Tracy Gray

[Business of Supply, December 8th, 2021]

Mr. Chair, I will be questioning the President of the Treasury Board.

Can the minister tell us the percentage increase in payroll taxes over the time period 2020 to 2022 which small businesses are facing?

[British Columbia Flooding, December 8th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, British Columbia has been devastated by unprecedented flooding, landslides, the washing out of highways, evacuation of whole communities and tragic losses of life.

In my riding of Kelowna—Lake Country, we continue to do our part to assist those who have come seeking help and support. We have opened our doors to people and animals, and offered food, clothing and shelter to those in need. Many faith organizations, companies and not-for-profits have initiated donation campaigns. This shows that the spirit of Kelowna—Lake Country continues to shine brightly, just as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic and summer wildfires.

We must continue to do all we can for those most in need as we move forward from this tragedy. The rebuilding and reopening of our province will not be swift, and all levels of government must come together to ensure a robust recovery and to protect our communities from future weather events and help them to adapt.

My heart goes out to all those affected. I thank all who are doing their part to help.

[Employment, December 7th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, let me again remind the government why small business labour shortages in our economy matter. Small businesses represent about 70% of Canadians employed in the private sector. Out of every 20 businesses employing Canadians, 19 are small businesses. They are the greatest driver of innovation and prosperity in this country and are the ground level for our economic success.

Statistics Canada's most recent survey of business conditions shows more than one in four businesses expect its profitability to decline by the end of the year. The government's inaction on this labour crisis will only cause more stress to entrepreneurs working longer hours and more businesses folding in the new year. Keeping Canadians employed in good-paying jobs should be an essential priority for the government, but without a small business sector that is thriving, not just barely surviving, those jobs will not be there to go back to.

[Employment, December 7th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to be here at this very late hour to be granted an adjournment debate on the labour crisis.

The government's recent economic recovery speech said it was committed to leaving no worker or region behind, yet nowhere in the speech was there a single mention of the labour shortages that thousands of small and medium-sized businesses face. Leaving small businesses adrift is a roadblock to our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. As the member of Parliament for Kelowna—Lake Country, my local businesses are feeling the crunch of not having the staffing levels necessary to offer their goods and services like they are used to.

Jason Davis, who operates the Okanagan branch of a security company, told me that a significant drop in employee candidates has left the company running at a loss. They estimate losing over $100,000 in contractually guaranteed revenue because of lost staffing coverage. That is in addition to the hundreds of thousands more they have been forced to incur in penalties for not meeting contractual obligations, higher costs of recruitment and the inability to take on any new work. This is similar to stories I hear from many business owners. Working in security, they are able to see how labour shortages have been damaging to their sector and the many other businesses they work with.

However, employers like Jason are not coming to my office just to talk about difficulties. They are coming to me with solutions. He has suggestions on the temporary foreign worker program, and this side of the House has similarly looked at offering solutions to tackling this labour crisis. Along with the chairman of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, I have already sent a letter to the Minister of Immigration asking him to extend working visas that have expired for people already in Canada. This is an easy fix, yet so far we have received no response and the government is silent. Ignoring our warnings on this labour crisis will not make the problem disappear. It will leave our recovery on the rocks.

Statistics Canada said that in September there were over one million job vacancies. During that same month, there were about a million people on the CRB. RBC Economics reported that one in every three businesses is grappling with labour shortages. A report from the government's own Business Development Bank says that 55% of entrepreneurs struggle to hire the workers they need.

We do not have to let this country run into a growing iceberg. We can choose to take action to ensure our recovery lifts up all businesses and workers. We can ensure that Canadians continue to be employed at good-paying jobs that support their communities with affordable goods and services. We need to get people who are able to work back to work.

We can keep Canadians spending at small businesses by tackling skyrocketing inflation, which is escalating gas and grocery bills. We can strengthen our supply chains by ensuring Canadian warehouses, ports and trucking companies have the staff to meet their needs. We can address the increasing debt that small businesses are currently carrying, with an average of $170,000 in new debt. We can address rising costs for small businesses by halting federal payroll tax increases.

I urge the government to take note of these and the many more ideas expressed by my colleagues across partisan divides. Rushed legislation like Bill C-2 will not solve staffing shortages. I ask the government to work collaboratively in the House to tackle the growing labour shortage threats that are crippling small business and impeding our economic recovery.

[Small Business, December 3rd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the government says the January 1 payroll tax hikes are necessary, but a payroll tax needs a payroll to tax. Statistics Canada's most recent survey of business conditions says that one in four businesses expects their profitability to be down by the end of the year. There have been many times this year when more businesses have closed than opened.

Is the government not concerned that a higher tax in this country's current economic conditions could cause further small businesses to fold?

[Small Business, December 3rd, 2021]

Madam Speaker, small businesses have struggled through an enormously challenging year. On December 31, they will be ready to toast a more prosperous and brighter new year. However, who will be knocking on their doors when the clock strikes midnight? It will be the Liberal tax collector. The New Year's hangover this year will be the CPP increase.

After such a difficult 2021, why are the Liberals increasing CPP taxes on businesses?

