House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2025, with 48% of the vote.
Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C-78 November 28th, 2024
Madam Speaker, we are giving tax relief to those who need it the most: Canadian workers, Canadian families and Canadian seniors. We will continue to do that.
With respect to more economic growth, I think sales will go up. People will be able to spend a bit more, and we will probably see the government coffers having a little more revenue at the end of the day as well.
Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C-78 November 28th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I think the Liberal government has always had a two-pronged approach to grow the economy and increase the pie. If we grow the economy and increase our GDP growth, then of course we want to give relief to the tax base as much as possible and wherever it is possible. That is why we have targeted relief when it comes to pharmacare, dental care and child care.
We will continue to work to make sure that Canadians get more money in their pockets and get bigger paycheques going forward.
Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C-78 November 28th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I think the member uses very crass language in calling those people, who take their families out for dinner at Christmas, imbeciles. I think that is a very inappropriate word for parents who buy their children books. I think that is a very inappropriate word to call those parents who buy their kids puzzles or children's toys, or who might have a beer or two, or a glass of wine, during the holidays.
I think that is a very derogatory word to call those parents and those folks, who are just trying to enjoy the holidays, give a little cheer to their families and save a few bucks while they are doing it.
Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C-78 November 28th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I think my hon. colleague has not read the bill. The bill is just about a GST tax relief, which would happen from December 14 to February 15. It would immediately give from 5% to 12% relief, depending on the province. That is, consumers will pay less when they go to the till, so the relief would be immediate. It will carry forward into the new year, but there is nothing about the new year itself.
I think the misrepresentations about the carbon rebate have been misleading. The last time the House heard about carbon, gas prices went down. I think they went down to historical lows. Freaking people out about a carbon rebate increase that is going to happen in April is not the way to scare them away from the benefits of this GST relief.
Government Business No. 43—Proceedings on Bill C-78 November 28th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for London North Centre.
I am thankful for the opportunity today to debate Bill C-78.
The past few years have been challenging. It feels like the price of everything has gone up, thanks to global inflation and the need for central banks all over the world to raise interest rates in response to the after-effects of a once-in-a-generation global pandemic. While inflation has cooled and interest rates are dropping, we know that Canadians are not feeling that in their household budgets quite yet. Our government obviously cannot set prices at the checkout, but we can leave Canadians with more money in their pocket to help them afford the things they need and save for the things they want, which is where the measures in Bill C-78 come into effect.
Starting December 14, we are proposing to give a tax break to all Canadians. With a GST/HST exemption across the country, Canadians would be able to buy things like prepared foods, snacks, kids' clothing, Christmas trees, books, puzzles and other children's toys, all tax-free. Lasting until February 15, 2025, this tax break would essentially make all food GST/HST-free and would deliver meaningful savings for Canadians with real relief at the cash register. This relief is about saying to Canadians: “Yes, things have been hard, but they are going to get better.”
Inflation was at 2% in October, which means that inflation has been within the Bank of Canada's target range all year long. The bank has cut interest rates four times now this year. Our economy looks like it is having a soft landing from a COVID recession. We are providing this new support for Canadians who have really gotten our country through a tough time. We are counting on powering a very strong recovery at the end of this year and the beginning of next year.
This new support is about making life a little bit easier at this time of year when costs are highest, because we have the space now to do it. With good economic news, and I just mentioned inflation cooling and interest rates dropping, we are able to do so in a way that is not going to stimulate inflation, but rather is going to help make ends meet and continue our economic growth.
Canada has one of the strongest balance sheets in the world, and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. We have a strong fiscal position, and we are putting it to work to support Canadians with our temporary GST/HST relief. This can also help sustain the pace of our economic recovery. For example, consumer spending per capita has remained somewhat subdued, reflecting a lowering of household purchasing power due to higher inflation, elevated shelter costs and the impact of high interest rates over the past two years. Thankfully, inflation has cooled, interest rates are coming down and our government is delivering a plan to make housing more affordable. However, with some heightened global economic uncertainty, we have witnessed consumers and businesses adopting a more cautious approach when it comes to spending. We all know that the effects of lower interest rates can take time to be felt throughout the economy and make their way to impacting the pocketbooks of everyday Canadians.
