Debates of Oct. 3rd, 2024

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), and consistent with the policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Agreement to Amend the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America for the Sharing of Visas and Immigration Information”, done at Ottawa on July 19.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, entitled “Reducing the Harms Caused to Canadian Fish Stocks by Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing”.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table the Conservative supplemental report to the fisheries committee report on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Canada's fisheries are a shared resource that belongs to Canadians, and the government is entrusted with managing and conserving fisheries for the benefit of future generations. The committee received shocking testimony in this study. From the Fraser River in British Columbia to St. Marys Bay in Nova Scotia, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has failed to deliver leadership to ensure Canada's fisheries are conserved through enforcement of federal laws and regulations.

In our supplementary report, Conservatives recommend actions that must be taken to deal with illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Canada, which the government has ignored. The time for action is now.

Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the 20th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, presented on Wednesday, May 8, be concurred in.

I will be splitting my time with the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

The Liberals have let Canadians down. They have broken another promise. They promised a Canada disability benefit that would lift persons with disabilities out of poverty, but they did not deliver. Those in the disability community are angry, and they should be; it is obvious that the government failed to listen to them.

Disability advocates and organizations, including the government's very own advisory council, were ignored by cabinet when it released a Canada disability benefit of $200 a month. Of course, this amount is woefully inadequate. In consultation with community, the Liberals heard about the barriers of the disability tax credit and how many low-income people with disabilities were unable to access it; however, that is what the Liberals decided to propose to deliver.

After years of waiting and official input from 8,000 Canadians, and after receiving over 5,000 pieces of official input, this is what the government came up with. Either it did not try to live up to its commitment or it did not care. The government knows what this benefit needs to include, yet the cabinet acted on none of it. This is a cruel and callous government that continues to leave the most vulnerable behind.

I tried to imagine what the discussion was like at that cabinet table. Liberals must have discussed how choosing the absolute minimum amount of a benefit would hurt people. While discussing how low they could go, knowing that they would be hurting people, did they laugh? Did they laugh knowing that persons with disabilities cannot afford their rent or food? I want the government to explain how it could propose what it did.

However, the Conservatives are no better. Their history is one of cuts and more cuts. They have never invested in persons with disabilities, and they are certainly not going to now. In fact, they voted against the disability benefit, dental care for persons with disabilities, diabetes medication for persons with disabilities, child care for persons with disabilities, contraception for persons with disabilities and school food programs for persons with disabilities. It goes on and on.

Why has the NDP brought this debate to the House today? We brought it to tell the government that there is still time for it to fix its deadly mistake. The Liberals can make good on their promise to the disability community. They can fix the benefit. Their cabinet has the power. All the consultation is in. They have heard what is needed. Now, they just need to get to work. It is urgent. No one else should die on the Liberals' watch, and that is not overstating it. Suicides, unnecessary MAID and deaths by poverty are a reality in this country, and the government must do better.

Over one million persons with disabilities are living in poverty, and during committee study on the disability benefit, Employment and Social Development Canada shared a comparison between the highest poverty lines per province and the standard amount of provincial disability supports, which is inadequate. Not a single province provides income supports to persons with disabilities that are even close to the poverty line. These numbers are from 2020; with inflation, the gaps are surely higher now. Those gaps do not even include the additional cost of living with a disability in this ablest country.

This benefit needs immediate change. It needs to be raised to an adequate income that truly lifts persons with disabilities out of poverty, including the costs of a disability. This $200 is an insult. This is a new benefit for a new generation. It needs to live up to the expectations of the community and fulfill its legislative commitments. The time is now to have proper income supports for persons with disabilities.

It is simple to explain what needs to be fixed. This $200 a month is profoundly inadequate. It is hidden behind an inaccessible disability tax credit, which is totally unacceptable. There is no protection from clawbacks, which needs to be changed.

It is a disgrace that the Liberal government does not care about the impact of clawbacks. A person with disabilities relying on the income benefits they are entitled to knows that clawbacks are deadly. Anyone living in poverty knows this. The benefit needs to be protected from clawbacks.

I think about the CERB. Many Canadians applied for the CERB in good faith and got it. Now, we have a cruel and callous federal government that has decided it is a good idea to start targeting people already living in poverty to get their CERB back. The government knows that people are living in poverty. It knows that the incomes of the people it is going after are the lowest in Canada, but it is still doing it. At the same time, it is giving free rides to the greediest corporate CEOs.

