Debates of June 11th, 2024

Taxation

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the answer again proves that the minister does not read her own briefing notes. When a small business owner retires and sells their assets, the minister wants to take a bigger piece of that because she could not control her own spending.

Those are the people whom the Liberals call rich. They are people like my own father. If he were alive today, he would be left high and dry in his retirement years, the years when he needed those earnings the most. He started as a taxi driver in this country and went on to invest in a small business, year after year, in a personal corp because he did not have a pension.

How is any of that fair?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, squiggle and squirm as they might, it is really hard to put lipstick on a pig. That is exactly what the Conservatives are trying to do today.

The Conservatives have found themselves unable, when it really counted, to side with working people. They have been unable to vote for fairness, to vote for the nurse, to vote for the plumber, and now they are evading responsibility for that choice. However, we will not let them. We are in favour of fairness, and they are not.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this fast-and-furious finance minister unveiled her latest job-killing scheme to screw over Canada's middle class to bankroll her incompetency. Newcomers such as my family came here for the Canadian dream, had very little, worked hard, saved money and started a small business. She calls them tax cheats and vilifies their success. This job-killing capital gains tax hike will destroy their life's work. They can save it all by cancelling their Disney+.

Before the minister runs away from the microphone again, does she think her attack on small businesses is actually fair?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, for the past eight weeks, the Conservatives have been dithering and delaying and deflecting. They were squirming. They were so uncomfortable because they recognized they had to make a really big choice: Were they actually going to be on the side of working people, Canadians who live paycheque to paycheque, or on the side of multi-millionaires?

Today, we know whose side they are on. We are voting for fairness. The Conservatives are voting against it, as we always knew they would.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister and the leader of the NDP can do as many photo ops with their bikes as they want, but these champagne socialists are taking money from the middle class to give to rich Liberal insiders, their elitist Bay Street buddies and the bloated bureaucracy. This job-killing tax hike vilifies success, punishing small businesses and their workers. That is why GDP per person in Canada is collapsing and Canadians are poor.

Before she spends another billion dollars next week to service her debt, can she tell us if this is fair?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a quote from a debate in the House of Commons: “monstrous increases in capital gains [are] making the rich vastly richer and creating a kind of aristocratic feudal economy”. Does anyone know who said that? It was the member for Carleton. Today, he is leading his party in voting to make those gains even more monstrous by voting in favour of that aristocratic feudal economy.

When we vote for fairness, Conservatives vote against it.

Canadian Heritage

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Sauvons l'ACIC coalition informed us in an open letter that the NFB has decided to modernize its independent filmmaker assistance program. Modernize should mean improve. Unfortunately, this is far from an improvement.

Previously, to have access to NFB editing rooms, there were two conditions: be a filmmaker and have a project funded by a public institution.

The NFB is set to impose three new conditions, including complying with its editorial policy. When a Crown corporation wants to impose a message, that is called propaganda.

Is the minister going to let this slide?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I am well aware that the NFB is currently looking at its program that supports independent filmmakers.

Its mandate is clear: to support a diversity of independent filmmakers, including French-language filmmakers. I will ensure that it continues to fulfill its mandate.

I invite the filmmakers to share their concerns with NFB management, which is independent and will make decisions accordingly.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Pierre Perrault, Norman McLaren, Léa Pool, Micheline Lanctôt, Denys Arcand, Pierre Falardeau and Denis Villeneuve are all Quebec filmmakers who were able to benefit from the NFB, a testing ground for daring independent cinema.

It is a safe bet that none of them would measure up to the NFB's content policies nowadays. More importantly, none of them would agree to submit to them.

We know that the NFB is independent. The minister does not need to remind us of that. However, we were under the impression that our cinema was independent, too.

Can the minister rein in the NFB so that our filmmakers are not hemmed in by its ideological criteria?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, we have always supported the NFB over the years because we know how important it is to nurture the next generation of Quebec and Canadian filmmakers.

As a matter of fact, all the names my colleague mentioned highlight the level of talent, diversity and quality we have here in Quebec and Canada. We will continue to support them. That is why we have increased virtually all our cultural budgets. We know how important that is.

We do it because we believe in our talent, we believe in the importance of culture. We are going to keep doing it.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's independent filmmaker assistance program was working just fine. No one was complaining, but it was not quite restrictive enough for the NFB. This seems to be a running theme with Crown corporations.

Letting artists be artists is no longer an option, I guess. The government has to tell them who to be, what to think, how to express themselves and on what topics. They need to adhere to a certain format and fit into certain boxes at all times.

The situation with the NFB is worrisome. It makes sense that the cultural sector is rallying together and rising up.

Whose side will the minister be on? Will she side with the arts or with state propaganda?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the work of the filmmakers in the coalition and of all those in Quebec who continually stand up to ask institutions to give them adequate support.

Our government is listening. We have proven that with budget after budget since 2015 by bringing in new supports, including support for Telefilm Canada. We support the NFB and we have added money to the Canada Media Fund. All of this is to ensure that there is diversity in terms of content and that filmmakers are able to bring their talent to our screens and promote Quebec and Canada around the world.

We will continue to be there for our culture industry.