Really, the Canadian economy has been operating below its potential capacity for over a year. This has largely been by design, as excess supply has put downward pressure on inflation, and as the monetary policy decisions from the Bank of Canada and other central banks around the world have done their job to stabilize inflation. Rather than reignite inflation, this time the GST relief would simply help Canadians to bridge that gap. It would build on actions that are already saving families and individuals thousands of dollars a year, like the Canada-wide $10-a-day child care system, which has already cut fees for regulated child care to an average of $10 a day or less in over half of all provinces and territories and by 50% or more in all the others. The Canadian dental care plan and the national school food program are saving Canadians hundreds of dollars a year, especially for those Canadians who are least able to carry the costs associated with those expenses. The Canada child benefit continues to lift children out of poverty, and then the Canada workers benefit provides a meaningful boost to our lowest-paid and often most essential workers. These are just a few of the ways that our government is already supporting Canadians, making everyday items cost less and putting more money back into middle-class pockets.
With Bill C-78, we want to deliver new tax relief on groceries and seasonal expenses. This is about helping Canadians celebrate with family and friends and starting 2025 with a little extra money in their pockets. With Bill C-78, we can make life a bit easier, so Canadians have more money for the things they want.
Please join me in calling for all parties to quickly and unanimously pass this legislation.
U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products November 26th, 2024
Madam Speaker, that is the approach the government has been taking. The Prime Minister is meeting with all the premiers of the country to find a proper strategy. My speech did not actually target anybody from the opposition in that regard. I answered a question just before from my colleague as to the approach that the Conservative Party took versus the Liberal government of this tenure.
We need an all-Canada approach. Canada should not freak out; the member is absolutely right. I think the U.S. has more to lose. However, this emergency debate demonstrates that we need a team Canada approach. We need to talk to all the provinces, all the territories and all members of Parliament.
There were some great opposition members at that time who helped. I recall Rona Ambrose helped with the team Canada approach, even though she was from the Conservative Party. She was tasked with it. Brian Mulroney, another great leader of the Conservative Party, jumped in. They acted not in a manner that was detrimental to Canada but in a manner that was supportive. I think those days of Conservative leadership are long gone. The new leadership is more about themselves, as we have seen with other matters.
I thank the member and their party for continuing to show the support for Canada to be strong in this. The Americans would have to capitulate to their own tariffs at the end of the day.
U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products November 26th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I recall that very vividly. It was no small failure. Capitulating after winning victory after victory in the softwood lumber industry has set a very bad precedent since then. I commend our trade ministers for holding their feet to the Americans, winning case after case and not capitulating.
What the member said is no different from what Prime Minister Harper said when we were renegotiating NAFTA. He said we should take any trade deal the Americans give. The Conservative leader of the opposition at the time, Erin O'Toole, said not to put in countervailing tariffs. He was scared to put in any tariffs. However, it was due to those tariffs and strong negotiations that we were able to make an even stronger free trade deal with the United States.
U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Products November 26th, 2024
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my good friend, the member for Vancouver Granville.
There should be no doubt that the Government of Canada places the highest priority on strengthening our trading relations with the United States. For a place like Surrey Centre, this is in no way undiminished, as we are a border city and a port city. Trade is of vital importance. These are indeed unique relations that are tremendously and mutually beneficial to both our nations. Our partnership is not just forged by our shared geography. It is also shared by our similar values, common interests and strong personal connections, which include family connections.
Perhaps most relevant to the subject of our debate today is that our relations are based on deep and powerful economic ties. Millions of jobs depend upon trade and investment between Canada and the United States. We are each other's largest trading partners, with nearly 3.6 billion dollars' worth of goods and services crossing the border each day in 2023.
Our government has worked tirelessly to strengthen and secure the relationship by supporting and helping to ensure the safe flow of goods and people across the border. That is vital to both our countries' economic competitiveness and prosperity, which were key parts of our efforts in securing the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, CUSMA, which went into force in July 2020. This agreement is the anchor for our strong, balanced trading relationship with the United States and the foundation for this relationship is built on the resilience and effective supply chains that carry across all key sectors of the economy. As a result, today, we are each other's largest trade partners with, as I said, nearly 3.6 billion dollars' worth of goods and services crossing the borders each day.
