Jenny Kwan, Vancouver East
“I do not support this budget. It gives massive tax breaks to big corporations while doing almost nothing to lower the cost of living for regular people. It fails to tax the richest Canadians, does not build nearly enough affordable homes, and ignores our need for better health care. The government is choosing to help CEOs instead of working families.”
“Mr. Speaker, there were high expectations for this budget, but unfortunately, it misses the mark. This budget benefits the wealthy at the expense of the working class in this country. The Prime Minister talks about the masters of our destiny, but who are they? They are the billionaires and corporate executives he invited to his exclusive investment summit. When we look at this budget, it is clear whose interests come first. Christmas came early for CEOs, foreign investors and arms dealers in this budget. The single biggest item Santa Claus is bringing is a $36-billion mega deduction, over five years for big corporations, more than all the affordability measures that he purports to champion for everyday people. Where is the mega deduction on grocery bills for everyday Canadians? Where is it on their rent? Where is it on their cellphone bill? The government talks a lot about affordability, but this budget does very little to bring down the cost of living for everyday people. Instead, it doubles down on the familiar promise that if we give enough money to the biggest corporations and investors, somehow everyone will benefit. Canadians have heard that promise before. It has not solved the affordability crisis. The government will say that it is spending $4 billion on a one-time increase to the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which is a fraction compared to the $36-billion mega deduction for corporations. For a single person, that amounts to $267 a year, roughly $20 a month. That money will quickly be swallowed up by rising food prices. It is a temporary measure that does nothing to address the underlying causes of the grocery crisis. One in three Canadians is skipping meals. Food bank use is at a record high. The government has no plan to confront the market concentration and pricing power of Canada’s major grocery chains. The NDP has proposed real solutions: a network of public grocery stores to introduce competition and bring down prices, and a ban on surveillance pricing so corporations cannot use people’s personal data to charge them more. We need to tackle the problems at their source, not simply give people a temporary payment while the big grocery chains continue to profit. On housing, the government has announced that it will end homelessness and expand non-market housing. I love that. On the face of it, it sounds like good news. To end homelessness, Canada needs deeply affordable non-market housing. Experts say that Canada needs at least 200,000 net new non-market homes per year for three decades. Budget 2026 is proposing to deliver 24,000 non-market homes for 10 years. That is just on capital investment. On supportive and operating costs, at least $5.7 billion per year is needed. This plan is entirely dependent on the provinces and territories, which are expected to pay for ongoing operations and wraparound services, including health care and mental health and addiction supports. A building without the necessary operating funding for deep core and support services is not a solution to homelessness. The housing minister would know this better than anyone else. He promised to end homelessness in Vancouver when he was the mayor of Vancouver. Instead of delivering on that promise, homelessness grew under his watch. He blamed the federal and provincial governments for failing to provide the funding at the scale necessary. Since the federal government is not stepping up with operating costs under budget 2026, my question is this: Has the Minister of Housing secured the operating and wraparound funding from the provinces and territories to deliver on the Prime Minister’s promise to end homelessness? If not, this will become just another broken promise. On another metric, the government admitted that Canada failed to build enough non-profit housing. We need to build a million non-profit homes to make a dent in the housing crisis, yet the commitments under budget 2026 are not even one-quarter of that ambition, nowhere near the postwar housing program the Prime Minister promised during the election campaign. I will say this. The budget is not all bad news. The renewal funding for Reaching Home and the Canada housing benefit is good news and something I strongly advocated for. Let me turn to another issue. While the government finds billions for corporate tax breaks and military spending, the cupboards are bare when it comes to essential public services. There is no new investment in child care. There is no increase to the Canada health transfer. The NDP called for an escalator of at least 6% to help the provinces and territories meet growing health care needs. Pharmacare is not even mentioned once in this 511-page budget. People cannot find family doctors. They wait months for treatment. They pay out of pocket for medication. Rather than strengthen the public services Canadians depend on, the government is allowing them to erode. Meanwhile, one in five federal dollars is going to military spending, rising to one in four by 2030. Canadians deserve to know why there is so much money for weapons and war, but so little for the services that help people live with dignity. This budget also lays out the groundwork for the privatization of Canada’s airports, with $37.6 million allocated to prepare for that process and the expected legislation. Canadians should be very concerned. YVR is one of the best airports in the world. Privatization can mean higher costs for travellers, pressure to cut jobs and working conditions, and public assets being turned into opportunities