Helping Canadians through tough times

Tax cut, rebate not enough

Photo: Parliament of Canada

South Okanagan-West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings

As the snow begins to fall, we are reminded that the holidays are just around the corner.

But, as we reach for the thermostat on these colder days, we face the reality that so many Canadians are finding it harder than ever to make ends meet. The rising cost of living has stretched family budgets to their breaking points, leaving people struggling to afford basics like food, housing, and utilities—let alone gifts and celebrations.

The NDP has been pushing for the removal of GST on daily essentials in an aim to address affordability in a substantial and permanent way. While the Liberal government has partially responded with a winter GST holiday on some items, the measure falls terribly short and ignores our calls for removal of GST on bills like home heating, internet and cell phones, and essentials like diapers.

Moreover, the exemptions will only provide temporary relief. It’s clear much more needs to be done to address the systemic issues that are leaving Canadians behind.

The government’s secondary proposal to offer relief this holiday season is the Working Canadians Rebate, offering a $250 cheques to individuals who earned up to $150,000 in 2023.

For single individuals with no children, the maximum payment will be around $234, while families with children could receive up to $467.

If passed, the rebate plan will send a one-time cheque to eligible individuals and families before the holidays. The plan could be a quick way to put money into the pockets of those who need it most and help Canadians with soaring grocery bills and other essentials. But this too is terribly flawed.

While this initiative aims to provide immediate relief, it notably excludes seniors and people with disabilities who aren't part of the workforce—a significant oversight that the NDP cannot support.

The NDP has emphasized that any affordability measures must include all vulnerable Canadians, not just those currently employed. We need to make sure that all Canadians who are struggling get the help they need. We have made it clear to the government we will not support the proposed bill unless it is amended to extend the $250 rebate to seniors and individuals with disabilities who are not working.

Moreover, what is needed is the permanent elimination of the GST on daily essentials to provide ongoing support to struggling families, not just a brief tax holiday.

We’ve been vocal about the inadequacy of one-time payments as a long-term solution. The NDP believes the government needs to take a more comprehensive approach to tackling the affordability crisis.

While we may support immediate relief measures like this rebate if they are expanded, they’re band-aid solutions at best. The NDP will continue to push for several additional measures to support Canadians during these tough times.

We’re calling for meaningful investments in affordable housing, increased social assistance rates and further action to address corporate greed in sectors like grocery and oil.

As well, a permanent removal of GST on essentials would provide ongoing relief to low- and moderate-income Canadians, ensuring they’re better equipped to weather economic challenges.

Canadians are working harder than ever but too many are still cutting back their grocery lists and cancelling activities their kids love because of rising costs. Meanwhile, billionaires and big corporations continue to enjoy tax breaks and record profits. That’s why the NDP has consistently called for measures like a windfall profits tax on large corporations, ensuring wealth is redistributed to those who need it most.

The holiday season should be a time of joy, not stress and worry. Yet, for far too many Canadians, it will be a season of tough choices and financial anxiety. While the government’s GST holiday and rebate plan offer some hope, it’s clear we need to think bigger. Canadians deserve a government willing to address the root causes of the affordability crisis and build a society where everyone can thrive, not just scrape by.

As an MP, I will continue to advocate for meaningful solutions that put people first. It’s time for real leadership and bold action to ensure that no one is left behind.

This holiday season let’s not just talk about the spirit of giving, let’s act on it.

Richard Cannings is the NDP MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

Protecting choice for Canadian women

NDP pro-choice support

Photo: Parliament of Canada

South Okanagan-West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings

In Canada, women’s reproductive rights, particularly the right to choose an abortion, have long been considered a settled issue.

However, much like the situation to our south, those rights are now under threat and require renewed attention as anti-choice efforts attempt to erode both the right to, and access to, abortion services in Canada.

At the federal level, there is an undeniable “creep” of anti-choice influence in Canadian politics, encouraged by the Conservative Party and tolerated by the Liberal Party. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has permitted an increasing number of anti-choice bills and petitions from his circle of MPs, and his party’s attacks on reproductive rights are specific and well-documented.

This year, a Conservative MP filed a petition to restrict abortion access, falsely alleging 98% of all abortions are for “social or personal convenience.”

