HOC February 1, 2022

2022-02-01

On February 1, 2022 the following discussion happened in the House of Commons over Basic Income (Guaranteed Livable Basic Income).

Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam)

[^S-122] 16:20 , In Support

Madam Speaker, I have some nice memories from when I worked in the private sector. I called on Edson and Hinton regularly and have been in a lot of their small businesses in my time.
I want to talk about salaries. Salaries must increase in Canada. I also want to talk about the importance of the care economy that has been highlighted during this pandemic, and the value of care work, which needs to be elevated and respected as much as society respects the resource economy.

I want to talk specifically about employment right now for people living with a disability. The employment rate for persons with a disability fell from 24.8% all the way down to 13% at one point during this pandemic. We need to protect the income of the most vulnerable workers.

Would the Conservatives support a guaranteed livable basic income for Canadians, starting with people with disabilities?

Gerald Soroka (Yellowhead)

[^S-123] 16:21 , Rebuttal

Madam Speaker, that is a very good question, and I would love to chat with my colleague later and talk about my riding and her work there as well.

I think the biggest problem we are dealing with is the social system and how we help our people. The biggest problem I have seen over the years is that governments have always governed for four years and then planned for a total of eight. They govern for four, plan for four and operate for eight. Unfortunately, with our social program network, it takes at least 20 to 25 years before we actually see any outcomes, so short-term planning has always hurt everybody.

I think under the Liberal government we are no longer at four and four. I believe we are probably more at a year to two years, tops. One of the things we need to start looking at is our social issues and how we deal with them. I am sure Conservative people have always been concerned about that, and we will definitely take care of the Canadian public as best we can.