Most toxic speeches
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is totally false and further proves how out of touch the Prime Minister is with Canadians' real lives. People who earn $12,000 per year pay tax on gas, food, prescription drugs and everything else.Can our millionaire Prime Minister, who inherited his family fortune, look thousands of low-income people in the eye and tell them they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, in the statements that the Prime Minister made, he actually missed the point of the question, which is that Ann is a single woman making minimum wage. She does not get the Canada child care benefit. She does not get the guaranteed income supplement. She does not get that middle-class tax cut either, yet the Prime Minister thinks she does not pay a single cent in taxes. She would beg to differ. She will pay about $5,000 in taxes every year after CPP and EI are included. Then there will be the GST, then there will be the HST and then there will be the Liberal carbon tax, which is coming next.Will the Prime Minister still stand by that ridiculous statement?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that if people take the bus, they are too rich and deserve to lose their transit tax credit. If they put their kids in hockey or soccer, they are too rich for the Prime Minister and deserve to lose the refundable children's fitness tax credit. If they buy textbooks at university, they are too rich and they deserve to lose their textbook tax credits, says the same Prime Minister who used a trust fund tax loophole to lower his tax bill.Does he realize, as he sits there and smirks, how horribly arrogant he is when he accuses low-income Canadians of not paying their taxes?
Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards. On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?
Mr. Speaker, first nations in this country are facing a housing crisis, and 85% of first nations in Manitoba report mold in their homes.We are talking about 15, 17 or 20 people in a house. Babies, elders and families are suffering. In community after community, people are saying that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse.My question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not know that this housing crisis is literally making people sick? Will his Liberal government move from talking to action, to address this housing crisis on first nations now?
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is unbelievable. He abolished the tax credit for people who use public transit, many of whom are students. He abolished the children's fitness and arts tax credits. He created a carbon tax that will affect the price of gas, groceries and all activities that people participate in. The comments he keeps repeating make no sense.Will he at least acknowledge that Canadians are paying more taxes today than under the former Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that since 1997.The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the reality people are facing. Millions of Canadians are deprived of the medicine they need because of price. Today we heard from Marilyn Sheehan, whose family lives in BC. She said she cannot afford the heart medication her husband needs and their son often goes without his life-saving allergy medicine. She said they are just rolling the dice. Private patchwork coverage has not helped them.Why is the Prime Minister pursuing this very system that costs more and delivers less?
Mr. Speaker, we are focused on the Prime Minister's hypocrisy. The Prime Minister's trust fund operated outside of a blind trust for over a decade. He would have known that he was saving a fortune in taxes on his family fortune that entire time. The Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying because he was sheltering his family fortune with the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, Ana Mae is a constituent of mine who works hard, but is struggling to get by. She earns $15.50 at a fast-food restaurant. Contrary to the Prime Minister's insulting assertion that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes, Ana Mae pays federal income tax, CPP, EI and the GST.Will the millionaire Prime Minister, with his vast family fortune, look Ana Mae in the eye and tell her that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister might not be aware, but Canadians start paying taxes starting at $12,000. He may have never done this before, but that is how it works. People know this. Yesterday on Facebook, Richard Sauvé said that he earns $13,000 a year and pays taxes. This is the reality for Canadians. Another reality is that all Canadians pay GST. What the Prime Minister said yesterday is not true.Will he apologize to the thousands of families he insulted yesterday?
That was a little rich, Mr. Speaker.Thirty-year-old Ashley lives with her parents in a rural part of my riding and has to drive almost 100 kilometres a day just to go to school or to work. Last year, she made under $19,000. The Prime Minister says that people like Ashley do not pay tax and yet her payroll taxes have gone up, she pays the gas tax and GST, and she never got the so-called Liberal tax cut for the middle class. Every time she turns around, Ashley is paying more and more under the Liberal government.Will the rich
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day when the Prime Minister insulted our job creators, our small business owners, by saying that they were trying to avoid paying taxes by incorporating. It was insulting. He insulted hundreds of thousands of Canadians again yesterday when he said, and I quote, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is false. Thousands of Canadians were appalled by his statement. A student named Geneviève posted on Facebook yesterday that she has to pay taxes.Is the Prime Minister going to tell Geneviève that that is not true, that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks and talks but does not actually do anything.My constituents are tired of seeing the wealthy exploit our system while they struggle to make ends meet and to pay for medication.I met a 70-year-old man in Sherbrooke who told me that he faced a tough decision on his last visit to the pharmacy. He had three prescriptions, but he could only afford to get one filled. It is disgraceful that this kind of thing is happening in a country where access to a doctor is free. Access to the drugs prescribed by the doctor is not free.Why is the Prime Minister telling my constituent to wait for yet another report, when he could have taken action at any time in the three years he has been in office?
Mr. Speaker, on February 1, this place happily passed Bill S-203 at second reading. It started in the Senate with Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore and then went to Senator Murray Sinclair. It is not yet before the Standing Committee on Fisheries. We need it to be there. In this place, we need to let Canadians know, before the next election, that we will not tolerate the keeping of whales and dolphins, sentient beings, in conditions that amount to torture. Does the Prime Minister stand with us? Could we get this passed before the next election?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there was a debate on the environment in Outremont and the Liberal candidate decided to stay away. She did not show up.It is not easy to defend a Prime Minister who breaks his promises. It is not easy to explain to people that his party's priority is to give billions of dollars to his oil industry friends. It is not easy to defend wasting public money on the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.Are the Liberal candidates trying to hide because they know that their government's environmental policies do not cut it in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, again, between the torquing of the numbers and the personal attacks, the Conservatives do not want to face the facts or have Canadians understand that they actually voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one per cent.The only way the numbers that the member opposite just cited even, maybe, perhaps, might align is if we completely ignore the Canada child benefit that has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Perhaps that is because Conservatives have no intention of continuing that Canada child benefit. That is something that
Mr. Speaker, poverty is rising among seniors, and all too often they have to choose between buying food or medication. No one should ever have to make that choice. One of my constituents, Mr. Desmarais, is on a certain type of medication. It is absolutely vital that he take it every day, but the cost is exorbitant. How is he supposed to pay for that? Millions of seniors across the country are in the same boat.What are the Liberals waiting for? When will they implement a pharmacare
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated yet again just how out of touch he really is, stating that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes. Rhonda, whose income is below the poverty line, struggles to keep a roof over her head and pay her bills. Like thousands of low-income Canadians, she wants the Prime Minister to know that she pays payroll taxes, income taxes, the GST and every other kind of tax, and she cannot afford more taxes.Will our trust fund Prime Minister continue to tell Rhonda and every other low-income Canadian that they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has other people manage his vast family fortune, so it is no surprise that he does not understand how the tax system actually works. Individuals at the low-income cut-off would earn $21,487 and pay $1,451 in federal taxes. They would benefit from those tax credits. Also, the children's fitness tax credit was a refundable tax credit that he took away. Why is he making low and middle-income Canadians pay for his mistakes?
Mr. Speaker, we know the Conservatives like to mislead the House, but it is blatant in that they actually did vote against the guaranteed income supplement increase for our most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit that stopped sending benefit cheques to millionaire families so that we could send more money to the Canadians who needed it most. We watched them vote against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations. They stood and voted against investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Every step of the way, they say things they do not mean and then act to hurt
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that all the NDP does is talk and talk. That is rich coming from the Liberal Party, which suffers from acute consultitis.The Liberals proposed creating an advisory council on pharmacare last June. Why?The Minister of Finance has already announced that they are going to propose not a universal plan but a public-private patchwork that will protect pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies. Two Liberal sources confirmed as much on Friday.How can the Liberals go around talking about how great universal health care is when they want to introduce a stopgap medicare system?
Mr. Speaker, our focus from the very beginning has been investing in the middle class and people working hard to join it, and that is exactly what we have done step by step. The Canada workers benefit helps low-income Canadians stay in the workforce, and indeed, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that employment insurance continues to cover them while they go to school. That is something the Conservatives never did. We know this because the Conservatives continue to insist that tax benefits and advantages to the wealthiest 1% is the way to grow the economy. Three years of Canadian
Mr. Speaker, we are in process of consulting experts because it is important to take the best path forward. That does not mean that we have not taken any action. On the contrary, we are moving forward with concrete measures to make drugs more affordable for Canadians.We have already seen positive results from the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which saves Canadians $1 billion annually. We made major reforms to patented medicines regulations.Yes, we created an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare to review our options. We will continue to work very hard for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lower for Canadians. It was the Prime Minister's tax changes that led to the top 1% paying less tax, but it is not surprising that he does not understand how the tax system works. He brags that other people manage his vast family fortune.Once again, could he tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, instead of personal attacks, we stay focused on Canadians. We stay focused on making sure there are historic investments in transit to help low-income students get to school, to be able to get a better job and a stronger future. We invest in families with a tax-free Canada child benefit every month that makes a huge difference in their lives in terms of groceries, in terms of back-to-school supplies, in terms of new shoes and boots. These are the things that are making a real difference in the lives of Canadians, and these are exactly the things that the Conservatives consistently vote against.
Mr. Speaker, Lois from my riding lost her job because the Liberals closed a federal office in Vegreville. Now she is making minimum wage, bagging groceries. She is struggling like so many others, and she is paying all kinds of taxes. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Well, he is wrong. Is the millionaire Prime Minister, who has never had to worry about money because of his family fortune, really going to look Lois in the eyes and tell her she does not pay any taxes?
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, using CRA data, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less in taxes, and further data shows they bear a smaller burden of the federal tax take.The Prime Minister would know about rich guys getting off easy. He used a trust fund tax loophole that allowed him to pay a lower rate on his family fortune than other Canadians would have to pay. He should do the right thing now and tell Canadians how much he saved by using the trust fund tax loophole. Will he do so?
Mr. Speaker, on what planet does our wealthy Prime Minister live? Yesterday he said that low-income families do not pay taxes. Hello, earth to mars.A mother in my riding named Lorraine is working very hard to make ends meet. She has a low income and she pays taxes.Will the Prime Minister come with me and tell Lorraine with a straight face that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are proud of our public health care system, but we also know that far too many Canadians are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. They have to make choices that no Canadian should have to make. That is why we created an expert panel to make recommendations. That is how we are going to figure out what we need to do to make sure Canadians can buy their prescription drugs and stay healthy. This is a priority for Canadians and for us. We trust the experts and we are going to help Canadians by following their recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, the mould crisis in Cat Lake is a public health disaster. The government has known about this for years.Now, there are children awaiting medical treatment. Seniors in the community have died from respiratory problems.Will the Prime Minister commit to sending an independent health team, conducting an immediate assessment of the families affected, and immediately assuming his responsibilities under the Jordan principle?
Mr. Speaker, it is dizzying. I get the feeling that if you looked up the word liberal in the dictionary, it would say, say one thing and do another.People are not fooled by the Prime Minister's doublespeak. The Climate Change Performance Index was released at COP24, in Poland. Out of 60 countries, Canada ranked 54th. It is so bad.How can the Prime Minister look our young people in the eye and tell them that he is concerned about the planet and their
Mr. Speaker, what is in question here are the Prime Minister's own comments yesterday in the House. As for the Conservative record, under our government, the parliamentary budget officer said, Low and middle income earners have benefited more.Let us talk about what the Prime Minister has taken away. He took away the textbook credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income students? He took away the public transit tax credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income Canadians who take the bus? Has his luxurious lifestyle made him so out of touch that he does not understand the everyday struggles of low-income Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is his quote. Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Conservatives do not want to stand by their own voting record, where they voted against the Canada child benefit and where they voted against lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplements for our most vulnerable single seniors. They even voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations.We will continue to work hard to support the middle class and people working very hard to join it. That is what this government remains focused on.
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to empty his or her wallet or go into debt to get the medicine his or her family needs and no Canadian should go without the medicine his or her doctor prescribed because of cost. However, Canada is the only nation with medicare that does not include universal coverage for prescriptions.This is the Prime Minister's last budget before the election. It is his last chance to do what is right for people, which is to deliver a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare system that covers every single Canadian. Will the Prime Minister do it?
Mr. Speaker, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes; so declared the Prime Minister yesterday. However, low-income Canadians actually beg to differ with that postulation. Ann is a single woman who works in Milton, Ontario. She makes minimum wage and she pays approximately $2,600 in federal income tax.Will the Prime Minister stand today and tell us he stands by his statement that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for SaanichGulf Islands for bringing this issue forward in the House. We agree that the capture of whales and dolphins for the sole purpose of being kept for public display should be ended. While the banning of whale captivity is not yet legislation, in practice it has been in place for years. We put forward legislation that includes putting an end to the captivity of whales unless it is for rehabilitation. We supported Bill S-203 at second reading. We look forward to the work the committee is going to do on it.
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, we lost a tremendous amount of leadership on the environment. For three years we have been working very hard to develop a plan and an approach that will protect the environment and create economic growth.The Conservatives still do not accept that we have to fight to protect the environment, but we know that the only way to create a prosperous economy is to protect the environment and ensure good jobs for the future. That is exactly what we are doing and we will continue to do that for Quebeckers and all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, it seems unbelievable that after 10 years of government the Conservatives still do not understand this, but non-refundable tax credits do not help the lowest-income Canadians who need it the most. That is something they simply do not understand. Their approach of boutique tax credits continues to help the wealthiest Canadians while not doing anything for the Canadians who actually need the most support. That is why we increased the guaranteed income supplement
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Does the Prime Minister truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, no gas taxes, no EI taxes and no income tax?
Mr. Speaker, once again, I wonder how the Conservatives actually talk to their constituents when they know they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against increasing the amount of the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan. They voted against infrastructure investments, which are making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians across the country. That is what they do not understand about how to build a strong economy. One invests in the middle class. One does not help the wealthiest, like the Conservatives always do.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is this is personal. I did not realize that the Prime Minister and I had so much in common. We both grew up in taxpayer-funded housing, he in 24 Sussex; me in the projects in Barrie. The Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians did not pay tax. He does not understand who pays for his nannies, for his planes and for his houses. It is all paid for by servers like Andrea in Barrie. When will the trust fund Prime Minister look Andrea in the eye and tell her she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, for all single mothers and for all mothers in this country, we have helped low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, which is really making a difference. Every month they receive a tax-free cheque that directly helps them ensure a better future for their children. It has helped millions of families in this country, but the Conservatives voted against it. They have always opposed the Canada child benefit. It is unfortunate for families that have
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have $2,000 more on average with our approach than with that of the Conservatives.However, I am pleased to hear the Conservative members speak about public transit. The problem is that they never invested in public transit. We have made historic investments to help students, hard-working people and seniors use public transit anywhere in the country. These are real investments that have helped families across the country and we will continue to invest.
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, we have seen over 800,000 jobs created in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. That happened because, unlike the Conservatives, who had an approach for 10 years to support and invest in the wealthiest 1%, we made investments in the middle class and those working hard to join it. Those investments are leading to the kinds of economic growth that are giving more opportunities for everyone. The Conservatives continue to vote against tangible, concrete measures that make things better for people who are working hard to join the middle class, and they will continue to
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so transparent. They say whatever they want when they are in opposition or in election mode, but when they are in power, they always give benefits to the wealthy and do nothing for the people who actually need help.Perhaps this is why they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families. We stopped sending the cheques to millionaires that the Conservatives kept sending out. We know that by investing in those who need it, we can
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives have difficulty understanding that one does not advance as an economy when one continues to give benefits to the wealthy, the way they always have. We lowered taxes for the middle classthe very first thing we did as a governmentand raised them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives, of course, voted against. They refused to support us in increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors. They refused to support us in moving forward with the Canada child benefit that is making a real and tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the wealthy are paying $4.6 billion less in tax, while the average family pays $800 more, but we know why the Prime Minister is advantaging the wealthy. He wants to help people just like him. He used the trust fund tax loophole to save thousands of dollars on his taxes. However, he has never come clean on how much he saved and how much he avoided paying, which other Canadians will be forced to pay. Will he stand and finally answer that question today?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for his question and for the hard work that he does for indigenous languages in the House of Commons.For too long, government policies focused more on destroying indigenous languages than on protecting them. That is why we support our partners who want to revitalize and strengthen their language and culture.Yesterday, in the House, we introduced the first bill dealing with indigenous languages. In it, we recognize the right to use an indigenous language. We will appoint a commissioner, to ensure that future governments respect that obligation. Protecting language and culture is how
Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nobody chooses where they are born, but we make choices about what we choose to do in life. The choices the Conservatives consistently make are to stand against investments in public and affordable housing and to stand against investments in the Canada child benefit which is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. The choice the Conservatives continue to make is against increasing benefits for our most vulnerable single seniors. The choice the Conservatives make consistently is to help the wealthiest 1% instead of Canadians who need the help.
Mr. Speaker, we are not making anything up. The Prime Minister said, here in the House, that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes.This statement is totally out of touch with reality. Even low-income Canadians already pay too much tax, sadly, and they have been paying more in the three years that this government has been in power. Could the Prime Minister at least acknowledge that low-income Canadians are paying more tax today than they were three years ago under the previous Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, once again, while we remain focused on Canadians, the Conservatives want to focus on me. We are going to continue to invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it. We are going to continue to do things that they vote against, like strengthening the Canada pension plan; like increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors; like investing in a better Canada child benefit that is going to continue to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, instead of sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, as the Conservatives consistently want to do. We are going to focus on Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, our government came to office with a commitment to invest in infrastructure across Canada, including my home province of Alberta and my hometown of Edmonton. Since taking office, we have been doing just that. After a decade of inaction from the Harper government, we have been making the much-needed investments in transit, recreational infrastructure, water systems, cultural spaces and more that Edmontonians deserve. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on the investments our government has made to support Alberta's communities and those infrastructure investments in the city of Edmonton?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how the Conservatives can look low-income families in the eye when they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors and the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. They voted against our investments in affordable housing, in old age pensions, in students and in Canadians who need help. The Conservatives voted against Canadians every time.
Mr. Speaker, while the members opposite continue to focus on me, why do we not focus on Canadians? Indeed, why do we not focus on Canadians living in the riding of Carleton, where $48 million a year goes directly to families every month, tax free, in the riding to support 16,000 kids with the Canada child benefit? We send $7,000 a year for 22,000 constituents with the strengthened Canada pension plan, and will send over $300 for households next year with the climate action incentive. We are investing in the
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for ChâteauguayLacolle for her hard work and her question.Over 1,300 Canada Revenue Agency employees in Shawinigan do very important work. They deserve safe, modern and eco-friendly facilities.Earlier this week, we announced the construction of a new building to replace a 40-year-old building. This project demonstrates our commitment to regions across the country. Unlike the Conservatives, we will not put federal jobs in the regions at risk.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lowered for
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about the Canada workers benefit that goes directly to low-income workers who will be able to have a little more money every month to be able to afford the cost of living and, indeed, create more incentives for them to stay in the workforce. Of course, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that unemployment insurance will actually help a person go back to school and retrain. People can continue to get EI benefits.These are the kinds of things that we are focusing on to make sure that all Canadians have a real and fair chance to succeed
Mr. Speaker, small and medium-sized businesses are very pleased that we lowered their tax rate to 9%, which is the lowest rate in the OECD. We will always help our job creators, our small businesses. As for students, we have increased grants across the country for young people from low- and middle-income families, because we know that investing in education is the best way to generate economic growth for individuals and for our entire economy.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister accused low-income Canadians of paying no taxes, but what about him? He inherited a multi-million dollar family fortune in the form of a tax-preferred trust fund from his father. Le Journal de Montréal wrote that for more than 15 years the funds from the trust have grown off the balance sheet of the Prime Minister and his brother without affecting their taxable income.How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying by using this trust fund tax loophole to shelter his family fortune?
Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things we did as a government was try to correct the direction the Conservatives went in, of trading benefits and advantages for the wealthiest one per cent. The very first thing we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives voted against. We are going to continue to look to make our tax system fair, as we did in the case of small businesses by lowering small business taxes to 9%. We are always looking for ways to support Canadians. That is the focus of this government, unlike the Conservatives, who want to keep giving advantages to the wealthy.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives resort to personal attacks when they cannot defend the fact that they consistently have voted against all the initiatives that we have made to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it. Our investments in families through the Canada child benefit, in workers through the Canada workers benefit, in our seniors through restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 they had put it at are all things that have helped people concretely and have led to the kind of economic growth they never saw under 10 years of Stephen Harper.
Mr. Speaker, we have taken meaningful action to help seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement and investing in housing for seniors.However, we know we still have a lot more to do. With regard to pharmacare, we have joined the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, helping Canadians save $1 billion a year. We have put forward major reforms to the Patented Medicines Regulations. We are going to keep listening to Canadians, because we also feel it is unacceptable for people to have to choose between food and medicine. We are going to work together to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have always given advantages and benefits to the wealthy and made the rest of Canadians pay more. We know that investing in the middle class and all those working hard to join it creates economic growth. The Conservatives opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.They opposed the Canada child benefit.They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase.They opposed investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative government was fond of using tax credits to help the rich, as always, but it did nothing to help low-income families. That is why we took a different approach. We decided to invest in middle-class families and all families working hard to join them. That is what makes a difference. The Conservatives opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for our seniors. They opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, he sure does not want to answer that question.We know that is his agenda. Since he became Prime Minister, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less, and the share of the overall federal tax burden paid by the wealthiest one per cent has dropped.We know his real motive. He is a trust fund millionaire, and he wants to protect others like him. We are simply asking him to be transparent about it. How much money did he save by taking advantage of the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister often says, no relationship is more important to our government than the one with indigenous peoples. It is in that spirit that the government committed to work nation-to-nation with indigenous partners and implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as all 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. The UN has declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.Can the Prime Minister explain to the House what the government is doing to support indigenous languages?
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand that we must invest in environmental protection. We must invest to create the economic growth that will help us continue to protect the environment. The NDP still believes that we have to choose between creating jobs and protecting the environment.We know that the only way to build a more prosperous economy and world for everyone in the years to come is to ensure that we are protecting the environment. That is why we have a real plan and are taking action to create jobs and protect families while protecting the environment.
Mr. Speaker, we have not yet determined the best path forward. We have asked an expert panel to make recommendations about how to best help Canadians who are struggling and making impossible choices, like the member opposite so eloquently described.That is why we are actually not only just moving forward with that panel but we are moving forward with concrete measures, like joining the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which means Canadians save over $1 billion annually. We have put forward major reforms to patented medicines regulations. We are continuing to do the work to make sure that Canadians get
Mr. Speaker, while we continue to stay focused on Canadians, the Conservatives keep focusing, once again, on how I grew up.Let us be very clear. I have always been very clear. I have been fortunate in my life to have great opportunities that very few people had. However, in life, we are always defined by the choices we make. The choice I made was to serve, to serve as a high school teacher, to serve as the member of Parliament for Papineau and now to serve Canadians as Prime Minister. The choices we make as a government are to help the middle class and the people working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, when we were elected in 2015, we heard loudly and clearly from Canadians that they wanted a renewal of the relationship and investments in indigenous peoples that would begin to close the gaps and the inequalities that exist in Canada.That is something we set about doing from the very beginning. We have since lifted 78 long-term boil water advisories in indigenous communities. We have opened hundreds of new schools. We have invested in new health centres. We are investing in hundreds, indeed thousands, of new housing units right across the country in indigenous communities.We know there is more
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives put forward an economic plan that gives advantages and benefits to the wealthiest 1% while neglecting to help low-income Canadians who actually need that help. That is one of the reasons Canadians chose a government that would focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is what we have been doing.While we have been doing that, the Conservatives have opposed lowering taxes on the middle class. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for seniors. They even opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the things that make a difference in people's
Mr. Speaker, maybe the Prime Minister should have informed the Minister of Finance that the Liberal priority was to consult again and again.The choice is clear: the president of the FTQ, Daniel Boyer, recently said that if we had a fully public system, we could achieve economies of scale of $3 billion in Quebec alone. Marc-André Gagnon, from Carleton University, estimates that if Canada had a universal system not only would everyone be covered, but businesses would save more than $8 billion since they would no longer have to offer private drug insurance.Why does the government want to just patch up the system instead of providing true universal pharmacare based on
Mr. Speaker, we are always very concerned about the plight of our seniors. That is why, since taking office, our government has been making concrete investments to help our most vulnerable seniors. We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. We invested in housing for seniors. We invested $5 billion in home care across the country.We will continue to invest in our seniors, and we understand that investing in pharmacare is the right thing to do. That is why we are waiting for the expert report before moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for his hard work. We have indeed made historic investments in Edmonton's infrastructure, which includes reducing traffic with investments in the Yellowhead Trail and the 50th Street overpass; investments in the Fort Edmonton Park expansion; investments in the Jerry Forbes Centre; investments in public transit; and investments right across the city, like we are making right across the country.The Conservatives want to cut infrastructure investments in Alberta. We will continue to invest in communities.
Mr. Speaker, we are working directly with the chief and council in Cat Lake. The minister is in direct contact with Chief Keewaykapow.We know that there are concerns about the health, safety and quality of the housing and that there is an urgent and long-term need for measures.We are working with the community and our partners to fast-track the necessary repairs and the construction of new housing units. We will continue to work closely with the chief and the council to find solutions for the short, medium and long term.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly proud of our health care system but we also recognize that Canadians in far too many situations have to make impossible choices between paying for their medications, paying their rent or paying for their food.That is why we are committed to moving forward on pharmacare but moving forward in the right way. We put together a panel of experts to study the best way to help Canadians by making sure that their medications are affordable, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the importance of investing in our regions. The Conservatives want to cut our infrastructure investments in Quebec, but we support all regions in the province and across the country.Can the Prime Minister tell us about the most recent announcement made in Shawinigan to encourage economic development in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, during negotiations for the new NAFTA, we said that we would protect supply management, and that is exactly what we did. We announced three working groups made up of representatives from the supply management sector to help farmers and processors adjust to the new NAFTA, to adjust to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to innovate in the dairy sector. We are helping workers in the dairy industry. We will always help farmers and workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is totally false and further proves how out of touch the Prime Minister is with Canadians' real lives. People who earn $12,000 per year pay tax on gas, food, prescription drugs and everything else.Can our millionaire Prime Minister, who inherited his family fortune, look thousands of low-income people in the eye and tell them they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, in the statements that the Prime Minister made, he actually missed the point of the question, which is that Ann is a single woman making minimum wage. She does not get the Canada child care benefit. She does not get the guaranteed income supplement. She does not get that middle-class tax cut either, yet the Prime Minister thinks she does not pay a single cent in taxes. She would beg to differ. She will pay about $5,000 in taxes every year after CPP and EI are included. Then there will be the GST, then there will be the HST and then there will be the Liberal carbon tax, which is coming next.Will the Prime Minister still stand by that ridiculous statement?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that if people take the bus, they are too rich and deserve to lose their transit tax credit. If they put their kids in hockey or soccer, they are too rich for the Prime Minister and deserve to lose the refundable children's fitness tax credit. If they buy textbooks at university, they are too rich and they deserve to lose their textbook tax credits, says the same Prime Minister who used a trust fund tax loophole to lower his tax bill.Does he realize, as he sits there and smirks, how horribly arrogant he is when he accuses low-income Canadians of not paying their taxes?
Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards. On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?
Mr. Speaker, first nations in this country are facing a housing crisis, and 85% of first nations in Manitoba report mold in their homes.We are talking about 15, 17 or 20 people in a house. Babies, elders and families are suffering. In community after community, people are saying that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse.My question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not know that this housing crisis is literally making people sick? Will his Liberal government move from talking to action, to address this housing crisis on first nations now?
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is unbelievable. He abolished the tax credit for people who use public transit, many of whom are students. He abolished the children's fitness and arts tax credits. He created a carbon tax that will affect the price of gas, groceries and all activities that people participate in. The comments he keeps repeating make no sense.Will he at least acknowledge that Canadians are paying more taxes today than under the former Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that since 1997.The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the reality people are facing. Millions of Canadians are deprived of the medicine they need because of price. Today we heard from Marilyn Sheehan, whose family lives in BC. She said she cannot afford the heart medication her husband needs and their son often goes without his life-saving allergy medicine. She said they are just rolling the dice. Private patchwork coverage has not helped them.Why is the Prime Minister pursuing this very system that costs more and delivers less?
Mr. Speaker, we are focused on the Prime Minister's hypocrisy. The Prime Minister's trust fund operated outside of a blind trust for over a decade. He would have known that he was saving a fortune in taxes on his family fortune that entire time. The Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying because he was sheltering his family fortune with the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, Ana Mae is a constituent of mine who works hard, but is struggling to get by. She earns $15.50 at a fast-food restaurant. Contrary to the Prime Minister's insulting assertion that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes, Ana Mae pays federal income tax, CPP, EI and the GST.Will the millionaire Prime Minister, with his vast family fortune, look Ana Mae in the eye and tell her that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister might not be aware, but Canadians start paying taxes starting at $12,000. He may have never done this before, but that is how it works. People know this. Yesterday on Facebook, Richard Sauvé said that he earns $13,000 a year and pays taxes. This is the reality for Canadians. Another reality is that all Canadians pay GST. What the Prime Minister said yesterday is not true.Will he apologize to the thousands of families he insulted yesterday?
That was a little rich, Mr. Speaker.Thirty-year-old Ashley lives with her parents in a rural part of my riding and has to drive almost 100 kilometres a day just to go to school or to work. Last year, she made under $19,000. The Prime Minister says that people like Ashley do not pay tax and yet her payroll taxes have gone up, she pays the gas tax and GST, and she never got the so-called Liberal tax cut for the middle class. Every time she turns around, Ashley is paying more and more under the Liberal government.Will the rich
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day when the Prime Minister insulted our job creators, our small business owners, by saying that they were trying to avoid paying taxes by incorporating. It was insulting. He insulted hundreds of thousands of Canadians again yesterday when he said, and I quote, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is false. Thousands of Canadians were appalled by his statement. A student named Geneviève posted on Facebook yesterday that she has to pay taxes.Is the Prime Minister going to tell Geneviève that that is not true, that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks and talks but does not actually do anything.My constituents are tired of seeing the wealthy exploit our system while they struggle to make ends meet and to pay for medication.I met a 70-year-old man in Sherbrooke who told me that he faced a tough decision on his last visit to the pharmacy. He had three prescriptions, but he could only afford to get one filled. It is disgraceful that this kind of thing is happening in a country where access to a doctor is free. Access to the drugs prescribed by the doctor is not free.Why is the Prime Minister telling my constituent to wait for yet another report, when he could have taken action at any time in the three years he has been in office?
Mr. Speaker, on February 1, this place happily passed Bill S-203 at second reading. It started in the Senate with Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore and then went to Senator Murray Sinclair. It is not yet before the Standing Committee on Fisheries. We need it to be there. In this place, we need to let Canadians know, before the next election, that we will not tolerate the keeping of whales and dolphins, sentient beings, in conditions that amount to torture. Does the Prime Minister stand with us? Could we get this passed before the next election?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there was a debate on the environment in Outremont and the Liberal candidate decided to stay away. She did not show up.It is not easy to defend a Prime Minister who breaks his promises. It is not easy to explain to people that his party's priority is to give billions of dollars to his oil industry friends. It is not easy to defend wasting public money on the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.Are the Liberal candidates trying to hide because they know that their government's environmental policies do not cut it in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, again, between the torquing of the numbers and the personal attacks, the Conservatives do not want to face the facts or have Canadians understand that they actually voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one per cent.The only way the numbers that the member opposite just cited even, maybe, perhaps, might align is if we completely ignore the Canada child benefit that has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Perhaps that is because Conservatives have no intention of continuing that Canada child benefit. That is something that
Mr. Speaker, poverty is rising among seniors, and all too often they have to choose between buying food or medication. No one should ever have to make that choice. One of my constituents, Mr. Desmarais, is on a certain type of medication. It is absolutely vital that he take it every day, but the cost is exorbitant. How is he supposed to pay for that? Millions of seniors across the country are in the same boat.What are the Liberals waiting for? When will they implement a pharmacare
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated yet again just how out of touch he really is, stating that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes. Rhonda, whose income is below the poverty line, struggles to keep a roof over her head and pay her bills. Like thousands of low-income Canadians, she wants the Prime Minister to know that she pays payroll taxes, income taxes, the GST and every other kind of tax, and she cannot afford more taxes.Will our trust fund Prime Minister continue to tell Rhonda and every other low-income Canadian that they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has other people manage his vast family fortune, so it is no surprise that he does not understand how the tax system actually works. Individuals at the low-income cut-off would earn $21,487 and pay $1,451 in federal taxes. They would benefit from those tax credits. Also, the children's fitness tax credit was a refundable tax credit that he took away. Why is he making low and middle-income Canadians pay for his mistakes?
Mr. Speaker, we know the Conservatives like to mislead the House, but it is blatant in that they actually did vote against the guaranteed income supplement increase for our most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit that stopped sending benefit cheques to millionaire families so that we could send more money to the Canadians who needed it most. We watched them vote against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations. They stood and voted against investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Every step of the way, they say things they do not mean and then act to hurt
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that all the NDP does is talk and talk. That is rich coming from the Liberal Party, which suffers from acute consultitis.The Liberals proposed creating an advisory council on pharmacare last June. Why?The Minister of Finance has already announced that they are going to propose not a universal plan but a public-private patchwork that will protect pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies. Two Liberal sources confirmed as much on Friday.How can the Liberals go around talking about how great universal health care is when they want to introduce a stopgap medicare system?
Mr. Speaker, our focus from the very beginning has been investing in the middle class and people working hard to join it, and that is exactly what we have done step by step. The Canada workers benefit helps low-income Canadians stay in the workforce, and indeed, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that employment insurance continues to cover them while they go to school. That is something the Conservatives never did. We know this because the Conservatives continue to insist that tax benefits and advantages to the wealthiest 1% is the way to grow the economy. Three years of Canadian
Mr. Speaker, we are in process of consulting experts because it is important to take the best path forward. That does not mean that we have not taken any action. On the contrary, we are moving forward with concrete measures to make drugs more affordable for Canadians.We have already seen positive results from the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which saves Canadians $1 billion annually. We made major reforms to patented medicines regulations.Yes, we created an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare to review our options. We will continue to work very hard for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lower for Canadians. It was the Prime Minister's tax changes that led to the top 1% paying less tax, but it is not surprising that he does not understand how the tax system works. He brags that other people manage his vast family fortune.Once again, could he tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, instead of personal attacks, we stay focused on Canadians. We stay focused on making sure there are historic investments in transit to help low-income students get to school, to be able to get a better job and a stronger future. We invest in families with a tax-free Canada child benefit every month that makes a huge difference in their lives in terms of groceries, in terms of back-to-school supplies, in terms of new shoes and boots. These are the things that are making a real difference in the lives of Canadians, and these are exactly the things that the Conservatives consistently vote against.
Mr. Speaker, Lois from my riding lost her job because the Liberals closed a federal office in Vegreville. Now she is making minimum wage, bagging groceries. She is struggling like so many others, and she is paying all kinds of taxes. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Well, he is wrong. Is the millionaire Prime Minister, who has never had to worry about money because of his family fortune, really going to look Lois in the eyes and tell her she does not pay any taxes?
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, using CRA data, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less in taxes, and further data shows they bear a smaller burden of the federal tax take.The Prime Minister would know about rich guys getting off easy. He used a trust fund tax loophole that allowed him to pay a lower rate on his family fortune than other Canadians would have to pay. He should do the right thing now and tell Canadians how much he saved by using the trust fund tax loophole. Will he do so?
Mr. Speaker, on what planet does our wealthy Prime Minister live? Yesterday he said that low-income families do not pay taxes. Hello, earth to mars.A mother in my riding named Lorraine is working very hard to make ends meet. She has a low income and she pays taxes.Will the Prime Minister come with me and tell Lorraine with a straight face that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are proud of our public health care system, but we also know that far too many Canadians are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. They have to make choices that no Canadian should have to make. That is why we created an expert panel to make recommendations. That is how we are going to figure out what we need to do to make sure Canadians can buy their prescription drugs and stay healthy. This is a priority for Canadians and for us. We trust the experts and we are going to help Canadians by following their recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, the mould crisis in Cat Lake is a public health disaster. The government has known about this for years.Now, there are children awaiting medical treatment. Seniors in the community have died from respiratory problems.Will the Prime Minister commit to sending an independent health team, conducting an immediate assessment of the families affected, and immediately assuming his responsibilities under the Jordan principle?
Mr. Speaker, it is dizzying. I get the feeling that if you looked up the word liberal in the dictionary, it would say, say one thing and do another.People are not fooled by the Prime Minister's doublespeak. The Climate Change Performance Index was released at COP24, in Poland. Out of 60 countries, Canada ranked 54th. It is so bad.How can the Prime Minister look our young people in the eye and tell them that he is concerned about the planet and their
Mr. Speaker, what is in question here are the Prime Minister's own comments yesterday in the House. As for the Conservative record, under our government, the parliamentary budget officer said, Low and middle income earners have benefited more.Let us talk about what the Prime Minister has taken away. He took away the textbook credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income students? He took away the public transit tax credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income Canadians who take the bus? Has his luxurious lifestyle made him so out of touch that he does not understand the everyday struggles of low-income Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is his quote. Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Conservatives do not want to stand by their own voting record, where they voted against the Canada child benefit and where they voted against lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplements for our most vulnerable single seniors. They even voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations.We will continue to work hard to support the middle class and people working very hard to join it. That is what this government remains focused on.
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to empty his or her wallet or go into debt to get the medicine his or her family needs and no Canadian should go without the medicine his or her doctor prescribed because of cost. However, Canada is the only nation with medicare that does not include universal coverage for prescriptions.This is the Prime Minister's last budget before the election. It is his last chance to do what is right for people, which is to deliver a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare system that covers every single Canadian. Will the Prime Minister do it?
Mr. Speaker, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes; so declared the Prime Minister yesterday. However, low-income Canadians actually beg to differ with that postulation. Ann is a single woman who works in Milton, Ontario. She makes minimum wage and she pays approximately $2,600 in federal income tax.Will the Prime Minister stand today and tell us he stands by his statement that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for SaanichGulf Islands for bringing this issue forward in the House. We agree that the capture of whales and dolphins for the sole purpose of being kept for public display should be ended. While the banning of whale captivity is not yet legislation, in practice it has been in place for years. We put forward legislation that includes putting an end to the captivity of whales unless it is for rehabilitation. We supported Bill S-203 at second reading. We look forward to the work the committee is going to do on it.
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, we lost a tremendous amount of leadership on the environment. For three years we have been working very hard to develop a plan and an approach that will protect the environment and create economic growth.The Conservatives still do not accept that we have to fight to protect the environment, but we know that the only way to create a prosperous economy is to protect the environment and ensure good jobs for the future. That is exactly what we are doing and we will continue to do that for Quebeckers and all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, it seems unbelievable that after 10 years of government the Conservatives still do not understand this, but non-refundable tax credits do not help the lowest-income Canadians who need it the most. That is something they simply do not understand. Their approach of boutique tax credits continues to help the wealthiest Canadians while not doing anything for the Canadians who actually need the most support. That is why we increased the guaranteed income supplement
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Does the Prime Minister truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, no gas taxes, no EI taxes and no income tax?