This benefit also needs to get into people's bank accounts right away. There is absolutely no reason for the government to wait until 2025 to deliver income supports for people who are hurting now. There is still time to do what is right, which can be stated in two words: “fix it”.

Persons with disabilities continue to live in poverty, with no relief from the government. We have seen rents soar over the last year, pushing many Canadians out of the housing market; they are unable to afford safe and adequate housing. For persons with disabilities, accessing housing that meets their needs is nearly impossible. When we add discrimination on top of that, we find that more and more stories are coming out from across Canada about the reality of persons with disabilities living rough, living in the streets. We see it right here in Ottawa. Persons with disabilities are forced into homelessness because of the lack of affordable housing options. Organizations, including food banks, are at a breaking point because more people are relying on these services.

Many persons with disabilities do not have an adequate level of income, because of discrimination. What the cabinet has brought forward for the Canada disability benefit is discriminatory. Many persons with disabilities are currently using 80% to 90% of their incomes to pay for housing alone.

I end by saying that the Liberals promised “nothing without us”. They should not disappoint. I ask the cabinet not to deny the human rights of persons who have disabilities. They should fix it.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is really important for us to recognize that the government has actually developed and put into place a disability program in which individuals with disability are receiving money. This is the first time ever that this has actually been put into place, and the current progressive government has done so on a number of different files. Yes, it is $200. Yes, it would be nice if it were more than that.

At the very least, let us acknowledge that this is a significant step forward. I think we could all agree that it has gone from being absolutely non-existent to a program that is providing some support. I see that as a positive first step.

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

Mr. Speaker, I was wondering what those cabinet discussions were about, and now I know. They were not about actually writing legislation.

The government is not offering a benefit that upholds human rights. It is talking about what is nice and not nice. I am talking about people who are committing suicide, choosing unnecessary MAID, living on the street because they cannot afford rent and have lost their housing, and not eating for days at a time because they do not have access to food. This is not an idea about what is nice and what is not nice. It is a violation of human rights.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, time and time again, we hear the NDP get up in the House of Commons and talk about how terrible the Liberal government is. They talk about how all these terrible things are happening in this country because of the Liberal government and how horrible it has been as a government. However, their party has helped keep the Liberals in power for the last three years.

If the member really has conviction behind what she is saying, is she going to finally stop supporting the government she thinks is so terrible and vote non-confidence in it?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am in my sixth decade in this country, and I have lived all across Canada. The Conservatives have been in government many times in my life, and they are worse. I would not want to have a Conservative government. A Conservative government made sure that I did not have child care, had to pay for my own contraceptive and did not have the access to housing that was required.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I was not surprised by the Liberals' response. They voted against pensions yesterday. They are patting themselves on the back. They voted against my bill for a guaranteed livable basic income in addition to other supports meant for specific and special needs, which would have lifted people with disabilities out of poverty. At every turn they have continued to be front and centre in violating the human rights of people within the disability community.

The member said that the Conservatives would be worse. I agree with her, because they have voted against every measure to assist people living in poverty. What does she think needs to be done to deal with the issue head-on?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre for the work that she has done to lift indigenous women out of poverty.

I mentioned earlier that the Liberals' choices on income supports for Canadians are killing people. We know this is true for murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, and the Liberals still continue to do nothing on the calls for justice.

What the Liberals need to do is start supporting people who are not their rich CEO friends with every kind of support that is available in Canada.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot I could talk about, but I am going to limit myself to one aspect of my colleague's speech, for which I thank her. I would also like to acknowledge her commitment to people living with disabilities. She is very passionate about this issue. That is what I wanted to tell her.

In her speech, she talked about people with disabilities and this long overdue benefit. Organizations in my riding, like the Dynamique des handicapés de Granby et région, or the DHGR, have questions. They want to know where this matter stands. They know that people with disabilities need this supplement.

What would my colleague say to them?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government needs to start delivering an adequate income immediately. It has the money; it can make it happen and it needs to do it.

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

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost I want to thank my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam for all of her advocacy and work. It is clear that we have an advocate and an ally for people living with disabilities across Canada, and I am incredibly proud of the work that is being done.

This is a very important debate for us to be having today. We should be debating the issue every day until people living with disabilities are lifted out of poverty and have access to their basic human rights. This is what we should be talking about until it is done, and it is so far from where it needs to be.

