William Amos

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the issue of such spills into rivers has absolutely to do with a decade of failing to invest adequately in municipal infrastructure. That is exactly what $180 billion being spent over 10 years is all about.

It has happened here in the national capital region, in the city I represent in Gatineau. The City of Gatineau knows that it needs to invest in water and waste water, and it is. Guess what? That is thanks to the investments of this federal government, which is taking municipal infrastructure seriously.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of seniors, my riding of Pontiac, demographically, has many seniors. It is a riding where, if the member of Parliament does not pay attention to seniors every single day, there is going to be a real challenge.

I will tell the member what seniors in Pontiac have told me. They thank the federal government for increasing the guaranteed income supplement by 10% for single, low-income seniors. That is real support after a decade of no increases such as that.

Public transit for seniors is absolutely an important issue. I thank the member for raising it. The $180 billion being spent over 10 years on infrastructure is going to be directed massively toward public transit, and that is definitely in the interest of our seniors.

Overall, seniors are looking at the Government of Canada today and saying that this is a government that is acting.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss the open letter addressed to the Leader of the Opposition. Unfortunately, because of the opposition, we are not having a serious debate on climate change and pollution pricing. This is still a hyper-politicized issue, which is such a shame.

I would like the opposition leader to tell me the Conservative Party's position on the federal jurisdiction over pollution pricing.

Canadians deserve to know that the Government of Saskatchewan has brought a reference case to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, and while British Columbia is intervening in this matter, while Ontario is intervening in this matter, while a number of non-governmental organizations are intervening in this matter, and while even the Alberta Conservatives are intervening in this matter, the federal Conservatives appear to have no position on this litigation and appear to have no concrete idea of what is federal jurisdiction over pollution pricing.

I would dearly love to hear it. I invite my colleagues across the way to tell us all about it.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Orléans.

Today, we will be talking about economic growth in Canada and job creation. With the fall economic statement, the government continues to meet its commitment to strengthen and grow the middle class while investing in a financially responsible way to promote the strength and growth of the economy today and for the long term.

In the 2018 fall economic statement, we proposed improving competitiveness by allowing the full cost of machinery and equipment used in the manufacturing and processing of goods to be written off immediately for tax purposes, and by introducing the accelerated investment incentive to support investment by businesses of all sizes and across all sectors of the economy. That is good for the farmers in the Pontiac. It is good for the forestry sectors. It is good for my entire riding and all of Canada.

These changes will make it more attractive to invest in assets that will help drive business growth and secure jobs for middle class Canadians.

We propose increasing investment in the clean-tech sector by allowing specified clean energy equipment to be eligible for full and immediate expensing. This will help Canada achieve its climate change goals and become more globally competitive.

We also want to work with the provinces and territories to remove internal trade barriers so that businesses can transport goods more easily, harmonize food inspection and regulations, and harmonize regulations governing the construction sector, including building codes across Canada.

We want to make it easier for businesses to ship alcohol to other provinces and territories. My riding, Pontiac, is close to Ontario, and interprovincial trade is very important to us. I know these measures are of great interest to my constituents.

We also want to help businesses grow by modernizing federal regulations and encouraging regulatory bodies to take economic competitiveness into account in designing and implementing regulations while continuing to protect the health and safety of Canadians as well as our environment.

We will also create a social finance fund to support charitable, non-profit and social purpose organizations across the country with a new source of funding that will help them connect with non-governmental investors.

Lastly, I would like to mention that we are going to move forward on pay equity by ensuring that women and men working in federally regulated sectors receive equal pay for equal work.

In terms of the state of the economy, I am so pleased to be able to speak to the people of the Pontiac and say that our economy is strong and our economy is growing. At 3%, Canada had the strongest growth of all the group of seven countries, the G7, in 2017 and is expected to remain among the fastest-growing economies this year and next.

There are more and more good, well-paying jobs for Canadians. That is what happens when a country, together, creates 550,000 new full-time jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to a historic 40-year low. We are talking about a strong economy, both in the Pontiac and across the country. This is reflected in wage growth. Canadians' wages are growing. For the average Canadian worker, wage growth is outpacing inflation, and if current trends continue, we know that 2018 could mark the strongest year of wage growth in close to a decade.

Consumer confidence is strong. That is reflected in Christmas purchasing already. With more money, more jobs, rising wages and lower taxes for the middle class, Canadians are feeling confident about their own financial positions. This is reflected in consumer confidence, which is elevated, by historical standards.

Business profits are also way up. The after-tax profitability of businesses in Canada is elevated compared to the historical average, adding further positive conditions for more investment.

Then, of course, there is the federal debt-to-GDP ratio. My riding is very concerned about ensuring that we are in control of our expenditures. The federal debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to continue to decline and to reach 28.5% in 2023-24.

No discussion on growing the economy would be complete without mention of the environment. Protecting the environment and growing the economy go together.

Last month's IPCC report confirmed that we are the last generation that can stop climate change. We must act now. Last week, doctors from all over Canada called climate change a “public health crisis”.

Our government has a plan to protect the environment and grow our economy, and this plan is working. Emissions are going down, and since we came to power, Canadians have created hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.

We are putting a price on pollution, which is what Canadians were expecting. It is an issue we campaigned on, and now we are following through. We are phasing out coal to make sure that 90% of our electricity will be clean by 2030. We are making historic investments in public transportation and green infrastructure, including cycling trails across the Pontiac region.

