44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 2, 2022 02:00PM
- Nov/2/22 2:16:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals spend, it is Canadians who pay. Hard-working Canadians pay through crushing inflation when they are buying groceries, filling up their vehicles and heating their homes. The Liberals have added more to Canada's debt in seven years than all the other governments combined in its 150 plus years of history.
With all this Liberal spending, is our country further ahead? No, it is not. It seems everything the Liberals are responsible for is broken. Instead of investing, the Liberals have wasted Canadians' hard-earned dollars. For example, they spent $54 million on the ArriveCAN app, which should have cost $250,000.
The next time someone goes in for an overtime shift or to work an extra shift on the weekend, or the next time someone feels like they are working seven days a week to get ahead, I want them to remember one thing: Canadians deserve better. They deserve a government that will cut government waste and respect our hard-earned taxpayer dollars.
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- Nov/2/22 2:21:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, another day, another $100,000 of new debt, all on the backs of Canadians. The costly coalition has added more to Canada’s debt than every prime minister who came before him combined. The result is record-high, Liberal-made inflation and six consecutive interest rate hikes.
The Conservative Leader has been warning for years that out-of-control Liberal spending would cause inflation to balloon. More Liberal spending means the Bank of Canada had to increase the money supply, meaning the printers kept rolling. This led to record Canadian credit card debt and food bank usage.
The finance minister wants us to believe she has had an epiphany about spending, even getting her future predecessor from Papineau to utter the words “fiscally responsible”, but these are the arsonists who lit the inflationary fire in the first place.
Tomorrow, the finance minister has an opportunity to stop her inflationary spending, stop new taxes, stop punishing Canadians and stop plans to triple the carbon tax.
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- Nov/2/22 2:26:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I guess in the meantime Canadians will need to continue to drive to the United States, where these medications are widely available for parents.
Back here at home, the Prime Minister's half a trillion dollars of inflationary deficits have given us a 40-year high in inflation. Now they are driving up interest rates. Inflationary taxes, including the Prime Minister and NDP's plan to triple the carbon tax, threaten to force Canadians to turn off the heat during winter.
Tomorrow is the fall economic update. Will the government commit today to freezing spending and freezing taxes?
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- Nov/2/22 2:29:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, only cold-hearted Conservatives would imagine and describe sending kids to the dentist, when they otherwise cannot afford to go, as pouring fuel on inflationary fires. Only Conservative politicians would consider that giving targeted support to help low-income Canadians pay for their rent is pouring inflationary fuel on the fire.
Inflation is a global phenomenon right now, and we have moved forward with targeted supports for families that will make a meaningful difference. Unfortunately, the Conservatives, for all their rhetoric, stand in opposition to help for families.
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- Nov/2/22 2:39:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Narinder wants to leave Canada, not stay here, because of the inflationary policies. It makes sense that a Prime Minister who spends a year’s rent on a four-night hotel stay would think more inflation will address the inflationary crisis he created. It is like he wants to return to the days of his father, with out-of-control spending and Canadian families' cupboards being bare, and when people were giving their house keys back to the bank because they could no longer afford it.
Canadians cannot afford this costly coalition any longer. Will the Prime Minister stop the taxes, stop the inflationary spending and stop his plans to triple the carbon tax?
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- Nov/2/22 2:41:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister was warned about his reckless spending. He was told it would lead to interest rate hikes and inflation, and he laughed off those concerns. Now, because of Liberal inflation, millions of Canadians are using food banks every month, and millions more are skipping meals because they cannot afford to buy basic groceries. They lay awake at night knowing they do not have the money to pay their bills, and the Prime Minister has the audacity to tell them they have never had it so good.
When will he learn from his mistakes, cut his out-of-control spending and stop raising taxes on Canadian families?
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- Nov/2/22 2:43:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the investments we are making in Canadians, whether it is with the GST rebate that is going to help, whether it is with low-income supports for renters who need that extra support or whether it is making sure that all families can afford to send their kids to the dentist, are going to help.
Yes, there continue to be pressures because of global inflation, but the reality is that we are going to continue to be there for Canadians. In the economic statement we are putting forward tomorrow, people will see not just supports for families, but supports for the kinds of jobs and opportunities they will need in the decades to come.
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- Nov/2/22 2:43:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree on one thing: Food is a basic right and a necessity that cannot be ignored. The problem is that the statistics are troubling. This morning we learned that one in five families in Canada has had to cut back on their food budget and on what they eat because of inflation. Last month, 1.5 million Canadians had to turn to food banks. At the Amélie et Frédérick food bank in my riding, the demand for assistance has doubled.