I do not understand how we live in such a wealthy country, Canada, and people living with disabilities are expected to make ends meet with such a minimal amount of funds. I do not know whether anybody in the chamber has been to the grocery store lately, but there is just nowhere near enough money going to people living with disabilities to be able to keep food on the table, keep a roof over their head and be able to make ends meet.

We know that almost one million people across Canada are living with disabilities, and we know that the numbers are going to continue to increase as we have inadequate health care in place and inadequate access to mental health supports. We are setting ourselves up for a disaster moving forward if we do not look at how we can adequately support people so they are able to make ends meet.

There are many pieces that we know we can be doing to lift people living with disabilities out of poverty, yet we are not doing that. It is incredibly frustrating. As a result of the work of the NDP, there has been a national disability benefit finally moving forward. This is a huge move in the right direction. Absolutely, the Liberals worked with us, although it sure was not easy pulling them along to put the disability benefit into place.

It was a win for people living with disabilities, but instead, the Liberal government put into place $200 a month for people living with disabilities. It is nowhere near enough. I have heard from people living with disabilities who have said that this is “a slap in the face”. It is a slap in the face to say to them, “Here is $200 a month to be able to make ends meet.” That does not even cover the very basics of what they require.

There have been consultations with people living with disabilities. We have all the information we need, and now it is time to see the solutions being put into place. One of those solutions is, first of all, to raise the national disability benefit to ensure that people living with disabilities are no longer living in poverty; $200 a month is not the amount needed. That is the very first thing we know we can do.

Another thing we can do is make sure there is a system set up that allows people to apply for the disability benefit in a way that does not have barrier after barrier. We heard from people living with disabilities, prior to the benefit's recently having been implemented, that it cannot be tied to the tax credit. We know there are barriers to accessing the tax credit, but the Liberal government implemented the benefit in a way that requires it to be attached to the tax credit. It makes no sense.

Recently I hosted a workshop in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, and I am so thankful I had my colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby there with me, to talk to people in Nanaimo—Ladysmith about how to access the disability tax credit. With very little advertising or information having been put out, the room was filled; there were no seats left. The room was filled with people who are struggling to make ends meet and are experiencing endless barriers in being able to access the disability tax credit. We know that the system to access the disability tax credit is set up in an ableist way, which is not the way to set up a system for people to access money they need and deserve.

During the workshop, I received endless questions from people about how they apply for the disability tax credit, and it became very evident to me that the system is full of barriers. What is interesting is that we know that years ago, the government used to put into place people who would go into communities to discuss with people and help people with applications. All of that is gone; it has been cut. People are left to their own devices to try to sort out how to access the funds they need and deserve.

Clearly there are huge barriers in being able to access the disability tax credit, and now the government has tied the national disability benefit to the tax credit. Instead, people living with disabilities are asking for the disability benefit to be tied to the provincial and territorial benefits. This step would allow people who are already accessing funds through the provinces and territories to also receive the national disability benefit. We know that this is a system that would reduce barriers and allow people to access the supports.

There are clearly some solutions that could be put into place. For the disability benefit, we also need to make sure that the Liberal government is working with provinces and territories to ensure that there are not any clawbacks. It is not good enough for the federal government to put into place a benefit to help lift people out of poverty, which has yet to happen. I hope that this is what we do see. We also need to ensure that the provinces and territories are not going to be clawing back the benefit once the disability benefit is received. In the end, if there is a clawback, people again are going to continue to live in poverty.

I could go on. Clearly the issue is near and dear to my heart, because I am incredibly frustrated to see a government that is not putting the rights and the best interests of people living with disabilities at the forefront. People are reaching out to me, and they are exhausted with the system that has set them up for failure, the system that keeps them in the cycle of poverty. They are unable to get out of the cycle of poverty because of the systems that have been put into place by the government.

The Conservatives are, by far, nowhere near better. I am so concerned about Conservatives standing up and saying that they have the solutions for people living with disabilities, while at the same time they cut, cut, cut. They cut the supports and the programs that people need in order to make ends meet. They cut the health care programs. While the Conservatives were in government, 800,000 affordable homes were lost. They voted against dental care. How many people living with disabilities in Nanaimo—Ladysmith have come up to me and shared with me that they are finally accessing the health care that they need to be able to get their teeth fixed?

The Conservatives made cuts to mental health supports. The Liberals have not fixed the problem. Why is it that people cannot access mental health supports? If we want to look just at the financial side of this, how is it cost-effective to be looking at helping people once the situation has gotten so complex, rather than looking at getting help to people who need the help when they need it?