In 2023, Conservative MP Michael Cooper used taxpayer funds to receive anti-choice training from Canadian Physicians for Life, a group that praised the reversal of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. and condemned Canada’s lack of abortion restrictions, calling it a “lawless state of fetal killing.”

Poilievre’s voting record further highlights his inconsistent stance on abortion rights. Over the years, and as recently as last year, he cast five votes in support of anti-choice legislation.

Those efforts underscore the NDP’s concerns that Poilievre cannot be trusted to protect reproductive rights. The anti-choice movement appears to be calling the shots within the Conservative Party, and with the majority of Poilievre’s caucus openly anti-choice, it is clear they cannot be trusted with policy and funding decisions affecting a woman’s right to choose.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has failed to enforce the Canada Health Act, which guarantees equal access to publicly funded abortion care across all provinces and territories. People in rural areas frequently must drive hours, or wait weeks, to receive abortion services, an unacceptable delay in healthcare access.

Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith has pushed to transfer control of hospitals to a private, Catholic organization that would deny abortion care. In New Brunswick, the province’s refusal to cover the cost of surgical abortions outside of hospitals—a clear violation of the Canada Health Act—led to the closure of New Brunswick’s only freestanding abortion clinic.

A woman’s right to choose means little if they cannot exercise it freely. Not only is abortion access at risk, the government has failed to expand access for those in need.

For New Democrats, abortion is healthcare. I am proud, with a minority government, (the NDP) negotiated the passage of Canada’s pharmacare bill, which includes free access to contraceptives.

This session, we announced we will dedicate an upcoming opposition day to debate and vote on a motion to curb anti-choice bills, petitions and threats and to call for stronger federal enforcement of the Canada Health Act to ensure publicly funded abortion services are available across all provinces and territories.

We will continue to challenge the anti-choice movement, demand federal accountability and push for improved access to abortion care. If adopted, our motion would direct the government to uphold and expand access to reproductive healthcare—a pressing issue, especially in rural and remote regions where services are scarce.

In a political landscape where Conservative policies threaten reproductive rights, the NDP stands as a committed defender of bodily autonomy.

To truly be pro-choice, we must agree abortion access must be both protected and expanded, so every person has the freedom to exercise their right to choose.

Richard Cannings is the NDP MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

Tallying the cost of climate change

Climate change investment

Photo: Parliament of Canada

South Okanagan-West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings

I’ve written here before about the true cost of climate change, but new information has made it clear that it would be good to revisit this topic.

Some of those costs are difficult to put numbers on. We are increasingly feeling the emotional costs of summers full of wildfire evacuations, as the residents of the Slocan Valley dealt with this year. But the direct economic hit from loss of livelihoods or homes can be quantified to some extent.

As the (federal) NDP critic for Emergency Preparedness and Climate Resilience, I often meet with representatives from the insurance industry. The Insurance Bureau of Canada recently released a report that illustrates the broad impact that extreme weather events caused by climate change has on the Canadian economy. While those numbers are for insured losses only, they are still mind-boggling.

The summer of 2024 set all the records for weather-related losses in Canada. The massive flood events in Ontario and Quebec, a huge hailstorm in Calgary and the destruction of Jasper by wildfire added up to more than $7 billion in insured losses. The uninsured losses are likely many times higher.

The dollar total is 10 times higher than the annual average from 10 to 20 years ago. These losses came from 228,000 insurance claims, four times the annual average over the last 20 years. This year’s losses are about double those of last year, when West Kelowna and the Shuswap suffered massive damage due to wildfires and are also greater than 2016, when a wildfire destroyed Fort McMurray.

These totals don’t include the disastrous freeze that interrupted an unnaturally mild winter in January 2024, essentially wiping out the Okanagan grape and soft fruit crops for the year. That event cost the B.C. wine industry almost a half billion dollars in direct losses.

Not only are the numbers staggering, but the trend is very worrisome. The five worst years for weather related insured losses in Canada have all occurred in the last 12 years, and the last three years have all been in that group.

The insurance industry is obviously worried and is passing on those losses to consumers through rising insurance rates and increasingly restricted coverage. So those costs spread through the budgets of all Canadians.

What we need to be doing as a country, and the federal government in particular, is invest in adaptation measures that will reduce the direct impacts of climate change. We need to be upping our efforts in wildfire fighting; fire-smarting homes, yards and communities; and reshaping dikes and riverside neighbourhoods to avoid flood damage.

