Debates of March 28th, 2023

The Economy

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to see our colleagues so excited about the budget today. In a short two hours, they will learn everything that is in the budget to support Canadians.

However, I am going to make a prediction. No matter what measures are there to support Canadians through affordability challenges, no matter what is in there to grow an economy that helps everyone, no matter what is in there to position Canada for greatness in the future, the Conservatives, the opposition in this House, will vote against it. It is what they have always done, and it is what they will do again. They will vote against, and we will keep delivering for Canadians.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, never has a government spent so much to achieve so little. He is right; we will vote against it. The member opposite should go to a food bank and tell someone—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order.

From the top, please.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite should go to a food bank and tell somebody that they have never had it so good. Perhaps he can tell a family struggling to pay their mortgage that they have never had it better, or he can tell a small business owner that the struggle is a product of their own imagination.

At a time when the government is awash with cash, Canadians are working harder and they are getting less. The Liberals believe they can spend Canadians' money better than they can.

Will the Prime Minister admit that his approach has failed and commit today to no deficits and no new taxes?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, there are 2.7 million fewer Canadians in poverty today than when the Conservatives were in government. That includes 450,000 children, thanks to the Canada child benefit, in which a child under six could receive up to $7,000 a year.

Let us talk about our child care agreements that have cut fees by 50% for families across this country, which could be up to an additional $6,000 for families with children in registered care.

We are delivering for Canadians in hard times, and we are going to continue to be there for them.

Public Services and Procurement

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today, the Minister of Finance will announce a $1.4-billion cut in spending on outside consultants. However, given that the government has increased the size of the public service by 28% since 2017, even more of the work that is currently being contracted out to private companies could be done in-house.

The government is spending over $21 billion a year on outside contracts, and the proposed cut clearly shows that its real intention is to continue giving money to its cronies.

Will the Prime Minister commit today to cut spending on outside contracts in order to reduce the burden on Canadians?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is wonderful to see how excited our colleagues are for today's budget. In two hours, they will know everything that is in our budget.

I will make a prediction. I predict that regardless of what measures are set out in the budget to support Canadians, build the economy or green the economy, the Conservatives, the opposition party, will vote against them.

We are here for Canadians. They are against them. It is our duty to meet our commitments.

Finance

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what does the Associate Minister of Finance think of the fact that in 2019, the Prime Minister billed Canadian taxpayers more than $200,000 for his personal vacation to Costa Rica? He billed a further $160,000 for another personal vacation to Jamaica in December. When he is not billing Canadians for his vacations, he has a solution: He violates Canada's Conflict of Interest Act by accepting vacations, gifts and flights to his friends' private island.

Today his Minister of Finance will be announcing budget cuts for government trips. Does that mean that Canadians will no longer have to pay for the Prime Minister's trips south?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, in just two hours, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance will announce all the measures in budget 2023.

Afterward, we will hear from the members across the way. I think it will be a canned speech with their usual slogans.

Today, in this chamber, what we will not hear is the Conservatives talking about plans to grow our economy, to fight climate change and to improve infrastructure.

We have a plan. We are going to deliver for Canadians. The Conservatives will vote against.

Climate Change

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline now exceeds $30 billion.

Yesterday, I asked the Minister of Environment and Climate Change if he was going to officially recommend that his government get out of this sinkhole. He responded that he was not the finance minister.

Indeed, I was addressing the Minister of the Environment, the one who read the IPCC report, the minister responsible for Canada's role in the fight against climate change.

Today, is he officially recommending that his government put an end to the Trans Mountain fiasco?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

We have put in place the necessary measures to stabilize the TMX project, ensure that Canada gets fair market value for these resources that we included in the budget, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The fact is that 12,700 jobs were created in Alberta and British Columbia. BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities have confirmed that the TMX project would be commercially viable. We will ensure that we get a fair share for Canadians by completing this project.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is going to be hard to get our fair share when it already costs $30 billion.

According to what the IPCC chair said in his synthesis report, we have the know-how, the technology, the tools, the financial resources and everything we need to overcome the climate problems we have identified. What we do not have right now is a strong political will to resolve them once and for all. That is the core issue: the political will to walk away from Trans Mountain, as well as projects like Bay du Nord, offshore oil exploration, and more.

Where is this political will that the IPCC is talking about? Where is it when it counts?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. Our government has focused on the environment, and more than $120 billion has been invested in the environment by our administration.

Once the TMX project is completed, we will undertake a process seeking to have a consortium acquire this asset. Canadians will get fair value for the asset.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the only will the government has shown is to produce more oil and hope it will pollute less. That is not working.