I could go on for much longer, because this is what we need to be talking about in the House. This is exactly what we have been elected to do: to represent people in our communities. People living with disabilities are struggling to make ends meet. People living with disabilities in our communities are in pain and they need to see members of Parliament standing up for them to get them the help they need and deserve.

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

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of other initiatives that the government has actually taken in a very proactive way to support individuals with disabilities. I am thinking in particular about the enabling accessibility fund, which has done a lot of wonderful work in terms of ensuring more accessibility.

I am wondering whether the member could provide her thoughts in regard to why it is important that the federal government not only created the program but also continues to have the program in place because mobility is so critical important to today's society.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member's question brings up another thing I wanted to talk about, which is how costly it is for people living with disabilities to make ends meet.

Issues of accessibility, like getting to where they need to go, such as getting to appointments, or affording their medications, these are additional day-to-day costs for people living with disabilities, yet they are expected to live on an income that does not even lift them out of poverty.

A lot of work needs to be done, and my hope is that we will see the Liberal government put into place these supports for people living with disabilities today.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we heard both NDP members of Parliament reference Conservative approaches to disability. I would point out that during our time in government, our finance minister, Jim Flaherty, known as a champion for the disability community, introduced measures to help Canadians with disabilities in every single budget, including ready, willing and able; the RDSP; the employment works program; and the Canadian autism partnership working group. In this Parliament, the only party fighting against the extension of MAID for people whose sole issue is disability is the Conservative Party.

I want to point out one thing. She said that the Conservative government decreased health care payments. We hear that all the time. The fact is that our Conservative government increased transfers for health care by 6% every single year.

Why does the member and her party continue to spread the falsehood?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge that there are good people in all parties. I do not know the member who he just spoke about, but let us look at the record of the Conservative government. Let us look at how the Conservatives have consistently voted. They have voted against dental care, pharmacare and programs that people living with disabilities need and deserve.

We can have well-intentioned members of Parliament in all parties, but if we look at the actual record of the Conservative Party, it is nowhere near being there for people living with disabilities.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I usually do not need to speak so loudly for my colleague from Nanaimo—Ladysmith to hear me, but she changed seats so now I have to talk a bit louder.

I am happy we are taking this up today because it is an important subject. It affects a huge number of people in communities across Quebec and Canada, including my riding of Drummond. I have had conversations recently about the care these people are receiving for their social integration so they can have a decent standard of living and, in particular, so they can access services, such as cultural activities. This is an issue that concerns me particularly, but perhaps I digress.

My question for my colleague may not seem relevant to today's topic, but it is. I am deeply concerned about the way caregivers are being treated. These individuals play an essential role in the lives of persons with disabilities. Caregivers often have to sacrifice their careers and their savings to take care of a disabled loved one.

I would like to know whether my colleague has an opinion on the way these individuals are treated, these people who make sacrifices and put their lives on hold to care for a loved one in need.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his work. We absolutely know the impacts of people living with disabilities. We know that it impacts the entire families, their loved ones, and we need to have systems set up to help. Everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect. That is why I hope everybody will look at putting into place a guaranteed livable basic income. That will resolve many of the issues we are talking about today.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to speak to such an important issue. We, as a government, have made significant progress on the issue of people with disabilities. In great part, I attribute that to some of the people who make up the Liberal caucus, who, day in and day out, look at ways to ensure the government is moving forward on this very important file. If we look at some of the actions we have taken as a government, there is a reason to feel confident that it understands and wants to be there for people with disabilities in a very real and tangible way.

I had the opportunity to ask a question of the member who moved concurrence in the report, and I will go into some of the recommendations of the report. Before I do that, I want to acknowledge our Minister of Sport, who was the minister responsible for people with disabilities. I can recall a number of years ago, her standing in the chamber during the pandemic and giving a passionate speech about people with disabilities, the challenges they were going through, particularly during the pandemic, and how the government was trying to deal with and provide direct support to those people during that time. It was not an easy task because there was no data bank per se. However, the minister was determined, supported by the government, to come up with that data bank of sorts to ensure the government could give that one time payment. That was the right thing to do.

