QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Fiscal Update
December 8, 2020
My question is for the government leader, Senator Gold.
Your government hasn’t tabled a budget in two years. You did recently deliver a Fall Economic Statement, in which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland referred to preloaded stimulus no less than five times in that statement as a means to that economic recovery. “Preload stimulus” is another one of your government’s cute little catchphrases, the kind you roll out when you don’t want Canadians to catch on to what it is you’re actually trying to do. In fact, preloaded stimulus refers to the savings, the extra cash some businesses and hard-working Canadians have tucked away for a rainy day.
Senator Gold, last week in a television interview, Minister Freeland referred to unlocking these savings, this preloaded stimulus, saying, “Maybe it happens by itself, that’s the best case scenario.”
Senator Gold, what is she referring to as best case scenario? Can we have a commitment from this government that this government will not try to access the hard-earned savings of Canadians, which they have already paid taxes on?
Thank you very much for your question. Though I didn’t have advance notice of the question, having read the National Post, as I do quite religiously, and the story of your colleague Mr. Poilievre, an old friend of mine, I think I’m in a good position to answer the question.
The fact is this government has taken extraordinary steps and, indeed, in many cases with the support of other parties and this chamber, to make sure Canadians have the means to weather both the health crisis and the economic crisis that have affected us. And, to the extent that Canadians are in a decent position relative to so many others in the world, it is in no small measure due to the efforts of all parliamentarians to support this government in its effort to put money in Canadians’ pockets and help them weather the storm.
We are not out of the woods yet. The government remains committed to helping Canadians and it also remains committed to doing it in a fiscally responsible way, as this government will indeed do. Thank you.
If the fiscal affairs of this country and this government are in such great shape, the government would have the courage to table a budget on the other side and not wait two years. It’s the only G7 country in the world, even during this pandemic, not to have tabled a budget in two years.
Senator Gold, your government was warned for a long time about the out-of-control spending even pre-pandemic, warned that it was unwise to leave the cupboards of this country completely bare, and having faced a pandemic we have now seen it firsthand. The government didn’t listen and now their solution is to raid the cupboards once again.
Do you think that’s fair? Do you think it’s fair having the Minister of Finance saying she’s considering going out there and putting her hands on taxpayers’ savings? Again, we need a commitment from this government. Will this government promise not to go after the savings of hard-working Canadians and tax them again?
Honourable senators, I do my best to answer questions in a factual, measured way. I have avoided, and will continue to avoid, playing partisan politics, but the language within which the honourable senator framed his question really is misleading. It is simply that the minister — and, indeed, any responsible minister — would properly observe that one of the ways in which we can get our economy back up and running is to support businesses and the families that depend on those businesses, and for Canadians to engage in economic activity. That means engaging in spending. And if they have the funds to buy things for their families, for themselves — in part, thanks to the support that the government has provided during these difficult times — then we will all be the better for it.
