Kate Young

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 7th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pride to rise and speak to budget 2021, the maiden budget from the first woman to hold the title of finance minister. In fact, as many parliamentarians know, we usually get a hard copy of the budget handed to us as the finance minister would rise in the House to speak, but due to COVID, we had to make do with getting the online version. I hear there are hard copies available, and I am hoping to get my hands on one, because I definitely want the finance minister to autograph it because it is so historic.

Given how hard the pandemic has impacted Canadian women, I do feel it is appropriate that someone familiar with the challenges women face, both at home and on the job, is leading the course forward, but let me be perfectly clear: This is a budget that is good for all Canadians. It is forward-thinking, and the changes announced in the budget are what Canada needs as we navigate a new path through COVID and after we wrestle this pandemic to the ground.

I believe it is important for a government to always strive to do better, to make changes for the better. This means exploring and implementing new ideas, evaluating how things have been done and whether they can be improved, and adapting decades-old social support systems to meet the needs of today's families. This budget positions Canada for the future on all fronts and includes new ideas, but it also contains some that are not particularly new at all.

As we all know, we are currently facing the gravest global crisis since the Second World War. Over 75 years ago, many women, including many mothers, had to go to work in essential war industries to provide for their families and fill the labour shortage left by those, mostly men, who were in the services. From 1942 to 1946, the Dominion-Provincial Wartime Agreement allowed for subsidized day nursery care for mothers working in essential war industries. Costs were shared fifty-fifty between the federal government and participating provinces, and each province had its own standards and regulations.

Of course, at war's end, the centres closed as most women returned to working in the home, seemingly not needed to keep our economy humming. Also, many women were forced to leave their jobs when they got pregnant, which is exactly what happened to my mother when she became pregnant with my brother back in 1952.

Despite the changes in society, the debate for returning to subsidized day care did not disappear. In fact, it grew louder in the following decades as more and more women joined the workforce, so much so that it was included in the report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in 1970. I was a teenager at the time and was encouraged to expect my life to be different from my mother's. I was determined to have a career and a family, but it was not going to be easy. The Status of Women report dealt explicitly with making child care affordable and accessible, including making sure that fees would be affixed to a sliding scale based on the means of the parents.

Having been a working mother, I know very well that having one parent stay home to look after children or relying on family is not always an option. Our government has increased the Canada child benefit, which parents could choose to put toward day care, but in a city like London, where I am from, monthly child care fees average out to around $1,200 a child. Maybe that is doable for some families, if they have only one child, but as soon as they decide to have another, it becomes almost impossible to cover the costs.

Let us face it, although times have started to change, caring for children still primarily falls to female partners or mothers. We hear about how this pandemic will go down in history as the “she-cession”. Someone recently commented that maybe it would be better to call it the “mom-cession”, and I think they are right.

The economic impact of this pandemic has been felt most keenly by women, including marginalized women, not only because some have had to stay home from work to care for children, but also because industries dominated by female and marginalized workers have been among the hardest hit by measures introduced to keep our communities safe. This is in direct contrast to the recession of 2008, when it was male-dominated industries that were the hardest hit.

As we look to rebuild from this crisis and build back better, we must make sure we do so in a way that helps those who need it most. We need to make sure that women and marginalized communities can be fully engaged in the economy. TD Economics and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce are just two of the institutions that have separately stated that a national child care program will help facilitate this.

In fact, they say it is critical to do so. They say a child care program will add between $100 billion to $155 billion to Canada's GDP, because it will allow more engagement in the economy for women and marginalized communities. This is a sound investment based on recommendations made by reliable economic experts. Child care is no longer a social “nice to have”; it is now an economic “must have”.

Our government is also moving forward with strong investments in the charitable and not-for-profit sectors to continue supporting them during this difficult time.

The importance of this sector to Canada and the lives of everyday Canadians is incalculable. While our government made sure to expand emergency supports to the organizations in this sector, they still need help. Employing millions of Canadians, many of them women, these organizations provide critical services, from child care to fitness to education and community supports, to communities of all sizes.

We have all heard stories from our ridings about not-for-profits and charitable organizations that are hanging on by a thread through this pandemic. We have seen local branches of the YMCA close their doors. We have seen legions struggling. It is imperative that we step in to provide more support and strengthen this critical pillar of Canadian society.