During the pandemic, the Government of Canada understood that it needed to help people. We saw that in a wide spectrum of supports. For the first time, we saw a government that took a segment of society and went even further with respect to supporting it, for a number of different reasons, some of which were referred to by the NDP member who brought forward the concurrence motion. That is why I am some what supportive, in principle, of some of the things she put on the record. In fairness, we need to look at where we are coming from and where we are going to on the issue of people with disabilities.

I have been a parliamentarian for well over 30 years. My first experience in dealing with disabilities was before I was a parliamentarian. When I was associated with the Winnipeg North Federal Liberal Association, we went into a downtown Winnipeg block with a gentleman by the name of Gary Montgomery, who had a disability. When we walked into his unit, it had been customized to accommodate his needs. From that moment forward, it gave me some new insight into the issues relating to people with disabilities. I truly believe, as I know my colleagues in the Liberal caucus believe, that mobility is critically important, and moving that forward and dealing with those types of issues is something for which we should all strive.

When we talk about the issue of poverty, we know a higher percentage overall of individuals with disabilities are put into that position, and the government can do something. Through the different levels of government, there is a lot of patchwork, but for the first time we saw the single greatest increase in the budget line last year. Over $6 billion were committed to a new national program to support Canadians with disabilities.

What really surprises me is the extent to which we are being criticized, that the $6 billion were not enough. We should be looking at some of the comments that have been put on the record with respect to that. First, establishing the fund recognizes the very real need that has been there not just in the last year or two, but virtually since the beginning of Canada's Confederation in 1870 and even prior, where there were extra needs for people with disabilities.

For the very first time, we actually have a national program, supported by $6 billion. That is a significant amount of money, and it is money that is well spent. The government has a lot of priorities. I would challenge any member of the House, whether Conservative, New Democrat, Bloc or Green, to show me another government in the last 50 or so years that has been as progressive as this Liberal government has been on a number of different files. Many of those files have a direct benefit for people with disabilities.

When the government commits $198 billion over 10 years to our national health care plan, certain sectors of our society will benefit more by having that sense of security. Our disability community is one of those sectors, as are seniors. This government has put a high priority on seniors and people with disabilities. We only need to look at where those investments have been made. That is where we will see the priorities. Health care is a big one. That is number one from my perspective and from the perspective of many of my colleagues within the Liberal caucus.

When we think of health care, it also includes the expansion of the dental system. The ones that benefit the most through the dental care program are those individuals with the least amount of money. When New Democratic members talk about individuals who have a disadvantage because of their disability and their ability to get income, not exclusively, but often, those individuals will benefit directly from the dental program. The Conservatives voted against that program.

There was one comment from the minister that I thought was cute, and that was that the Conservatives were worse. I am thinking of a bumper sticker, and that is an absolute. Virtually on every topic, we will find the Conservatives are worse. That should be a good motivator for anyone to keep the Conservatives in opposition indefinitely, based on their history and performance in providing supports for people with disabilities, for any initiative from the national government on supporting people with disabilities, and our seniors.

We can think of the pharmacare program. Here we are, putting in place the groundwork for a national pharmacare program for people who have diabetes. I would suggest that that is just a starting point, along with free contraception. I like to think that there is great potential for things like shingles, and other issues. These are ways to expand a pharmacare program that would help, in particular, people who have economic challenges for a wide spectrum of reasons. However, we have a Conservative Party that opposes even those types of initiatives, although it likes to say that it supports people with disabilities.

With respect to the budgetary measures, I made reference to the $6-billion clause. By the way, the Conservatives voted against that, but there is also the accessibility fund that was created by the government. Are there any guesses to how the leader of the Conservative Party voted on that? It is no surprise: He and his minions voted against it. At the end of the day, these types of programs make a tangible, real difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I just heard the hon. member refer to members of Parliament in our party as minions. I defer to you, Mr. Speaker, as to whether that is parliamentary language. The level of discourse from this member is descending into name-calling.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

We are all honourable members, and I know the Chair has been very—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I have the chair right now. I have the microphone, and I am suggesting that we all listen for just a moment. The Speaker has made a decision that we call each other by our riding names and that we try to stay away from name-calling, as best we can, in the chamber.

I will ask the hon. member for Winnipeg North to retract that and continue.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I retract it. I can assure the member who stood up on the point of order that I was not talking about individuals, but I retract the comment.

I can appreciate that, when truth and facts start to be talked about in the chamber, the Conservatives feel a little uneasy. That is just the way it is. The truth hurts, and at times there are a lot of hurt feelings across the way. That is usually when members—