hazylavender/hi huggingface dataset:
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. John Williamson: Would we repeal the carbon tax, Mr. Speaker? Absolutely. The member knows well that the reason Blaine Higgs is no longer administrating the Liberal carbon tax is because it is ruinous to families, so he is out of the game. He does not want anything to do with this Liberal carbon tax, just like now eight out of 10 provinces. Let me point out something this member says. She says she is for a green economy but opposes nuclear power. Her colleague from Saint John--Rothesay scolded her because if they want power that is carbon-dioxide free, just like other Liberals are realizing, they need to embrace nuclear. The member is an outlier on that and her own Liberal colleague from New Brunswick called her out on that because this fantasy world of high taxes and no energy is just going to result in a ruinous economy and a ruinous country.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Brad Vis: when the previous speaker was up, I got a little animated, and I went across the floor. I had an issue that I wanted to raise. A more appropriate way for a parliamentarian to raise an issue is to stand on a point of order and go through the Speaker. I want to apologize to the House. I hold myself to a high standard of conduct, and I just want to apologize for going to the edge of the other bench and having my words personally, versus standing on a point of order, which is the parliamentary thing to do.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Gary Vidal: my colleague from Manitoba serves the riding that is probably the most similar to my riding in all of Canada, and so my question for her is actually quite simple. In a riding like ours, the carbon tax disproportionately affects rural and remote communities; many of these are indigenous communities that we serve in these northern and remote ridings. What I understand is that everything that gets to a shelf in the communities in these northern and remote areas is trucked in, and for anything that is trucked in, the cost of trucking it is being substantially increased by the cost of the carbon tax. The increase on the carbon tax is increasing the cost of everything on every shelf, everywhere in our northern communities. Increasing prices at a time when people have less money is not a recipe for economic success. The member commented in her speech about the budget being woefully inadequate. With that as the context, my question to the member is simply this: Is she in conflict about supporting the budget, if it is so woefully inadequate?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Ms. Niki Ashton: I appreciate the commonalities between northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba. I think we have to be very real about what is in front of us, and as I said, while there is good in the budget, there is also much more work that needs to be done. However, I certainly want to speak to the issue of cost of living. We absolutely need government to be part of the solution. What is also clear to me in terms of regions like ours, and certainly communities across the country, is that we are not taking on the companies that are making profits on the backs of some of the poorest communities in the country. For example, we have the nutrition north subsidy, which has not been reformed in ages, since the Harper government totally reshaped it for the benefit of the Northern Store. The reality is that a lot of communities cannot afford, even with the subsidy, to buy the kinds of healthy foods they need for their families. We need the federal government to be taking a hard look at the nutrition north subsidy and working with northern communities, indigenous communities, harvesters, trappers and organizations that want to make a difference in terms of food security. That is clearly not being done right now. I would say more broadly that, when we are talking about the cost of living crisis, we also need good jobs in our communities. I come from a mining town where the Harper government signed a deal with Vale, a Brazilian multinational. This deal led to the loss of every single refining job in my community. We lost almost all the value-added jobs, with some of the best salaries, in my hometown. Families left and have never come back. As such, if we are going to be real about what the government needs to do, I would take a hard look at the history of the way in which the Conservative government made life more difficult for northerners in my part of the country and do very differently. This is something we are not seeing much of from the Liberals. I can safely say that if we were in government, it would be a whole different story.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mrs. Jenica Atwin: I do not know how helpful it is to speak in hyperbolic terms, and I think that we need to be more collaborative in this House. I take personal offence, given how hard we fight on this side for indigenous communities, at the suggestion that if we support this budget, for those who think it is wholly inadequate, we must never have set foot in a first nations community. That is certainly not true. We are looking for creative solutions to address the housing crisis in indigenous communities across this country. Does the member support the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, which will help indigenous-led solutions for indigenous financial institutions to leverage funding and ensure that these kinds of infrastructure projects can move forward?