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House of Commons
HANSARD
October 30, 2012
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives only wish they had an ounce of Mr. Page’s credibility.
The report from the PBO makes it clear that the Conservative approach to the economy will cost 125,000 jobs.
That is bad enough, but adding to that is today’s report from Food Banks Canada, which shows that the number of families needing help is up 31% over pre-recession levels, the picture is even worse.
Does the government have any response to hunger, other than tax cuts for its big business friends?
Mrs. Shelly Glover (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for the question about the economy because it gives me an opportunity to clarify the record. Despite what the opposition would have us believe, the PBO report actually says some good things about our job market. It states: “Canada’s labour market is currently significantly outperforming some countries with struggling economies (e.g., the U.S., and the Euro area) and Canada also scores above average among the G7 and OECD countries”. Just like the minister said earlier, 820,000 net new jobs is the best job growth record in the G7. We are going to continue—
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. The Conservatives’ budget did not help the 880,000 Canadians using food banks. That is what we voted against on this side of the House.
Conservative cuts in EI did not help anyone either.
Nor did a budget bill that raids vacation pay and health insurance.
Why will the government not act to help the hundreds of thousands of Canadians living in poverty? Why are these Canadians being left behind by the government?