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Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)

Mar/31/22 10:10:30 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising today to table a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding of Kelowna—Lake Country and surrounding area in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to provide additional anti-aircraft, anti-rocket and naval weapons systems to Ukraine immediately; impose a full trade embargo on Russia; continue the removal of Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system; impose further economic sanctions, as deemed feasible and desirable; recall Canadian embassy staff from Russia and Belarus; expel Russian diplomats from Canada; freeze Canadian assets of Russian oligarchs; expedite a program of resettlement for Ukrainian refugees; and support Russians who openly oppose the ongoing conflict, up to and including potential refugee status.

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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)

Mar/31/22 1:35:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the member for Kenora, for his great intervention and speech. It is always a pleasure to rise in this House, and today it is in response to the announcement of the tabling of the first NDP-Liberal budget on April 7, to represent my constituents of Kelowna—Lake Country and to speak on this Conservative opposition day motion, which looks to make recommendations to give people a break from higher taxes and out-of-control debt. We have made many recommendations to help Canadians, to help get our fiscal house in order and to have fiscal anchors. I will be gladly speaking to some of these points. I hear from constituents every day who cannot afford basic necessities and cannot afford housing costs, which are up over 30% in the past year alone, and I hear from businesses and not-for-profits that are being squeezed by higher costs. This situation is becoming critical for many people. We have heard one word from the government a lot in the last few weeks: “tired”. The government likes to say that it recognizes that Canadians are tired: that they are tired of federal COVID-19 restrictions, tired of paying so much at the pumps and tired of an escalating grocery bill. However, we never hear anything from the government afterwards about giving any peace of mind to Canadians, or any hope. There is a reason for that. It is because it would involve reversing the government's stated choices. Provinces are reopening and are removing restrictions and mandates, but the federal government chooses to not even set a date. It chooses not to bring forth any data or any metrics on how it is making decisions around this issue. This is holding back the economic recovery of Canada and creating uncertainty for my residents and businesses in Kelowna—Lake Country and across the country. Small businesses might be coming out of the pandemic struggling with debt, labour shortages and squeezed margins, but ministers in Ottawa still choose to raise their taxes. Consumers might find it harder to manage grocery or gas bills, but the Prime Minister chooses to leave tax relief off the table. Let us not kid ourselves about who these choices harm the most. It is the poor, the vulnerable, struggling young people, families and seniors. The Liberal elites, multinationals and large real estate investors seem to have nothing to complain about. They have fared well during the pandemic. A report released a few weeks ago from the government's own finance department showed that single parents, lower-income households and recent immigrants are more likely to see 50% or more of their earnings offset by higher taxes, clawbacks in benefits or a combination of the two. Calls are coming from inside and outside this House to halt taxes and take action on inflation, but the Liberals still refuse to listen. As made-in-Canada inflation continues to rise, even former advisers to Liberal finance ministers, such as Robert Asselin, are calling for the government to rein in its spending to reduce our inflationary levels. It was not long ago that ministers in the government called our rise in inflation rates “transitory”. Well, inflation has transitioned—from bad to worse. Other governments in the U.K., Germany and the United States have set out plans to tackle inflation, and it is long past time for the government in Canada to do the same. Failure to deliver a budget that will reduce inflation will be a budget that will fail to reduce our cost of living. With government’s coffers growing as a result of inflation, there is no reason to celebrate, yet with families facing an increase of more than $1000 in their annual grocery bill alone, Liberal insiders choose to brag in the press about the extra tax revenue they are collecting from them. People are being squeezed with lower paycheques due to the January payroll tax increase and rising costs on everything. That is why we are bringing forward this motion to call on the government to not implement new taxes and to bring forth a path to balance to aid them. I am sure there is no member of this House who has not heard from their constituents about how they are being hammered by high gas prices. Constituents in my part of the country have seen prices rise as high as $2.145 this month. If parties here today had joined in our call to introduce a 5% GST reduction on gasoline and diesel, the government would have been given the opportunity to reduce the average price by approximately 8¢ per litre. Unfortunately, the other parties voted against this motion last week. What we are asking for today is common sense to help people. It is a practical way we could improve lives today. Another way Conservatives are looking to provide relief is by calling on the federal government to end its upcoming April 1 tax increases. The first April Fool's Day tax increase is on excise tax on alcohol products. The kicker with this is that it is based on the CPI, meaning it is based on inflation; therefore, the increase would be higher than ever before. It is basically a tax increase on inflation, and what is worse is that it is automatic. It does not have to be debated and voted on by parliamentarians every year. Wineries, cideries, breweries and distilleries in my riding cannot afford increases to the excise escalator tax after two years of pandemic damage to their bottom line. This measure affects dozens of small businesses in my riding of Kelowna—Lake Country that have deep roots in our agriculture history. We have craft beer tours, winery tours and a cider festival. This is an emerging sector, and there are dozens of businesses in my riding that would be affected. The tax increase will ultimately have to be passed on through the supply chain and to consumers. That is why I was pleased earlier today to second a bill from my colleague, the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge, that would eliminate this escalator tax. Poor policies and poor leadership by the Liberals caused rolling COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns and left producers with the least profitable avenues of sale, such as government liquor stores. Even with restaurants, hotels and farm gate sales slowly returning, they have a lot in their bottom lines to recoup, and recovery will be sluggish. Their efforts to survive should not be penalized with more taxes and new taxes, as domestic producers who have not been applicable will have to start paying on July 1. We have to remember the average small business took on $170,000 in new pandemic debt and was hit with payroll tax increases on January 1. These costs came directly off their bottom line. When both the finance minister and the small business minister, who have not had to make payroll or read financial statements in their past careers, are making decisions that will affect people’s lives, we can see why they have no clue about how businesses are being squeezed. The second April Fool's Day tax increase is to the federal carbon tax, and we have called for it to be halted. The government's decision to proceed with raising the floor of the carbon tax is entirely out of touch with people who are just trying to fill their car with gas or heat their homes. The government's choice to then worsen this situation by adding 11¢ a litre to Canadians' gas prices is really to act without compassion. It is choosing to commit to an ideological agenda rather than appealing to common sense The Parliamentary Budget Officer recently reported that the government is taking in more in carbon tax than it is rebating, and many people will receive far less than they pay. The carbon tax is not reducing emissions and is nothing more a windfall for the government on the backs of Canadians and small businesses. In addition, if Canada was more energy dependent, we could be helping our allies right now. Lastly, I want to touch on another financial penalty that will affect every Canadian: the growing size of our national debt. A recent mandate letter of the finance minister stated that creating any new permanent spending should be avoided. With this new Liberal-NDP backroom coalition, this will be another broken promise. We are calling today for a meaningful fiscal anchor. Kelowna—Lake Country was recently visited by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's national debt clock. The Liberals broke the former debt clock when it went over $1 trillion. Every second, $4,531 is being added to our national debt. By the time I am done my fifteen-minute debate today, Canada’s national debt will rise an extra $4,077,900. Any member in this House who ignores the responsibility of this House to manage this is leaving the future of our children and grandchildren at risk. Choosing to offer relief today to Canadian families and seniors with immediate savings on daily costs while ensuring our financial stability for the next generation is how this House should be choosing to act. A commitment to an ideological tax-and-spend agenda will not help either of those goals. I hope all members of this House will support our motion today to give people hope and give them a break.

