Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1
Date: 2023_04_25
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mrs. Karen Vecchio: I thank all who will be listening and my husband at home, who I know stays up late. It means we are 52 years old, when it is 10 to nine and I am calling it "late". I really want to start this speech off by looking at where we are, looking at an Auditor General's report that just came out a month ago, and looking at how we have to move forward. I want to start by reading into the record the report called "Global Affairs Canada is unable to show the value of Canada's international assistance in support of gender equality". I want to read a bit of this report into the record so that we can understand setting this up. Really what I am looking for is accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility, some things we have not seen from the government. It reads: A report from Auditor General Karen Hogan tabled...in the House of Commons concludes that Global Affairs Canada was unable to show how its implementation of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy had contributed to improving gender equality in low- and middle-income countries. The department is unable to [see] the information contained in its files to report on the value derived from the approximately $3.5 billion spent yearly on bilateral development assistance projects or to provide Parliament and Canadians with a complete picture of the outcomes achieved for women and girls. I am going to go to another part where it also found that Global Affairs Canada did not meet two of its three spending commitments under the feminist international assistance policy: The department fell short on funding projects that directly supported the empowerment of women and girls or that were located in sub-Saharan Africa, where the benefit in terms of reducing poverty and advancing gender equality is typically higher. The reason I am bringing this forward is that it kind of sets the stage for where we are with the government. As we are looking at the budget, I put on the lens of the shadow minister for women and gender equality and youth, looking specifically at what the government is indicating in its budget. Knowing the Auditor General's report, I think we need to start looking at what is going on with the government. As I look at the 2023 budget, this is something the government has indicated as part of its foreign aid feminist international assistance policy goal for 2030. We are talking about the government continuing to give out money, but we expect results, we expect accountability and we expect that when we ask how money has been spent, it would be able to show how the people in those areas have been impacted. However, we have none of that information. I see a budget that says the government is going to go do all these wonderful things, but I do not see any of the tangible results, and that is why I absolutely oppose so many different things in the budget. I do not think the government understands fiscal responsibility, and that continues to be one my greatest challenges. I have heard many people talk about the food bank. I think one of the saddest stories I heard was from a person from the food bank in our area who shared with me that another person who had gone to the food bank owned a home in our area that cost $800,000. However, this man was not able to put food on the table. There are many reasons, but I look at the fact that this man, who had purchased this home for his family, unfortunately was not aware of the variable or fixed interest rates. I have a real problem with the fact that there was no customer service to help this person, who came to Canada and purchased a house, understand those things. There are lots of concerns there, and I do not want to point the finger, but at the same time I am finding that when this man had purchased a house for $800,000, he was able to do so because he came from a two-income family with a six-figure income. Subsequently, his family could not meet the goals of paying for their mortgage any longer. Under the government, we have seen inflation go up so much. For example, a person had a mortgage that they paid biweekly. At one time, and I believe it was probably in April of last year, the principal, taxes and everything totalled $753. After everything going on with inflation, when they went back to the bank to renew their mortgage, their new mortgage rate was at $1,050. That is a substantial increase for anybody who is paying that type of money. I want to also look at so many different things here. I submitted an OPQ a few weeks ago. I want to look at government accountability. I submitted an OPQ on March 2, and the question was, "With regard to the federal government's funding of Gymnastics Canada being frozen in July 2022: (a) what was the original reason the government froze this funding; and (b) despite allegations of abuse and maltreatment within the sport still being unsettled, has this funding been reinstated and, if so, (i) on what date, (ii) for what reason?" I would like to let everyone know it has been reinstated, but I do not know for what reason. I want to read the response from Canadian Heritage on this: ...as a result of safe sport issues in the sport of gymnastics, Sport Canada froze funding to Gymnastics Canada and imposed the condition that Gymnastics Canada become a program signatory to Abuse-Free Sport, including the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, to allow Canadian gymnasts to be able to access the independent safe sport mechanism and other support services offered. Part two of this, though, is probably the most concerning thing that I have ever seen and, hopefully, I can have somebody share this with me. Part (b) says, "funding to Gymnastics Canada was reinstated on November 14, 2022, as the organization had met the condition of becoming a program signatory to Abuse-Free Sport on October 18, 2022." Why do I find this really crazy? It is because of the timeline. We are talking about a timeline where I know that on November 22, many parliamentarians were able to view something called "Broken". It was the story from Gymnastics Canada talking about the number of young athletes who had gone through issues. We have had over 600, closer to 700, signatories talking about Abuse-Free Sport. The reason I am bringing this up, as I said, is the timeline. On November 14, the minister reinstated this funding. On November 22, we highlighted that abuse was still happening in Gymnastics Canada. At that same time, the status of women committee started to study the abuse in sport and started to see that there was a rampant issue that was happening across not just gymnastics but multiple sports here in Canada. The government talks about OSIC and how it is going to work, and I wish I believed it. They said they signed on and they are all good. That just does not meet the mark for me because they signed on, but they are the same CEOs who allowed this abuse to continue. We know that over the last number of years, they have never reported the complaints properly and that these perpetrators remain in the sport, not just in gymnastics but other sports. The government did not invest a single extra dollar in this after all of the allegations had been going on. The funding was put in in 2022. We know there needs to be a lot done. Why did the government not look at what we need to do next? Why is it looking at OSIC and saying it is all good, it is fine and as long as it signs this, it is not going to worry any further? Hopefully I can get some answers to that question. I also want to talk about women and gender equality in the workplace. We know, according to statistics, the participation rate decreased by 28% during the pandemic. If we look at any mom, any sister, any daughter, any woman and many men as well, it was a very difficult time as women were wearing many hats: as daughters, trying to take care of their elderly and as parents, trying to teach their children the things they had missed at school because they were at home. These are huge concerns for me. The government is not attacking some of the key issues. The government will talk about a $10-a-day child care program. I am going to let everyone know how that is working out in St. Thomas, Ontario. Currently, one of the early learning centres, probably one of best places parents can find if they want great child care, cannot find employees. Although parents will be able to get approximately $10-a-day child care, spaces are not available in our communities because there is no labour force for this. We always see that the government really likes to put the cart before the horse. It should make sure that it has the young men and women who will be working in these programs going through the education process, ensuring that they will be able to take these jobs that the government is promising to parents and that their children will be cared for. These are some major issues. I have talked about food bank usage. We have seen across this country, across the board, that middle-class families are walking into food banks needing their help right now. We know with the sports abuse that the government put money in, but it is actually doing nothing about it. We have seen with the foreign feminist policy that the government can throw $3.5 billion out there and it does not matter where the money falls, no one is going to be accountable. I would really like the government to start being accountable.