As I mentioned, we are offering significant incentives to those who want to invest in clean technologies. We have placed a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic, which is a very important issue. Lastly, we are better protecting nature through a $1.3-billion investment over four years.

Any serious government, any government concerned about climate change, understands that we need to put a price on pollution. The World Bank, former Conservative prime ministers, a Nobel Prize winner and business leaders from across our country all support this.

For a decade, the Conservatives had the chance to do something about it, and they did not take that opportunity. Because they could not grow the economy or protect the environment, it seems they chose to do neither.

I would posit that the Conservatives of today are no different from the Conservatives of the Harper era. Instead of bringing ideas to the table, they are fearmongering. They are trying to play the same old game. They are ignoring the cost of climate change, which has impacted Pontiac severely, with floods, droughts and terrible weather events. Ignoring the cost of climate change is putting the future of our kids and grandkids at risk.

The Conservatives have no climate plan, none whatsoever. They have no intention of creating one, so far as we can tell. It is irresponsible. Canadians deserve better.

That is why today, on my Facebook page, Will Amos-Pontiac, Canadians can see the open letter I have written to Andrew Scheer. I am taking—

[Indigenous Affairs, November 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my riding of Pontiac is on traditional Algonquin territory, and I am so proud to be working with this great nation, including the Algonquin of Barriere Lake.

I am working with their communities to address priorities such as housing and schools.

Over successive federal governments, the default management and prevention policy has really hindered the success of this and many other first nations communities.

Our government has been working with communities to enhance financial and administrative capacity, and the Algonquin of Barriere Lake are well on their way to exiting this policy. Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services please update this House on the work under way toward a more respectful fiscal relationship with first nations?

[Ottawa Riverkeeper, November 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in the House today to acknowledge the tremendous work of Meredith Brown, of Ottawa Riverkeeper, who will be stepping down from her position as riverkeeper after 15 years of stellar advocacy.

Ottawa Riverkeeper is a non-profit charity whose special responsibility is to be the full-time public advocate for the Ottawa River watershed. It is the riverkeeper's job to educate, identify citizen complaints and figure out solutions to problems that affect our watershed.

Meredith Brown has served the public interest, working tirelessly to protect and restore our watershed. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from one to 10 employees and now includes hundreds of volunteers. Fundraising efforts are more solid than ever, and relations with the Algonquin nation have improved dramatically.

I would like to thank this Pontiac constituent for her hard work, her dedication and her commitment to protecting our right to swim, drink and fish in the Ottawa River. We need leaders like Meredith Brown to continue to ensure the ecological integrity of our habitats across Canada.

On behalf of the entire national capital community, I thank Meredith. Meegwetch. Merci.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I greatly appreciate this opportunity to debate with my colleague from the Outaouais about his thoughts on the federal budget. He is very good at expressing just how progressive his riding of Hull—Aylmer really is. It is quite clear that his constituents support putting a price on pollution, and I appreciate how articulate he is in communicating our government's perspective.

I want to ask the member a question I often hear when I am going door to door in the Plateau and in northern Aylmer, which are areas I represent in Pontiac. Many of my constituents support the historic investments in infrastructure, in particular with respect to light rail in western Gatineau, because we need to reduce greenhouse gases and make our public transportation services more affordable and more effective.

Can the member talk about how these historic investments in infrastructure in Gatineau are making it possible to look at light rail in the region?

[Climate Change, October 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the tornadoes that recently struck the national capital region, including my riding of Pontiac, caused more than $295 million in insured damage to homes, businesses and vehicles.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says that “severe weather across Canada continues to highlight the financial costs of climate change to consumers and taxpayers.”

Clearly, the costs of climate change are being paid by every Canadian through rising insurance premiums.

Can the Minister of Environment and Climate Change tell the House how our government intends to support Canadian taxpayers?

[Global Warming, October 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Courtenay—Alberni for his hard work on the issue of a national bike strategy. He has done some really good work and shown leadership on a key issue that many Canadians feel is not adequately addressed by any level of government.

The question of subsidies is challenging, because getting to the core of what constitutes a subsidy is a matter of significant debate. There are experts across the world, including those involved in the IPCC, who cannot necessarily agree on what constitutes a subsidy. Is it a flow-through share? Is it any number of measures that could be of assistance to the fossil fuel industries?

We need to step back and allow the finance minister the opportunity, in conjunction with the entire cabinet, to evaluate holistically what measures are needed to order to provide the right incentive for the clean energy economy of the future. Our government has gone a long way toward enabling that.

[Global Warming, October 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite were to do a Google search for “job-killing carbon tax on everything”, he would find about 5,000 hits that include the names of every single Conservative member who has ever sat in this place, because it is a speaking point that has been repeated so many times. It is the sheer distortion, rhetoric and toxicity of the Conservative Party's position in the climate debate that is the real affront to Canadians in this important discussion.

To get to the question, we know that reasonable Canadians will agree that we need an infrastructure bank to help bring forward important projects, and it is absolutely of fundamental importance. If Canadians are going to have major public transit investments, we need the private sector to engage. The member should appreciate that we brought about an infrastructure bank that is going to help enable some of these major infrastructure projects that help bend the curve toward a low-carbon economy.