QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Canadian Heritage—Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Guaranteed Livable Income
May 11, 2022
Minister, given your excellent engagement, both as the Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and as a member of Parliament, I’m sure you are aware that P.E.I. is eager to move forward with a guaranteed liveable basic income. They would be a valuable demonstration project and site because of the diversity of industries and income levels, as has already been mentioned by some of my colleagues. Also, P.E.I. leaders, including the premier, have emphasized the necessity of federal government support. In addition, Newfoundland and Labrador is also interested in exploring a guaranteed liveable basic income and is focused on poverty as the number-one social determinant of health.
Economic security and stability ensure basic needs are met in addition to promoting dignity, equality and meaningful participation by enabling people to exercise agency in their own lives and communities. Can you advise what concrete steps have been taken by you as Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and your government to ensure federal involvement in the implementation of a guaranteed liveable income project on Prince Edward Island? Also, are there any action plans for Newfoundland and Labrador?
Thank you so much, senator, and thank you for the work that you have done, even prior to being in the Senate; I followed your career closely. Thank you for the work that you continue to do in the Senate as well.
With respect to addressing the social determinants of health — perhaps that will be the beginning of my answer — I think that our government has done a significant amount of work when it comes to addressing poverty within this country. And there is still a lot of work to be done; don’t get me wrong. But when it comes to the Canada Child Benefit, just to give you an example, back in 2015-16, we put in place the Canada Child Benefit program. This has helped lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty in this country. I know that in my office and being a boots-on-the-ground MP, I speak with a lot of my constituents who tell me that that program has made a real difference in the lives of Canadians.
We also know that, in the height of the pandemic, when we had over 4 million Canadians who lost their jobs, the federal government was very quick to put in place — not a perfect program but a program to make sure that Canadians had access to money in order to keep the lights on and put food on their tables. Once again, through the CERB program, we were quite successful in making sure that we were able to help Canadians during that time of need. So, through the course of the past six and a half years, our government has been there with substantive initiatives to make sure we were there to support Canadians.
Furthermore and finally, I will also mention our child care program. That is really a legacy item, if you ask me, for our country, now knowing that Canadians will have access to $10‑a‑day child care services. That, again, will make a real difference in the lives of Canadian families where they will be able to afford good, safe and affordable child care services for their children.