for private investors to extract profits. Our airports are essential infrastructure. The Prime Minister does not have the mandate to privatize them. They should serve the public interest, not become another vehicle for private wealth accumulation. There is another glaring omission in this budget. There is nothing meaningful to ask the wealthiest Canadians and largest corporations to pay their fair share. Canada’s 40 billionaires increased their collective wealth by $95 billion in 2024-25, a 20% increase, yet this budget offers no new wealth tax and no serious new revenue measures targeting those with the greatest ability to pay. The NDP has called for a wealth tax on very rich Canadians, and that could generate up to $40 billion a year. Think about that. Instead of giving corporations a $36-billion annual mega deduction, we could be asking those who have accumulated extraordinary wealth to contribute more to the country that helped make that wealth possible. Public money should come with public interest conditions, good union jobs, Canadian investment, accountability and a fair return to Canadians. We should be investing in productive infrastructure, in public services and in things that make life better, not simply hoping that corporate tax breaks will trickle down. On climate, the government’s priorities are equally difficult to reconcile. There is approximately $4 billion over 10 years for clean electricity, compared to $55 billion in public financing and investment for a pipeline. Bill C-39 attacks the environment and indigenous and labour rights. We cannot claim to be building a clean energy future while continuing to put enormous public resources behind fossil fuel infrastructure. The Prime Minister is driving up emissions, the same person who used to be the UN special envoy for climate and finance. Canada needs investment in renewable energy, a modern electricity grid and a just transition that puts workers and communities at the centre. The Prime Minister tells us that the masters of our destiny are those who will build Canada’s future, but the masters of our destinies in this budget are not Canadians and their families. They are the CEOs, billionaire and investors invited to the Prime Minister’s investment summit. Brookfield, BlackRock and the big banks will be happy, but Canadians deserve a budget that puts the affordability crisis for families first. Lastly, let me turn to immigration for a brief moment. The government has committed to transitioning 100,000 temporary residents to permanent status, and it is about time. That transition is welcome, and I hope it is only the first step in regularization. I also want to note that outside of the budget, there is a one-time addition to the levels plan of 100,000 PR spots, which will include humanitarian applications for Hong Kong lifeboat people and Ukrainians. I have stood with them to fight for this from day one, and this announcement shows what happens when impacted communities and allies come together to demand fairness. That is justice. That is fairness.”
-
A repeated line
“The Salvation Army reports one in three Canadians is skipping meals because they cannot afford groceries.”
Said 4 times by 4 members since November 3.
Every time it was said
Mr. Speaker, there were high expectations for this budget, but unfortunately, it misses the mark. This budget benefits the wealthy at the expense of the working class in this country. The Prime Minister talks about the masters of our destiny, but who are they? They are the billionaires and corporate executives he invited to his exclusive investment summit. When we look at this budget, it is clear whose interests come first. Christmas came early for CEOs, foreign investors and arms dealers in this budget. The single biggest item Santa Claus is bringing is a $36-billion mega deduction, over five years for big corporations, more than all the affordability measures that he purports to champion for everyday people. Where is the mega deduction on grocery bills for everyday Canadians? Where is it on their rent? Where is it on their cellphone bill? The government talks a lot about affordability, but this budget does very little to bring down the cost of living for everyday people. Instead, it doubles down on the familiar promise that if we give enough money to the biggest corporations and investors, somehow everyone will benefit. Canadians have heard that promise before. It has not solved the affordability crisis. The government will say that it is spending $4 billion on a one-time increase to the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which is a fraction compared to the $36-billion mega deduction for corporations. For a single person, that amounts to $267 a year, roughly $20 a month. That money will quickly be swallowed up by rising food prices. It is a temporary measure that does nothing to address the underlying causes of the grocery crisis. One in three Canadians is skipping meals. Food bank use is at a record high. The government has no plan to confront the market concentration and pricing power of Canada’s major grocery chains. The NDP has proposed real solutions: a network of public grocery stores to introduce competition and bring down prices, and a ban on surveillance pricing so corporations cannot use people’s personal data to charge them more. We need to tackle the problems at their source, not simply give people a temporary payment while the big grocery chains continue to profit. On housing, the government has announced that it will end homelessness and expand non-market housing. I love that. On the face of it, it sounds like good news. To end homelessness, Canada needs deeply affordable non-market housing. Experts say that Canada needs at least 200,000 net new non-market homes per year for three decades. Budget 2026 is proposing to deliver 24,000 non-market homes for 10 years. That is just on capital investment. On supportive