Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I, too, am a representative of a rural riding, certainly not the size of my colleague's. My riding is about 4,700 square kilometres. The Cowichan region has a long and storied history in agriculture. We have generational farms. This is an exciting policy area. Through techniques such as no-till, cover cropping, appropriate use of fertilizer, farmers can use regenerative agricultural methods, stuff they already know, but can be encouraged to do more of it.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I know the member is speaking from his province's perspective, but the province of British Columbia, my home province, and many premiers in our federation have called for increased health transfers because provincial budgets are breaking in trying to deal with the costs.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely huge. I put a post on my Facebook page and it was filled with comments from constituents about the costs they personally had to bear for fixing their teeth. I think the member will join me in recognizing our colleague from St. John's East, who has put forward this motion.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that this is an important week, National Nursing Week. I want to take this opportunity to thank not only the amazing nurses of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford but those who work across Vancouver Island, the province of B.C. and our great country for the hard work they do every day.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I am just wondering if I could get the member's thoughts. This budget implementation act provides for the legislative framework for setting up child care, yet in an earlier attempt by the NDP to set up a legislative framework for pharmacare, the Liberals voted against.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the member mentioning child care in his speech. Child care has always been very important to me and to the constituents of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. It is something I strongly campaigned on back in 2015. My question is about the Liberal standard with respect to negotiating with the provinces.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Madam Speaker, I would agree with the member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin that there are very real concerns and that often, as we go toward a path of fiscal correctness, it is working families who bear the brunt of this. When we look at investments in things like pharmacare, which can have notable improvements on health care spending in the long run; child care, which allows more family members to enter the workforce to improve the economic lot of their families; as well as making sure the wealthy pay their fair share so the brunt is not falling on working families, I wonder about those three specific measures.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Madam Speaker, it is great to see the Liberals supporting child care in this budget. It is something I ran on quite proudly back in 2015, and I agree with her that it would make a huge difference. My question is regarding the Liberal standard for engaging with the provinces on these sorts of initiatives.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, I noted with interest the part of my colleague's speech when he talked about the concern many workers have when they look at their pay stubs and the very real struggles many are going through. Part of the budget implementation act sets a federal minimum wage at $15 an hour.

Income Tax Act  Madam Speaker, it is a great honour to be standing virtually in the House and speaking to Bill C-208. I would like to thank the member for Brandon—Souris for being the sponsor of this bill. He is the latest in a fairly long line of MPs who have been trying to achieve this legislative proposal.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague that the finance committee certainly is going to have its work cut out for it. Tying into the last question on the size of the debt, I am very concerned that, as we have seen in the past, it is going to be small businesses and our vulnerable workers who have to shoulder this burden while very wealthy corporations and very wealthy individuals have been making out like bandits for this entire pandemic.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I have to shake my head at the most recent intervention by the member for Kingston and the Islands complaining about the NDP when he conveniently forgets the fact that the Liberals had majority governments in 1993, 1997 and 2000. Why did they not use that time to get child care done?

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, right before we started the debate to concur in the report from the finance committee, we spent most of the day today debating the government's bill, Bill C-12. I think there is widespread agreement that the bill needs some strengthening at committee. I specifically notice recommendation 66 of this report to increase serious investments in infrastructure for fighting climate change.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, too many Canadian families are suffering from the high cost of prescription medication. The situation has been made far worse by the pandemic, because many Canadians have lost their jobs or seen their hours reduced and have seen their coverage under workplace plans eliminated.

Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, I can see the good intentions in Bill C-12, but like any first draft, I think it needs some revisions. We have identified some ways in committee that we would like to see some substantive amendments come forward: 2025 milestone target, more powers for the advisory committee and maybe separating some of the targets and the plans away from the minister's mandate.