Committee of the Whole House on Supply

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : I don't have anything prepared today, but I listened with interest to my three colleagues who spoke before me.

I just wanted to say something, which I will say at the beginning, not based on economic theory or any kind of particular ideology, but just from my observation over the last five years in this job. What I've heard over the last couple of speakers was a concern about spending and a concern about debt. I fear that often that conversation becomes incredibly abstracted.

I just want to insert some real world thinking about that, not in defence of the government's spending or in critique of the government's spending. I have some critiques and I have some things that are good, but what I want to say is this notion of being fiscally responsible, living within our means or taxing and spending - nothing in politics or in life is that simple.

We often talk about numbers as though they're abstract, but, of course, they're not abstract. What are we spending on? In one breath, I heard the member say that we shouldn't live beyond our means, but university should be free. You can't do both of those things. A government can't make university tuition free and pay for that in the same fiscal year. It's probably not possible. Maybe it is, I don't know. I'm not an economist. I doubt it.

Similarly, I think we can't talk about a housing crisis and the need for appropriate infrastructure and wanting to accommodate people and, again, be able to pay for those kinds of massive investments in a fiscal year. I'm not attributing those talking points to my colleagues, but this is what gets me thinking.

If I think about someone in their 20s and 30s, we often extoll the virtues and importance of home ownership in Canada and Nova Scotia. We're talking about whether home ownership is out of reach and nine out of 10 people that want to - to me, it's really about living in a home. It's not so much home ownership.

If we say that home ownership is the important thing, then if my kid, when they graduate from high school says, "Mom, I have this job, and I'm saving up and I'm going to buy a boat. I've got $15,000 saved. I'm going to buy a boat," unless they were a competitive sailor, I would probably say that that does not seem like a great idea. I would probably say, "Why don't you save up for a home or why don't you save up for something that has value that will continue to benefit your life?" But if they say they're saving that money for a down payment, then I would probably think that was good.

A dollar is a dollar is a dollar, but it's really different depending on what we spend it on. I think fiscal responsibility, when we're talking about that, what we're really talking about is smart investments. What I have said for the last two years, which I still really believe, is that there is a great amount of opportunity in this pandemic. I think my colleague for Dartmouth North really illustrated that in a very lovely way in her remarks earlier. We do really have the opportunity for bold ideas. Those can come from within government and those can come from outside of government, but this is why we talk about wanting to have some very comprehensive view of how we go forward from here.

We are in a place where, in general, we support the idea of government spending on the things that we need. We've heard this government acknowledge that we're in a housing crisis - great. We've heard this government say that they want to fix the health care crisis - great. Spending on those things is necessary, but it's not sufficient. The question is, how do we spend on those things? I think there are lots of examples where we just have missed opportunities in this budget.

I would agree with my colleague for Bedford South. I similarly apparently am going to have 10,000 more constituents in a few years if the government's plans go through. I'm not asking for another boundary review, but I would like a couple more schools and I would like some more buses, and I would like to know that they're going to have doctors, and I'm not hearing anything about that. I'm just not hearing it. The Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development's getting up and filibustering my colleagues when they ask about school construction. I just don't hear about it. I hope and expect that the departments are working hard on those things, but we don't see it in the budget, and we don't hear about it.

Similarly, when we hear things like the tax credit for tradespeople under 30, that's excellent. I know that there are many tradespeople who'll appreciate that, and that's an area where we really need labour force development and we need more people. Do you know where else we need more people? We need more ECEs. We need more nurses. Those are also the caring economy to which my colleague referred. I think if we had a more comprehensive look at what the opportunities are as we rebuild our economy and we address the crises in front of us, we could make some more bold investments.

I'll just echo some of the other points that my colleague made. I want to underline this, because I think it's really important. My colleague for Dartmouth North joked earlier in the session that she's the one who's passionate about the arts. I would argue that actually everyone in this Chamber is passionate about the arts, but not everyone in this Chamber understands what it means to have a thriving arts sector.

The investment in the film industry is wonderful and welcome, and we will clap every time you mention it - we really will, it's great - but there is no increase in operating funds for arts organizations in this province in this budget. That is a massive, massive issue. All of those arts organizations that we rely upon - when we talk about the ephemeral thing that makes Nova Scotia magic, it's actually not ephemera. It's humans who are working really hard to produce the kind of cultural assets that we love so much, and we are not giving them what they need to do that.

That's just one example, but I think that there are many, many more. I would just suggest, again, as we have been saying for a couple of years: Please take the opportunity to expand the voices at the table as you think about these programs. Efficiency is another one, as my colleague said. I think we can talk about greenhouse gas reductions. We think EGCCRA is a great first step. We really look forward to the climate plan. Spring's almost sprung, so hopefully it's coming soon. We saw the daffodils peeking out of the soil yesterday.

I do think that we need to really embrace the opportunities. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now with this moment we find ourselves in - hopefully towards the downswing of a global pandemic - and in need of rebuilding a lot of things: our health care infrastructure, a lot of our education infrastructure, and other things.

We also have a once-in-a-lifetime responsibility. I've heard a lot this session about the debt that we will leave for our children. I haven't heard a lot about the planet that we will leave for our children. This isn't hyperbole. If we had this conversation five years ago, I guarantee that 20 of you would be rolling your eyes at me, but now we don't roll our eyes anymore when we talk about that.

We know from the global scientific consensus that we don't have time - that we've already missed our opportunity to stop global warming to 1.5 degrees. We've missed it. The world that my children grow up in will be dramatically different from the world that we grew up in, no matter what, if we do nothing.

I just want to close by really inviting my colleagues to expand the voices at the table, expand your idea of what is possible in this budget. We have an opportunity, and we have a responsibility, and we're the people who have to make the decisions. Whether we think we're the right people, whether I think you're the right people, doesn't matter. It's us. We're here. There's a lot that we can do.

Speaking for myself, I will say I will support the parts of the government's budget that I think are positive, and I will fight the parts that I think are insufficient. I ask you to remain open to really genuinely meeting the moment that we're in. I'm always available to help.