As Craig Stewart, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said in a recent statement, “Insurers are now paying out more in claims for a single event than the $1.9 billion that the federal government has allocated to climate adaptation over the past decade.

"Canada needs to get ready for the next disaster. This is not the time for finger pointing, this is the time for governments and the private sector to work together to better protect Canadians and our communities. This is a whole-of-society challenge and requires all leaders and stakeholders to come together to develop a national action plan to ensure Canada is better protected. We all have a role to play in helping communities prepare for and recover from severe weather events.”

I’ve been asking the federal government to dramatically increase funding in climate adaptation to make it match the scale of our disaster relief efforts. It doesn’t make sense to be spending billions of dollars in cleaning up destroyed communities when we could be investing money that would literally save the heartache of lost homes, businesses and livelihoods through preventative measures.

I’ve asked for a national wildfire fighting force that could be deployed as needed to areas facing clear wildfire danger before the fires start. Unfortunately, the government has responded with no interest at all or only partial measures that don’t stand up to the task at hand.

And, of course, we have to redouble our efforts to reduce our carbon emissions so that the pace of climate change doesn’t relentlessly increase each year. But even if we stopped all those emissions tomorrow, we will live with the increased impact of the climate crisis for centuries to come.

Richard Cannings is the NDP MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

MP explains his party's reason for breaking up with the Liberals

Ending political agreement

Photo: Parliament of Canada

South Okanagan-West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings.

I’ve been in Ottawa for a few weeks, since Parliament resumed sitting after its summer break.

It was a relaxing summer for most of us, but I want to acknowledge that for some it was full of anxiety and stress due to wildfires. The Slocan Valley in particular was on fire for many weeks, forcing several communities to evacuate for extended periods, and unfortunately some residents lost their homes.

I drove through the Slocan as soon as the evacuations were lifted and the highway opened, talking to local elected officials and residents. I want to express my thanks to the many firefighters, including volunteers from all over the province, professionals from B.C., Australia and other parts of the world, who worked so hard in extremely difficult situations to keep us safe and protect our homes.

As you have all heard, the (federal) NDP has ended its confidence and supply agreement with the Liberal government. Many have asked me why we did this and why we did it now. I think it would helpful to review why we entered into the agreement over two years ago.

At that time, the Liberals had been governing from a minority position for more than two years and showed little interest in cooperating with other parties. But in early 2022, we were in the throes of the COVID pandemic, Russia had just invaded Ukraine and both parties felt Canada needed stability in government to benefit all Canadians.

In return for support on confidence and supply motions—mostly select votes dealing with the budget and other fiscal matters—the government agreed to move forward with more than 20 NDP initiatives it had previously not supported, initiatives we knew would change the lives of Canadians for the better, including dental care for those who couldn’t afford to go to the dentist, pharmacare so every Canadian can afford to fill their prescriptions, affordable childcare, meaningful federal investments in truly affordable housing and labour laws that prohibit the use of replacement workers in labour disputes.

So why would we exit this agreement? Simply put, almost all of these initiatives are well underway or complete, so extending it would not meaningfully benefit Canadians. At the same time, we are entering an election year and the NDP needed to be clear it is a better alternative to the Liberal government.

As for the Conservatives, they would have never agreed to help Canadians in these ways and will do everything they can to undo all these new benefits Canadians now enjoy.

So, as far as parliamentary votes go, we are back to the situation we were in from 2019 through 2022, where the NDP and Bloc Quebecois chose whether to support the government on a vote-by-vote basis.

While we have little confidence the Liberal government will significantly improve matters for Canadians, we have absolutely no confidence in the Conservatives in that regard. So, it should be no surprise we will not vote for any Conservative confidence “games” such as we saw recently.

The Conservatives do not want Parliament to function and continued that “mischief,” blocking debate on legislation that would restore citizenship to “lost Canadians”, blocking debate on a long overdue bill to modernize our railways and ports and blocking legislation to move sexual assault cases in the Canadian Armed Forces out of military courts and into civilian courts.

These tactics are frustrating to everyone in the House of Commons, but I and my NDP caucus colleagues will continue working hard to make sure Canadians get all the supports they need and deserve in these difficult times.

Richard Cannings is the NDP MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.