Over the past year, I have worked with my colleagues in the government caucus and parliamentarians from the other place to draw attention to the critical plight charities and non-profits are facing. Budget 2021 delivered on our calls for support with $400 million to help these organizations adapt and modernize through the economic recovery.

It also proposes $755 million to establish a social finance fund, which could attract $1.5 billion in private sector capital to support the development of the social finance market, and that would be creating thousands of new jobs in the sector.

We are also proposing to launch public consultations with charities on potentially increasing the disbursement quota and updating the tools at the CRA's disposal regarding charities, which could increase support for the sector by $1 billion to $2 billion annually.

I am particularly focused on that last point as it responds to some of the recommendations made in a report released by the other place in 2019, called “Catalyst for Change: A Roadmap to a Stronger Charitable Sector”. The Senate report made 42 recommendations to modernize and strengthen this sector in Canada, and I am very pleased to see the government begin taking these recommendations under consideration.

Budget 2021 proposes to provide additional support to students and young Canadians who are facing an uncertain future due to the pandemic, and the increasing devastation due to climate change. We must do better for our younger generations. Too many are struggling with crippling student debt and face daunting challenges right now in finding work.

Western University and Fanshawe College are both located in London, and many of my constituents are students and graduates of both post-secondary institutions. This has given me an opportunity to see first-hand the direct impacts COVID-19 has had on this generation. Along with the mental health impacts, young Canadians have been particularly hard hit by layoffs and workplace closures.

While we introduced measures to help the students over the past year who needed support through programs like the Canada emergency student benefit, doubling the Canada summer grant and waiving the interest on the federal portion of Canada student loans for the next year, more needs to be done. We listened to young Canadians from coast to coast to coast on what steps we could take to help them.

Budget 2021 takes those steps. We propose to extend the waiver on interest and maintain the doubling of Canada student grants until 2023. Waiving the interest allows graduates already in repayment to save money. Students and young Canadians will also benefit from the new Canada recovery hiring program, which will allow small businesses to hire new workers faster and at less cost to the businesses as they reopen.

Let us not forget the Canada summer jobs program that is helping over 100 young people just in my riding secure summer jobs this year.

Younger generations are the future of our country, and this budget is investing in them. We must move forward from this crisis, not backward. We must make our world better, not maintain the status quo. This budget moves us forward, and I am proud to support it.

[Health, April 28th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is a harsh reality that cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death in Canadian children. Pediatric cancers are different from adult cancers; for one thing, they grow faster. One of my constituents, Kim Vander Schelde, has watched her daughter Olivia struggle with cancer for most of her life. Kim asked our government to do more for childhood cancer research.

Can the Prime Minister tell us what the budget will do to support pediatric cancer research and help these brave children and their families?

[Standing Orders of the House, April 27th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise virtually in the House of Commons today in support of private member's motion, Motion No. 38, brought forward by my great friend and hon. colleague, the MP for Etobicoke North. This motion would create a permanent standing committee on science and research.

I had the pleasure of serving as the parliamentary secretary to science, working alongside the former minister, and I can say that it was the most rewarding time I have had as a member of Parliament.

Growing up in London, Ontario, I was keenly aware of the amazing research that has been done at Western University over the years. Sir Frederick Banting was working at Western 100 years ago when his research for a lecture inspired his idea that provided the key to discovering insulin. Dr. Vladimir Hachinski, the distinguished professor of neurology at Western, transformed the understanding, diagnosis and prevention of the two greatest threats to the brain: stroke and dementia. Dr. Cal Stiller was Canada's major voice in organ transplantation during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He championed innovation in health and biomedical research and pioneered multi-organ transplantation.

These are just a few of the many laureates that are honoured in Canada's medical hall of fame based in London, and that is not even mentioning some of the stars in the science and research world today, like Ravi Menon, the pioneer in the use of MRI for brain imaging, or the applied research under way at Fanshawe College. Suffice it to say that I think members can understand why I am so passionate about this as a parliamentarian.

Being the parliamentary secretary to this important portfolio made me understand the depth of Canada's scientific and research community. What this experience made me realize is that science and research must be celebrated, promoted and supported, and if we have learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that science must be respected and believed for all of us to be safe and healthy.

