Discussion · Private Members' Business
Garnett Genuis Conservative
“Conservatives support this bill because better cell and internet service helps people find work in rural areas. But the government's economic plan is failing. The country lost 50,000 private sector jobs last month, unemployment is rising, and three in ten Canadians cannot afford basic needs. The government ignores these numbers and rejects our plans to create jobs, build homes, and support families.”
“Mr. Speaker, I look forward to sharing a few thoughts on Bill C-268. I do think it is important to begin by discussing the context, in terms of the economic situation of our country. This bill includes an aspiration about opportunities that can be associated with rural connectivity. As members know, we are supportive of that. The broader context, when it comes to opportunity for Canadians, is a challenging one. Yesterday, the government announced its budget. A budget is primarily about the government making the case for the things that it wants to do and the impact that it proposes will result from its policy. It is an exposition of the government’s proposals, ideas and plans. On the other hand, today, we received the jobs report, which is a report card, an assessment based on realities in the real world of what is actually happening in the economy, and gives us a real picture of whether or not the government’s plans are working. The contrast between yesterday’s message and today’s reality is quite striking. Yesterday, the government talked about all the jobs it was going to create. Today, we heard the results. Here they are. More than 50,000 private sector jobs were lost in the last month alone. Those are the realities, not hypotheses about the future. We saw an increase in youth unemployment from 13% to 13.7%, and an increase in the overall unemployment rate from 6.5% to 6.7%. The unemployment rate for 55-plus went up as well. There were increases across different demographics in the unemployment rate, increasing the unemployment rate overall. Underneath that, we see some other data points that I think are important to dwell on. Number one, it is getting harder for unemployed people to find a job. The statistics track job-finding rates. Fewer than one in five unemployed Canadians found a job in the last month. It is getting harder for people who are out of work to find a job. Also, the Statistics Canada report today looked at financial insecurity in households. Three out of 10 Canadians are living in a financially insecure household. That is a household where people are struggling to pay for their basic needs. We have a situation where people are working hard and yet there is an increase in that financial insecurity. Adding to that is the reality that Canadians are working longer hours, which is also in the jobs report. Canadians are less likely to be working at all. If they are working, they are working longer hours and yet they are seeing higher levels of financial insecurity. If they are unemployed, they are having a harder time than ever before of finding jobs. Now, these are the realities in our economy. First of all, we asked about the jobs report in question period, and the government consistently refused to respond or even mention the jobs report. The Liberals want to talk about the budget. We are happy to debate the provisions of the budget, but they do not want to acknowledge the existence of the jobs report, which is the report card, the results of their policies. The jobs report shows the government is failing. The Liberals do not even want to acknowledge or talk about it, and yet we have all of these numbers that demonstrate problems. These numbers demonstrate that it is harder to find a job than ever before, that more Canadians are unemployed than in the past, that it is particularly hard for young people to start out in life and access opportunities, and that those who are working are working longer and are more likely to be dealing with financial insecurity. These are the realities that I think demonstrate that the government’s approach is not as sunny as it would like to pretend it is. Moreover, when we highlight these problems, the Liberals say, “Stop talking things down. We should be optimistic. Why are you saying negative things?” I think it is important that we speak truth and look at realities. A young person who edits their credit card statement before they give it to their parents is not doing themselves or anyone else any good. The goal of looking frankly at these realities is to try to promote concrete action to address them so that we can solve the problems our country is facing. We want to solve these problems. We want to identify problems and then propose constructive solutions to them. The government putting its head in the sand, pretending that problems do not exist and pretending that things are sunnier than they are is not going to lead to solutions to the problems. Let us look at the jobs report. Let us talk about the frank problems it demonstrates in terms of it being harder to find a job, harder to get ahead and harder to make ends meet even for those who are working. Let us talk about those problems and then let us talk about concrete solutions. In the lead-up to the budget, Conservatives proposed detailed, concrete solutions. A year ago, we presented a jobs plan that focused on unleashing the economy, fixing immigration, fixing training and building homes where the jobs are. There were concrete proposals associated with all of those areas of recommendation. We have not seen action from the government on any of our proposals. In fact, in many cases, it has moved in the opposite direction. We also presented five different