Canada is particularly significant as a secure supplier of energy to the United States' domestic market. Last year, for example, 60% of U.S. crude oil imports originated from Canada. Canada and the U.S. also have a significant investment relationship. The U.S. is the single greatest investor into Canada. These trade and investment relationships support millions of jobs here in Canada. They also support millions of jobs in America. That is because today Canada buys more from the United States than China, Japan and Germany combined. Maintaining and expanding this flow of goods, of investment and of people across the border is absolutely vital for both our countries' economic prosperity.
By the same token, undermining the effectiveness of this relationship by imposing tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States would take us in the opposite direction. There should be no doubt that imposing a 25% tariff on all Canadian products would be harmful to U.S. consumers, U.S. workers and the U.S. economy as a whole. In fact, roughly 70% of Canadian goods exported to the United States are used in the production of other goods or, as they say, advanced manufacturing by U.S. manufacturers. This means that imports from Canada are effectively feeding the U.S. economy and U.S. industry with vital inputs, making it stronger and more competitive. It also means that putting a 25% tariff on these Canadian imports would impose a massive increase in the input costs on U.S. manufacturers.
The harm to American manufacturers would not stop there. That is because American tariffs on Canadian goods would open the door to retaliatory tariffs, and that is something we do not want to do. I have been across several states in the United States over the last nine years as a part of my parliamentary duties, especially during the renegotiations of CUSMA, working with the National Governors Association and the Western Governors' Association. I can assure members that 36 U.S. states currently still rely on Canada as their number one export market and over 40 states export more than 1 billion dollars' worth of goods per year into Canada.
Raising the costs of those goods would not just be bad for Canadian consumers. It would be really bad for American manufacturers and their consumers who depend on those sales. Our government does not want to go down that road. We know that efficient trade is the way to secure strong economies on both sides of the border. We know that because, since 1989, the North American free trade agreements have generated economic growth and rising standards of living for the people of all three member countries.
The entry into force of NAFTA in 1994 created the largest free trade region in the world, and by strengthening the rules and procedures governing trade investment in North America, the agreement has proven to be a solid foundation for building Canada's prosperity and has set a valuable example of the benefits of trade liberalization for the rest of the world. What did it mean for Canada? It meant that our total merchandise exports to the United States in 2018 reached $438 billion, representing a fourfold increase from the $101 billion in 1989 before this agreement. Such a dramatic expansion of Canadian exports to a single country is unprecedented, and NAFTA's most recent successor has made us even stronger.
We can see, in clear and unequivocal terms, how free and fair trade between Canada and the United States benefits both countries. We are communicating these points and signalling to the incoming administration our readiness to work together to advance our shared economic prosperity and security. In doing so, we will remain open to the perspectives of our American partners. In fact, we share many of those perspectives. We share U.S. concerns regarding unfair competition and global market distortions, including overcapacity caused by non-market policies and practices that harm our workers and businesses.
We can assure our American partners that Canada will not be a transshipment risk or a vector for trade practices that would harm our collective economic security. To take just one example, Canada imposed a 100% surtax in October on electric vehicles and a 25% surtax on steel and aluminum products from China. Canada is considering additional surtaxes on imports of batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, solar products and critical minerals from China.
We will always defend Canada's interests and do what is best for Canadians and the Canadian economy. We will always do so with the understanding that Canada and the U.S. have a unique relationship and partnership. This partnership works best, creating jobs, economic growth and shared prosperity on both sides of the border, when we work together in common purpose and understanding.
Veterans Affairs November 7th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, we all admire the sacrifice and service that veterans have given for us. I think that question was quite out of line. However, as it is Veterans' Week, it does deserve to remember and commend all the veterans who sacrificed their lives, given back for our freedoms and protected the democratic processes that we have today. We will always remember them not only on Veterans Week but every day of this year.
Veterans Affairs November 7th, 2024
Mr. Speaker, we are not going to take any lessons from the Conservatives. They shut down nine Veterans Affairs offices. We opened nine, plus another one in my hometown of Surrey Centre. They laid off 1,000 Veterans Affairs officers who were there to help veterans get the services they need. We reinstated those services. We have created services to help those veterans get what they need, and we will continue to do so going forward.