It was once said that the good thing about science is that it is true whether or not one believes in it. We must bear this in mind as we are challenged to understand the world we live in. We need guidance and we need knowledge, and as parliamentarians, we need to ask questions of scientists and researchers to find solutions to the problems that confront us.

The goal of the minister of science was to unmuzzle scientists, to make them realize that their voices were being heard. I am pleased to say that during my time as PS to science, the government restored respect in the science community and made the largest investment in science research in our country's history. I am not for a second taking any credit for this important step. I was simply at the right place at the right time.

As a government, and under the leadership of our minister of science, we delivered in budget 2018 great news for science with the announcement of the largest increase in new funding for fundamental research through the granting councils in Canadian history with an investment of $925 million over five years. We also put money into the Canada Foundation for Innovation to cover the cost of running research labs and buying equipment for the Canada research chairs program to support the country's top professors, money to support fast-breaking research, and investments to collect data on government-funded researchers and to improve equality and diversity in academia.

It was apparent then and still is today that science and research play an important part in moving Canada forward, but it does not happen overnight. We need governments that have a long-term vision and that recognize that scientists need long-term support to be successful.

We also need to encourage our next generation to choose STEM or STEAM, as it is quite often referred to today. We need to bring young girls and women into the fold and make them believe that their future career choices can be science, technology, engineering and math, and, of course, the arts are important, too.

I was especially pleased when it was announced that we were investing $5.9 million over five years to Let's Talk Science, which is located in my riding of London West. With this funding, Let's Talk Science will educate young people on climate change through hands-on activities, projects, events and digital resources. Let's Talk Science is helping youth learn to take risks and develop the persistence to find innovative solutions to real-world problems.

The world is a better place when our young people are encouraged to be curious and pursue their passion for science. As parliamentarians, we must do the same, so I would like to read what Motion No. 38 is calling on this House to do.

It states:

(i) recognize that science and research are of critical importance to all Canadians, including, but not limited to, improving the health of Canadians, improving the environment, driving innovation and economic growth, and improving the quality of life of Canadians, (ii) recognize that science and research are more important than ever, as the economic, environmental and social challenges we face are greater, (iii) affirm its commitment to science, research and evidence-informed decision-making

How can we not agree with the motion? By agreeing with it, we need to make sure science and research get the attention they deserve by giving parliamentarians a chance to meet with people in the science community and hear what they have to say. I cannot say this more clearly: At no time in our history have science and research been more important. COVID-19 has done what few natural or people-made disasters have ever done. It has literally and figuratively stopped us in our tracks.

I know I am not allowed to use the member's name in the House, so I will refer to her again as the MP for Etobicoke North. Many people are unaware that she was the first scientist to become the minister of science in Canada, and prior to entering politics, she served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that won the Nobel Prize in 2007. However, it is her work on the influenza pandemic of 1918 that is so interesting, especially in light of COVID-19. She published a book in 2003 about her expedition to uncover the cause of the flu epidemic. The book is entitled Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus.

After 100 years of research, we are still learning. We are learning what works to eradicate viruses like COVID and how to stop them before they spread. We cannot let it happen again. As parliamentarians, it is our responsibility to make sure it does not. It is our responsibility to ask the big questions and challenge the assumptions. This standing committee would give us a venue to do just that.

One of the first decisions the member for Etobicoke North made as the minister of science was to reinstate the position of the government chief science advisor. Dr. Mona Nemer has been working with her G7 counterparts to launch a new global partnership to fight pandemics. Dr. Nemer has had the opportunity to appear before a number of committees, but a stand-alone committee dealing solely with science and research could rely on her expertise on a more regular basis. She could be called upon to navigate some of the challenges we face, including the so-called brain drain, early career research, stem cell research and the ongoing issue of women in research who are not taken seriously.

In 2018, the minister of science drew a line in the sand for universities in this country: Hire more women, people with diverse backgrounds, indigenous people and people with disabilities as Canada research chairs or be prepared to face funding cuts. Some considered this heavy-handed, but it was necessary to move the dial.