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Ms. Niki Ashton: I am not really sure what to do with comments around personal offence. I respect the member's work when it comes to speaking out for first nations. A few short weeks ago, 11 first nations in my region declared a public state of emergency because the housing, drug and health care crisis is so bad. If folks are offended by that reality and cannot realize that the Liberals are not addressing it, I am not sure what to say about that. We have to be very real about the crisis in communities, certainly where I come from, in northern and remote fly-in communities. This crisis is not by accident. It is the result of decades of neglect from federal Liberal and Conservative governments. Canada needs to do much better.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Ms. Elizabeth May: I want to focus on something pretty fundamental. It is the difference between the budget, which I did not vote for because it failed to address the climate crisis, failed to address mental health issues and puts more money into fossil fuels, and this bill, Bill C-47 , the budget implementation act, in which to my surprise, having read 429 pages, I did not find anything I wanted to vote against. Yes, the change to the Income Tax Act that would allow CRA to share data to allow dental care to happen is part of Bill C-47 , but a whole number of budget measures are not mentioned here. I wonder if, as an experienced parliamentarian, the member can help others, in this educational moment, to understand the difference between voting against the budget, which I did, and voting for Bill C-47, which I surprised myself by finding I am going to vote for.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Brian Masse: I thank my hon. colleague and the Green Party for supporting Bill C-248 since the very beginning and the Ojibway national urban park. They were instrumental in getting that done. She is quite correct that it is not a double standard, by any means, to do this. It is a challenge. I have seen a game going on for a lot of years where if a member votes against the budget, they vote against everything in the budget. That is not true. There are many things, even with this budget, that the Conservatives would do, the Liberals would do and others would do back and forth. I think that argument is rather tired. It has been used against me repeatedly, but I have been able to get back here. Some have even said that I voted against the bridge, which I have been working on for a long period of time. I think people are smart enough to know this, so it is not a double standard by any means. I am glad they are supporting it and they can differentiate between the two.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: when listening to the member, I wanted to reflect on Thomas Mulcair and the type of election platform he provided. However, as opposed to doing that, as I know where the member is coming from and that he has a fairly good understanding of the automobile industry as a whole, my question will be related to the VW announcement. I know he made reference to it a bit earlier today. The VW announcement is going to lead to the largest factory in Canada. I am talking geographically, in square footage. It will be a huge boost not only to the community of St. Thomas and the area but to all Canadians, as it will increase Canada's footprint in a significant way in the electrical battery industry, whether it is in mining or production. Could he provide his thoughts on the importance of this particular announcement to the automobile industry and other industries beyond it?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Brian Masse: we have to decide, for batteries and the electrification of vehicles, as well as other developments that come along with ancillary employment and innovation, whether we are just going to rip and ship raw materials out of this country and send them somewhere else to be produced or do it here. We have done a disservice to our forestry, mining and oil industries by basically being the hewers versus the producers of value-added work. This value-added work is going to happen at the Volkswagen plant. That is why I support the announcement. I think it was done in a strategic way that gives us the best chances in an industry notoriously good at playing off different jurisdictions, such as countries and even neighbourhoods, quite frankly, within municipalities. This is also going to help the Windsor region because of the critical mass that will develop between the 401 supply chain. The taxes will come back in droves. It is just like if we had not supported General Motors. We would have lost all of the investment that has recently come in. This is a tough thing at times. Accountability is the biggest thing we need to see come forward with it.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Denis Trudel: I thank my colleague for his question. My question was for the NDP member who spoke before him, since she talked a lot about housing, but I think my colleague should be able to answer. As I said earlier, we have an acute housing crisis in Canada. One of the issues we do not hear that much about in the House is the financialization of housing, which is something really important. It refers to large national and international corporations' growing ownership of Canadian rental housing stock. It is thought that corporate ownership has gone from zero to 22% in 30 years. These large corporations could not care less about the right to housing. Their primary concern is making a profit. We have to deal with this. I would like to ask my colleague if any concrete measures could be taken to tackle this issue.