Darrell Samson

[Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, February 15th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, did you know that through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, or ACOA, our government has invested more than $2.6 billion in 14,000 projects since 2015?

Today I want to highlight the support to our francophone and Acadian communities. Over the past year, we have allocated more than $15 million to projects to strengthen the vitality of those communities. Our commitment goes beyond financial support; the ACOA actively participates in initiatives such as promoting francophone immigration, while continuing to promote our communities and helping them grow.

I am proud of my government for its commitment to the region and its support to our linguistic communities in eastern Canada.

[Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, February 14th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am Canadian, and I am sure everyone is proud they are here today discussing important things for Canadians.

I will quickly finish my question.

I would like to acknowledge the work that has been done on this issue. I would like my colleague to talk about the importance of early child care in Canada. That is what is important here.

Francophones across Canada have missed out a lot of opportunities and have been assimilated. It is because they did not have the opportunity to receive preschool education in French.

I would like my colleague to say how happy we are today to be working together to make the major changes that needed to be made.

[Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, February 14th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to explain that it was during the nine years of the Harper government that we saw major cuts to the Translation Bureau. Court challenges that we brought—

[Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, February 14th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleague for his speech and, more importantly, for his hard work on Bill C‑13.

All parties in the House worked together to support francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec, and it was a great victory. I always appreciate my colleague's work. However, I must point out that what he says and what his party says are two different things. The ideology of the party—

[Black History Month, February 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, February is Black History Month, a time to reflect on the many contributions Black communities have made to the fabric of our country.

I am extremely proud to be the member of Parliament for Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, where we have the largest multi-generational Black community in Canada and also the largest Black Cultural Centre in Canada. We are proud of the remarkable social, economic and political achievements of Black Canadians and recognize that many barriers still exist.

This month, we reaffirm our commitment to working with Black communities across the country to combat systemic anti-Black racism, support Black economic empowerment and help promote mental health and wellness.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, January 30th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, that question is so important, because let us be real: If the Conservatives ever take power, they are going to be making cut after cut. I remember, as if it were yesterday, when the Conservative government in 2014 made major cuts on the backs of our veterans, our men and women who have served and continue to serve. It was totally unacceptable.

Since we took power, we have contributed over $11 billion to support the men and women who have served and continue to serve.

I can tell young families that if the Conservatives take power, their CCB cheques, which are tax-free and 30% more than what the Conservatives were giving, will be gone as well.

We need to continue to focus on and support Canadians. That is exactly what we are doing. We will continue to do that.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, January 30th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very important question.

Let us not forget that our government is the first government in Canadian history to launch a national strategy. An enormous amount of work has been done since 2015. Through our accelerator fund alone, we are seeing municipalities improving zoning. That will help not just Canadians in my region, but also Quebeckers who live in the beautiful province of Quebec.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, January 30th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, that is a very important question because throughout the summer months and in the fall session, I had lots of opportunities to meet many constituents in my riding. I can tell the House that there are a number of areas they are really focused on.

One area is seniors. Seniors are looking for support, and they were extremely happy to hear that we had indexed to inflation the OAS and GIS, which is extremely important. Canadians were telling me how proud they were that we had moved forward on indexing the CPP as well. Let us not forget the young families, for whom we have indexed the CCB. Those are very important investments. Nova Scotians were also telling me that up to 300,000 of them benefited from the doubling of the GST and the grocery rebate.

Those are very important investments that Canadians have experienced and benefited from, including Nova Scotians such as my constituents in the riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, January 30th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my Conservative colleagues who said that the information I shared about the strength and position of the Canadian economy was so great that they wanted me, like an encore in music, to come back and continue the show. I am very happy to be back here to share some of the news and information.

I was sharing that Canada's economy's position in the world is at the top. These are some of the facts the Conservatives need to share and to talk about. Canadians have created one million jobs since COVID and 1.4 million before. That is 2.4 million in total. The unemployment rate, when we came into power in 2015, was almost 7%. Today it is 5.7%, which is very impressive. Inflation, which was at 2% but because of COVID went to 8.1%, is now down to 3.4% and heading downward as we speak. We have a AAA rating once again, which shows Canada's strength.

Members should not believe me, but believe the facts. The International Monetary Fund said it is predicting this year that Canada will have the strongest economy in the G7. They said it; I did not say it. The OECD indicated a few months ago that Canada received the third most foreign direct investment in the world. They said it; I did not say it.

