything less would amount to pouring fuel on the fire of inflation. Six months later, unfortunately, we got $60 billion in new spending, $60 billion worth of fuel that she poured on the fire of inflation. Today, we are struggling with that.

A year ago, the Minister of Finance said that the budget would be balanced by 2028. She did not meet that goal. Six months ago, she tabled a budget that not only ran a deficit, but, more importantly, did not include a plan for achieving a balanced budget. Last week, the Parliamentary Budget Officer observed that the deficit was set to exceed $46 billion, 16% more than forecast six months ago.

These people have no management skills. After eight years of a government whose spending is out of control, Canadians are suffering the direct effects of inflation across the board.

Earlier, my colleague from Oxford was talking about food banks. My riding has the great privilege of having extraordinary volunteers, people whose hearts are in the right place and who work hard to help the less fortunate. However, they tell me over and over again, every time I see them, that food is a basic necessity and demand for their services is going up. Two years ago, people were bringing food to our most vulnerable to help them. Today, those same people are going to the food bank for help. It is outrageous that middle-class people in a G7 country have to line up at food banks. That is the reality of Canada after eight years of this government.

Inflation is affecting young people who want to buy a home. Mortgages, down payments and rents have doubled in the eight years this government has been in power. When people cannot afford proper food and a decent home, that means there are some deeply rooted problems. They are very significant problems that are hitting Canadians and Quebeckers who are struggling with inflation.

That is why this government needs to seize the opportunity. Continued overspending will lead to broken dreams for the next generation.

This morning, the Journal de Québec and the Journal de Montréal, issued by the QMI Press Agency, published a survey conducted by Centraide of Greater Montreal, an agency that has been helping people everywhere for decades. This survey is quite worrisome because it reveals that people are experiencing increasingly high levels of financial anxiety. Some 85% of people say they feel anxious when they talk about their personal finances.

The survey reports on the financial anxiety index of Centraide of Greater Montreal and was conducted in collaboration with Leger. Claude Pinard, director of the Centraide of Greater Montreal, said the following:

People in poverty don’t have a cushion, they’re people who live day to day and try to get through the month. However, when you are this tight, your budget items are entirely occupied by housing and food. If you have credit card or other debts, and if they increase, you no longer have the capacity to pay the essentials.

This is increasingly the reality for many Canadians who are currently struggling with inflation and who see, as we do, as everyone does, that the government is doing nothing to curb inflation. As we know, the best thing a government can do to control inflation is to stop its uncontrolled spending.

I was talking about young people. It is unworthy of a G7 country like Canada to let its young people lose their ambitions and dreams. The survey shows that 85% of Quebeckers are experiencing varying degrees of financial stress. One of the fears reported is that young people aged 18 to 34 will never be able to own their own home. Nearly two-thirds of them think that way. Fully 61% of young Quebeckers have given up on the possibility of becoming homeowners one day. What a sad reality. We need to get a handle on this situation.

To quote Mr. Pinard again, “When we know that it takes an annual income of more than $100,000 to buy in Montreal, many young people say to themselves: we will never be able to buy. Many also do not see the suburbs as an option. They must therefore give up their dream”.

This is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching. At the ripe age of 59, I think I can say that we were all young once. We all had ambitions. We all dreamed of owning a home, as beautifully expressed in the song Dégénérations, which was quoted by our leader in his speech at the Conservative Party convention in Quebec City. If young people lose this dream and see that home ownership in Canada has become impossible after eight years of this Liberal government, it means that we, as a country, as a nation, and despite all our pride, have really gone off the rails. We have to get back on track.

That is why today's motion aims to get the government back on track. The government needs to get its head out of the sand. The government needs to realize that after eight years of uncontrolled spending, we are now paying the cost. It is never too late to do the right thing. That is why we are asking the government to do what any manager should do when a crisis hits: Have a game plan for balancing the budget. We are not asking for a miracle. We are simply asking the government to do what it promised in 2015 but then promptly forgot, and that is to balance the budget. It is the very foundation of the economy. It is at the very basis of respecting the promise made in 2015. It is at the very basis of restoring the confidence and hope of young people who one day want to own their own home, but who today are seeing that dream being shattered by the inflationary crisis that has hit the country and by the irresponsibility of this government, which continues to spend, spend, spend.

In good faith and with the best of intentions, I invite the government to pull itself together, get back on track, and introduce a plan to return to a balanced budget, for the good of all Canadians.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, it is interesting. What the Conservatives fail to talk about or recognize with respect to Canada's inflation rate compared to that of the United States is that, at its worst, in June 2022, Canada hit its record of 8%, while the United States was, I believe, closer to 9%. If we fast-forward to today, Canada's inflation rate is still less than that of the United States.

As much as the Conservative Party likes to say how Canada is broken, which it is not, we still understand the importance of dealing with the issue of inflation in order to support Canadians. That is why we brought forward legislation to be able to provide things like grocery rebates and housing support programs for new rentals. Why does the Conservative Party ignore that fact and, to top it off, continue to filibuster government legislation that would provide support to Canadians?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Winnipeg North for the victory of his daughter, who was elected two weeks ago in the provincial election.

Speaking of winning elections, let me remind him that he won in 2015. At the heart of his commitment in 2015 was a zero deficit by 2019. I know the member, and he knows this story very well. I am quite sure he is not very proud to be part of a government that, in the last eight years, has never brought the budget to a zero deficit. I hope that this time, he will listen to us.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, I never doubted my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent's good judgment. I know that he is a seasoned, very rational parliamentarian.

That being said, should we not cut off the greedy barons of Canadian society when it comes to balancing the budget and supporting the less fortunate, those who are having trouble putting a roof over their heads and food on the table, the people the member often talks about? Should we not cut off the oil companies, which will be getting $83 billion in financial support by 2025?

Yesterday, when we talked about this in committee, a Conservative member apologized to the representatives of Suncor because we were asking them tough questions. Does that not go against common sense? I would like to hear the reasoned comments of my colleague from Louis‑Saint‑Laurent.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for the quality of his question, because the last time he asked me a question, his tone was a little different.

That being said, it is rather curious to note that his party's policy is to dig deep into Quebeckers' wallets, since the Bloc agrees with the second Liberal carbon tax. They had two opportunities to vote against it, but they voted in favour. Worse still, that does not go far enough for the Bloc Québécois, which wants to radically increase consumption taxes. I am sorry, but we really have to disagree with the Bloc Québécois, because voting for the Bloc Québécois is far too costly.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I certainly have respect for my colleague across the way, but with the Conservatives, much of the common sense plans are usually on the backs of the people who can least afford it, the people currently living in poverty. We know the Conservatives' plans for helping those with mental health and addictions issues. We know through research, and certainly in my riding, that under a Conservative government, we are seeing record numbers of overdoses right now. To me, it is not common sense to not listen to public health experts. I am wondering whether my hon. colleague agrees with me that part of having a common sense plan is to ensure having a plan to help people struggling with addictions that follows public health advice, which is to support safe supply and safe consumption.