The Budget
Date: 2023_04_19
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Peter Fonseca: I will be sharing my time with the member for Outremont . As a member of Parliament representing, in my opinion, maybe the best riding in all of Canada, Mississauga East--Cooksville, a riding with a thriving economic presence, a great region that people call home, where they work and where they raise their families, I am honoured to address the House on matters of great significance to my constituents, and to all Canadians for that matter. Today's debate on budget 2023 and our government's fiscal plan is of great importance to the 800,000 residents of Mississauga and the 16,000 businesses in Mississauga. It is always an honour and a privilege to discuss issues that affect them and our communities. Budget 2023 is the government's plan to build a stronger, more sustainable and more secure Canadian economy, an economy that works for everyone. The past couple of weeks gave me a wonderful opportunity to meet with residents and businesses in my riding to talk about budget 2023. The proposed budget aims to make life more affordable for Canadians when they need it most. This includes delivering a grocery rebate that would offer up to $467 extra for eligible families of four, so they can keep putting good food on the table and paying their bills. We would also be increasing assistance for students, cracking down on hidden junk fees and predatory lenders, and lowering credit card transaction fees for small businesses. Together with provinces and territories, the budget proposes historic investments in health care, with conditions attached to ensure the delivery of improved services, such as more family doctors, better wages for support workers and mental health supports. This would ensure that Canadians get the care they need and deserve. To address dental care affordability concerns, we would be expanding dental coverage to millions of Canadians. Furthermore, the budget aims to grow the clean economy, fight climate change and deliver great jobs and great careers for now and for generations to come. It is unfortunate that Conservative members opposite continue to stand in the way of all the progress we are trying to deliver and the supports for people who need them right now. They want to make reckless cuts, and the member for Carleton , the leader of the Conservatives, also encouraged people to invest their life savings in volatile cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, to opt out of inflation. I want to use parliamentary language as much as I can, so I will just say that the leader of the Conservatives is being reckless and irresponsible by giving out terrible advice. I feel sorry for Canadians who listened to that leader and lost much of their savings. The leader of the Conservatives should stand up and apologize to Canadians for his reckless messages for Canadians to invest in that cryptocurrency scheme. We, as Liberals, will stay focused on supporting Canadians. My riding of Mississauga East--Cooksville is home to the largest population of Polish Canadians and one of the largest Ukrainian Canadian communities, my wife being one of those Ukrainian Canadians. My residents understand how Putin and his Russian crony oligarchs have driven up inflation in Canada and around the world. I wish that the official opposition and the leader of the Conservatives, the member for Carleton , would also understand that, like my constituents do. Canada's economy has indeed made a remarkable recovery, well past what was imaginable. Inflation has fallen for eight months in a row, and the Bank of Canada predicts it will drop to just 2.6% by the end of this year. More Canadians of working age are employed than ever before. With 830,000 more Canadians working today than before the pandemic, 126% of the jobs lost to COVID have been recovered as of February. In February, the average wage for Canadians actually went up by 5.4%, and since 2015, the federal government has made significant investments to support Canadians and make life more affordable. Inflation-relief payments are helping about 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians. With our enhanced Canada workers benefit, families could receive up to $2,461 this year, and a single Canadian without children could receive up to $1,428. Our Canada dental benefit has provided direct tax payments of up to $1,300 per child, over two years, to eligible families to cover dental expenses for their children under 12. As of early April, we have already helped about 260,000 children with this benefit. With our one-time top-up to the Canada housing benefit, a tax-free payment of $500, we have helped low-income people who are struggling with the cost of rent. For our seniors who are 75 and older, a 10% increase in old age security payments is providing over $800 in new supports to full pensioners in the first year. Our tax-free Canada child benefit supports about 3.5 million Canadian families annually, with up to $6,997 per child under the age of six and $5,900 per child aged six to 17. It has helped 3.5 million families and lifted 500,000 children out of poverty. Under many of these initiatives, our government has lifted over a million people out of poverty in Canada. In Ontario, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Canada-wide early learning and child care agreement. This agreement will deliver, on average, $10-a-day child care for Ontario families by the end of March 2026. It is already saving thousands of dollars for families in my riding of Mississauga East--Cooksville, across Ontario and right across Canada. In addition, important benefits like the Canada child benefit, the Canada pension plan, OAS and the guaranteed income supplement are all keeping pace with inflation. While we continue to talk about all the positive outcomes of our government's fiscal prudence through the most difficult few years, not only here but across the globe, we also know there is still much more work to be done, so what are we doing? We are cracking down on hidden junk fees such as higher telecom roaming charges, event and concert fees, excessive baggage fees and unjustified shipping and freight fees. We are also cracking down on predatory lending by proposing to lower the criminal rate of interest. For small businesses, we are lowering credit card transaction fees while protecting reward points for Canadians offered by Canada's large banks. Our proposed automatic tax filing for low-income Canadians will ensure they can easily file their tax returns in order to receive the benefits they are entitled to. Young Canadians will also be able to save for their first home. We launched the new tax-free home savings account on April 1. This is all good news. With our new Canada dental care plan, our federal government is moving forward with transformational investments to provide dental care to all Canadians who need it. We are moving now to help families and seniors, with a dental plan for families with a family income of $90,000 or less, with no copays, and for individuals with $70,000 or less. Their coverage would begin by the end of 2023. With budget 2023, we are growing a green economy. We are ensuring a clean Canadian economy that can deliver prosperity for the middle class and make more jobs and more vibrant communities right across our country. In my riding, Ukrainian Canadian families remind me every day that we cannot take our freedom and democracy for granted. Our country is filled with great opportunities. Our government has all these families, seniors, youth and businesses in mind, with timely supports. This is a great budget and I hope all members of the House will support it.