Mr. Speaker, once again, I wonder how the Conservatives actually talk to their constituents when they know they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against increasing the amount of the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan. They voted against infrastructure investments, which are making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians across the country. That is what they do not understand about how to build a strong economy. One invests in the middle class. One does not help the wealthiest, like the Conservatives always do.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is this is personal. I did not realize that the Prime Minister and I had so much in common. We both grew up in taxpayer-funded housing, he in 24 Sussex; me in the projects in Barrie. The Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians did not pay tax. He does not understand who pays for his nannies, for his planes and for his houses. It is all paid for by servers like Andrea in Barrie. When will the trust fund Prime Minister look Andrea in the eye and tell her she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, for all single mothers and for all mothers in this country, we have helped low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, which is really making a difference. Every month they receive a tax-free cheque that directly helps them ensure a better future for their children. It has helped millions of families in this country, but the Conservatives voted against it. They have always opposed the Canada child benefit. It is unfortunate for families that have
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have $2,000 more on average with our approach than with that of the Conservatives.However, I am pleased to hear the Conservative members speak about public transit. The problem is that they never invested in public transit. We have made historic investments to help students, hard-working people and seniors use public transit anywhere in the country. These are real investments that have helped families across the country and we will continue to invest.
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, we have seen over 800,000 jobs created in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. That happened because, unlike the Conservatives, who had an approach for 10 years to support and invest in the wealthiest 1%, we made investments in the middle class and those working hard to join it. Those investments are leading to the kinds of economic growth that are giving more opportunities for everyone. The Conservatives continue to vote against tangible, concrete measures that make things better for people who are working hard to join the middle class, and they will continue to
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so transparent. They say whatever they want when they are in opposition or in election mode, but when they are in power, they always give benefits to the wealthy and do nothing for the people who actually need help.Perhaps this is why they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families. We stopped sending the cheques to millionaires that the Conservatives kept sending out. We know that by investing in those who need it, we can
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives have difficulty understanding that one does not advance as an economy when one continues to give benefits to the wealthy, the way they always have. We lowered taxes for the middle classthe very first thing we did as a governmentand raised them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives, of course, voted against. They refused to support us in increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors. They refused to support us in moving forward with the Canada child benefit that is making a real and tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the wealthy are paying $4.6 billion less in tax, while the average family pays $800 more, but we know why the Prime Minister is advantaging the wealthy. He wants to help people just like him. He used the trust fund tax loophole to save thousands of dollars on his taxes. However, he has never come clean on how much he saved and how much he avoided paying, which other Canadians will be forced to pay. Will he stand and finally answer that question today?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for his question and for the hard work that he does for indigenous languages in the House of Commons.For too long, government policies focused more on destroying indigenous languages than on protecting them. That is why we support our partners who want to revitalize and strengthen their language and culture.Yesterday, in the House, we introduced the first bill dealing with indigenous languages. In it, we recognize the right to use an indigenous language. We will appoint a commissioner, to ensure that future governments respect that obligation. Protecting language and culture is how
Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nobody chooses where they are born, but we make choices about what we choose to do in life. The choices the Conservatives consistently make are to stand against investments in public and affordable housing and to stand against investments in the Canada child benefit which is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. The choice the Conservatives continue to make is against increasing benefits for our most vulnerable single seniors. The choice the Conservatives make consistently is to help the wealthiest 1% instead of Canadians who need the help.
Mr. Speaker, we are not making anything up. The Prime Minister said, here in the House, that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes.This statement is totally out of touch with reality. Even low-income Canadians already pay too much tax, sadly, and they have been paying more in the three years that this government has been in power. Could the Prime Minister at least acknowledge that low-income Canadians are paying more tax today than they were three years ago under the previous Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, once again, while we remain focused on Canadians, the Conservatives want to focus on me. We are going to continue to invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it. We are going to continue to do things that they vote against, like strengthening the Canada pension plan; like increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors; like investing in a better Canada child benefit that is going to continue to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, instead of sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, as the Conservatives consistently want to do. We are going to focus on Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, our government came to office with a commitment to invest in infrastructure across Canada, including my home province of Alberta and my hometown of Edmonton. Since taking office, we have been doing just that. After a decade of inaction from the Harper government, we have been making the much-needed investments in transit, recreational infrastructure, water systems, cultural spaces and more that Edmontonians deserve. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on the investments our government has made to support Alberta's communities and those infrastructure investments in the city of Edmonton?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how the Conservatives can look low-income families in the eye when they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors and the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. They voted against our investments in affordable housing, in old age pensions, in students and in Canadians who need help. The Conservatives voted against Canadians every time.
Mr. Speaker, while the members opposite continue to focus on me, why do we not focus on Canadians? Indeed, why do we not focus on Canadians living in the riding of Carleton, where $48 million a year goes directly to families every month, tax free, in the riding to support 16,000 kids with the Canada child benefit? We send $7,000 a year for 22,000 constituents with the strengthened Canada pension plan, and will send over $300 for households next year with the climate action incentive. We are investing in the
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for ChâteauguayLacolle for her hard work and her question.Over 1,300 Canada Revenue Agency employees in Shawinigan do very important work. They deserve safe, modern and eco-friendly facilities.Earlier this week, we announced the construction of a new building to replace a 40-year-old building. This project demonstrates our commitment to regions across the country. Unlike the Conservatives, we will not put federal jobs in the regions at risk.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lowered for
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about the Canada workers benefit that goes directly to low-income workers who will be able to have a little more money every month to be able to afford the cost of living and, indeed, create more incentives for them to stay in the workforce. Of course, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that unemployment insurance will actually help a person go back to school and retrain. People can continue to get EI benefits.These are the kinds of things that we are focusing on to make sure that all Canadians have a real and fair chance to succeed
Mr. Speaker, small and medium-sized businesses are very pleased that we lowered their tax rate to 9%, which is the lowest rate in the OECD. We will always help our job creators, our small businesses. As for students, we have increased grants across the country for young people from low- and middle-income families, because we know that investing in education is the best way to generate economic growth for individuals and for our entire economy.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister accused low-income Canadians of paying no taxes, but what about him? He inherited a multi-million dollar family fortune in the form of a tax-preferred trust fund from his father. Le Journal de Montréal wrote that for more than 15 years the funds from the trust have grown off the balance sheet of the Prime Minister and his brother without affecting their taxable income.How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying by using this trust fund tax loophole to shelter his family fortune?
Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things we did as a government was try to correct the direction the Conservatives went in, of trading benefits and advantages for the wealthiest one per cent. The very first thing we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives voted against. We are going to continue to look to make our tax system fair, as we did in the case of small businesses by lowering small business taxes to 9%. We are always looking for ways to support Canadians. That is the focus of this government, unlike the Conservatives, who want to keep giving advantages to the wealthy.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives resort to personal attacks when they cannot defend the fact that they consistently have voted against all the initiatives that we have made to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it. Our investments in families through the Canada child benefit, in workers through the Canada workers benefit, in our seniors through restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 they had put it at are all things that have helped people concretely and have led to the kind of economic growth they never saw under 10 years of Stephen Harper.
Mr. Speaker, we have taken meaningful action to help seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement and investing in housing for seniors.However, we know we still have a lot more to do. With regard to pharmacare, we have joined the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, helping Canadians save $1 billion a year. We have put forward major reforms to the Patented Medicines Regulations. We are going to keep listening to Canadians, because we also feel it is unacceptable for people to have to choose between food and medicine. We are going to work together to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have always given advantages and benefits to the wealthy and made the rest of Canadians pay more. We know that investing in the middle class and all those working hard to join it creates economic growth. The Conservatives opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.They opposed the Canada child benefit.They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase.They opposed investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative government was fond of using tax credits to help the rich, as always, but it did nothing to help low-income families. That is why we took a different approach. We decided to invest in middle-class families and all families working hard to join them. That is what makes a difference. The Conservatives opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for our seniors. They opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, he sure does not want to answer that question.We know that is his agenda. Since he became Prime Minister, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less, and the share of the overall federal tax burden paid by the wealthiest one per cent has dropped.We know his real motive. He is a trust fund millionaire, and he wants to protect others like him. We are simply asking him to be transparent about it. How much money did he save by taking advantage of the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister often says, no relationship is more important to our government than the one with indigenous peoples. It is in that spirit that the government committed to work nation-to-nation with indigenous partners and implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as all 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. The UN has declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.Can the Prime Minister explain to the House what the government is doing to support indigenous languages?
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand that we must invest in environmental protection. We must invest to create the economic growth that will help us continue to protect the environment. The NDP still believes that we have to choose between creating jobs and protecting the environment.We know that the only way to build a more prosperous economy and world for everyone in the years to come is to ensure that we are protecting the environment. That is why we have a real plan and are taking action to create jobs and protect families while protecting the environment.
Mr. Speaker, we have not yet determined the best path forward. We have asked an expert panel to make recommendations about how to best help Canadians who are struggling and making impossible choices, like the member opposite so eloquently described.That is why we are actually not only just moving forward with that panel but we are moving forward with concrete measures, like joining the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which means Canadians save over $1 billion annually. We have put forward major reforms to patented medicines regulations. We are continuing to do the work to make sure that Canadians get
Mr. Speaker, while we continue to stay focused on Canadians, the Conservatives keep focusing, once again, on how I grew up.Let us be very clear. I have always been very clear. I have been fortunate in my life to have great opportunities that very few people had. However, in life, we are always defined by the choices we make. The choice I made was to serve, to serve as a high school teacher, to serve as the member of Parliament for Papineau and now to serve Canadians as Prime Minister. The choices we make as a government are to help the middle class and the people working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, when we were elected in 2015, we heard loudly and clearly from Canadians that they wanted a renewal of the relationship and investments in indigenous peoples that would begin to close the gaps and the inequalities that exist in Canada.That is something we set about doing from the very beginning. We have since lifted 78 long-term boil water advisories in indigenous communities. We have opened hundreds of new schools. We have invested in new health centres. We are investing in hundreds, indeed thousands, of new housing units right across the country in indigenous communities.We know there is more
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives put forward an economic plan that gives advantages and benefits to the wealthiest 1% while neglecting to help low-income Canadians who actually need that help. That is one of the reasons Canadians chose a government that would focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is what we have been doing.While we have been doing that, the Conservatives have opposed lowering taxes on the middle class. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for seniors. They even opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the things that make a difference in people's
Mr. Speaker, maybe the Prime Minister should have informed the Minister of Finance that the Liberal priority was to consult again and again.The choice is clear: the president of the FTQ, Daniel Boyer, recently said that if we had a fully public system, we could achieve economies of scale of $3 billion in Quebec alone. Marc-André Gagnon, from Carleton University, estimates that if Canada had a universal system not only would everyone be covered, but businesses would save more than $8 billion since they would no longer have to offer private drug insurance.Why does the government want to just patch up the system instead of providing true universal pharmacare based on
Mr. Speaker, we are always very concerned about the plight of our seniors. That is why, since taking office, our government has been making concrete investments to help our most vulnerable seniors. We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. We invested in housing for seniors. We invested $5 billion in home care across the country.We will continue to invest in our seniors, and we understand that investing in pharmacare is the right thing to do. That is why we are waiting for the expert report before moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for his hard work. We have indeed made historic investments in Edmonton's infrastructure, which includes reducing traffic with investments in the Yellowhead Trail and the 50th Street overpass; investments in the Fort Edmonton Park expansion; investments in the Jerry Forbes Centre; investments in public transit; and investments right across the city, like we are making right across the country.The Conservatives want to cut infrastructure investments in Alberta. We will continue to invest in communities.
Mr. Speaker, we are working directly with the chief and council in Cat Lake. The minister is in direct contact with Chief Keewaykapow.We know that there are concerns about the health, safety and quality of the housing and that there is an urgent and long-term need for measures.We are working with the community and our partners to fast-track the necessary repairs and the construction of new housing units. We will continue to work closely with the chief and the council to find solutions for the short, medium and long term.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly proud of our health care system but we also recognize that Canadians in far too many situations have to make impossible choices between paying for their medications, paying their rent or paying for their food.That is why we are committed to moving forward on pharmacare but moving forward in the right way. We put together a panel of experts to study the best way to help Canadians by making sure that their medications are affordable, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the importance of investing in our regions. The Conservatives want to cut our infrastructure investments in Quebec, but we support all regions in the province and across the country.Can the Prime Minister tell us about the most recent announcement made in Shawinigan to encourage economic development in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, during negotiations for the new NAFTA, we said that we would protect supply management, and that is exactly what we did. We announced three working groups made up of representatives from the supply management sector to help farmers and processors adjust to the new NAFTA, to adjust to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to innovate in the dairy sector. We are helping workers in the dairy industry. We will always help farmers and workers across the country.
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Mr. Speaker, Ana Mae is a constituent of mine who works hard, but is struggling to get by. She earns $15.50 at a fast-food restaurant. Contrary to the Prime Minister's insulting assertion that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes, Ana Mae pays federal income tax, CPP, EI and the GST.Will the millionaire Prime Minister, with his vast family fortune, look Ana Mae in the eye and tell her that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day when the Prime Minister insulted our job creators, our small business owners, by saying that they were trying to avoid paying taxes by incorporating. It was insulting. He insulted hundreds of thousands of Canadians again yesterday when he said, and I quote, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is false. Thousands of Canadians were appalled by his statement. A student named Geneviève posted on Facebook yesterday that she has to pay taxes.Is the Prime Minister going to tell Geneviève that that is not true, that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there was a debate on the environment in Outremont and the Liberal candidate decided to stay away. She did not show up.It is not easy to defend a Prime Minister who breaks his promises. It is not easy to explain to people that his party's priority is to give billions of dollars to his oil industry friends. It is not easy to defend wasting public money on the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.Are the Liberal candidates trying to hide because they know that their government's environmental policies do not cut it in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes; so declared the Prime Minister yesterday. However, low-income Canadians actually beg to differ with that postulation. Ann is a single woman who works in Milton, Ontario. She makes minimum wage and she pays approximately $2,600 in federal income tax.Will the Prime Minister stand today and tell us he stands by his statement that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is this is personal. I did not realize that the Prime Minister and I had so much in common. We both grew up in taxpayer-funded housing, he in 24 Sussex; me in the projects in Barrie. The Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians did not pay tax. He does not understand who pays for his nannies, for his planes and for his houses. It is all paid for by servers like Andrea in Barrie. When will the trust fund Prime Minister look Andrea in the eye and tell her she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, in the statements that the Prime Minister made, he actually missed the point of the question, which is that Ann is a single woman making minimum wage. She does not get the Canada child care benefit. She does not get the guaranteed income supplement. She does not get that middle-class tax cut either, yet the Prime Minister thinks she does not pay a single cent in taxes. She would beg to differ. She will pay about $5,000 in taxes every year after CPP and EI are included. Then there will be the GST, then there will be the HST and then there will be the Liberal carbon tax, which is coming next.Will the Prime Minister still stand by that ridiculous statement?
Mr. Speaker, we are focused on the Prime Minister's hypocrisy. The Prime Minister's trust fund operated outside of a blind trust for over a decade. He would have known that he was saving a fortune in taxes on his family fortune that entire time. The Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying because he was sheltering his family fortune with the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has other people manage his vast family fortune, so it is no surprise that he does not understand how the tax system actually works. Individuals at the low-income cut-off would earn $21,487 and pay $1,451 in federal taxes. They would benefit from those tax credits. Also, the children's fitness tax credit was a refundable tax credit that he took away. Why is he making low and middle-income Canadians pay for his mistakes?
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives put forward an economic plan that gives advantages and benefits to the wealthiest 1% while neglecting to help low-income Canadians who actually need that help. That is one of the reasons Canadians chose a government that would focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is what we have been doing.While we have been doing that, the Conservatives have opposed lowering taxes on the middle class. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for seniors. They even opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the things that make a difference in people's
Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative government was fond of using tax credits to help the rich, as always, but it did nothing to help low-income families. That is why we took a different approach. We decided to invest in middle-class families and all families working hard to join them. That is what makes a difference. The Conservatives opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for our seniors. They opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Conservatives do not want to stand by their own voting record, where they voted against the Canada child benefit and where they voted against lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplements for our most vulnerable single seniors. They even voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations.We will continue to work hard to support the middle class and people working very hard to join it. That is what this government remains focused on.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Does the Prime Minister truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, no gas taxes, no EI taxes and no income tax?
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is his quote. Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the mould crisis in Cat Lake is a public health disaster. The government has known about this for years.Now, there are children awaiting medical treatment. Seniors in the community have died from respiratory problems.Will the Prime Minister commit to sending an independent health team, conducting an immediate assessment of the families affected, and immediately assuming his responsibilities under the Jordan principle?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for SaanichGulf Islands for bringing this issue forward in the House. We agree that the capture of whales and dolphins for the sole purpose of being kept for public display should be ended. While the banning of whale captivity is not yet legislation, in practice it has been in place for years. We put forward legislation that includes putting an end to the captivity of whales unless it is for rehabilitation. We supported Bill S-203 at second reading. We look forward to the work the committee is going to do on it.
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to empty his or her wallet or go into debt to get the medicine his or her family needs and no Canadian should go without the medicine his or her doctor prescribed because of cost. However, Canada is the only nation with medicare that does not include universal coverage for prescriptions.This is the Prime Minister's last budget before the election. It is his last chance to do what is right for people, which is to deliver a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare system that covers every single Canadian. Will the Prime Minister do it?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that if people take the bus, they are too rich and deserve to lose their transit tax credit. If they put their kids in hockey or soccer, they are too rich for the Prime Minister and deserve to lose the refundable children's fitness tax credit. If they buy textbooks at university, they are too rich and they deserve to lose their textbook tax credits, says the same Prime Minister who used a trust fund tax loophole to lower his tax bill.Does he realize, as he sits there and smirks, how horribly arrogant he is when he accuses low-income Canadians of not paying their taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is totally false and further proves how out of touch the Prime Minister is with Canadians' real lives. People who earn $12,000 per year pay tax on gas, food, prescription drugs and everything else.Can our millionaire Prime Minister, who inherited his family fortune, look thousands of low-income people in the eye and tell them they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, Lois from my riding lost her job because the Liberals closed a federal office in Vegreville. Now she is making minimum wage, bagging groceries. She is struggling like so many others, and she is paying all kinds of taxes. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Well, he is wrong. Is the millionaire Prime Minister, who has never had to worry about money because of his family fortune, really going to look Lois in the eyes and tell her she does not pay any taxes?
Mr. Speaker, for all single mothers and for all mothers in this country, we have helped low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, which is really making a difference. Every month they receive a tax-free cheque that directly helps them ensure a better future for their children. It has helped millions of families in this country, but the Conservatives voted against it. They have always opposed the Canada child benefit. It is unfortunate for families that have
Mr. Speaker, we are not making anything up. The Prime Minister said, here in the House, that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes.This statement is totally out of touch with reality. Even low-income Canadians already pay too much tax, sadly, and they have been paying more in the three years that this government has been in power. Could the Prime Minister at least acknowledge that low-income Canadians are paying more tax today than they were three years ago under the previous Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lower for Canadians. It was the Prime Minister's tax changes that led to the top 1% paying less tax, but it is not surprising that he does not understand how the tax system works. He brags that other people manage his vast family fortune.Once again, could he tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we are working directly with the chief and council in Cat Lake. The minister is in direct contact with Chief Keewaykapow.We know that there are concerns about the health, safety and quality of the housing and that there is an urgent and long-term need for measures.We are working with the community and our partners to fast-track the necessary repairs and the construction of new housing units. We will continue to work closely with the chief and the council to find solutions for the short, medium and long term.