Ottawa has already given $8.6 billion to the oil companies for carbon capture, and they complain that it is not enough. The six biggest, greediest oil companies make $35 billion in profits and yet they get $8.6 billion in public funds, supposedly to pollute less. They invested only half a billion dollars of that subsidy. The worst part is that those gluttons are asking for seconds.

When will the government finally cut off the money?

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we are working on many fronts to reduce fossil fuel emissions. We will be capping emissions from the oil and gas sector. We will be investing, yes, in carbon capture and storage. We will be implementing a clean fuel standard and, very importantly, we will be eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. We have eliminated eight and the rest will be eliminated by the end of the year.

Carbon Pricing

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to bad Liberal policy, last year was the most expensive harvest in Canadian history. The $34 million in fertilizer tariffs and the carbon tax on feed, fuel and transportation all led to record-high production costs. The consequences of that fanned the flames of record-high, double-digit food inflation.

Does the Prime Minister not realize the consequences that the increase in the carbon tax has had on food prices for Canadians? Will he commit to cancel his carbon tax hike in today's budget?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we know how hard we have been working with and for farmers in Canada.

I am very pleased to say that we are currently finalizing the agreements for the sustainable Canadian agricultural partnership. This $3.5-billion program will help our farmers improve production and quality, reduce their carbon footprint and be more productive. We are here to help farmers and to ease the transition towards increasingly sound practices as well as to improve productivity and competitiveness.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

That is the problem, Mr. Speaker. Agriculture is not sustainable if farmers cannot afford to farm. The food price index was crystal clear. When the Liberals triple their carbon tax, it will cost the average farmer $150,000 a year. The consequences of that are also crystal clear: higher food costs and higher food production.

A senior in my riding came to me in tears the other day, saying she can no longer afford groceries. She is having to make the choice between going to the food bank and keeping her home. Is that really what the Prime Minister wants, taxing Canadian farmers out of business and making Canadians choose between food and shelter?

Will the Prime Minister give Canadians a break? Will he commit to cancel his carbon tax hike in today's budget?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, again, it is true that things are tough for Canadians right now. Things are tough for our farmers, who have had to deal with a lot of unpredictability because of weather and so forth, but also because of input costs. That said, we are here to support them in a variety of ways.

We are helping them through the sustainable Canadian agriculture partnership. We have also improved the terms of the advance payment program, which allows them to access interest-free loans of up to $250,000. We are here to support them in any number of ways.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the “Canada's Food Price Report”, food insecurity is about to get worse for Canadian families. It will now cost a family of four over $16,000 a year to pay for their food, an increase of over $1,000 from last year. Now is not the time to increase taxes on grocery bills.

In today's budget, will the Prime Minister cancel his carbon tax and stop making it harder for Canadians to feed their families?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand these are challenging times for Canadians. It is why we have put important measures in place to help Canadians, like doubling the GST tax credit that has helped almost 11 million Canadians across the country to deal with the high cost of everything; like the Canada child benefit that is indexed to inflation and that increased last July, because we recognized how important it is for families to take care of their basic needs. Let us also talk about child care, which is helping thousands and millions of Canadians across the country to help with the high cost of living.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, a family of four now needs to come up with $16,000 a year to pay for basic food, and the Liberal carbon tax hike will make the cost to grow and transport that food even higher, which means record-high grocery bills will be going up by over a thousand dollars this year. While that might not be anything for a Prime Minister who would charge taxpayers $6,000 a night for a luxury hotel with a butler, for many Canadian families it could be the difference between eating and going hungry.

Why does he not just do the right thing and cancel his carbon tax in today's budget?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we have been doing the right thing since we first formed government in 2015. When we formed government, the very first thing we did was raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% so we could cut them for the middle class. Then we decided to stop sending child care cheques to millionaires so we could put more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families. Through the pandemic, we were there for households because we believed households were too big to fail.

Every step of the way, the Conservatives voted against us or held press conferences to say that these big fat government programs would not get their support. Now they are campaigning on a commitment to take money away from families so they can make it free to pollute. That will not work in my neighbourhood.

Transportation

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, public transit is how Canadians get to work, how students get to school and how caregivers travel between communities, yet since the pandemic, a financial crisis has meant cuts to public transit across the country. This hurts people and the climate. The Liberals have failed to be a reliable partner when it comes to funding this essential service. They must fix it now.

Will the Minister of Finance secure permanent operational funding for public transit in today's budget?