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Brian Masse: I would never speak on behalf of the member from Churchill . That is never going to happen. I do want to say that I appreciate the question. I think the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation needs to return more to its roots. We have to look at more not-for-profit and co-operative housing. Those are specific things that I would like to see improved.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mrs. Jenica Atwin: I know my colleague and I share a passion for the environment. Something I was really excited to see as part of the budget was the Canada water agency and protections for our fresh water in the country. Can he comment on how important that is and how it is achieving a commitment we made to Canadians across the country?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Patrick Weiler: there have been many years of work put into designing this new Canada water agency. We are excited that it is going to be in the Prairies, in Winnipeg. There are so many different federal agencies in Canada that have some type of responsibility related to water. This would provide an opportunity for all of those different organizations to collaborate in a very meaningful way so we can better address issues like water quality and water quantity, issues we know we are increasingly going to see. I think it is very important that it is established in Winnipeg because we know the Prairies are facing some of the largest challenges, sometimes with water scarcity and sometimes with flooding. I am very excited to see that in the budget this year. I think it is going to make a huge difference on one of the most important issues related to the environment.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Marty Morantz: I note that the member did not discuss the deficits that are projected in the budget. If we look through to 2027-28, they project that the combined debt of Canada will be over $1.3 trillion, which is more than double what it was when the government took office. Does he think that qualifies as being fiscally responsible?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Patrick Weiler: I think it is very important that we remain fiscally prudent in this budget, and always. In my province of B.C., we have seen an example of perhaps too much spending. Recently, B.C. had its credit rating downgraded and we have not seen that in Canada. I think that is an important measure to understand the fiscal sustainability of this. There are some very important investments that needed to be made. I do not know whether the Conservatives would not have made the investments in health care or whether they would not have made some of the affordability measures. It is on the Conservative Party to explain to this House what services it would have cut. Those are areas that I certainly would not support cutting.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Mike Morrice: I appreciate the member's advocacy on the climate crisis, and I also appreciate hearing his comments when it comes to new subsidies that were introduced in this budget for the very sector most responsible for the crisis that we are in. There are at least four, totalling over $3.3 billion in this budget, including new offshore drilling in the Arctic. Can he speak to the influence he can have in this place to move toward ending subsidies like these?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Patrick Weiler: a commitment has been made as part of the G20 to phase out all fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. We brought that commitment up to the end of this year. We remain committed to doing that. I think it is very important that we do that because we know the world is quickly transitioning to a cleaner economy and there are tremendous opportunities for Canada, as we go forward, to do that. The subsidies we should be providing are the ones that we see in this budget, such as for clean electricity, clean hydrogen and other things. I would also mention that the measures in the budget for carbon capture are very important, particularly to take some of the legacy emissions already in the air. There is a company in my riding called Carbon Engineering, which is doing direct air capture. We do need to support companies like that because even when we get to net zero, we are going to have to continue to take carbon out of the atmosphere.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mrs. Jenica Atwin: I listened intently to the speech by the member opposite this morning. By the sound of it, he was supporting some progressive ideas that he had hoped to see in the budget. My question is simply this. Can we expect to see, in the next Conservative platform, things like aggressive emissions reduction targets, support for unions and workers, pharmacare and electoral reform? I am curious what his response would be.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Marty Morantz: the reality is that we need to be able to afford to have these things. We have the weakest growth of OECD countries, despite having more than doubled our debt to over $1.3 trillion since the current government took office. We need to grow the economy. We need policies that create more wealth so we can afford the important programs Canadians deserve.