Mr. Speaker, once again, while we remain focused on Canadians, the Conservatives want to focus on me. We are going to continue to invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it. We are going to continue to do things that they vote against, like strengthening the Canada pension plan; like increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors; like investing in a better Canada child benefit that is going to continue to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, instead of sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, as the Conservatives consistently want to do. We are going to focus on Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for his hard work. We have indeed made historic investments in Edmonton's infrastructure, which includes reducing traffic with investments in the Yellowhead Trail and the 50th Street overpass; investments in the Fort Edmonton Park expansion; investments in the Jerry Forbes Centre; investments in public transit; and investments right across the city, like we are making right across the country.The Conservatives want to cut infrastructure investments in Alberta. We will continue to invest in communities.
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, we have seen over 800,000 jobs created in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. That happened because, unlike the Conservatives, who had an approach for 10 years to support and invest in the wealthiest 1%, we made investments in the middle class and those working hard to join it. Those investments are leading to the kinds of economic growth that are giving more opportunities for everyone. The Conservatives continue to vote against tangible, concrete measures that make things better for people who are working hard to join the middle class, and they will continue to
Mr. Speaker, we know the Conservatives like to mislead the House, but it is blatant in that they actually did vote against the guaranteed income supplement increase for our most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit that stopped sending benefit cheques to millionaire families so that we could send more money to the Canadians who needed it most. We watched them vote against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations. They stood and voted against investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Every step of the way, they say things they do not mean and then act to hurt
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for his question and for the hard work that he does for indigenous languages in the House of Commons.For too long, government policies focused more on destroying indigenous languages than on protecting them. That is why we support our partners who want to revitalize and strengthen their language and culture.Yesterday, in the House, we introduced the first bill dealing with indigenous languages. In it, we recognize the right to use an indigenous language. We will appoint a commissioner, to ensure that future governments respect that obligation. Protecting language and culture is how
Mr. Speaker, again, between the torquing of the numbers and the personal attacks, the Conservatives do not want to face the facts or have Canadians understand that they actually voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one per cent.The only way the numbers that the member opposite just cited even, maybe, perhaps, might align is if we completely ignore the Canada child benefit that has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Perhaps that is because Conservatives have no intention of continuing that Canada child benefit. That is something that
Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nobody chooses where they are born, but we make choices about what we choose to do in life. The choices the Conservatives consistently make are to stand against investments in public and affordable housing and to stand against investments in the Canada child benefit which is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. The choice the Conservatives continue to make is against increasing benefits for our most vulnerable single seniors. The choice the Conservatives make consistently is to help the wealthiest 1% instead of Canadians who need the help.
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is unbelievable. He abolished the tax credit for people who use public transit, many of whom are students. He abolished the children's fitness and arts tax credits. He created a carbon tax that will affect the price of gas, groceries and all activities that people participate in. The comments he keeps repeating make no sense.Will he at least acknowledge that Canadians are paying more taxes today than under the former Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, on what planet does our wealthy Prime Minister live? Yesterday he said that low-income families do not pay taxes. Hello, earth to mars.A mother in my riding named Lorraine is working very hard to make ends meet. She has a low income and she pays taxes.Will the Prime Minister come with me and tell Lorraine with a straight face that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we are always very concerned about the plight of our seniors. That is why, since taking office, our government has been making concrete investments to help our most vulnerable seniors. We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. We invested in housing for seniors. We invested $5 billion in home care across the country.We will continue to invest in our seniors, and we understand that investing in pharmacare is the right thing to do. That is why we are waiting for the expert report before moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how the Conservatives can look low-income families in the eye when they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors and the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. They voted against our investments in affordable housing, in old age pensions, in students and in Canadians who need help. The Conservatives voted against Canadians every time.
Mr. Speaker, it is dizzying. I get the feeling that if you looked up the word liberal in the dictionary, it would say, say one thing and do another.People are not fooled by the Prime Minister's doublespeak. The Climate Change Performance Index was released at COP24, in Poland. Out of 60 countries, Canada ranked 54th. It is so bad.How can the Prime Minister look our young people in the eye and tell them that he is concerned about the planet and their
Mr. Speaker, poverty is rising among seniors, and all too often they have to choose between buying food or medication. No one should ever have to make that choice. One of my constituents, Mr. Desmarais, is on a certain type of medication. It is absolutely vital that he take it every day, but the cost is exorbitant. How is he supposed to pay for that? Millions of seniors across the country are in the same boat.What are the Liberals waiting for? When will they implement a pharmacare
Mr. Speaker, maybe the Prime Minister should have informed the Minister of Finance that the Liberal priority was to consult again and again.The choice is clear: the president of the FTQ, Daniel Boyer, recently said that if we had a fully public system, we could achieve economies of scale of $3 billion in Quebec alone. Marc-André Gagnon, from Carleton University, estimates that if Canada had a universal system not only would everyone be covered, but businesses would save more than $8 billion since they would no longer have to offer private drug insurance.Why does the government want to just patch up the system instead of providing true universal pharmacare based on
Mr. Speaker, first nations in this country are facing a housing crisis, and 85% of first nations in Manitoba report mold in their homes.We are talking about 15, 17 or 20 people in a house. Babies, elders and families are suffering. In community after community, people are saying that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse.My question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not know that this housing crisis is literally making people sick? Will his Liberal government move from talking to action, to address this housing crisis on first nations now?
Mr. Speaker, once again, I wonder how the Conservatives actually talk to their constituents when they know they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against increasing the amount of the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan. They voted against infrastructure investments, which are making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians across the country. That is what they do not understand about how to build a strong economy. One invests in the middle class. One does not help the wealthiest, like the Conservatives always do.
Mr. Speaker, our focus from the very beginning has been investing in the middle class and people working hard to join it, and that is exactly what we have done step by step. The Canada workers benefit helps low-income Canadians stay in the workforce, and indeed, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that employment insurance continues to cover them while they go to school. That is something the Conservatives never did. We know this because the Conservatives continue to insist that tax benefits and advantages to the wealthiest 1% is the way to grow the economy. Three years of Canadian
Mr. Speaker, while the members opposite continue to focus on me, why do we not focus on Canadians? Indeed, why do we not focus on Canadians living in the riding of Carleton, where $48 million a year goes directly to families every month, tax free, in the riding to support 16,000 kids with the Canada child benefit? We send $7,000 a year for 22,000 constituents with the strengthened Canada pension plan, and will send over $300 for households next year with the climate action incentive. We are investing in the
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks and talks but does not actually do anything.My constituents are tired of seeing the wealthy exploit our system while they struggle to make ends meet and to pay for medication.I met a 70-year-old man in Sherbrooke who told me that he faced a tough decision on his last visit to the pharmacy. He had three prescriptions, but he could only afford to get one filled. It is disgraceful that this kind of thing is happening in a country where access to a doctor is free. Access to the drugs prescribed by the doctor is not free.Why is the Prime Minister telling my constituent to wait for yet another report, when he could have taken action at any time in the three years he has been in office?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister might not be aware, but Canadians start paying taxes starting at $12,000. He may have never done this before, but that is how it works. People know this. Yesterday on Facebook, Richard Sauvé said that he earns $13,000 a year and pays taxes. This is the reality for Canadians. Another reality is that all Canadians pay GST. What the Prime Minister said yesterday is not true.Will he apologize to the thousands of families he insulted yesterday?
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, using CRA data, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less in taxes, and further data shows they bear a smaller burden of the federal tax take.The Prime Minister would know about rich guys getting off easy. He used a trust fund tax loophole that allowed him to pay a lower rate on his family fortune than other Canadians would have to pay. He should do the right thing now and tell Canadians how much he saved by using the trust fund tax loophole. Will he do so?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that since 1997.The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the reality people are facing. Millions of Canadians are deprived of the medicine they need because of price. Today we heard from Marilyn Sheehan, whose family lives in BC. She said she cannot afford the heart medication her husband needs and their son often goes without his life-saving allergy medicine. She said they are just rolling the dice. Private patchwork coverage has not helped them.Why is the Prime Minister pursuing this very system that costs more and delivers less?
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives resort to personal attacks when they cannot defend the fact that they consistently have voted against all the initiatives that we have made to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it. Our investments in families through the Canada child benefit, in workers through the Canada workers benefit, in our seniors through restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 they had put it at are all things that have helped people concretely and have led to the kind of economic growth they never saw under 10 years of Stephen Harper.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have $2,000 more on average with our approach than with that of the Conservatives.However, I am pleased to hear the Conservative members speak about public transit. The problem is that they never invested in public transit. We have made historic investments to help students, hard-working people and seniors use public transit anywhere in the country. These are real investments that have helped families across the country and we will continue to invest.
Mr. Speaker, he sure does not want to answer that question.We know that is his agenda. Since he became Prime Minister, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less, and the share of the overall federal tax burden paid by the wealthiest one per cent has dropped.We know his real motive. He is a trust fund millionaire, and he wants to protect others like him. We are simply asking him to be transparent about it. How much money did he save by taking advantage of the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, while we continue to stay focused on Canadians, the Conservatives keep focusing, once again, on how I grew up.Let us be very clear. I have always been very clear. I have been fortunate in my life to have great opportunities that very few people had. However, in life, we are always defined by the choices we make. The choice I made was to serve, to serve as a high school teacher, to serve as the member of Parliament for Papineau and now to serve Canadians as Prime Minister. The choices we make as a government are to help the middle class and the people working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives have difficulty understanding that one does not advance as an economy when one continues to give benefits to the wealthy, the way they always have. We lowered taxes for the middle classthe very first thing we did as a governmentand raised them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives, of course, voted against. They refused to support us in increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors. They refused to support us in moving forward with the Canada child benefit that is making a real and tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the wealthy are paying $4.6 billion less in tax, while the average family pays $800 more, but we know why the Prime Minister is advantaging the wealthy. He wants to help people just like him. He used the trust fund tax loophole to save thousands of dollars on his taxes. However, he has never come clean on how much he saved and how much he avoided paying, which other Canadians will be forced to pay. Will he stand and finally answer that question today?
Mr. Speaker, what is in question here are the Prime Minister's own comments yesterday in the House. As for the Conservative record, under our government, the parliamentary budget officer said, Low and middle income earners have benefited more.Let us talk about what the Prime Minister has taken away. He took away the textbook credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income students? He took away the public transit tax credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income Canadians who take the bus? Has his luxurious lifestyle made him so out of touch that he does not understand the everyday struggles of low-income Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, it seems unbelievable that after 10 years of government the Conservatives still do not understand this, but non-refundable tax credits do not help the lowest-income Canadians who need it the most. That is something they simply do not understand. Their approach of boutique tax credits continues to help the wealthiest Canadians while not doing anything for the Canadians who actually need the most support. That is why we increased the guaranteed income supplement
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have always given advantages and benefits to the wealthy and made the rest of Canadians pay more. We know that investing in the middle class and all those working hard to join it creates economic growth. The Conservatives opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.They opposed the Canada child benefit.They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase.They opposed investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, when we were elected in 2015, we heard loudly and clearly from Canadians that they wanted a renewal of the relationship and investments in indigenous peoples that would begin to close the gaps and the inequalities that exist in Canada.That is something we set about doing from the very beginning. We have since lifted 78 long-term boil water advisories in indigenous communities. We have opened hundreds of new schools. We have invested in new health centres. We are investing in hundreds, indeed thousands, of new housing units right across the country in indigenous communities.We know there is more
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, we lost a tremendous amount of leadership on the environment. For three years we have been working very hard to develop a plan and an approach that will protect the environment and create economic growth.The Conservatives still do not accept that we have to fight to protect the environment, but we know that the only way to create a prosperous economy is to protect the environment and ensure good jobs for the future. That is exactly what we are doing and we will continue to do that for Quebeckers and all Canadians.
That was a little rich, Mr. Speaker.Thirty-year-old Ashley lives with her parents in a rural part of my riding and has to drive almost 100 kilometres a day just to go to school or to work. Last year, she made under $19,000. The Prime Minister says that people like Ashley do not pay tax and yet her payroll taxes have gone up, she pays the gas tax and GST, and she never got the so-called Liberal tax cut for the middle class. Every time she turns around, Ashley is paying more and more under the Liberal government.Will the rich
Mr. Speaker, during negotiations for the new NAFTA, we said that we would protect supply management, and that is exactly what we did. We announced three working groups made up of representatives from the supply management sector to help farmers and processors adjust to the new NAFTA, to adjust to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to innovate in the dairy sector. We are helping workers in the dairy industry. We will always help farmers and workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, small and medium-sized businesses are very pleased that we lowered their tax rate to 9%, which is the lowest rate in the OECD. We will always help our job creators, our small businesses. As for students, we have increased grants across the country for young people from low- and middle-income families, because we know that investing in education is the best way to generate economic growth for individuals and for our entire economy.
Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things we did as a government was try to correct the direction the Conservatives went in, of trading benefits and advantages for the wealthiest one per cent. The very first thing we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives voted against. We are going to continue to look to make our tax system fair, as we did in the case of small businesses by lowering small business taxes to 9%. We are always looking for ways to support Canadians. That is the focus of this government, unlike the Conservatives, who want to keep giving advantages to the wealthy.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that all the NDP does is talk and talk. That is rich coming from the Liberal Party, which suffers from acute consultitis.The Liberals proposed creating an advisory council on pharmacare last June. Why?The Minister of Finance has already announced that they are going to propose not a universal plan but a public-private patchwork that will protect pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies. Two Liberal sources confirmed as much on Friday.How can the Liberals go around talking about how great universal health care is when they want to introduce a stopgap medicare system?
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so transparent. They say whatever they want when they are in opposition or in election mode, but when they are in power, they always give benefits to the wealthy and do nothing for the people who actually need help.Perhaps this is why they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families. We stopped sending the cheques to millionaires that the Conservatives kept sending out. We know that by investing in those who need it, we can
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand that we must invest in environmental protection. We must invest to create the economic growth that will help us continue to protect the environment. The NDP still believes that we have to choose between creating jobs and protecting the environment.We know that the only way to build a more prosperous economy and world for everyone in the years to come is to ensure that we are protecting the environment. That is why we have a real plan and are taking action to create jobs and protect families while protecting the environment.
Mr. Speaker, on February 1, this place happily passed Bill S-203 at second reading. It started in the Senate with Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore and then went to Senator Murray Sinclair. It is not yet before the Standing Committee on Fisheries. We need it to be there. In this place, we need to let Canadians know, before the next election, that we will not tolerate the keeping of whales and dolphins, sentient beings, in conditions that amount to torture. Does the Prime Minister stand with us? Could we get this passed before the next election?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated yet again just how out of touch he really is, stating that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes. Rhonda, whose income is below the poverty line, struggles to keep a roof over her head and pay her bills. Like thousands of low-income Canadians, she wants the Prime Minister to know that she pays payroll taxes, income taxes, the GST and every other kind of tax, and she cannot afford more taxes.Will our trust fund Prime Minister continue to tell Rhonda and every other low-income Canadian that they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for ChâteauguayLacolle for her hard work and her question.Over 1,300 Canada Revenue Agency employees in Shawinigan do very important work. They deserve safe, modern and eco-friendly facilities.Earlier this week, we announced the construction of a new building to replace a 40-year-old building. This project demonstrates our commitment to regions across the country. Unlike the Conservatives, we will not put federal jobs in the regions at risk.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the importance of investing in our regions. The Conservatives want to cut our infrastructure investments in Quebec, but we support all regions in the province and across the country.Can the Prime Minister tell us about the most recent announcement made in Shawinigan to encourage economic development in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, we are in process of consulting experts because it is important to take the best path forward. That does not mean that we have not taken any action. On the contrary, we are moving forward with concrete measures to make drugs more affordable for Canadians.We have already seen positive results from the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which saves Canadians $1 billion annually. We made major reforms to patented medicines regulations.Yes, we created an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare to review our options. We will continue to work very hard for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, instead of personal attacks, we stay focused on Canadians. We stay focused on making sure there are historic investments in transit to help low-income students get to school, to be able to get a better job and a stronger future. We invest in families with a tax-free Canada child benefit every month that makes a huge difference in their lives in terms of groceries, in terms of back-to-school supplies, in terms of new shoes and boots. These are the things that are making a real difference in the lives of Canadians, and these are exactly the things that the Conservatives consistently vote against.
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister often says, no relationship is more important to our government than the one with indigenous peoples. It is in that spirit that the government committed to work nation-to-nation with indigenous partners and implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as all 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. The UN has declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.Can the Prime Minister explain to the House what the government is doing to support indigenous languages?
Mr. Speaker, we have not yet determined the best path forward. We have asked an expert panel to make recommendations about how to best help Canadians who are struggling and making impossible choices, like the member opposite so eloquently described.That is why we are actually not only just moving forward with that panel but we are moving forward with concrete measures, like joining the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which means Canadians save over $1 billion annually. We have put forward major reforms to patented medicines regulations. We are continuing to do the work to make sure that Canadians get
Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are proud of our public health care system, but we also know that far too many Canadians are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. They have to make choices that no Canadian should have to make. That is why we created an expert panel to make recommendations. That is how we are going to figure out what we need to do to make sure Canadians can buy their prescription drugs and stay healthy. This is a priority for Canadians and for us. We trust the experts and we are going to help Canadians by following their recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, we have taken meaningful action to help seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement and investing in housing for seniors.However, we know we still have a lot more to do. With regard to pharmacare, we have joined the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, helping Canadians save $1 billion a year. We have put forward major reforms to the Patented Medicines Regulations. We are going to keep listening to Canadians, because we also feel it is unacceptable for people to have to choose between food and medicine. We are going to work together to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, our government came to office with a commitment to invest in infrastructure across Canada, including my home province of Alberta and my hometown of Edmonton. Since taking office, we have been doing just that. After a decade of inaction from the Harper government, we have been making the much-needed investments in transit, recreational infrastructure, water systems, cultural spaces and more that Edmontonians deserve. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on the investments our government has made to support Alberta's communities and those infrastructure investments in the city of Edmonton?
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about the Canada workers benefit that goes directly to low-income workers who will be able to have a little more money every month to be able to afford the cost of living and, indeed, create more incentives for them to stay in the workforce. Of course, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that unemployment insurance will actually help a person go back to school and retrain. People can continue to get EI benefits.These are the kinds of things that we are focusing on to make sure that all Canadians have a real and fair chance to succeed
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly proud of our health care system but we also recognize that Canadians in far too many situations have to make impossible choices between paying for their medications, paying their rent or paying for their food.That is why we are committed to moving forward on pharmacare but moving forward in the right way. We put together a panel of experts to study the best way to help Canadians by making sure that their medications are affordable, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lowered for
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister accused low-income Canadians of paying no taxes, but what about him? He inherited a multi-million dollar family fortune in the form of a tax-preferred trust fund from his father. Le Journal de Montréal wrote that for more than 15 years the funds from the trust have grown off the balance sheet of the Prime Minister and his brother without affecting their taxable income.How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying by using this trust fund tax loophole to shelter his family fortune?
Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards. On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?