Because of our position, we are able to continue to support Canadians. Let us not forget that we have already lifted, since 2015, 2.3 million Canadians out of poverty. That is very important information. Canadians appreciate that work but know we have more work to do.

As I was sharing about the housing investments, there are four major components of course. The first one is the investments we are bringing forward in housing, which are crucial in ensuring that we are able to fill the demand because when we construct more houses, we have more labour needs.

Therefore, we have two approaches to labour. One is internal mobility, which means construction workers can move from province to province and territory to territory. We also have express entry for immigrants coming in to fill some of the jobs in the labour force with education in construction, etcetera.

The third piece of this is short-term rentals in provinces and territories where municipalities have prohibited short-term rentals. We will deny the income reduction, of course, on the building and construction of those. Finally, we will support more Canadians with the mortgages. Understanding that the interest rate is up and that there are many challenges Canadians are facing today, we will provide, if they want, tailor-made relief that will allow for a temporary extension of their mortgages and will waive some of the fees. Those who have qualified and want to change banks do not have to requalify, which is very important. Of course, the banks need to communicate with Canadians four to six months prior to the end of their mortgages.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, January 30th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I wish you a happy 2024. I will be sharing my time with the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge.

My speech today will be on the economy, which is very important, but also on our government's position on the economy. I will talk about affordability and, of course, housing, an important topic.

I want to underline that we are in a great position economically right now as country. I want to share some of our strengths, and this comes not just from me but from other sources around the world. Let us keep in mind that Canadians created 1.4 million jobs before COVID. We recaptured that 1.4 million, built on it and Canadians now have an extra one million jobs.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that this year Canada will have the strongest economy in the G7. The OECD also said that Canada received the third-most foreign direct investment in the world last year. Also, on labour, when we took power in 2015, the unemployment rate was at about 7%. Now the unemployment rate is down to 5.7%. These are facts.

Before COVID, inflation was at 2%. COVID pushed it to 8.1%. Today it is down to 3.4% and it continues to drop. We continue to have our AAA credit rating, which is extremely important.

When it comes to affordability, there are two pieces. The first is what we have done since the last election in 2021. We have made some great investments for Canadians because we know that affordability is challenging and that we need to be there to support them.

We doubled the GST credit for two payments for those receiving it, which helped 11 million people. It also helped over 300,000 Nova Scotians. We added supports for a grocery rebate, which again helped 11 million people and over 300,000 Nova Scotians.

On the Canada workers benefit, which represents about $2,461 per year, we made adjustments so they receive three quarterly payments. This helps with affordability as well.

We have of course eliminated the interest on Canada student loans, helping young Canadians in dealing with affordability.

We have indexed, and this is crucial, key benefits to inflation. If another government takes over some day, it will not be able to stop it, unless it brings legislation to the House. We indexed the Canada child benefit, ensuring that young families will continue to prosper. We have also indexed the GST and the Canada pension plan, which we made major changes to with the provinces back in 2017. The OAS and the GIS have both been indexed and will ensure seniors can continue to prosper as well.

We also brought in dental support for children under 12 years old, of which over 1,200 Nova Scotians have taken advantage.

These are some investments we made in the past two years. What the fall economic statement brings to the table today is also key areas of investments.

We are expanding the dental benefit to not just children 12 and under, but to 18 and under. For seniors, January, February, March and April are important months because they will have access to dental care, which is very important. People with disabilities will also have access starting this year. Next year, all Canadians who make $90,000 or less and are not part of a dental plan will be able to receive dental care. Those are major investments supporting Canadians and affordability.

Other investments include removing the GST from psychotherapy and counselling. This is important for affordability for people who have challenges with their mental health.

We are going to crack down and make major changes to the Competition Act. This will ensure that we can bring prices down and ensure competition is strong in Canada, that no anti-competition happens. We need to do a major review of that area and make improvements, which is exactly what we will be doing as we move forward.

Another area I want to touch on is housing. We are focused on four areas. The first one is new, increased and continued investments in housing, which is important. There are going to be challenges with labour in the building sector, so we are going to make changes that would allow workers to move from province to province and territory to territory. We will prioritize workers for permanent residency in key areas of need, with construction being one and education being another.