[Softwood Lumber Dispute with the United States, December 1st, 2021]

Madam Chair, I am sure we are all hopeful there will be some solutions that come out of this. The last time there were highly publicized conversations between the trade minister, the Prime Minister and their counterparts, it was announced shortly after that these countervailing measures might be coming.

We have seen the trend here. We are certainly hopeful that there will be some resolution. That is what we all want. Everyone in this House wants a resolution so we can give the industry certainty and stability.

[Softwood Lumber Dispute with the United States, December 1st, 2021]

Madam Chair, we have to remember that we have not had a softwood lumber agreement now since 2015. As I mentioned in my speech questioning the minister, there were very few talks, negotiations or communications going on. That is what happens when there is a breakdown in a relationship.

The current president in the U.S., President Biden, was the vice-president back when we had an agreement, which the Conservatives had extended, so it is absolutely achievable. It has not been a focus of the government at all, and it is a real failure.

[Softwood Lumber Dispute with the United States, December 1st, 2021]

Mr. Chair, as I mentioned, we have seen job losses in my community. There were people who had worked at the mill for 15, 20, 25, 30 or 35 years and all of a sudden they are out of work. This was their profession. There are not a lot of other options available for them.

We do know as well that, when we look at production in North America, production still exists. What we have seen, though, is loss happening in Canada and increases going to the U.S., so we are losing business to the U.S. What this is doing is causing so much uncertainty in the industry. There is not a lot of confidence to invest here in Canada and to keep those jobs here. This is why a softwood lumber agreement would be so important.

[Softwood Lumber Dispute with the United States, December 1st, 2021]

Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Miramichi—Grand Lake.

While I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak today, it is unfortunate that we are here late tonight having this take-note debate on softwood lumber as a result of the Liberal government’s continued mismanagement of our relationship with the United States.

Softwood lumber is a critical industry across the country, particularly in my home province of British Columbia and in the Okanagan. Workers in this sector have been looking for certainty and stability through the finalization of a new softwood lumber agreement. The last softwood agreement, negotiated and signed by a previous Conservative government, expired in October 2015.

Despite the Liberal Prime Minister pledging to negotiate a new agreement after the Liberals formed government, six years, four trade ministers and three different U.S. administrations later we are still waiting. The Liberals also failed to negotiate softwood into CUSMA.

Last February, because of my role at the time as shadow minister for international trade, I led, on behalf of our Conservative caucus, the forming of a special committee on Canada-U.S. economic relations, as there were so many serious issues the Liberals were mismanaging. The softwood lumber sector had seen thousands of people lose their jobs.

Despite the Prime Minister touting his relationship with the U.S. administration and President Biden, that same administration has now formally announced a doubling of tariffs for our softwood lumber sector. Our relationship is strained, and instead of moving softwood lumber issues forward, they have gone backward.

The trade minister's inaction on getting a new softwood agreement with the U.S. is devastating for small businesses and workers in forestry. My community has seen this first-hand. Kelowna-Lake Country used to have a thriving forestry sector, with good jobs and many in the community relying on its success. However, uncertainty and poor market conditions led to over 200 people in my community losing their good jobs at the mill over the course of two years, and the final blow was the mill closure in 2020, a mill which had operated and supported families for over 80 years.

Close to 10,000 businesses, large and small, provide services across the value chain for the forestry sector in British Columbia. They rely on the sector thriving to make their payrolls, employ workers and reinvest in their communities.

Despite the U.S. announcing its plans to increase countervailing duties on softwood lumber last May, we have seen no concrete evidence that the Liberals made any effort in that time to convince the U.S. that these duties are unjust. The Liberals had five months to act, and what we saw in that time is they were prioritizing an unnecessary election instead of acting for Canadian forestry workers this summer. On top of this, our supply chains with the U.S. are integrated, and this uncertainty has led to higher pricing, which ultimately leads to higher construction costs.

The Conservatives have pressed the Liberals to act time and time again. Last spring, when the U.S. announced its intent to double softwood tariffs, my Conservative colleagues and I called an emergency meeting of the international trade committee to hear what actions the trade minister had taken and was planning to take to stop these countervailing duties from happening. What we got instead was the trade minister unable to tell us of any action she had taken, not even whether she had met with U.S. counterparts following the countervailing duty announcement or whether she had discussed it with the ambassador to the U.S.

When I asked the trade minister last spring why she was not acting on U.S. plans to double softwood duties, she said she was disappointed that the U.S. was doing this. These are comments she has made again. In a readout of a meeting the trade minister had with her U.S. counterpart yesterday, she once again said that she voiced her disappointment.

Being disappointed is not equivalent to taking action. If I were to tell a B.C. forestry worker not to worry as the minister has expressed her disappointment to the U.S. administration on softwood duties, I highly doubt they would find that overly reassuring. Being disappointed will not magically resolve the softwood dispute.

We need to see concrete action from the trade minister and the Liberal government to get a new softwood agreement. Our forestry sector depends on this, and it is time the Liberal government takes this seriously, as it is part of our country’s economic recovery.