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Blake Desjarlais: the member spoke directly about some of the massive issues facing Canadians. Some of them are the most critical when its come to affordability. We know there are programs that can be funded to ensure that Canadians have a better outcome in their lives, like dental care and pharmacare. We know that Canadians value these programs. We want to see the Conservatives, however, speak about revenue generation. We know that, for example, an excess profits tax is something the Conservatives in the United Kingdom have done to try to bring into balance some of the big oil companies making record profits and to help finance and give regular people a chance during this cost of living crisis. Would the member agree that a profiteering tax to curb the excess profits of big oil companies, big banks and some of the country's largest companies should actually be done?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Marty Morantz: only the NDP could think that raising taxes for Canadians would make life more affordable for Canadians. The reality is that we need to increase the size of our economic output so we can afford the important programs that the member cares about, and I hope he comes along with us to bring in policies that promote economic growth.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval: I thank the member for his speech. What I found interesting was that he used the word "workers" a lot. It always sounds odd to me, hearing the word "workers" from the mouth of a Conservative, but I suppose it is good to hear, because at least it means they might be somewhat concerned about them. What has left me wondering, however, is that I do not recall the Conservatives advocating for one of the things that workers want most of all, something the Bloc has also been calling for, which is EI reform in order to make it more generous. I would like to know what the member has to offer workers who need help and support for a period of time when they lose their jobs, especially in this time of high inflation, with costs going up everywhere.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Marty Morantz: the reality is that the current Prime Minister has increased spending on our public service by $20 billion at the same time as increasing spending on external consultants by $20 billion, and he still managed to trigger the largest strike in Canadian history. Yes, I do worry about the workers in this country, but I lay the problems workers have in this country squarely at the feet of the Prime Minister.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Hon. Mike Lake: it is astonishing to me to hear the NDP and Liberal members stand up in the House, with the record-shattering levels of debt and spending they are undertaking together, and call for, in the debate today, more spending. I hearken back to the Trudeau government of the seventies and eighties and the massive debt and deficits they rang up. This resulted in record cuts to social services, like health, education and all of those different things, in the late nineties, by another Liberal government, precipitated by the massive levels of debt taken on by the Trudeau government of the seventies and eighties. I wonder if the hon. member could reflect on what it was like in the late nineties, when we saw $35 billion cut from health, education and social services transfers in this country.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Marty Morantz: in 1995, the most draconian budget in Canadian history was brought in by Liberal finance minister Paul Martin. Why did he do it? It was because he had to. He had to do it because the Government of Canada was broke. It could no longer borrow money. It had hit a wall. The Wall Street Journal was saying that Canada was an economic basket case, because interest rates were high and debt was high, and the Government of Canada could no longer afford to maintain its credit rating or pay for the important programs Canadians required. That is where we are heading today.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Ken McDonald: Kitchener has a place in my heart as well, because I have family members who live and work in Kitchener. The member spent some time talking about the affordable housing issue and that not enough was being done in this budget. Does he agree with the Conservatives' thoughts on affordable housing, which is getting municipalities out of the way and letting the government go in, build houses and solve the problem? It has to have the municipal touch on it. Does the member agree with that statement?
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Mike Morrice: my concern with the talking points from the Conservative Party is that they are playing on justifiable anger but then not offering reasonable solutions. The fact is that we need all three levels of government working together, and browbeating municipalities is not how we are going to solve the housing crisis. What will is the federal government getting back to the stage of investing in the housing we need, non-market and co-op housing, the way we used to in the eighties and the nineties. Anything less is unacceptable.
Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1

Date: 2023_04_27
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Eric Melillo: although we do not always see eye to eye on everything, I do appreciate the tone my colleague from Kitchener Centre brings to this place. I would like to stick on the topic of housing. To the point that was just made, the Conservative Party has brought forward a number of solutions, such as bringing forward a plan to speed up building permits to get more homes built and create an incentive for housing units to be developed. There is certainly a need for more affordable housing and social housing, no question about it, but we also see issues with supply around regular market housing in my region as well. I would like to get the member's comments on what our party has brought forward to help address the issues we see with market housing.