and operating costs, at least $5.7 billion per year is needed. This plan is entirely dependent on the provinces and territories, which are expected to pay for ongoing operations and wraparound services, including health care and mental health and addiction supports. A building without the necessary operating funding for deep core and support services is not a solution to homelessness. The housing minister would know this better than anyone else. He promised to end homelessness in Vancouver when he was the mayor of Vancouver. Instead of delivering on that promise, homelessness grew under his watch. He blamed the federal and provincial governments for failing to provide the funding at the scale necessary. Since the federal government is not stepping up with operating costs under budget 2026, my question is this: Has the Minister of Housing secured the operating and wraparound funding from the provinces and territories to deliver on the Prime Minister’s promise to end homelessness? If not, this will become just another broken promise. On another metric, the government admitted that Canada failed to build enough non-profit housing. We need to build a million non-profit homes to make a dent in the housing crisis, yet the commitments under budget 2026 are not even one-quarter of that ambition, nowhere near the postwar housing program the Prime Minister promised during the election campaign. I will say this. The budget is not all bad news. The renewal funding for Reaching Home and the Canada housing benefit is good news and something I strongly advocated for. Let me turn to another issue. While the government finds billions for corporate tax breaks and military spending, the cupboards are bare when it comes to essential public services. There is no new investment in child care. There is no increase to the Canada health transfer. The NDP called for an escalator of at least 6% to help the provinces and territories meet growing health care needs. Pharmacare is not even mentioned once in this 511-page budget. People cannot find family doctors. They wait months for treatment. They pay out of pocket for medication. Rather than strengthen the public services Canadians depend on, the government is allowing them to erode. Meanwhile, one in five federal dollars is going to military spending, rising to one in four by 2030. Canadians deserve to know why there is so much money for weapons and war, but so little for the services that help people live with dignity. This budget also lays out the groundwork for the privatization of Canada’s airports, with $37.6 million allocated to prepare for that process and the expected legislation. Canadians should be very concerned. YVR is one of the best airports in the world. Privatization can mean higher costs for travellers, pressure to cut jobs and working conditions, and public assets being turned into opportunities for private investors to extract profits. Our airports are essential infrastructure. The Prime Minister does not have the mandate to privatize them. They should serve the public interest, not become another vehicle for private wealth accumulation. There is another glaring omission in this budget. There is nothing meaningful to ask the wealthiest Canadians and largest corporations to pay their fair share. Canada’s 40 billionaires increased their collective wealth by $95 billion in 2024-25, a 20% increase, yet this budget offers no new wealth tax and no serious new revenue measures targeting those with the greatest ability to pay. The NDP has called for a wealth tax on very rich Canadians, and that could generate up to $40 billion a year. Think about that. Instead of giving corporations a $36-billion annual mega deduction, we could be asking those who have accumulated extraordinary wealth to contribute more to the country that helped make that wealth possible. Public money should come with public interest conditions, good union jobs, Canadian investment, accountability and a fair return to Canadians. We should be investing in productive infrastructure, in public services and in things that make life better, not simply hoping that corporate tax breaks will trickle down. On climate, the government’s priorities are equally difficult to reconcile. There is approximately $4 billion over 10 years for clean electricity, compared to $55 billion in public financing and investment for a pipeline. Bill C-39 attacks the environment and indigenous and labour rights. We cannot claim to be building a clean energy future while continuing to put enormous public resources behind fossil fuel infrastructure. The Prime Minister is driving up emissions, the same person who used to be the UN special envoy for climate and finance. Canada needs investment in renewable energy, a modern electricity grid and a just transition that puts workers and communities at the centre. The Prime Minister tells us that the masters of our destiny are those who will build Canada’s future, but the masters of our destinies in this budget are not Canadians and their families. They are the CEOs, billionaire and investors invited to the Prime Minister’s investment summit. Brookfield, BlackRock and the big banks will be happy, but Canadians deserve a budget that puts the affordability crisis for families first. Lastly, let me turn to immigration for a brief moment. The government has committed to transitioning 100,000 temporary residents to permanent status, and it is about time. That transition is welcome, and I hope it is only the first step in regularization. I also want to note that outside of the budget, there is a one-time addition to the levels plan of 100,000 PR spots, which will include humanitarian applications for Hong Kong lifeboat people and Ukrainians. I have stood with them to fight for this from day one, and this announcement shows what happens when impacted communities and allies come together to demand fairness. That is justice. That is fairness.