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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mrs. Tracy Gray

Mar/31/22 1:46:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that my future grandchildren, which I do not have yet, will be paying off this debt, as will the future grandchildren of other people in this House. We have to be cognizant that someone will have to pay back this debt that we are creating right now. We are not setting up our children and grandchildren very well here. Regardless of what others are doing, we have to focus on Canada and on the fiscal prudence of this country. We need to get our fiscal house in order. Yes, we need to help people who really need help, but at the same time we also need to be looking ahead. We need to look ahead for how we can increase investment in Canada and increase the prosperity of Canadians.

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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mrs. Tracy Gray

Mar/31/22 1:48:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, one of the reasons the housing prices have increased so much is because the government printed $400 billion that was put into the market. The benefit of that was for the largest investors. They have really come ahead in this, and it has driven up prices. Conservatives have put together and announced a task force on housing that is going to be looking at this. We had many recommendations in the platform during the last election, but now we are putting this task force together to look at it even more closely and come up with more recommendations than we have given already.

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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mrs. Tracy Gray

Mar/31/22 1:49:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of constituents who reach out to me who have had to switch jobs that maybe they were not trained in or have not worked at in a long time because they have not been able to meet the current mandates of the government. When the government gives numbers to say we have recouped this many more jobs, the jobs may not be necessarily in the fields that people had trained for or at the high income levels that they were making before. That is the first thing. The second thing is that during the entire pandemic, we have continually made recommendations to the government to make sure that programs were amended so that they were applicable to more people. There were many times when some of the people most hit by the pandemic were not actually eligible for many of the government programs.

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Context: House Hansard - 50 - Mar/31/22

Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)

Mar/31/22 3:04:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, invasive zebra and quagga mussels are devastating the ecology of waterways. They are harming natural species and ruining beaches, and they are costly to waterway infrastructure. Last summer, 17 boats were confirmed carrying invasive mussels coming into British Columbia. With the summer fast approaching, we cannot have another year of inaction. DFO has a responsibility to stop the spread. What is the NDP-Liberal minister's plan to stop the spread of invasive mussels from coming to western Canada?

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