Debates of June 21st, 2023

Opposition Motion—Balanced Budget

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Speaker, once again, I salute my colleague from Courtenay—Alberni. I hope he has a great summer too. I appreciate his kind words.

I think it is important to act like a responsible parent. When a parent has a budget to manage, they have to manage it intelligently. If we, as parents, acted like this government, we would all be bankrupt and lining up at food banks. The answer I would give my colleague is that we must do things intelligently.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Speaker, I rise in this place today to speak to the opposition motion put forward by the Conservatives to address the cost of living crisis facing Canadians. This is a crisis that the government has done nothing to fix. In fact, it is the Liberals' inflationary policies that created the crisis in the first place.

What has their response been? They have continued to run high deficits, pushing inflation to 40-year record highs. The Prime Minister excused this reckless spending by claiming that interest rates were at record lows and would remain there for many years to come. Now we have record debt, record inflation, and interest rates that have continued to rise despite the Prime Minister's prediction. This is causing pain for Canadians across the country, as their household budgets are being stretched thinner and thinner under the Liberal tax-and-spend plan. While Canadians are struggling, the government continues to increase taxes, making the essentials more expensive.

The Liberals have been persistent in their misinformed statements that the carbon tax is a net positive for Canadians. The Parliamentary Budget Officer's reports on the two carbon taxes have rejected this notion. The first carbon tax the government introduced will end up costing Canadians up to 41¢ per litre of gas. The added second carbon tax will cost another 17¢ per litre. Adding GST, this comes to 61¢ per litre. This will cost Saskatchewan families an extra $2,840 each year, but some Canadian families will pay up to $4,000 for the combined Liberal carbon taxes in other parts of the country.

This is a slap in the face to Saskatchewanians and Canadians. The carbon taxes have only made life more expensive for Canadians and have cost them more money for no results. The carbon taxes were never an environmental plan; they were a tax plan to fuel government spending.

Even while Canadians are struggling, the government cannot show fiscal restraint. It has no respect for taxpayers, as it continues to ramp up its inflationary spending. When the Prime Minister formed government, the national debt was $612.3 billion. By the end of this fiscal year, the federal debt is projected to reach $1.22 trillion. This means the Prime Minister has doubled the national debt in just eight years.

The national debt will break down to $81,000 per household in Canada. Additionally, debt-servicing costs have been growing just as fast as the government's deficits. This fiscal year, it is projected that the cost to service the national debt will be $43.9 billion. This cost is quickly approaching the amount of money given to the provinces through health transfers.

Canadians are deeply concerned about the economic policies of our country, except, it would seem, those sitting on the government benches. Most Canadians do not have a trust fund to fall back on, so they need to be careful with their money. The government needs to start demonstrating respect for hard-working Canadians by being good stewards of the public purse.

Without a plan to eliminate the deficits and balance the budget, inflation and interest rates will continue to rise and hurt Canadian families across the country even more. The Liberals have not put forward a plan to do this. Instead, they poured more gasoline on their inflationary fire by adding more than $60 billion in new spending. That is $4,200 per Canadian family. This spending is driving up deficits and consequently increasing inflation.

The Bank of Canada, which was widely predicted to lower interest rates, instead raised them from 4.5% to 4.75% following the tabling of the Liberals' budget. That is why the Conservatives are now calling on the government, through this opposition motion, to return to balanced budgets and give Canadians a break.

Now we are receiving warnings from the International Monetary Fund that Canada is the country most at risk of massive mortgage defaults. Across Canada, average mortgage payments have increased by 122% since the Prime Minister took office. Despite this warning, we see no plan from the government to get inflation under control to avoid a potential mortgage default crisis. Instead, the Liberals are burying their heads in the sand, leaving Canadians to their own devices as they spend away their future. This is not sustainable and is pushing Canadians closer to the edge.

Canadian households now have the most debt as a share of GDP of any country in the G7. This is not a record we want to hold. There is a solution. The Liberals must eliminate the deficits and balance the budget in order to bring down inflation and interest rates. I know this may not be easy for them, as they seem to know only one economic policy, which is to raise taxes and print money, but the fact is that if the Liberals were to put together a plan to return to balanced budgets and eliminate deficits, lower inflation and interest rates would follow. However, this is not something they can wait to do. We are already at a crisis point.

Just last month, the food bank in Saskatoon held a food drive, as the usage of food banks has reached a new record of 24,000 people a month. Across Canada, there are 1.5 million more people using food banks on a monthly basis, not to mention that one in five Canadians is skipping at least one meal a day because they cannot afford to eat. This is because food price inflation is also at a 40-year high. “Canada's Food Price Report 2023” has predicted that a family of four will spend up to $1,065 more on food this year. With many Canadians struggling paycheque to paycheque, the rising cost of food is breaking their banks.

The dream of home ownership is also fading fast. When the Liberal government took power, Canadians spent 39% of their paycheques on their monthly housing payments. Now they spend 62% of their paycheques. This is reflected by the growth of average rental and mortgage costs. Mortgage payments have doubled, from $1,400 per month to over $3,100 a month. Rent across Canada has doubled, from $1,172 to $2,153 for a two-bedroom apartment, and it has more than doubled in Canada's largest cities. This is why we must get interest rates under control.