Canadian science grows stronger as our research community better reflects the diversity of background, experience and perspective of Canadians themselves. If we are to remain competitive, Canada simply must have more diversity in senior academic roles and in those coveted research chairs. This is but one issue that a permanent standing committee on science and research could take a closer look at and delve into, with witnesses who could tell us first-hand about their experiences and push us as a government to make better public policy and make government science fully available to the public.

Every day, we are confronted with problems that need scientists and researchers to help solve. It is time for parliamentarians to take a closer look at this and vote in favour of establishing a permanent standing committee on science and research.

[London Athlete, April 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to take the time to recognize Londoner Maggie MacNeil. This summer, Maggie will be representing Canada in her first Olympics, in Tokyo, as a member of Swimming Canada’s team.

I spoke to Maggie last spring after the pandemic hit, when many athletic training centres had to close, but she would not let that keep her from training. Her parents set her up in their backyard pool, where she spent months honing her skills.

Maggie, a London Aquatic Club grad, won gold in 2019 at the FINA world aquatics championships in the 100 metre butterfly. In that race, she not only beat the reigning four-time world champion, but set a new Commonwealth, Americas and Canadian record.

At only 19 years of age, Maggie’s skill, hard work and determination show that she has a bright future ahead. I ask members to join me in wishing Maggie and her teammates all the best as they head to Tokyo for team Canada.

[London Agriculture and Agri-food, January 26th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, London may be known as the forest city, but with more than 7,000 people employed in agriculture and agri-food industries, we could call it the food city. The importance of this sector to my community cannot be overstated.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital role this sector plays in supporting the health and well-being of Canadians.

Last week, I was so proud to announce FedDev Ontario's $7.2 million investment in the Western Fair Association, which will help expand the work of the local agri-food business accelerator known as The Grove. Through this investment, 550 new jobs will be created and over 100 additional jobs will be maintained.

I am proud to represent London West.

[Volunteerism, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, today I want to call attention to a very special member of the London West community, Ellen Lundberg. Ellen has long been a cherished volunteer at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology and is a prolific quilter. Since the pandemic began, instead of turning fabric into beautiful handmade quilts, she has been turning fabric into equally beautiful handmade face masks.

Since March, Ellen has made and donated more than 5,000 masks to help keep people safe. She has handed them out free of charge to people from across our local community, including making Winnie the Pooh masks for children at a local hospital. Like a single patch on a quilt, Ellen's masks are just one part of a much larger pattern. Ellen is part of the London-Middlesex chapter of the national group, Canada Sews, which has donated thousands of masks to help health authorities in northern and remote communities.

I hope all my colleagues will join me in recognizing the efforts of Ellen and Canada Sews in helping all Canadians mask up to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

[FedDev Ontario, November 4th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be the MP for London West and I am privileged to highlight the diversity and opportunities in our region.

Thanks to investments from FedDev Ontario, three companies will receive a total of $5.6 million that will create 115 new jobs. Factory Bucket in London, Oxford Pallet in Norwich and Titan Trailers in Tillsonburg and Delhi will all be able to increase production thanks to this investment.

Factory Bucket has developed a suite of innovative software products to help manufacturers digitize, creating 20 skilled jobs in London. Oxford Pallet will hire 20 new employees in Norwich by expanding production and further reduce waste by recycling old pallets. Titan Trailers, which designs custom trailers for bulk cargo, has created 75 skilled jobs and more than doubled production.

It is through investments like these, from federal regional development agencies, that our government is helping businesses weather the pandemic storm and build back better.

[Criminal Code, October 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I must admit that I wish the bill went further. I agree that we need to move forward on this so that conversion therapy is outlawed completely. However, we know that in this country we want to make sure to bring everybody onside and that we do this step by step. This is our first step toward that.

I hope that eventually we will be voting on a bill that will completely criminalize conversion therapy in Canada.

[Criminal Code, October 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, this is a step in the right direction. There is no question that religious freedom is a part of what we believe in this country and that will not change.

We know that there could be some more discussion, right up to the Supreme Court, on these issues, which is entirely part of the process. It behooves us to move forward and make sure that we get this right.

[Criminal Code, October 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we know that conversations of this type are difficult, but they must happen. To say that we cannot have conversations would be unrealistic. We must allow for conversation to take place to make sure that young people know they are loved and are part of their community.

This bill would not in any way make it a crime to have those conversations. That is the first step, and it is important and will continue to be important.