Mr. Speaker, Ana Mae is a constituent of mine who works hard, but is struggling to get by. She earns $15.50 at a fast-food restaurant. Contrary to the Prime Minister's insulting assertion that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes, Ana Mae pays federal income tax, CPP, EI and the GST.Will the millionaire Prime Minister, with his vast family fortune, look Ana Mae in the eye and tell her that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day when the Prime Minister insulted our job creators, our small business owners, by saying that they were trying to avoid paying taxes by incorporating. It was insulting. He insulted hundreds of thousands of Canadians again yesterday when he said, and I quote, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is false. Thousands of Canadians were appalled by his statement. A student named Geneviève posted on Facebook yesterday that she has to pay taxes.Is the Prime Minister going to tell Geneviève that that is not true, that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there was a debate on the environment in Outremont and the Liberal candidate decided to stay away. She did not show up.It is not easy to defend a Prime Minister who breaks his promises. It is not easy to explain to people that his party's priority is to give billions of dollars to his oil industry friends. It is not easy to defend wasting public money on the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.Are the Liberal candidates trying to hide because they know that their government's environmental policies do not cut it in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes; so declared the Prime Minister yesterday. However, low-income Canadians actually beg to differ with that postulation. Ann is a single woman who works in Milton, Ontario. She makes minimum wage and she pays approximately $2,600 in federal income tax.Will the Prime Minister stand today and tell us he stands by his statement that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is this is personal. I did not realize that the Prime Minister and I had so much in common. We both grew up in taxpayer-funded housing, he in 24 Sussex; me in the projects in Barrie. The Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians did not pay tax. He does not understand who pays for his nannies, for his planes and for his houses. It is all paid for by servers like Andrea in Barrie. When will the trust fund Prime Minister look Andrea in the eye and tell her she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, in the statements that the Prime Minister made, he actually missed the point of the question, which is that Ann is a single woman making minimum wage. She does not get the Canada child care benefit. She does not get the guaranteed income supplement. She does not get that middle-class tax cut either, yet the Prime Minister thinks she does not pay a single cent in taxes. She would beg to differ. She will pay about $5,000 in taxes every year after CPP and EI are included. Then there will be the GST, then there will be the HST and then there will be the Liberal carbon tax, which is coming next.Will the Prime Minister still stand by that ridiculous statement?
Mr. Speaker, we are focused on the Prime Minister's hypocrisy. The Prime Minister's trust fund operated outside of a blind trust for over a decade. He would have known that he was saving a fortune in taxes on his family fortune that entire time. The Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying because he was sheltering his family fortune with the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has other people manage his vast family fortune, so it is no surprise that he does not understand how the tax system actually works. Individuals at the low-income cut-off would earn $21,487 and pay $1,451 in federal taxes. They would benefit from those tax credits. Also, the children's fitness tax credit was a refundable tax credit that he took away. Why is he making low and middle-income Canadians pay for his mistakes?
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives put forward an economic plan that gives advantages and benefits to the wealthiest 1% while neglecting to help low-income Canadians who actually need that help. That is one of the reasons Canadians chose a government that would focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is what we have been doing.While we have been doing that, the Conservatives have opposed lowering taxes on the middle class. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for seniors. They even opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the things that make a difference in people's
Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative government was fond of using tax credits to help the rich, as always, but it did nothing to help low-income families. That is why we took a different approach. We decided to invest in middle-class families and all families working hard to join them. That is what makes a difference. The Conservatives opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for our seniors. They opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Conservatives do not want to stand by their own voting record, where they voted against the Canada child benefit and where they voted against lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplements for our most vulnerable single seniors. They even voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations.We will continue to work hard to support the middle class and people working very hard to join it. That is what this government remains focused on.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Does the Prime Minister truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, no gas taxes, no EI taxes and no income tax?
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is his quote. Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the mould crisis in Cat Lake is a public health disaster. The government has known about this for years.Now, there are children awaiting medical treatment. Seniors in the community have died from respiratory problems.Will the Prime Minister commit to sending an independent health team, conducting an immediate assessment of the families affected, and immediately assuming his responsibilities under the Jordan principle?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for SaanichGulf Islands for bringing this issue forward in the House. We agree that the capture of whales and dolphins for the sole purpose of being kept for public display should be ended. While the banning of whale captivity is not yet legislation, in practice it has been in place for years. We put forward legislation that includes putting an end to the captivity of whales unless it is for rehabilitation. We supported Bill S-203 at second reading. We look forward to the work the committee is going to do on it.
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to empty his or her wallet or go into debt to get the medicine his or her family needs and no Canadian should go without the medicine his or her doctor prescribed because of cost. However, Canada is the only nation with medicare that does not include universal coverage for prescriptions.This is the Prime Minister's last budget before the election. It is his last chance to do what is right for people, which is to deliver a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare system that covers every single Canadian. Will the Prime Minister do it?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that if people take the bus, they are too rich and deserve to lose their transit tax credit. If they put their kids in hockey or soccer, they are too rich for the Prime Minister and deserve to lose the refundable children's fitness tax credit. If they buy textbooks at university, they are too rich and they deserve to lose their textbook tax credits, says the same Prime Minister who used a trust fund tax loophole to lower his tax bill.Does he realize, as he sits there and smirks, how horribly arrogant he is when he accuses low-income Canadians of not paying their taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is totally false and further proves how out of touch the Prime Minister is with Canadians' real lives. People who earn $12,000 per year pay tax on gas, food, prescription drugs and everything else.Can our millionaire Prime Minister, who inherited his family fortune, look thousands of low-income people in the eye and tell them they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, Lois from my riding lost her job because the Liberals closed a federal office in Vegreville. Now she is making minimum wage, bagging groceries. She is struggling like so many others, and she is paying all kinds of taxes. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Well, he is wrong. Is the millionaire Prime Minister, who has never had to worry about money because of his family fortune, really going to look Lois in the eyes and tell her she does not pay any taxes?
Mr. Speaker, for all single mothers and for all mothers in this country, we have helped low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, which is really making a difference. Every month they receive a tax-free cheque that directly helps them ensure a better future for their children. It has helped millions of families in this country, but the Conservatives voted against it. They have always opposed the Canada child benefit. It is unfortunate for families that have
Mr. Speaker, we are not making anything up. The Prime Minister said, here in the House, that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes.This statement is totally out of touch with reality. Even low-income Canadians already pay too much tax, sadly, and they have been paying more in the three years that this government has been in power. Could the Prime Minister at least acknowledge that low-income Canadians are paying more tax today than they were three years ago under the previous Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lower for Canadians. It was the Prime Minister's tax changes that led to the top 1% paying less tax, but it is not surprising that he does not understand how the tax system works. He brags that other people manage his vast family fortune.Once again, could he tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we are working directly with the chief and council in Cat Lake. The minister is in direct contact with Chief Keewaykapow.We know that there are concerns about the health, safety and quality of the housing and that there is an urgent and long-term need for measures.We are working with the community and our partners to fast-track the necessary repairs and the construction of new housing units. We will continue to work closely with the chief and the council to find solutions for the short, medium and long term.
Mr. Speaker, once again, while we remain focused on Canadians, the Conservatives want to focus on me. We are going to continue to invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it. We are going to continue to do things that they vote against, like strengthening the Canada pension plan; like increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors; like investing in a better Canada child benefit that is going to continue to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, instead of sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, as the Conservatives consistently want to do. We are going to focus on Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for his hard work. We have indeed made historic investments in Edmonton's infrastructure, which includes reducing traffic with investments in the Yellowhead Trail and the 50th Street overpass; investments in the Fort Edmonton Park expansion; investments in the Jerry Forbes Centre; investments in public transit; and investments right across the city, like we are making right across the country.The Conservatives want to cut infrastructure investments in Alberta. We will continue to invest in communities.
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, we have seen over 800,000 jobs created in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. That happened because, unlike the Conservatives, who had an approach for 10 years to support and invest in the wealthiest 1%, we made investments in the middle class and those working hard to join it. Those investments are leading to the kinds of economic growth that are giving more opportunities for everyone. The Conservatives continue to vote against tangible, concrete measures that make things better for people who are working hard to join the middle class, and they will continue to
Mr. Speaker, we know the Conservatives like to mislead the House, but it is blatant in that they actually did vote against the guaranteed income supplement increase for our most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit that stopped sending benefit cheques to millionaire families so that we could send more money to the Canadians who needed it most. We watched them vote against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations. They stood and voted against investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Every step of the way, they say things they do not mean and then act to hurt
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for his question and for the hard work that he does for indigenous languages in the House of Commons.For too long, government policies focused more on destroying indigenous languages than on protecting them. That is why we support our partners who want to revitalize and strengthen their language and culture.Yesterday, in the House, we introduced the first bill dealing with indigenous languages. In it, we recognize the right to use an indigenous language. We will appoint a commissioner, to ensure that future governments respect that obligation. Protecting language and culture is how
Mr. Speaker, again, between the torquing of the numbers and the personal attacks, the Conservatives do not want to face the facts or have Canadians understand that they actually voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one per cent.The only way the numbers that the member opposite just cited even, maybe, perhaps, might align is if we completely ignore the Canada child benefit that has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Perhaps that is because Conservatives have no intention of continuing that Canada child benefit. That is something that
Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nobody chooses where they are born, but we make choices about what we choose to do in life. The choices the Conservatives consistently make are to stand against investments in public and affordable housing and to stand against investments in the Canada child benefit which is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. The choice the Conservatives continue to make is against increasing benefits for our most vulnerable single seniors. The choice the Conservatives make consistently is to help the wealthiest 1% instead of Canadians who need the help.
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is unbelievable. He abolished the tax credit for people who use public transit, many of whom are students. He abolished the children's fitness and arts tax credits. He created a carbon tax that will affect the price of gas, groceries and all activities that people participate in. The comments he keeps repeating make no sense.Will he at least acknowledge that Canadians are paying more taxes today than under the former Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, on what planet does our wealthy Prime Minister live? Yesterday he said that low-income families do not pay taxes. Hello, earth to mars.A mother in my riding named Lorraine is working very hard to make ends meet. She has a low income and she pays taxes.Will the Prime Minister come with me and tell Lorraine with a straight face that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we are always very concerned about the plight of our seniors. That is why, since taking office, our government has been making concrete investments to help our most vulnerable seniors. We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. We invested in housing for seniors. We invested $5 billion in home care across the country.We will continue to invest in our seniors, and we understand that investing in pharmacare is the right thing to do. That is why we are waiting for the expert report before moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how the Conservatives can look low-income families in the eye when they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors and the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. They voted against our investments in affordable housing, in old age pensions, in students and in Canadians who need help. The Conservatives voted against Canadians every time.
Mr. Speaker, it is dizzying. I get the feeling that if you looked up the word liberal in the dictionary, it would say, say one thing and do another.People are not fooled by the Prime Minister's doublespeak. The Climate Change Performance Index was released at COP24, in Poland. Out of 60 countries, Canada ranked 54th. It is so bad.How can the Prime Minister look our young people in the eye and tell them that he is concerned about the planet and their
Mr. Speaker, poverty is rising among seniors, and all too often they have to choose between buying food or medication. No one should ever have to make that choice. One of my constituents, Mr. Desmarais, is on a certain type of medication. It is absolutely vital that he take it every day, but the cost is exorbitant. How is he supposed to pay for that? Millions of seniors across the country are in the same boat.What are the Liberals waiting for? When will they implement a pharmacare
Mr. Speaker, maybe the Prime Minister should have informed the Minister of Finance that the Liberal priority was to consult again and again.The choice is clear: the president of the FTQ, Daniel Boyer, recently said that if we had a fully public system, we could achieve economies of scale of $3 billion in Quebec alone. Marc-André Gagnon, from Carleton University, estimates that if Canada had a universal system not only would everyone be covered, but businesses would save more than $8 billion since they would no longer have to offer private drug insurance.Why does the government want to just patch up the system instead of providing true universal pharmacare based on
Mr. Speaker, first nations in this country are facing a housing crisis, and 85% of first nations in Manitoba report mold in their homes.We are talking about 15, 17 or 20 people in a house. Babies, elders and families are suffering. In community after community, people are saying that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse.My question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not know that this housing crisis is literally making people sick? Will his Liberal government move from talking to action, to address this housing crisis on first nations now?
Mr. Speaker, once again, I wonder how the Conservatives actually talk to their constituents when they know they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against increasing the amount of the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan. They voted against infrastructure investments, which are making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians across the country. That is what they do not understand about how to build a strong economy. One invests in the middle class. One does not help the wealthiest, like the Conservatives always do.
Mr. Speaker, our focus from the very beginning has been investing in the middle class and people working hard to join it, and that is exactly what we have done step by step. The Canada workers benefit helps low-income Canadians stay in the workforce, and indeed, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that employment insurance continues to cover them while they go to school. That is something the Conservatives never did. We know this because the Conservatives continue to insist that tax benefits and advantages to the wealthiest 1% is the way to grow the economy. Three years of Canadian
Mr. Speaker, while the members opposite continue to focus on me, why do we not focus on Canadians? Indeed, why do we not focus on Canadians living in the riding of Carleton, where $48 million a year goes directly to families every month, tax free, in the riding to support 16,000 kids with the Canada child benefit? We send $7,000 a year for 22,000 constituents with the strengthened Canada pension plan, and will send over $300 for households next year with the climate action incentive. We are investing in the
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks and talks but does not actually do anything.My constituents are tired of seeing the wealthy exploit our system while they struggle to make ends meet and to pay for medication.I met a 70-year-old man in Sherbrooke who told me that he faced a tough decision on his last visit to the pharmacy. He had three prescriptions, but he could only afford to get one filled. It is disgraceful that this kind of thing is happening in a country where access to a doctor is free. Access to the drugs prescribed by the doctor is not free.Why is the Prime Minister telling my constituent to wait for yet another report, when he could have taken action at any time in the three years he has been in office?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister might not be aware, but Canadians start paying taxes starting at $12,000. He may have never done this before, but that is how it works. People know this. Yesterday on Facebook, Richard Sauvé said that he earns $13,000 a year and pays taxes. This is the reality for Canadians. Another reality is that all Canadians pay GST. What the Prime Minister said yesterday is not true.Will he apologize to the thousands of families he insulted yesterday?
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, using CRA data, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less in taxes, and further data shows they bear a smaller burden of the federal tax take.The Prime Minister would know about rich guys getting off easy. He used a trust fund tax loophole that allowed him to pay a lower rate on his family fortune than other Canadians would have to pay. He should do the right thing now and tell Canadians how much he saved by using the trust fund tax loophole. Will he do so?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that since 1997.The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the reality people are facing. Millions of Canadians are deprived of the medicine they need because of price. Today we heard from Marilyn Sheehan, whose family lives in BC. She said she cannot afford the heart medication her husband needs and their son often goes without his life-saving allergy medicine. She said they are just rolling the dice. Private patchwork coverage has not helped them.Why is the Prime Minister pursuing this very system that costs more and delivers less?
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives resort to personal attacks when they cannot defend the fact that they consistently have voted against all the initiatives that we have made to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it. Our investments in families through the Canada child benefit, in workers through the Canada workers benefit, in our seniors through restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 they had put it at are all things that have helped people concretely and have led to the kind of economic growth they never saw under 10 years of Stephen Harper.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have $2,000 more on average with our approach than with that of the Conservatives.However, I am pleased to hear the Conservative members speak about public transit. The problem is that they never invested in public transit. We have made historic investments to help students, hard-working people and seniors use public transit anywhere in the country. These are real investments that have helped families across the country and we will continue to invest.
Mr. Speaker, he sure does not want to answer that question.We know that is his agenda. Since he became Prime Minister, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less, and the share of the overall federal tax burden paid by the wealthiest one per cent has dropped.We know his real motive. He is a trust fund millionaire, and he wants to protect others like him. We are simply asking him to be transparent about it. How much money did he save by taking advantage of the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, while we continue to stay focused on Canadians, the Conservatives keep focusing, once again, on how I grew up.Let us be very clear. I have always been very clear. I have been fortunate in my life to have great opportunities that very few people had. However, in life, we are always defined by the choices we make. The choice I made was to serve, to serve as a high school teacher, to serve as the member of Parliament for Papineau and now to serve Canadians as Prime Minister. The choices we make as a government are to help the middle class and the people working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives have difficulty understanding that one does not advance as an economy when one continues to give benefits to the wealthy, the way they always have. We lowered taxes for the middle classthe very first thing we did as a governmentand raised them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives, of course, voted against. They refused to support us in increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors. They refused to support us in moving forward with the Canada child benefit that is making a real and tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the wealthy are paying $4.6 billion less in tax, while the average family pays $800 more, but we know why the Prime Minister is advantaging the wealthy. He wants to help people just like him. He used the trust fund tax loophole to save thousands of dollars on his taxes. However, he has never come clean on how much he saved and how much he avoided paying, which other Canadians will be forced to pay. Will he stand and finally answer that question today?
Mr. Speaker, what is in question here are the Prime Minister's own comments yesterday in the House. As for the Conservative record, under our government, the parliamentary budget officer said, Low and middle income earners have benefited more.Let us talk about what the Prime Minister has taken away. He took away the textbook credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income students? He took away the public transit tax credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income Canadians who take the bus? Has his luxurious lifestyle made him so out of touch that he does not understand the everyday struggles of low-income Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, it seems unbelievable that after 10 years of government the Conservatives still do not understand this, but non-refundable tax credits do not help the lowest-income Canadians who need it the most. That is something they simply do not understand. Their approach of boutique tax credits continues to help the wealthiest Canadians while not doing anything for the Canadians who actually need the most support. That is why we increased the guaranteed income supplement
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have always given advantages and benefits to the wealthy and made the rest of Canadians pay more. We know that investing in the middle class and all those working hard to join it creates economic growth. The Conservatives opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.They opposed the Canada child benefit.They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase.They opposed investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, when we were elected in 2015, we heard loudly and clearly from Canadians that they wanted a renewal of the relationship and investments in indigenous peoples that would begin to close the gaps and the inequalities that exist in Canada.That is something we set about doing from the very beginning. We have since lifted 78 long-term boil water advisories in indigenous communities. We have opened hundreds of new schools. We have invested in new health centres. We are investing in hundreds, indeed thousands, of new housing units right across the country in indigenous communities.We know there is more
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, we lost a tremendous amount of leadership on the environment. For three years we have been working very hard to develop a plan and an approach that will protect the environment and create economic growth.The Conservatives still do not accept that we have to fight to protect the environment, but we know that the only way to create a prosperous economy is to protect the environment and ensure good jobs for the future. That is exactly what we are doing and we will continue to do that for Quebeckers and all Canadians.
That was a little rich, Mr. Speaker.Thirty-year-old Ashley lives with her parents in a rural part of my riding and has to drive almost 100 kilometres a day just to go to school or to work. Last year, she made under $19,000. The Prime Minister says that people like Ashley do not pay tax and yet her payroll taxes have gone up, she pays the gas tax and GST, and she never got the so-called Liberal tax cut for the middle class. Every time she turns around, Ashley is paying more and more under the Liberal government.Will the rich
Mr. Speaker, during negotiations for the new NAFTA, we said that we would protect supply management, and that is exactly what we did. We announced three working groups made up of representatives from the supply management sector to help farmers and processors adjust to the new NAFTA, to adjust to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to innovate in the dairy sector. We are helping workers in the dairy industry. We will always help farmers and workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, small and medium-sized businesses are very pleased that we lowered their tax rate to 9%, which is the lowest rate in the OECD. We will always help our job creators, our small businesses. As for students, we have increased grants across the country for young people from low- and middle-income families, because we know that investing in education is the best way to generate economic growth for individuals and for our entire economy.
Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things we did as a government was try to correct the direction the Conservatives went in, of trading benefits and advantages for the wealthiest one per cent. The very first thing we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives voted against. We are going to continue to look to make our tax system fair, as we did in the case of small businesses by lowering small business taxes to 9%. We are always looking for ways to support Canadians. That is the focus of this government, unlike the Conservatives, who want to keep giving advantages to the wealthy.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that all the NDP does is talk and talk. That is rich coming from the Liberal Party, which suffers from acute consultitis.The Liberals proposed creating an advisory council on pharmacare last June. Why?The Minister of Finance has already announced that they are going to propose not a universal plan but a public-private patchwork that will protect pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies. Two Liberal sources confirmed as much on Friday.How can the Liberals go around talking about how great universal health care is when they want to introduce a stopgap medicare system?