Health

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the average doctor is $300,000 in debt from medical school, and the Ontario Medical Association said that the latest NDP-Liberal tax grab would put “further pressures on the viability and sustainability of a fragile system” and “could force existing physicians out of practice and dissuade new grads from practicing in Canada.”

Canadians are in the midst of a health care crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance making it harder for Canadians to find a family doctor?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the critic for his first question in almost a year on the matter of the health care crisis in this country. I can tell him that it is extremely important that nurses, doctors and everybody pay the same tax rate. We want to make sure it is fair. We have been making critical investments, in every province and every territory, of $200 billion. However, in order to make those investments in our health care system, we need a fair and just tax system. We are making sure we do that precisely so that we can make the investments and not have the cuts we would see with the Conservatives.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, every week I speak to Canadians who do not have a family doctor. How is this fair? The elderly, Canadians with chronic diseases, Canadians with mental health struggles, kids with cancer; none of them can access the health care system. How is this fair? The Canadian Medical Association says things are only going to get worse. They say this tax would jeopardize efforts to recruit and retain doctors.

As physicians leave this country en masse, how many Canadians will go without health care due to this NDP-Liberal tax grab?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, a fair and just tax system will not threaten our health care system. What will threaten our health care system is eliminating dental care for seniors, eliminating pharmacare and cutting into health care, and that is exactly what we have seen from the Conservatives. We were able to make, for the next 10 years, 200 billion dollars' worth of investments with provinces and territories. Those are put at direct risk and jeopardy because of Conservative cuts. I find it interesting that the only time they have ever asked health care questions in this House is when we started talking about fairness and making sure that everybody pays their fair share.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of this Prime Minister, more than 2.3 million people in Quebec do not have a family doctor. According to the Journal de Montréal, a retiree named Serge Gagné was told, “You don't belong here. You don't have a family doctor.”

The Canadian Medical Association made it clear that, given the ongoing doctor shortage, “These changes could jeopardize ongoing efforts across Canada to recruit and retain a high-quality health workforce.”

How many families, mothers and seniors will this Prime Minister force to go without a doctor because doctors choose to practise elsewhere?

How is that fair to Mr. Gagné?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this is the first time the Conservative Party has asked questions about our health care system. I find that very interesting because, from my perspective, the threat to that system is not fairness or equality; the threat is costs, pure and simple. The Conservatives want to cancel major investments in dental care, pharmacare and agreements with every province and territory.

We must continue to invest in our health care system.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of this Prime Minister, Quebec farmers are crying out for help. Canadian farmers have been clear. They are saying that, by increasing the capital gains inclusion rate to two-thirds, the government is jeopardizing the success of real intergenerational farm transfers to young farmers across Canada.

The Prime Minister wants to tax farmers in the midst of a food-pricing crisis. The Prime Minister wants to jeopardize the future of farming in the regions.

How is that fair for future generations of farmers?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as the daughter of a farmer, I understand our farmers' situation.

I want to point out that we increased the lifetime exemption for farmers. I also want to point out that Quebec had a choice and that the Quebec finance minister decided to follow the federal government's lead on capital gains because Quebec needs revenue, for example for health care.

Housing

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Jean-René Patry is 80 years old. He has worked his entire life and is still working, although he is starting to feel tired. Even though he works, he is forced to live in his van. With his pension and earnings from odd-jobs, an apartment in Montreal is now beyond his means. All of that is the result of the Liberals and the Conservatives leaving housing in the hands of speculators. Mr. Patry knows full well what is needed: social housing, and the sooner the better. Thousands of people just like him are no longer able to put a roof over their heads.

What does the Minister of Housing have to say to all the people like Mr. Patry across Quebec and Canada?

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, I would tell Mr. Patry that today is a day that will go down in history. Today we are going to implement tax measures that will ensure fairness and allow us to invest in housing, health care and medication. I hope the NDP will follow our lead.

What we are doing today is making sure that we are going to call on multi-millionaires to do a little more to help Mr. Patry.

Persons With Disabilities

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

Mr. Speaker, over one million Canadians with disabilities cannot afford bare necessities. They cannot keep up with groceries, housing or their medication costs.

The Liberals promised that their new Canada disability benefit would lift Canadians with disabilities out of poverty; it will not. The $200 does not even scratch the surface of an adequate income.

Will the finance minister admit the Liberals messed up the rollout of this benefit, listen to the community feedback and fix their botched mess?

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Diversity]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her question.

We are the government that has brought in the disability benefit. We are the government that has funded this benefit within this budget, to the highest tune of $6 billion. There will be 600,000 Canadians who will be supported through this benefit.

This is a critical moment for Canadians, for our government and for all of us working together. I want to thank all who have been advocating and working for this. We are building a fairer and more inclusive Canada.

The Economy

[Iqwinder Gaheer, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian families know that the Liberal government will be there to support them when they need it most.

Government programs, such as $10-a-day child care and a pharmacare system that helps to pay for contraceptives, have allowed a record number of women to enter the workforce. This is huge for Canadian families and the economy.

Can the Minister of Families notify this House how we will continue to advance this progress and further enhance generational fairness?