substantial constructive proposals to support families, like working to integrate work and family life, reforms to parental leave and changes to CPP to ensure that parents are not penalized for being with their kids later on in their retirement years. These are no- or low-cost proposals that would make life substantially better for Canadians, in one case protecting families impacted by the death of a parent. It was a proposal that cost less than a $1 million a year. The Liberals are zero for five on implementing these constructive ideas. One would think they would have seen the constructive proposals coming from the opposition on jobs and families and said, “Let us put some of them in the budget. Maybe it will be harder for the opposition to criticize the budget if we take some of their good ideas and put them in there.” However, it is oh for four on taking ideas from the jobs plan, and oh for five on taking ideas from our proposals to support families. We see today the result of their unwillingness to listen to the constructive ideas that have come forward in the House. The result is a continuing worsening situation when it comes to jobs and financial security for families. When it comes to the issue of jobs and connectivity, which the bill deals with, in rural and remote communities, addressing connectivity gaps can contribute to opportunities for people to have employment. One of the areas we are working on regarding jobs and opportunities in remote areas is to promote the construction of housing where the jobs are. We see high levels of unemployment in certain regions, which often but not always are bigger cities, and then there are labour force needs in other places. We want to support Canadians taking Canadian jobs, and that includes having an ability to take jobs where they are. One of the barriers that can contribute to making it harder for people to relocate for jobs and opportunity is the availability of housing. We have introduced as part of our plan a significant incentive around workforce housing construction, making it easier to build homes where the jobs are and for people to choose to locate near where jobs are. Connectivity is part of that. It is one thing that allows opportunities to grow in remote areas and makes it easier for people to make a choice to locate in a different area in order to get jobs and opportunity. Conservatives have been supportive of the bill. We have been constructive in the process. We have contributed to the work that needs to happen in the area of promoting connectivity, work that I think the government has been way behind on. Sadly, this is existing within an overall picture in which jobs are down and the government is failing. The Liberals want us to ignore their failure and feel sunny and happy about their hopes for the future. We need to look squarely at the realities and challenges and do the work necessary to address these problems. That should include implementing the constructive solutions that we have put forward as part of our jobs plan and our plan for work and family life.”
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Mr. Speaker, I look forward to sharing a few thoughts on Bill C-268. I do think it is important to begin by discussing the context, in terms of the economic situation of our country. This bill includes an aspiration about opportunities that can be associated with rural connectivity. As members know, we are supportive of that. The broader context, when it comes to opportunity for Canadians, is a challenging one. Yesterday, the government announced its budget. A budget is primarily about the government making the case for the things that it wants to do and the impact that it proposes will result from its policy. It is an exposition of the government’s proposals, ideas and plans. On the other hand, today, we received the jobs report, which is a report card, an assessment based on realities in the real world of what is actually happening in the economy, and gives us a real picture of whether or not the government’s plans are working. The contrast between yesterday’s message and today’s reality is quite striking. Yesterday, the government talked about all the jobs it was going to create. Today, we heard the results. Here they are. More than 50,000 private sector jobs were lost in the last month alone. Those are the realities, not hypotheses about the future. We saw an increase in youth unemployment from 13% to 13.7%, and an increase in the overall unemployment rate from 6.5% to 6.7%. The unemployment rate for 55-plus went up as well. There were increases across different demographics in the unemployment rate, increasing the unemployment rate overall. Underneath that, we see some other data points that I think are important to dwell on. Number one, it is getting harder for unemployed people to find a job. The statistics track job-finding rates. Fewer than one in five unemployed Canadians found a job in the last month. It is getting harder for people who are out of work to find a job. Also, the Statistics Canada report today looked at financial insecurity in households. Three out of 10 Canadians are living in a financially insecure household. That is a household where people are struggling to pay for their basic needs. We have a situation where people are working hard and yet there is an increase in that financial insecurity. Adding to that is the reality that Canadians are working longer hours, which is also in the jobs report. Canadians are less likely to be working at all. If they are working, they are working longer hours and yet they are seeing higher levels of financial insecurity. If they are unemployed, they are having a harder time than ever before of finding