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so transparent. They say whatever they want when they are in opposition or in election mode, but when they are in power, they always give benefits to the wealthy and do nothing for the people who actually need help.Perhaps this is why they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families. We stopped sending the cheques to millionaires that the Conservatives kept sending out. We know that by investing in those who need it, we can
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand that we must invest in environmental protection. We must invest to create the economic growth that will help us continue to protect the environment. The NDP still believes that we have to choose between creating jobs and protecting the environment.We know that the only way to build a more prosperous economy and world for everyone in the years to come is to ensure that we are protecting the environment. That is why we have a real plan and are taking action to create jobs and protect families while protecting the environment.
Mr. Speaker, on February 1, this place happily passed Bill S-203 at second reading. It started in the Senate with Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore and then went to Senator Murray Sinclair. It is not yet before the Standing Committee on Fisheries. We need it to be there. In this place, we need to let Canadians know, before the next election, that we will not tolerate the keeping of whales and dolphins, sentient beings, in conditions that amount to torture. Does the Prime Minister stand with us? Could we get this passed before the next election?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated yet again just how out of touch he really is, stating that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes. Rhonda, whose income is below the poverty line, struggles to keep a roof over her head and pay her bills. Like thousands of low-income Canadians, she wants the Prime Minister to know that she pays payroll taxes, income taxes, the GST and every other kind of tax, and she cannot afford more taxes.Will our trust fund Prime Minister continue to tell Rhonda and every other low-income Canadian that they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for ChâteauguayLacolle for her hard work and her question.Over 1,300 Canada Revenue Agency employees in Shawinigan do very important work. They deserve safe, modern and eco-friendly facilities.Earlier this week, we announced the construction of a new building to replace a 40-year-old building. This project demonstrates our commitment to regions across the country. Unlike the Conservatives, we will not put federal jobs in the regions at risk.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the importance of investing in our regions. The Conservatives want to cut our infrastructure investments in Quebec, but we support all regions in the province and across the country.Can the Prime Minister tell us about the most recent announcement made in Shawinigan to encourage economic development in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, we are in process of consulting experts because it is important to take the best path forward. That does not mean that we have not taken any action. On the contrary, we are moving forward with concrete measures to make drugs more affordable for Canadians.We have already seen positive results from the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which saves Canadians $1 billion annually. We made major reforms to patented medicines regulations.Yes, we created an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare to review our options. We will continue to work very hard for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, instead of personal attacks, we stay focused on Canadians. We stay focused on making sure there are historic investments in transit to help low-income students get to school, to be able to get a better job and a stronger future. We invest in families with a tax-free Canada child benefit every month that makes a huge difference in their lives in terms of groceries, in terms of back-to-school supplies, in terms of new shoes and boots. These are the things that are making a real difference in the lives of Canadians, and these are exactly the things that the Conservatives consistently vote against.
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister often says, no relationship is more important to our government than the one with indigenous peoples. It is in that spirit that the government committed to work nation-to-nation with indigenous partners and implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as all 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. The UN has declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.Can the Prime Minister explain to the House what the government is doing to support indigenous languages?
Mr. Speaker, we have not yet determined the best path forward. We have asked an expert panel to make recommendations about how to best help Canadians who are struggling and making impossible choices, like the member opposite so eloquently described.That is why we are actually not only just moving forward with that panel but we are moving forward with concrete measures, like joining the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which means Canadians save over $1 billion annually. We have put forward major reforms to patented medicines regulations. We are continuing to do the work to make sure that Canadians get
Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are proud of our public health care system, but we also know that far too many Canadians are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. They have to make choices that no Canadian should have to make. That is why we created an expert panel to make recommendations. That is how we are going to figure out what we need to do to make sure Canadians can buy their prescription drugs and stay healthy. This is a priority for Canadians and for us. We trust the experts and we are going to help Canadians by following their recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, we have taken meaningful action to help seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement and investing in housing for seniors.However, we know we still have a lot more to do. With regard to pharmacare, we have joined the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, helping Canadians save $1 billion a year. We have put forward major reforms to the Patented Medicines Regulations. We are going to keep listening to Canadians, because we also feel it is unacceptable for people to have to choose between food and medicine. We are going to work together to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, our government came to office with a commitment to invest in infrastructure across Canada, including my home province of Alberta and my hometown of Edmonton. Since taking office, we have been doing just that. After a decade of inaction from the Harper government, we have been making the much-needed investments in transit, recreational infrastructure, water systems, cultural spaces and more that Edmontonians deserve. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on the investments our government has made to support Alberta's communities and those infrastructure investments in the city of Edmonton?
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about the Canada workers benefit that goes directly to low-income workers who will be able to have a little more money every month to be able to afford the cost of living and, indeed, create more incentives for them to stay in the workforce. Of course, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that unemployment insurance will actually help a person go back to school and retrain. People can continue to get EI benefits.These are the kinds of things that we are focusing on to make sure that all Canadians have a real and fair chance to succeed
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly proud of our health care system but we also recognize that Canadians in far too many situations have to make impossible choices between paying for their medications, paying their rent or paying for their food.That is why we are committed to moving forward on pharmacare but moving forward in the right way. We put together a panel of experts to study the best way to help Canadians by making sure that their medications are affordable, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lowered for
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister accused low-income Canadians of paying no taxes, but what about him? He inherited a multi-million dollar family fortune in the form of a tax-preferred trust fund from his father. Le Journal de Montréal wrote that for more than 15 years the funds from the trust have grown off the balance sheet of the Prime Minister and his brother without affecting their taxable income.How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying by using this trust fund tax loophole to shelter his family fortune?
Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards. On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?
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Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards. On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lowered for
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister accused low-income Canadians of paying no taxes, but what about him? He inherited a multi-million dollar family fortune in the form of a tax-preferred trust fund from his father. Le Journal de Montréal wrote that for more than 15 years the funds from the trust have grown off the balance sheet of the Prime Minister and his brother without affecting their taxable income.How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying by using this trust fund tax loophole to shelter his family fortune?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly proud of our health care system but we also recognize that Canadians in far too many situations have to make impossible choices between paying for their medications, paying their rent or paying for their food.That is why we are committed to moving forward on pharmacare but moving forward in the right way. We put together a panel of experts to study the best way to help Canadians by making sure that their medications are affordable, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about the Canada workers benefit that goes directly to low-income workers who will be able to have a little more money every month to be able to afford the cost of living and, indeed, create more incentives for them to stay in the workforce. Of course, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that unemployment insurance will actually help a person go back to school and retrain. People can continue to get EI benefits.These are the kinds of things that we are focusing on to make sure that all Canadians have a real and fair chance to succeed
Mr. Speaker, our government came to office with a commitment to invest in infrastructure across Canada, including my home province of Alberta and my hometown of Edmonton. Since taking office, we have been doing just that. After a decade of inaction from the Harper government, we have been making the much-needed investments in transit, recreational infrastructure, water systems, cultural spaces and more that Edmontonians deserve. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on the investments our government has made to support Alberta's communities and those infrastructure investments in the city of Edmonton?
Mr. Speaker, we have taken meaningful action to help seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement and investing in housing for seniors.However, we know we still have a lot more to do. With regard to pharmacare, we have joined the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, helping Canadians save $1 billion a year. We have put forward major reforms to the Patented Medicines Regulations. We are going to keep listening to Canadians, because we also feel it is unacceptable for people to have to choose between food and medicine. We are going to work together to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are proud of our public health care system, but we also know that far too many Canadians are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. They have to make choices that no Canadian should have to make. That is why we created an expert panel to make recommendations. That is how we are going to figure out what we need to do to make sure Canadians can buy their prescription drugs and stay healthy. This is a priority for Canadians and for us. We trust the experts and we are going to help Canadians by following their recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, we have not yet determined the best path forward. We have asked an expert panel to make recommendations about how to best help Canadians who are struggling and making impossible choices, like the member opposite so eloquently described.That is why we are actually not only just moving forward with that panel but we are moving forward with concrete measures, like joining the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which means Canadians save over $1 billion annually. We have put forward major reforms to patented medicines regulations. We are continuing to do the work to make sure that Canadians get
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister often says, no relationship is more important to our government than the one with indigenous peoples. It is in that spirit that the government committed to work nation-to-nation with indigenous partners and implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as all 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. The UN has declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.Can the Prime Minister explain to the House what the government is doing to support indigenous languages?
Mr. Speaker, instead of personal attacks, we stay focused on Canadians. We stay focused on making sure there are historic investments in transit to help low-income students get to school, to be able to get a better job and a stronger future. We invest in families with a tax-free Canada child benefit every month that makes a huge difference in their lives in terms of groceries, in terms of back-to-school supplies, in terms of new shoes and boots. These are the things that are making a real difference in the lives of Canadians, and these are exactly the things that the Conservatives consistently vote against.
Mr. Speaker, we are in process of consulting experts because it is important to take the best path forward. That does not mean that we have not taken any action. On the contrary, we are moving forward with concrete measures to make drugs more affordable for Canadians.We have already seen positive results from the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which saves Canadians $1 billion annually. We made major reforms to patented medicines regulations.Yes, we created an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare to review our options. We will continue to work very hard for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the importance of investing in our regions. The Conservatives want to cut our infrastructure investments in Quebec, but we support all regions in the province and across the country.Can the Prime Minister tell us about the most recent announcement made in Shawinigan to encourage economic development in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for ChâteauguayLacolle for her hard work and her question.Over 1,300 Canada Revenue Agency employees in Shawinigan do very important work. They deserve safe, modern and eco-friendly facilities.Earlier this week, we announced the construction of a new building to replace a 40-year-old building. This project demonstrates our commitment to regions across the country. Unlike the Conservatives, we will not put federal jobs in the regions at risk.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated yet again just how out of touch he really is, stating that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes. Rhonda, whose income is below the poverty line, struggles to keep a roof over her head and pay her bills. Like thousands of low-income Canadians, she wants the Prime Minister to know that she pays payroll taxes, income taxes, the GST and every other kind of tax, and she cannot afford more taxes.Will our trust fund Prime Minister continue to tell Rhonda and every other low-income Canadian that they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so transparent. They say whatever they want when they are in opposition or in election mode, but when they are in power, they always give benefits to the wealthy and do nothing for the people who actually need help.Perhaps this is why they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families. We stopped sending the cheques to millionaires that the Conservatives kept sending out. We know that by investing in those who need it, we can
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand that we must invest in environmental protection. We must invest to create the economic growth that will help us continue to protect the environment. The NDP still believes that we have to choose between creating jobs and protecting the environment.We know that the only way to build a more prosperous economy and world for everyone in the years to come is to ensure that we are protecting the environment. That is why we have a real plan and are taking action to create jobs and protect families while protecting the environment.
Mr. Speaker, on February 1, this place happily passed Bill S-203 at second reading. It started in the Senate with Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore and then went to Senator Murray Sinclair. It is not yet before the Standing Committee on Fisheries. We need it to be there. In this place, we need to let Canadians know, before the next election, that we will not tolerate the keeping of whales and dolphins, sentient beings, in conditions that amount to torture. Does the Prime Minister stand with us? Could we get this passed before the next election?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that all the NDP does is talk and talk. That is rich coming from the Liberal Party, which suffers from acute consultitis.The Liberals proposed creating an advisory council on pharmacare last June. Why?The Minister of Finance has already announced that they are going to propose not a universal plan but a public-private patchwork that will protect pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies. Two Liberal sources confirmed as much on Friday.How can the Liberals go around talking about how great universal health care is when they want to introduce a stopgap medicare system?
Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things we did as a government was try to correct the direction the Conservatives went in, of trading benefits and advantages for the wealthiest one per cent. The very first thing we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives voted against. We are going to continue to look to make our tax system fair, as we did in the case of small businesses by lowering small business taxes to 9%. We are always looking for ways to support Canadians. That is the focus of this government, unlike the Conservatives, who want to keep giving advantages to the wealthy.
Mr. Speaker, small and medium-sized businesses are very pleased that we lowered their tax rate to 9%, which is the lowest rate in the OECD. We will always help our job creators, our small businesses. As for students, we have increased grants across the country for young people from low- and middle-income families, because we know that investing in education is the best way to generate economic growth for individuals and for our entire economy.
Mr. Speaker, during negotiations for the new NAFTA, we said that we would protect supply management, and that is exactly what we did. We announced three working groups made up of representatives from the supply management sector to help farmers and processors adjust to the new NAFTA, to adjust to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to innovate in the dairy sector. We are helping workers in the dairy industry. We will always help farmers and workers across the country.
That was a little rich, Mr. Speaker.Thirty-year-old Ashley lives with her parents in a rural part of my riding and has to drive almost 100 kilometres a day just to go to school or to work. Last year, she made under $19,000. The Prime Minister says that people like Ashley do not pay tax and yet her payroll taxes have gone up, she pays the gas tax and GST, and she never got the so-called Liberal tax cut for the middle class. Every time she turns around, Ashley is paying more and more under the Liberal government.Will the rich
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, we lost a tremendous amount of leadership on the environment. For three years we have been working very hard to develop a plan and an approach that will protect the environment and create economic growth.The Conservatives still do not accept that we have to fight to protect the environment, but we know that the only way to create a prosperous economy is to protect the environment and ensure good jobs for the future. That is exactly what we are doing and we will continue to do that for Quebeckers and all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, when we were elected in 2015, we heard loudly and clearly from Canadians that they wanted a renewal of the relationship and investments in indigenous peoples that would begin to close the gaps and the inequalities that exist in Canada.That is something we set about doing from the very beginning. We have since lifted 78 long-term boil water advisories in indigenous communities. We have opened hundreds of new schools. We have invested in new health centres. We are investing in hundreds, indeed thousands, of new housing units right across the country in indigenous communities.We know there is more
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have always given advantages and benefits to the wealthy and made the rest of Canadians pay more. We know that investing in the middle class and all those working hard to join it creates economic growth. The Conservatives opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.They opposed the Canada child benefit.They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase.They opposed investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, what is in question here are the Prime Minister's own comments yesterday in the House. As for the Conservative record, under our government, the parliamentary budget officer said, Low and middle income earners have benefited more.Let us talk about what the Prime Minister has taken away. He took away the textbook credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income students? He took away the public transit tax credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income Canadians who take the bus? Has his luxurious lifestyle made him so out of touch that he does not understand the everyday struggles of low-income Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, it seems unbelievable that after 10 years of government the Conservatives still do not understand this, but non-refundable tax credits do not help the lowest-income Canadians who need it the most. That is something they simply do not understand. Their approach of boutique tax credits continues to help the wealthiest Canadians while not doing anything for the Canadians who actually need the most support. That is why we increased the guaranteed income supplement
Mr. Speaker, the wealthy are paying $4.6 billion less in tax, while the average family pays $800 more, but we know why the Prime Minister is advantaging the wealthy. He wants to help people just like him. He used the trust fund tax loophole to save thousands of dollars on his taxes. However, he has never come clean on how much he saved and how much he avoided paying, which other Canadians will be forced to pay. Will he stand and finally answer that question today?
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives have difficulty understanding that one does not advance as an economy when one continues to give benefits to the wealthy, the way they always have. We lowered taxes for the middle classthe very first thing we did as a governmentand raised them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives, of course, voted against. They refused to support us in increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors. They refused to support us in moving forward with the Canada child benefit that is making a real and tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, while we continue to stay focused on Canadians, the Conservatives keep focusing, once again, on how I grew up.Let us be very clear. I have always been very clear. I have been fortunate in my life to have great opportunities that very few people had. However, in life, we are always defined by the choices we make. The choice I made was to serve, to serve as a high school teacher, to serve as the member of Parliament for Papineau and now to serve Canadians as Prime Minister. The choices we make as a government are to help the middle class and the people working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, he sure does not want to answer that question.We know that is his agenda. Since he became Prime Minister, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less, and the share of the overall federal tax burden paid by the wealthiest one per cent has dropped.We know his real motive. He is a trust fund millionaire, and he wants to protect others like him. We are simply asking him to be transparent about it. How much money did he save by taking advantage of the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have $2,000 more on average with our approach than with that of the Conservatives.However, I am pleased to hear the Conservative members speak about public transit. The problem is that they never invested in public transit. We have made historic investments to help students, hard-working people and seniors use public transit anywhere in the country. These are real investments that have helped families across the country and we will continue to invest.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives resort to personal attacks when they cannot defend the fact that they consistently have voted against all the initiatives that we have made to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it. Our investments in families through the Canada child benefit, in workers through the Canada workers benefit, in our seniors through restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 they had put it at are all things that have helped people concretely and have led to the kind of economic growth they never saw under 10 years of Stephen Harper.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that since 1997.The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the reality people are facing. Millions of Canadians are deprived of the medicine they need because of price. Today we heard from Marilyn Sheehan, whose family lives in BC. She said she cannot afford the heart medication her husband needs and their son often goes without his life-saving allergy medicine. She said they are just rolling the dice. Private patchwork coverage has not helped them.Why is the Prime Minister pursuing this very system that costs more and delivers less?
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, using CRA data, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less in taxes, and further data shows they bear a smaller burden of the federal tax take.The Prime Minister would know about rich guys getting off easy. He used a trust fund tax loophole that allowed him to pay a lower rate on his family fortune than other Canadians would have to pay. He should do the right thing now and tell Canadians how much he saved by using the trust fund tax loophole. Will he do so?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister might not be aware, but Canadians start paying taxes starting at $12,000. He may have never done this before, but that is how it works. People know this. Yesterday on Facebook, Richard Sauvé said that he earns $13,000 a year and pays taxes. This is the reality for Canadians. Another reality is that all Canadians pay GST. What the Prime Minister said yesterday is not true.Will he apologize to the thousands of families he insulted yesterday?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks and talks but does not actually do anything.My constituents are tired of seeing the wealthy exploit our system while they struggle to make ends meet and to pay for medication.I met a 70-year-old man in Sherbrooke who told me that he faced a tough decision on his last visit to the pharmacy. He had three prescriptions, but he could only afford to get one filled. It is disgraceful that this kind of thing is happening in a country where access to a doctor is free. Access to the drugs prescribed by the doctor is not free.Why is the Prime Minister telling my constituent to wait for yet another report, when he could have taken action at any time in the three years he has been in office?
Mr. Speaker, while the members opposite continue to focus on me, why do we not focus on Canadians? Indeed, why do we not focus on Canadians living in the riding of Carleton, where $48 million a year goes directly to families every month, tax free, in the riding to support 16,000 kids with the Canada child benefit? We send $7,000 a year for 22,000 constituents with the strengthened Canada pension plan, and will send over $300 for households next year with the climate action incentive. We are investing in the
Mr. Speaker, our focus from the very beginning has been investing in the middle class and people working hard to join it, and that is exactly what we have done step by step. The Canada workers benefit helps low-income Canadians stay in the workforce, and indeed, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that employment insurance continues to cover them while they go to school. That is something the Conservatives never did. We know this because the Conservatives continue to insist that tax benefits and advantages to the wealthiest 1% is the way to grow the economy. Three years of Canadian
Mr. Speaker, once again, I wonder how the Conservatives actually talk to their constituents when they know they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against increasing the amount of the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan. They voted against infrastructure investments, which are making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians across the country. That is what they do not understand about how to build a strong economy. One invests in the middle class. One does not help the wealthiest, like the Conservatives always do.
Mr. Speaker, first nations in this country are facing a housing crisis, and 85% of first nations in Manitoba report mold in their homes.We are talking about 15, 17 or 20 people in a house. Babies, elders and families are suffering. In community after community, people are saying that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse.My question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not know that this housing crisis is literally making people sick? Will his Liberal government move from talking to action, to address this housing crisis on first nations now?