For years, the Conservatives have warned the Liberal government that its out-of-control spending has consequences and hurts Canadians across the country. However, it responded with the infamous quote from the Prime Minister that budgets will balance themselves. We are now eight years into the government's tenure and have seen the effects of the Prime Minister's so-called self-balancing budgets. It has been a disaster for Canadians.

According to an article last month from the Financial Post and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, over 10 years, real GDP per capita growth has been at its lowest since the 1930s. The article states, “This extended period of slow growth has widened the gap between per capita growth in the United States and Canada, demonstrating that the causes of our slumping growth are domestic, not external.” The Liberals can no longer blame external factors for their own failures. The economic troubles our country now finds itself in are a result of the failed economic policies of the government.

In conclusion, I think it is in the best interests of every Canadian that this House call on the government to rein in its spending. It is time for the government to show the fiscal restraint that was promised by the Minister of Finance prior to the introduction of her latest budget. Instead of cancelling Disney+, let us cancel the deficits, axe the taxes and balance the budget.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Sport]

Madam Speaker, Conservatives love to stand up in the House and claim to be the stewards of the economy and to have presided over the previous government with balanced budgets, but they only balanced the budget once and it was a fake balanced budget. It was at the expense of a lot of infrastructure in Canada.

The member opposite ran on a commitment in the last election to both price carbon and run deficits. I do notice there has been a little change of heart of late on the other side, but there is a lack of a plan. It would be great to hear directly from the member on this. Any balanced budget would require program cuts. What specific programs is she suggesting the government cut?

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Speaker, there are a number of things that we might decide not to spend Canadian taxpayers' money on.

Let us talk about the carbon tax. We would cut the carbon tax. We would stop paying high-priced consultants. We would not allow the Prime Minister to consider exorbitant spending on vacations. We would not provide sole-source contracts to Liberal insiders that have cost Canadians millions of dollars. We might get rid of the infrastructure bank.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Madam Speaker, I have to say that the motion paints an accurate picture of the difficulties faced by Canadians and Quebeckers. However, there is a problem with the solution. For the Conservatives, the solution is to eliminate deficits. They think that when the deficits are eliminated, all the problems will be magically solved: The cost of housing will drop, and households will have less debt. We really do not agree with that.

We are going to vote in favour of the need to table a plan to return to balanced budgets. We agree with that because governing requires planning. To govern is to anticipate. Tabling a plan to return to balanced budgets is the least a government can do. However, we do not agree with the measures that the Conservative Party is promising to take. Eliminating the carbon tax is the wrong thing to do. I would even say that it should be increased.

Could the Conservative Party propose more realistic solutions?

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Speaker, I believe that at every step of the way, Conservatives have been providing solutions to this place and to the current government.

The fact of the matter is that after eight years under the Liberal government, Canadians are struggling. We are hearing from our constituents in our ridings. Although the government assures Canadians that they have never had it so good, it only really shows how out of touch it is. It is time for the government to take economic policy seriously and return to balanced budgets. It needs to start paying attention to monetary policy.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, I always like to point out where we have common ground. One thing on which I definitely agree with the member is that people are struggling to make ends meet. However, the solutions seem to be where we differ. For example, why do we never hear from the Conservatives about taxing the ultra-rich large corporations? With consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments, we saw the corporate tax rate decrease from 28% in the year 2000 to 15% today.

When will we see the Conservatives finally call out large corporations and the ultra-rich to pay their fair share so that we can see that money go where it belongs? This seems like a good, tangible solution to move forward with.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Speaker, as the official opposition, we have been very clear about what Conservatives would do. The priorities of the Conservative plan are to make Canada work for the people who work. We want to see powerful paycheques with lower taxes so that hard work pays off again. We want to bring home lower prices by ending inflationary carbon tax 1, carbon tax 2 and deficit spending that drives up inflation and interest rates.

We want to bring in homes people can afford by removing government gatekeepers to free up land and speed up building permits. I know that only Conservatives can bring home a country that works for people who work and is a place for people to invest in.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is always wonderful to rise in this most honourable and esteemed House and be with my wonderful colleagues.

Before I begin, I would like to take 40 seconds, as I understand we are nearing the end of the session, just to say some thanks. First I will thank my wife Rose at home, and our three daughters Eliana, Natalia and little Leia, because there is a bit of an age difference there. I want to thank them. We can only travel to Ottawa and do our jobs and be away from our families with the support of our families, so I want to give a quick shout-out to them and tell them that I love them very much and that daddy will see them soon back home.

Second, I say thanks to Pina and Evelina and Francesco and Dima, my team back in Vaughan. I will see them tomorrow at our job fair, where we will be together. I want to say thanks as well to Natalia, Anthony and Sashalie, the team here in Ottawa. Sashalie has been with me for a number of years and has seen me at my best and worst and in my ups and my downs. I want to give a special shout-out to this individual, because she is exceptional in every way. My wife and I treat her like family, and she is a very special individual for our family.