jobs. Now, these are the realities in our economy. First of all, we asked about the jobs report in question period, and the government consistently refused to respond or even mention the jobs report. The Liberals want to talk about the budget. We are happy to debate the provisions of the budget, but they do not want to acknowledge the existence of the jobs report, which is the report card, the results of their policies. The jobs report shows the government is failing. The Liberals do not even want to acknowledge or talk about it, and yet we have all of these numbers that demonstrate problems. These numbers demonstrate that it is harder to find a job than ever before, that more Canadians are unemployed than in the past, that it is particularly hard for young people to start out in life and access opportunities, and that those who are working are working longer and are more likely to be dealing with financial insecurity. These are the realities that I think demonstrate that the government’s approach is not as sunny as it would like to pretend it is. Moreover, when we highlight these problems, the Liberals say, “Stop talking things down. We should be optimistic. Why are you saying negative things?” I think it is important that we speak truth and look at realities. A young person who edits their credit card statement before they give it to their parents is not doing themselves or anyone else any good. The goal of looking frankly at these realities is to try to promote concrete action to address them so that we can solve the problems our country is facing. We want to solve these problems. We want to identify problems and then propose constructive solutions to them. The government putting its head in the sand, pretending that problems do not exist and pretending that things are sunnier than they are is not going to lead to solutions to the problems. Let us look at the jobs report. Let us talk about the frank problems it demonstrates in terms of it being harder to find a job, harder to get ahead and harder to make ends meet even for those who are working. Let us talk about those problems and then let us talk about concrete solutions. In the lead-up to the budget, Conservatives proposed detailed, concrete solutions. A year ago, we presented a jobs plan that focused on unleashing the economy, fixing immigration, fixing training and building homes where the jobs are. There were concrete proposals associated with all of those areas of recommendation. We have not seen action from the government on any of our proposals. In fact, in many cases, it has moved in the opposite direction. We also presented five different substantial constructive proposals to support families, like working to integrate work and family life, reforms to parental leave and changes to CPP to ensure that parents are not penalized for being with their kids later on in their retirement years. These are no- or low-cost proposals that would make life substantially better for Canadians, in one case protecting families impacted by the death of a parent. It was a proposal that cost less than a $1 million a year. The Liberals are zero for five on implementing these constructive ideas. One would think they would have seen the constructive proposals coming from the opposition on jobs and families and said, “Let us put some of them in the budget. Maybe it will be harder for the opposition to criticize the budget if we take some of their good ideas and put them in there.” However, it is oh for four on taking ideas from the jobs plan, and oh for five on taking ideas from our proposals to support families. We see today the result of their unwillingness to listen to the constructive ideas that have come forward in the House. The result is a continuing worsening situation when it comes to jobs and financial security for families. When it comes to the issue of jobs and connectivity, which the bill deals with, in rural and remote communities, addressing connectivity gaps can contribute to opportunities for people to have employment. One of the areas we are working on regarding jobs and opportunities in remote areas is to promote the construction of housing where the jobs are. We see high levels of unemployment in certain regions, which often but not always are bigger cities, and then there are labour force needs in other places. We want to support Canadians taking Canadian jobs, and that includes having an ability to take jobs where they are. One of the barriers that can contribute to making it harder for people to relocate for jobs and opportunity is the availability of housing. We have introduced as part of our plan a significant incentive around workforce housing construction, making it easier to build homes where the jobs are and for people to choose to locate near where jobs are. Connectivity is part of that. It is one thing that allows opportunities to grow in remote areas and makes it easier for people to make a choice to locate in a different area in order to get jobs and opportunity. Conservatives have been supportive of the bill. We have been constructive in the process. We have contributed to the work that needs to happen in the area of promoting connectivity, work that I think the government has been way behind on. Sadly, this is existing within an overall picture in which jobs are down and the government is failing. The Liberals want us to ignore their failure and feel sunny and happy about their hopes for the future. We need to look squarely at the realities and challenges and do the work necessary to address these problems. That should include implementing the constructive solutions that we have put forward as part of our jobs plan and our plan for work and family life.