Mr. Speaker, maybe the Prime Minister should have informed the Minister of Finance that the Liberal priority was to consult again and again.The choice is clear: the president of the FTQ, Daniel Boyer, recently said that if we had a fully public system, we could achieve economies of scale of $3 billion in Quebec alone. Marc-André Gagnon, from Carleton University, estimates that if Canada had a universal system not only would everyone be covered, but businesses would save more than $8 billion since they would no longer have to offer private drug insurance.Why does the government want to just patch up the system instead of providing true universal pharmacare based on
Mr. Speaker, poverty is rising among seniors, and all too often they have to choose between buying food or medication. No one should ever have to make that choice. One of my constituents, Mr. Desmarais, is on a certain type of medication. It is absolutely vital that he take it every day, but the cost is exorbitant. How is he supposed to pay for that? Millions of seniors across the country are in the same boat.What are the Liberals waiting for? When will they implement a pharmacare
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how the Conservatives can look low-income families in the eye when they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors and the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. They voted against our investments in affordable housing, in old age pensions, in students and in Canadians who need help. The Conservatives voted against Canadians every time.
Mr. Speaker, it is dizzying. I get the feeling that if you looked up the word liberal in the dictionary, it would say, say one thing and do another.People are not fooled by the Prime Minister's doublespeak. The Climate Change Performance Index was released at COP24, in Poland. Out of 60 countries, Canada ranked 54th. It is so bad.How can the Prime Minister look our young people in the eye and tell them that he is concerned about the planet and their
Mr. Speaker, we are always very concerned about the plight of our seniors. That is why, since taking office, our government has been making concrete investments to help our most vulnerable seniors. We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. We invested in housing for seniors. We invested $5 billion in home care across the country.We will continue to invest in our seniors, and we understand that investing in pharmacare is the right thing to do. That is why we are waiting for the expert report before moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, on what planet does our wealthy Prime Minister live? Yesterday he said that low-income families do not pay taxes. Hello, earth to mars.A mother in my riding named Lorraine is working very hard to make ends meet. She has a low income and she pays taxes.Will the Prime Minister come with me and tell Lorraine with a straight face that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is unbelievable. He abolished the tax credit for people who use public transit, many of whom are students. He abolished the children's fitness and arts tax credits. He created a carbon tax that will affect the price of gas, groceries and all activities that people participate in. The comments he keeps repeating make no sense.Will he at least acknowledge that Canadians are paying more taxes today than under the former Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, again, between the torquing of the numbers and the personal attacks, the Conservatives do not want to face the facts or have Canadians understand that they actually voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one per cent.The only way the numbers that the member opposite just cited even, maybe, perhaps, might align is if we completely ignore the Canada child benefit that has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Perhaps that is because Conservatives have no intention of continuing that Canada child benefit. That is something that
Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nobody chooses where they are born, but we make choices about what we choose to do in life. The choices the Conservatives consistently make are to stand against investments in public and affordable housing and to stand against investments in the Canada child benefit which is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. The choice the Conservatives continue to make is against increasing benefits for our most vulnerable single seniors. The choice the Conservatives make consistently is to help the wealthiest 1% instead of Canadians who need the help.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for his question and for the hard work that he does for indigenous languages in the House of Commons.For too long, government policies focused more on destroying indigenous languages than on protecting them. That is why we support our partners who want to revitalize and strengthen their language and culture.Yesterday, in the House, we introduced the first bill dealing with indigenous languages. In it, we recognize the right to use an indigenous language. We will appoint a commissioner, to ensure that future governments respect that obligation. Protecting language and culture is how
Mr. Speaker, we know the Conservatives like to mislead the House, but it is blatant in that they actually did vote against the guaranteed income supplement increase for our most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit that stopped sending benefit cheques to millionaire families so that we could send more money to the Canadians who needed it most. We watched them vote against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations. They stood and voted against investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Every step of the way, they say things they do not mean and then act to hurt
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, we have seen over 800,000 jobs created in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. That happened because, unlike the Conservatives, who had an approach for 10 years to support and invest in the wealthiest 1%, we made investments in the middle class and those working hard to join it. Those investments are leading to the kinds of economic growth that are giving more opportunities for everyone. The Conservatives continue to vote against tangible, concrete measures that make things better for people who are working hard to join the middle class, and they will continue to
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for his hard work. We have indeed made historic investments in Edmonton's infrastructure, which includes reducing traffic with investments in the Yellowhead Trail and the 50th Street overpass; investments in the Fort Edmonton Park expansion; investments in the Jerry Forbes Centre; investments in public transit; and investments right across the city, like we are making right across the country.The Conservatives want to cut infrastructure investments in Alberta. We will continue to invest in communities.
Mr. Speaker, once again, while we remain focused on Canadians, the Conservatives want to focus on me. We are going to continue to invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it. We are going to continue to do things that they vote against, like strengthening the Canada pension plan; like increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors; like investing in a better Canada child benefit that is going to continue to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, instead of sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, as the Conservatives consistently want to do. We are going to focus on Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we are working directly with the chief and council in Cat Lake. The minister is in direct contact with Chief Keewaykapow.We know that there are concerns about the health, safety and quality of the housing and that there is an urgent and long-term need for measures.We are working with the community and our partners to fast-track the necessary repairs and the construction of new housing units. We will continue to work closely with the chief and the council to find solutions for the short, medium and long term.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lower for Canadians. It was the Prime Minister's tax changes that led to the top 1% paying less tax, but it is not surprising that he does not understand how the tax system works. He brags that other people manage his vast family fortune.Once again, could he tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we are not making anything up. The Prime Minister said, here in the House, that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes.This statement is totally out of touch with reality. Even low-income Canadians already pay too much tax, sadly, and they have been paying more in the three years that this government has been in power. Could the Prime Minister at least acknowledge that low-income Canadians are paying more tax today than they were three years ago under the previous Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, for all single mothers and for all mothers in this country, we have helped low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, which is really making a difference. Every month they receive a tax-free cheque that directly helps them ensure a better future for their children. It has helped millions of families in this country, but the Conservatives voted against it. They have always opposed the Canada child benefit. It is unfortunate for families that have
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that if people take the bus, they are too rich and deserve to lose their transit tax credit. If they put their kids in hockey or soccer, they are too rich for the Prime Minister and deserve to lose the refundable children's fitness tax credit. If they buy textbooks at university, they are too rich and they deserve to lose their textbook tax credits, says the same Prime Minister who used a trust fund tax loophole to lower his tax bill.Does he realize, as he sits there and smirks, how horribly arrogant he is when he accuses low-income Canadians of not paying their taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is totally false and further proves how out of touch the Prime Minister is with Canadians' real lives. People who earn $12,000 per year pay tax on gas, food, prescription drugs and everything else.Can our millionaire Prime Minister, who inherited his family fortune, look thousands of low-income people in the eye and tell them they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, Lois from my riding lost her job because the Liberals closed a federal office in Vegreville. Now she is making minimum wage, bagging groceries. She is struggling like so many others, and she is paying all kinds of taxes. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Well, he is wrong. Is the millionaire Prime Minister, who has never had to worry about money because of his family fortune, really going to look Lois in the eyes and tell her she does not pay any taxes?
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to empty his or her wallet or go into debt to get the medicine his or her family needs and no Canadian should go without the medicine his or her doctor prescribed because of cost. However, Canada is the only nation with medicare that does not include universal coverage for prescriptions.This is the Prime Minister's last budget before the election. It is his last chance to do what is right for people, which is to deliver a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare system that covers every single Canadian. Will the Prime Minister do it?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Does the Prime Minister truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, no gas taxes, no EI taxes and no income tax?
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is his quote. Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the mould crisis in Cat Lake is a public health disaster. The government has known about this for years.Now, there are children awaiting medical treatment. Seniors in the community have died from respiratory problems.Will the Prime Minister commit to sending an independent health team, conducting an immediate assessment of the families affected, and immediately assuming his responsibilities under the Jordan principle?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for SaanichGulf Islands for bringing this issue forward in the House. We agree that the capture of whales and dolphins for the sole purpose of being kept for public display should be ended. While the banning of whale captivity is not yet legislation, in practice it has been in place for years. We put forward legislation that includes putting an end to the captivity of whales unless it is for rehabilitation. We supported Bill S-203 at second reading. We look forward to the work the committee is going to do on it.
Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Conservatives do not want to stand by their own voting record, where they voted against the Canada child benefit and where they voted against lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplements for our most vulnerable single seniors. They even voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations.We will continue to work hard to support the middle class and people working very hard to join it. That is what this government remains focused on.
Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative government was fond of using tax credits to help the rich, as always, but it did nothing to help low-income families. That is why we took a different approach. We decided to invest in middle-class families and all families working hard to join them. That is what makes a difference. The Conservatives opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for our seniors. They opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives put forward an economic plan that gives advantages and benefits to the wealthiest 1% while neglecting to help low-income Canadians who actually need that help. That is one of the reasons Canadians chose a government that would focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is what we have been doing.While we have been doing that, the Conservatives have opposed lowering taxes on the middle class. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for seniors. They even opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the things that make a difference in people's
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has other people manage his vast family fortune, so it is no surprise that he does not understand how the tax system actually works. Individuals at the low-income cut-off would earn $21,487 and pay $1,451 in federal taxes. They would benefit from those tax credits. Also, the children's fitness tax credit was a refundable tax credit that he took away. Why is he making low and middle-income Canadians pay for his mistakes?
Mr. Speaker, we are focused on the Prime Minister's hypocrisy. The Prime Minister's trust fund operated outside of a blind trust for over a decade. He would have known that he was saving a fortune in taxes on his family fortune that entire time. The Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying because he was sheltering his family fortune with the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, in the statements that the Prime Minister made, he actually missed the point of the question, which is that Ann is a single woman making minimum wage. She does not get the Canada child care benefit. She does not get the guaranteed income supplement. She does not get that middle-class tax cut either, yet the Prime Minister thinks she does not pay a single cent in taxes. She would beg to differ. She will pay about $5,000 in taxes every year after CPP and EI are included. Then there will be the GST, then there will be the HST and then there will be the Liberal carbon tax, which is coming next.Will the Prime Minister still stand by that ridiculous statement?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is this is personal. I did not realize that the Prime Minister and I had so much in common. We both grew up in taxpayer-funded housing, he in 24 Sussex; me in the projects in Barrie. The Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians did not pay tax. He does not understand who pays for his nannies, for his planes and for his houses. It is all paid for by servers like Andrea in Barrie. When will the trust fund Prime Minister look Andrea in the eye and tell her she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes; so declared the Prime Minister yesterday. However, low-income Canadians actually beg to differ with that postulation. Ann is a single woman who works in Milton, Ontario. She makes minimum wage and she pays approximately $2,600 in federal income tax.Will the Prime Minister stand today and tell us he stands by his statement that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there was a debate on the environment in Outremont and the Liberal candidate decided to stay away. She did not show up.It is not easy to defend a Prime Minister who breaks his promises. It is not easy to explain to people that his party's priority is to give billions of dollars to his oil industry friends. It is not easy to defend wasting public money on the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.Are the Liberal candidates trying to hide because they know that their government's environmental policies do not cut it in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day when the Prime Minister insulted our job creators, our small business owners, by saying that they were trying to avoid paying taxes by incorporating. It was insulting. He insulted hundreds of thousands of Canadians again yesterday when he said, and I quote, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is false. Thousands of Canadians were appalled by his statement. A student named Geneviève posted on Facebook yesterday that she has to pay taxes.Is the Prime Minister going to tell Geneviève that that is not true, that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, Ana Mae is a constituent of mine who works hard, but is struggling to get by. She earns $15.50 at a fast-food restaurant. Contrary to the Prime Minister's insulting assertion that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes, Ana Mae pays federal income tax, CPP, EI and the GST.Will the millionaire Prime Minister, with his vast family fortune, look Ana Mae in the eye and tell her that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, our dairy farmers believed the Liberal government's lofty promises and nice words, but they have been betrayed. Once again, trade agreements have been signed at the expense of our farmers.The Liberals have put our food sovereignty at risk. They have once again proven their incompetence, with the diafiltered milk file and the reciprocity of standards. On January 18, the Prime Minister promised that he would make sure farmers, and not the government, would determine the amount of compensation.Will the government keep its promise? When will our dairy farmers be compensated?
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lowered for
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister accused low-income Canadians of paying no taxes, but what about him? He inherited a multi-million dollar family fortune in the form of a tax-preferred trust fund from his father. Le Journal de Montréal wrote that for more than 15 years the funds from the trust have grown off the balance sheet of the Prime Minister and his brother without affecting their taxable income.How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying by using this trust fund tax loophole to shelter his family fortune?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly proud of our health care system but we also recognize that Canadians in far too many situations have to make impossible choices between paying for their medications, paying their rent or paying for their food.That is why we are committed to moving forward on pharmacare but moving forward in the right way. We put together a panel of experts to study the best way to help Canadians by making sure that their medications are affordable, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about the Canada workers benefit that goes directly to low-income workers who will be able to have a little more money every month to be able to afford the cost of living and, indeed, create more incentives for them to stay in the workforce. Of course, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that unemployment insurance will actually help a person go back to school and retrain. People can continue to get EI benefits.These are the kinds of things that we are focusing on to make sure that all Canadians have a real and fair chance to succeed
Mr. Speaker, our government came to office with a commitment to invest in infrastructure across Canada, including my home province of Alberta and my hometown of Edmonton. Since taking office, we have been doing just that. After a decade of inaction from the Harper government, we have been making the much-needed investments in transit, recreational infrastructure, water systems, cultural spaces and more that Edmontonians deserve. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on the investments our government has made to support Alberta's communities and those infrastructure investments in the city of Edmonton?
Mr. Speaker, we have taken meaningful action to help seniors by increasing the guaranteed income supplement and investing in housing for seniors.However, we know we still have a lot more to do. With regard to pharmacare, we have joined the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, helping Canadians save $1 billion a year. We have put forward major reforms to the Patented Medicines Regulations. We are going to keep listening to Canadians, because we also feel it is unacceptable for people to have to choose between food and medicine. We are going to work together to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians are proud of our public health care system, but we also know that far too many Canadians are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. They have to make choices that no Canadian should have to make. That is why we created an expert panel to make recommendations. That is how we are going to figure out what we need to do to make sure Canadians can buy their prescription drugs and stay healthy. This is a priority for Canadians and for us. We trust the experts and we are going to help Canadians by following their recommendations.
Mr. Speaker, we have not yet determined the best path forward. We have asked an expert panel to make recommendations about how to best help Canadians who are struggling and making impossible choices, like the member opposite so eloquently described.That is why we are actually not only just moving forward with that panel but we are moving forward with concrete measures, like joining the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which means Canadians save over $1 billion annually. We have put forward major reforms to patented medicines regulations. We are continuing to do the work to make sure that Canadians get
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister often says, no relationship is more important to our government than the one with indigenous peoples. It is in that spirit that the government committed to work nation-to-nation with indigenous partners and implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as all 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. The UN has declared 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages.Can the Prime Minister explain to the House what the government is doing to support indigenous languages?
Mr. Speaker, instead of personal attacks, we stay focused on Canadians. We stay focused on making sure there are historic investments in transit to help low-income students get to school, to be able to get a better job and a stronger future. We invest in families with a tax-free Canada child benefit every month that makes a huge difference in their lives in terms of groceries, in terms of back-to-school supplies, in terms of new shoes and boots. These are the things that are making a real difference in the lives of Canadians, and these are exactly the things that the Conservatives consistently vote against.
Mr. Speaker, we are in process of consulting experts because it is important to take the best path forward. That does not mean that we have not taken any action. On the contrary, we are moving forward with concrete measures to make drugs more affordable for Canadians.We have already seen positive results from the pan-Canadian pharmaceutical alliance, which saves Canadians $1 billion annually. We made major reforms to patented medicines regulations.Yes, we created an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare to review our options. We will continue to work very hard for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we understand the importance of investing in our regions. The Conservatives want to cut our infrastructure investments in Quebec, but we support all regions in the province and across the country.Can the Prime Minister tell us about the most recent announcement made in Shawinigan to encourage economic development in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for ChâteauguayLacolle for her hard work and her question.Over 1,300 Canada Revenue Agency employees in Shawinigan do very important work. They deserve safe, modern and eco-friendly facilities.Earlier this week, we announced the construction of a new building to replace a 40-year-old building. This project demonstrates our commitment to regions across the country. Unlike the Conservatives, we will not put federal jobs in the regions at risk.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has demonstrated yet again just how out of touch he really is, stating that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes. Rhonda, whose income is below the poverty line, struggles to keep a roof over her head and pay her bills. Like thousands of low-income Canadians, she wants the Prime Minister to know that she pays payroll taxes, income taxes, the GST and every other kind of tax, and she cannot afford more taxes.Will our trust fund Prime Minister continue to tell Rhonda and every other low-income Canadian that they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so transparent. They say whatever they want when they are in opposition or in election mode, but when they are in power, they always give benefits to the wealthy and do nothing for the people who actually need help.Perhaps this is why they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families. We stopped sending the cheques to millionaires that the Conservatives kept sending out. We know that by investing in those who need it, we can
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we understand that we must invest in environmental protection. We must invest to create the economic growth that will help us continue to protect the environment. The NDP still believes that we have to choose between creating jobs and protecting the environment.We know that the only way to build a more prosperous economy and world for everyone in the years to come is to ensure that we are protecting the environment. That is why we have a real plan and are taking action to create jobs and protect families while protecting the environment.
Mr. Speaker, on February 1, this place happily passed Bill S-203 at second reading. It started in the Senate with Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore and then went to Senator Murray Sinclair. It is not yet before the Standing Committee on Fisheries. We need it to be there. In this place, we need to let Canadians know, before the next election, that we will not tolerate the keeping of whales and dolphins, sentient beings, in conditions that amount to torture. Does the Prime Minister stand with us? Could we get this passed before the next election?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that all the NDP does is talk and talk. That is rich coming from the Liberal Party, which suffers from acute consultitis.The Liberals proposed creating an advisory council on pharmacare last June. Why?The Minister of Finance has already announced that they are going to propose not a universal plan but a public-private patchwork that will protect pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies. Two Liberal sources confirmed as much on Friday.How can the Liberals go around talking about how great universal health care is when they want to introduce a stopgap medicare system?
Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things we did as a government was try to correct the direction the Conservatives went in, of trading benefits and advantages for the wealthiest one per cent. The very first thing we did was lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives voted against. We are going to continue to look to make our tax system fair, as we did in the case of small businesses by lowering small business taxes to 9%. We are always looking for ways to support Canadians. That is the focus of this government, unlike the Conservatives, who want to keep giving advantages to the wealthy.
Mr. Speaker, small and medium-sized businesses are very pleased that we lowered their tax rate to 9%, which is the lowest rate in the OECD. We will always help our job creators, our small businesses. As for students, we have increased grants across the country for young people from low- and middle-income families, because we know that investing in education is the best way to generate economic growth for individuals and for our entire economy.
Mr. Speaker, during negotiations for the new NAFTA, we said that we would protect supply management, and that is exactly what we did. We announced three working groups made up of representatives from the supply management sector to help farmers and processors adjust to the new NAFTA, to adjust to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to innovate in the dairy sector. We are helping workers in the dairy industry. We will always help farmers and workers across the country.