As I begin this evening to speak to the opposition party's opposition day motion, I need to reflect on what our party has put in place since day one in 2015, when I was elected and we formed government. I reflect on everything we have done to move Canada forward, to invest in Canadians, to strengthen our middle class and to assist those working hard to join the middle class. I think about the Canada child benefit and what we have done there. I think about the Canada workers benefit, which we have strengthened three times now. Cheques will be arriving to the hard-working, low-income and middle-income Canadians who will benefit from this.

I will be splitting my time with one of the the most honourable and learned scholars I have the pleasure to work with, the member for London North Centre.

Getting back to the measures we put in place, I reflect on the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, and the Canada workers benefit, which benefits working-class and lower-income Canadians. This measure was first introduced prior to our government, but we have strengthened it so much. I reflect on the climate action incentive plan, on the $10-a-day child care plan, on eliminating interest on student loans and apprenticeships, and the list goes on. It includes raising the basic personal exemption amount to $15,000, which is a tax cut literally in the billions of dollars for Canadians. In 2015, the government lowered the tax rate for middle-income Canadians, which was billions of dollars back in the pockets of Canadians, and asked the most wealthy in our society to pay a bit more. That is how we build an inclusive economy.

We signed trade deals. We completed CETA and got it across the finish line to see trade between Canada and Europe. We signed CUSMA, ensuring that we came out with a strong free trade deal with the United States and Mexico. We completed CPTPP, again putting measures in.

We lowered the small business tax rate from 11% to 9% for small businesses across this country. We put in place a volunteer agreement and then a second agreement to lower credit card user transaction fees for small and medium-sized enterprises across this country, saving business owners literally billions of dollars in the coming years so they can invest back into their businesses.

Since day one, our government has been focused on investing in Canadians and investing in Canada, ensuring we have a strong, favourable investment climate to create jobs. We have seen over 900,000 jobs created here in this beautiful country since the pandemic ended. We have seen our GDP recover. We have had the backs of Canadians and we will continue to do so.

I thank my colleagues for providing me with the opportunity to participate in today's debate.

First, I would like to point out that, contrary to what the opposition would like us to believe, Canadians are not the only ones facing this economic reality. Inflation is a global phenomenon. With the key investments in the economy that were announced in the 2023 budget and also in the 2022 fall economic statement, the government is ensuring that those most in need get support.

I would also like to remind the official opposition that well before this tough economic time started, our government was already investing in the middle class in order to grow the economy and enhance Canada's social safety net, all with a view to making life more affordable for Canadians.

We brought in the Canada child benefit, which has helped lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.

Yes, we lifted Canadians and children out of poverty with the Canada child benefit.

We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors, increased old age security for seniors 75 and over, and enhanced the Canada pension plan with provincial partners to allow more seniors to have the secure and dignified retirement they deserve.

Yes, we came to an agreement with all 10 provinces to enhance and expand the Canada pension plan, which will benefit Canadian workers for generations to come. Unlike the official opposition, which views the Canada pension plan as a tax, we have used it in investing in hard-working Canadians so that they can have a secure and dignified retirement.

In 2021, we made an historic investment in a Canada-wide early learning and affordable child care system. This has already helped reduce the fees for regulated child care by 50% on average and lower fees to only $10 a day in six provinces and territories.

In the province of Ontario, we have already seen a reduction of 53%.

The education minister in the Province of Ontario applauded this agreement. We have worked together on this. Our investment is saving families thousands of dollars of after-tax money. That is their money, and we are going to help them out.

We are going to ensure that kids have the best start in life and we are going to ensure that the national day care plan, with the bill that was passed, will ensure it for generations.

To ensure that every Canadian has safe and affordable housing, we proposed a plan that will help double the number of new homes built in Canada within a decade, help more Canadians buy their first home, and stop the unfair practices that are driving up prices.

With the time I have today, I want to focus on this last point, housing. We know that for too many Canadians, including young Canadians and new Canadians, the dream of home ownership is drifting further and further out of reach, while rent is now more expensive across the country. This shortage of affordable housing is affecting our economy.

Without more homes in our communities, companies have a hard time attracting the workers they need to grow and succeed. When people spend more of their income on housing, they spend less in our communities. The problem is complex and long-standing, and a solid plan is needed to tackle the many different factors that are making housing more expensive in Canada.

First, we believe that homes should be for Canadians to live in, not a financial asset class. The federal government remains concerned with the financialization of housing across Canada, and introduced important measures in budget 2022 to address it, including a two-year ban on foreign investment in Canadian housing, a tax on underused foreign-owned homes, the taxing of assignment sales, and ensuring that property flippers pay their fair share.

Although investors own a significant share of Canada's rental units and will play an important role in building new homes, the government recognizes that too many Canadians have experienced excessive renovations.

I look forward to questions and comments, and I want to wish all of my hon. colleagues a wonderful and safe summer for them and their families and all of their loved ones.

[For continuation of proceedings, see part B]