That was a little rich, Mr. Speaker.Thirty-year-old Ashley lives with her parents in a rural part of my riding and has to drive almost 100 kilometres a day just to go to school or to work. Last year, she made under $19,000. The Prime Minister says that people like Ashley do not pay tax and yet her payroll taxes have gone up, she pays the gas tax and GST, and she never got the so-called Liberal tax cut for the middle class. Every time she turns around, Ashley is paying more and more under the Liberal government.Will the rich
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, we lost a tremendous amount of leadership on the environment. For three years we have been working very hard to develop a plan and an approach that will protect the environment and create economic growth.The Conservatives still do not accept that we have to fight to protect the environment, but we know that the only way to create a prosperous economy is to protect the environment and ensure good jobs for the future. That is exactly what we are doing and we will continue to do that for Quebeckers and all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, when we were elected in 2015, we heard loudly and clearly from Canadians that they wanted a renewal of the relationship and investments in indigenous peoples that would begin to close the gaps and the inequalities that exist in Canada.That is something we set about doing from the very beginning. We have since lifted 78 long-term boil water advisories in indigenous communities. We have opened hundreds of new schools. We have invested in new health centres. We are investing in hundreds, indeed thousands, of new housing units right across the country in indigenous communities.We know there is more
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have always given advantages and benefits to the wealthy and made the rest of Canadians pay more. We know that investing in the middle class and all those working hard to join it creates economic growth. The Conservatives opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.They opposed the Canada child benefit.They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase.They opposed investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, what is in question here are the Prime Minister's own comments yesterday in the House. As for the Conservative record, under our government, the parliamentary budget officer said, Low and middle income earners have benefited more.Let us talk about what the Prime Minister has taken away. He took away the textbook credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income students? He took away the public transit tax credit. Does he believe that there are no low-income Canadians who take the bus? Has his luxurious lifestyle made him so out of touch that he does not understand the everyday struggles of low-income Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, it seems unbelievable that after 10 years of government the Conservatives still do not understand this, but non-refundable tax credits do not help the lowest-income Canadians who need it the most. That is something they simply do not understand. Their approach of boutique tax credits continues to help the wealthiest Canadians while not doing anything for the Canadians who actually need the most support. That is why we increased the guaranteed income supplement
Mr. Speaker, the wealthy are paying $4.6 billion less in tax, while the average family pays $800 more, but we know why the Prime Minister is advantaging the wealthy. He wants to help people just like him. He used the trust fund tax loophole to save thousands of dollars on his taxes. However, he has never come clean on how much he saved and how much he avoided paying, which other Canadians will be forced to pay. Will he stand and finally answer that question today?
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives have difficulty understanding that one does not advance as an economy when one continues to give benefits to the wealthy, the way they always have. We lowered taxes for the middle classthe very first thing we did as a governmentand raised them on the wealthiest one per cent, which the Conservatives, of course, voted against. They refused to support us in increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors. They refused to support us in moving forward with the Canada child benefit that is making a real and tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, while we continue to stay focused on Canadians, the Conservatives keep focusing, once again, on how I grew up.Let us be very clear. I have always been very clear. I have been fortunate in my life to have great opportunities that very few people had. However, in life, we are always defined by the choices we make. The choice I made was to serve, to serve as a high school teacher, to serve as the member of Parliament for Papineau and now to serve Canadians as Prime Minister. The choices we make as a government are to help the middle class and the people working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, he sure does not want to answer that question.We know that is his agenda. Since he became Prime Minister, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less, and the share of the overall federal tax burden paid by the wealthiest one per cent has dropped.We know his real motive. He is a trust fund millionaire, and he wants to protect others like him. We are simply asking him to be transparent about it. How much money did he save by taking advantage of the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have $2,000 more on average with our approach than with that of the Conservatives.However, I am pleased to hear the Conservative members speak about public transit. The problem is that they never invested in public transit. We have made historic investments to help students, hard-working people and seniors use public transit anywhere in the country. These are real investments that have helped families across the country and we will continue to invest.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives resort to personal attacks when they cannot defend the fact that they consistently have voted against all the initiatives that we have made to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it. Our investments in families through the Canada child benefit, in workers through the Canada workers benefit, in our seniors through restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 they had put it at are all things that have helped people concretely and have led to the kind of economic growth they never saw under 10 years of Stephen Harper.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that since 1997.The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the reality people are facing. Millions of Canadians are deprived of the medicine they need because of price. Today we heard from Marilyn Sheehan, whose family lives in BC. She said she cannot afford the heart medication her husband needs and their son often goes without his life-saving allergy medicine. She said they are just rolling the dice. Private patchwork coverage has not helped them.Why is the Prime Minister pursuing this very system that costs more and delivers less?
Mr. Speaker, according to The Globe and Mail, using CRA data, the wealthiest one per cent are paying $4.6 billion less in taxes, and further data shows they bear a smaller burden of the federal tax take.The Prime Minister would know about rich guys getting off easy. He used a trust fund tax loophole that allowed him to pay a lower rate on his family fortune than other Canadians would have to pay. He should do the right thing now and tell Canadians how much he saved by using the trust fund tax loophole. Will he do so?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister might not be aware, but Canadians start paying taxes starting at $12,000. He may have never done this before, but that is how it works. People know this. Yesterday on Facebook, Richard Sauvé said that he earns $13,000 a year and pays taxes. This is the reality for Canadians. Another reality is that all Canadians pay GST. What the Prime Minister said yesterday is not true.Will he apologize to the thousands of families he insulted yesterday?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks and talks but does not actually do anything.My constituents are tired of seeing the wealthy exploit our system while they struggle to make ends meet and to pay for medication.I met a 70-year-old man in Sherbrooke who told me that he faced a tough decision on his last visit to the pharmacy. He had three prescriptions, but he could only afford to get one filled. It is disgraceful that this kind of thing is happening in a country where access to a doctor is free. Access to the drugs prescribed by the doctor is not free.Why is the Prime Minister telling my constituent to wait for yet another report, when he could have taken action at any time in the three years he has been in office?
Mr. Speaker, while the members opposite continue to focus on me, why do we not focus on Canadians? Indeed, why do we not focus on Canadians living in the riding of Carleton, where $48 million a year goes directly to families every month, tax free, in the riding to support 16,000 kids with the Canada child benefit? We send $7,000 a year for 22,000 constituents with the strengthened Canada pension plan, and will send over $300 for households next year with the climate action incentive. We are investing in the
Mr. Speaker, our focus from the very beginning has been investing in the middle class and people working hard to join it, and that is exactly what we have done step by step. The Canada workers benefit helps low-income Canadians stay in the workforce, and indeed, if they want to go back to school, we have made sure that employment insurance continues to cover them while they go to school. That is something the Conservatives never did. We know this because the Conservatives continue to insist that tax benefits and advantages to the wealthiest 1% is the way to grow the economy. Three years of Canadian
Mr. Speaker, once again, I wonder how the Conservatives actually talk to their constituents when they know they voted against the Canada child benefit. They voted against the Canada workers benefit. They voted against increasing the amount of the guaranteed income supplement for the most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan. They voted against infrastructure investments, which are making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians across the country. That is what they do not understand about how to build a strong economy. One invests in the middle class. One does not help the wealthiest, like the Conservatives always do.
Mr. Speaker, first nations in this country are facing a housing crisis, and 85% of first nations in Manitoba report mold in their homes.We are talking about 15, 17 or 20 people in a house. Babies, elders and families are suffering. In community after community, people are saying that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse.My question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not know that this housing crisis is literally making people sick? Will his Liberal government move from talking to action, to address this housing crisis on first nations now?
Mr. Speaker, maybe the Prime Minister should have informed the Minister of Finance that the Liberal priority was to consult again and again.The choice is clear: the president of the FTQ, Daniel Boyer, recently said that if we had a fully public system, we could achieve economies of scale of $3 billion in Quebec alone. Marc-André Gagnon, from Carleton University, estimates that if Canada had a universal system not only would everyone be covered, but businesses would save more than $8 billion since they would no longer have to offer private drug insurance.Why does the government want to just patch up the system instead of providing true universal pharmacare based on
Mr. Speaker, poverty is rising among seniors, and all too often they have to choose between buying food or medication. No one should ever have to make that choice. One of my constituents, Mr. Desmarais, is on a certain type of medication. It is absolutely vital that he take it every day, but the cost is exorbitant. How is he supposed to pay for that? Millions of seniors across the country are in the same boat.What are the Liberals waiting for? When will they implement a pharmacare
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how the Conservatives can look low-income families in the eye when they voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors and the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. They voted against our investments in affordable housing, in old age pensions, in students and in Canadians who need help. The Conservatives voted against Canadians every time.
Mr. Speaker, it is dizzying. I get the feeling that if you looked up the word liberal in the dictionary, it would say, say one thing and do another.People are not fooled by the Prime Minister's doublespeak. The Climate Change Performance Index was released at COP24, in Poland. Out of 60 countries, Canada ranked 54th. It is so bad.How can the Prime Minister look our young people in the eye and tell them that he is concerned about the planet and their
Mr. Speaker, we are always very concerned about the plight of our seniors. That is why, since taking office, our government has been making concrete investments to help our most vulnerable seniors. We increased the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. We invested in housing for seniors. We invested $5 billion in home care across the country.We will continue to invest in our seniors, and we understand that investing in pharmacare is the right thing to do. That is why we are waiting for the expert report before moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, on what planet does our wealthy Prime Minister live? Yesterday he said that low-income families do not pay taxes. Hello, earth to mars.A mother in my riding named Lorraine is working very hard to make ends meet. She has a low income and she pays taxes.Will the Prime Minister come with me and tell Lorraine with a straight face that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is unbelievable. He abolished the tax credit for people who use public transit, many of whom are students. He abolished the children's fitness and arts tax credits. He created a carbon tax that will affect the price of gas, groceries and all activities that people participate in. The comments he keeps repeating make no sense.Will he at least acknowledge that Canadians are paying more taxes today than under the former Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, again, between the torquing of the numbers and the personal attacks, the Conservatives do not want to face the facts or have Canadians understand that they actually voted against lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one per cent.The only way the numbers that the member opposite just cited even, maybe, perhaps, might align is if we completely ignore the Canada child benefit that has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Perhaps that is because Conservatives have no intention of continuing that Canada child benefit. That is something that
Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nobody chooses where they are born, but we make choices about what we choose to do in life. The choices the Conservatives consistently make are to stand against investments in public and affordable housing and to stand against investments in the Canada child benefit which is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. The choice the Conservatives continue to make is against increasing benefits for our most vulnerable single seniors. The choice the Conservatives make consistently is to help the wealthiest 1% instead of Canadians who need the help.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Winnipeg Centre for his question and for the hard work that he does for indigenous languages in the House of Commons.For too long, government policies focused more on destroying indigenous languages than on protecting them. That is why we support our partners who want to revitalize and strengthen their language and culture.Yesterday, in the House, we introduced the first bill dealing with indigenous languages. In it, we recognize the right to use an indigenous language. We will appoint a commissioner, to ensure that future governments respect that obligation. Protecting language and culture is how
Mr. Speaker, we know the Conservatives like to mislead the House, but it is blatant in that they actually did vote against the guaranteed income supplement increase for our most vulnerable single seniors. They voted against the Canada child benefit that stopped sending benefit cheques to millionaire families so that we could send more money to the Canadians who needed it most. We watched them vote against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations. They stood and voted against investments in affordable housing for Canadians.Every step of the way, they say things they do not mean and then act to hurt
Mr. Speaker, over the past three years, we have seen over 800,000 jobs created in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. That happened because, unlike the Conservatives, who had an approach for 10 years to support and invest in the wealthiest 1%, we made investments in the middle class and those working hard to join it. Those investments are leading to the kinds of economic growth that are giving more opportunities for everyone. The Conservatives continue to vote against tangible, concrete measures that make things better for people who are working hard to join the middle class, and they will continue to
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for his hard work. We have indeed made historic investments in Edmonton's infrastructure, which includes reducing traffic with investments in the Yellowhead Trail and the 50th Street overpass; investments in the Fort Edmonton Park expansion; investments in the Jerry Forbes Centre; investments in public transit; and investments right across the city, like we are making right across the country.The Conservatives want to cut infrastructure investments in Alberta. We will continue to invest in communities.
Mr. Speaker, once again, while we remain focused on Canadians, the Conservatives want to focus on me. We are going to continue to invest in the middle class and those working hard to join it. We are going to continue to do things that they vote against, like strengthening the Canada pension plan; like increasing the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable single seniors; like investing in a better Canada child benefit that is going to continue to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty, instead of sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, as the Conservatives consistently want to do. We are going to focus on Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we are working directly with the chief and council in Cat Lake. The minister is in direct contact with Chief Keewaykapow.We know that there are concerns about the health, safety and quality of the housing and that there is an urgent and long-term need for measures.We are working with the community and our partners to fast-track the necessary repairs and the construction of new housing units. We will continue to work closely with the chief and the council to find solutions for the short, medium and long term.
Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. Under the Conservative government, taxes were lower for Canadians. It was the Prime Minister's tax changes that led to the top 1% paying less tax, but it is not surprising that he does not understand how the tax system works. He brags that other people manage his vast family fortune.Once again, could he tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, we are not making anything up. The Prime Minister said, here in the House, that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes.This statement is totally out of touch with reality. Even low-income Canadians already pay too much tax, sadly, and they have been paying more in the three years that this government has been in power. Could the Prime Minister at least acknowledge that low-income Canadians are paying more tax today than they were three years ago under the previous Conservative government?
Mr. Speaker, for all single mothers and for all mothers in this country, we have helped low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, which is really making a difference. Every month they receive a tax-free cheque that directly helps them ensure a better future for their children. It has helped millions of families in this country, but the Conservatives voted against it. They have always opposed the Canada child benefit. It is unfortunate for families that have
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that if people take the bus, they are too rich and deserve to lose their transit tax credit. If they put their kids in hockey or soccer, they are too rich for the Prime Minister and deserve to lose the refundable children's fitness tax credit. If they buy textbooks at university, they are too rich and they deserve to lose their textbook tax credits, says the same Prime Minister who used a trust fund tax loophole to lower his tax bill.Does he realize, as he sits there and smirks, how horribly arrogant he is when he accuses low-income Canadians of not paying their taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is totally false and further proves how out of touch the Prime Minister is with Canadians' real lives. People who earn $12,000 per year pay tax on gas, food, prescription drugs and everything else.Can our millionaire Prime Minister, who inherited his family fortune, look thousands of low-income people in the eye and tell them they do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, Lois from my riding lost her job because the Liberals closed a federal office in Vegreville. Now she is making minimum wage, bagging groceries. She is struggling like so many others, and she is paying all kinds of taxes. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Well, he is wrong. Is the millionaire Prime Minister, who has never had to worry about money because of his family fortune, really going to look Lois in the eyes and tell her she does not pay any taxes?
Mr. Speaker, no Canadian should have to empty his or her wallet or go into debt to get the medicine his or her family needs and no Canadian should go without the medicine his or her doctor prescribed because of cost. However, Canada is the only nation with medicare that does not include universal coverage for prescriptions.This is the Prime Minister's last budget before the election. It is his last chance to do what is right for people, which is to deliver a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare system that covers every single Canadian. Will the Prime Minister do it?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. Does the Prime Minister truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, no gas taxes, no EI taxes and no income tax?
Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is his quote. Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians this: Does he truly believe that low-income Canadians pay no GST, pay no EI payroll taxes, pay no federal taxes and pay no gas taxes?
Mr. Speaker, the mould crisis in Cat Lake is a public health disaster. The government has known about this for years.Now, there are children awaiting medical treatment. Seniors in the community have died from respiratory problems.Will the Prime Minister commit to sending an independent health team, conducting an immediate assessment of the families affected, and immediately assuming his responsibilities under the Jordan principle?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for SaanichGulf Islands for bringing this issue forward in the House. We agree that the capture of whales and dolphins for the sole purpose of being kept for public display should be ended. While the banning of whale captivity is not yet legislation, in practice it has been in place for years. We put forward legislation that includes putting an end to the captivity of whales unless it is for rehabilitation. We supported Bill S-203 at second reading. We look forward to the work the committee is going to do on it.
Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Conservatives do not want to stand by their own voting record, where they voted against the Canada child benefit and where they voted against lowering taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. They voted against increasing the guaranteed income supplements for our most vulnerable single seniors. They even voted against strengthening the Canada pension plan for future generations.We will continue to work hard to support the middle class and people working very hard to join it. That is what this government remains focused on.
Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative government was fond of using tax credits to help the rich, as always, but it did nothing to help low-income families. That is why we took a different approach. We decided to invest in middle-class families and all families working hard to join them. That is what makes a difference. The Conservatives opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for our seniors. They opposed lowering taxes on the middle class.Mr. Speaker
Mr. Speaker, for 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives put forward an economic plan that gives advantages and benefits to the wealthiest 1% while neglecting to help low-income Canadians who actually need that help. That is one of the reasons Canadians chose a government that would focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it. That is what we have been doing.While we have been doing that, the Conservatives have opposed lowering taxes on the middle class. They opposed the guaranteed income supplement increase for seniors. They even opposed the Canada child benefit. They opposed the things that make a difference in people's
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has other people manage his vast family fortune, so it is no surprise that he does not understand how the tax system actually works. Individuals at the low-income cut-off would earn $21,487 and pay $1,451 in federal taxes. They would benefit from those tax credits. Also, the children's fitness tax credit was a refundable tax credit that he took away. Why is he making low and middle-income Canadians pay for his mistakes?
Mr. Speaker, we are focused on the Prime Minister's hypocrisy. The Prime Minister's trust fund operated outside of a blind trust for over a decade. He would have known that he was saving a fortune in taxes on his family fortune that entire time. The Prime Minister said yesterday that low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. How much tax did the Prime Minister avoid paying because he was sheltering his family fortune with the trust fund tax loophole?
Mr. Speaker, in the statements that the Prime Minister made, he actually missed the point of the question, which is that Ann is a single woman making minimum wage. She does not get the Canada child care benefit. She does not get the guaranteed income supplement. She does not get that middle-class tax cut either, yet the Prime Minister thinks she does not pay a single cent in taxes. She would beg to differ. She will pay about $5,000 in taxes every year after CPP and EI are included. Then there will be the GST, then there will be the HST and then there will be the Liberal carbon tax, which is coming next.Will the Prime Minister still stand by that ridiculous statement?
Mr. Speaker, the reality is this is personal. I did not realize that the Prime Minister and I had so much in common. We both grew up in taxpayer-funded housing, he in 24 Sussex; me in the projects in Barrie. The Prime Minister said that low-income Canadians did not pay tax. He does not understand who pays for his nannies, for his planes and for his houses. It is all paid for by servers like Andrea in Barrie. When will the trust fund Prime Minister look Andrea in the eye and tell her she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes; so declared the Prime Minister yesterday. However, low-income Canadians actually beg to differ with that postulation. Ann is a single woman who works in Milton, Ontario. She makes minimum wage and she pays approximately $2,600 in federal income tax.Will the Prime Minister stand today and tell us he stands by his statement that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there was a debate on the environment in Outremont and the Liberal candidate decided to stay away. She did not show up.It is not easy to defend a Prime Minister who breaks his promises. It is not easy to explain to people that his party's priority is to give billions of dollars to his oil industry friends. It is not easy to defend wasting public money on the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.Are the Liberal candidates trying to hide because they know that their government's environmental policies do not cut it in Quebec?
Mr. Speaker, many will recall the sad day when the Prime Minister insulted our job creators, our small business owners, by saying that they were trying to avoid paying taxes by incorporating. It was insulting. He insulted hundreds of thousands of Canadians again yesterday when he said, and I quote, low-income families do not benefit from tax breaks because they do not pay taxes. That is false. Thousands of Canadians were appalled by his statement. A student named Geneviève posted on Facebook yesterday that she has to pay taxes.Is the Prime Minister going to tell Geneviève that that is not true, that she does not pay taxes?
Mr. Speaker, Ana Mae is a constituent of mine who works hard, but is struggling to get by. She earns $15.50 at a fast-food restaurant. Contrary to the Prime Minister's insulting assertion that low-income Canadians do not pay taxes, Ana Mae pays federal income tax, CPP, EI and the GST.Will the millionaire Prime Minister, with his vast family fortune, look Ana Mae in the eye and tell her that she does not pay taxes?