Does the Prime Minister realize that his inflationary policies are making food at the grocery store much more expensive for all Canadians?
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- Nov/2/22 2:45:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the Prime Minister says, this global context is not the only reason we have a problem here. It is because, in seven years, the Liberal government has never been able to control its spending. I am not the only one to say so. The aspiring Liberal leader, Mark Carney, actually said that this was not an imported inflation and that it was now a national inflation, a Canadian inflation.
Since the Minister of Finance, who also aspires to be leader of the Liberal Party, is presenting her economic update tomorrow, could her Prime Minister tell her to freeze taxes and spending? That is what will help lower inflation.
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- Nov/2/22 2:51:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is from the guy who robbed a record amount from Canadian workers' paycheques when he imposed the highest inflation in 40 years on them. There was no negotiation for workers; in fact, they all took an across-the-board pay cut without ever giving their permission, and now the position of his government is that they should have their pay capped. The Governor of the Bank of Canada told CEOs that there should be no pay hike for Canadian workers to compensate them for the Prime Minister's inflation.
Does he agree with the Governor of the Bank of Canada that Canadian workers do not deserve a pay hike, yes or no?
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- Nov/2/22 2:53:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am condemning the attack the Prime Minister has undertaken on Canadian workers by giving them the highest inflation in 40 years, eating up their paycheques so that they cannot afford food. It is the Prime Minister who has sent 1.5 million Canadians to food banks in the month of March, the Prime Minister who has given them record credit card debt, and the Prime Minister who has forced one in five people to skip meals because they cannot afford to eat. Now the Governor of the Bank of Canada says those workers do not deserve a raise.
I condemn those comments. Will he?
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- Nov/2/22 2:59:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a new poll is out that suggests one in five Canadians are out of money, due to inflation. This means parents cannot afford to feed their kids and pay their bills, and they are terrified about where their next paycheque will come from. The Prime Minister just keeps making it worse. Canadians cannot afford this costly coalition. Will the Prime Minister stop his inflationary spending and stop raising taxes?
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- Nov/2/22 3:00:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot repeat in the House what my constituents have said about that guy. These families are in their darkest hour, and now even future Liberal leader Mark Carney has stated, “[I]t's not all imported inflation. In fact, most of it is now domestically generated inflation.” That is how out of touch the Prime Minister is. Therefore, will he stop his inflationary spending and stop raising taxes?
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- Nov/2/22 3:01:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is the problem the Liberals do not understand: The Prime Minister cannot spend his way out of the inflation that he, himself, created. For the Prime Minister, $6,000 a night for a fancy hotel room is three months of rent for Canadians who cannot afford it. It is $12,000 a month for groceries at his house, while 1.5 million Canadians visited a food bank last month.
How can the Prime Minister pretend to understand the pain he is inflicting on Canadians, while simultaneously raising their taxes?
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- Nov/2/22 3:15:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party has decided it needs to oppose supports for parents to send their kids to the dentist, and the Conservative Party has decided to oppose giving a $500 top-up to low-income renters across this country to help with the rising costs of everything.
We are facing global inflation, yes, but there are things we can do to make it easier for families, things like child care, which we are moving forward on despite Conservative opposition, things like the CCB, things like the GST credit and dental and rental, which they continue to oppose.
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- Nov/2/22 6:43:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise on behalf of the people of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.
Recently, I rose during question period on behalf of Bonnie, a constituent who lives in a remote part of my riding. Bonnie and her husband are seniors living on a fixed income of $25,000 a year. Bonnie had just learned her oil bill this winter will be over $2,000, almost triple that of last year. I asked the government why it was not cutting the taxes fuelling energy inflation. As is often the case in this House, when asked about taxes or inflation, the government's only answer is climate change, which confirms what the Conservatives have been saying for years. The carbon tax is not an environmental policy. It is a tax policy.
That was not all the minister said in response to Bonnie's predicament. The minister said that higher energy prices were needed to address the existential threat to humanity. This belief in a climate apocalypse is a dangerous illusion. It is one thing for juvenile delinquents to throw food at priceless works of art and justify their actions with climate change, but it is another when a government itself is delusional. This should terrify Canadians like Bonnie. The Liberals already declared their ends justify any means when it came to the freedom convoy. If government members truly believe the carbon tax is saving the world, saving humanity, then what is it to them if senior citizens freeze to death this winter?
Of course, the carbon tax saving the world is nonsense. Humanity has witnessed sea levels rise by hundreds of metres. Our forebears spread to every corner of the world using stone tools, yet somehow the government believes that a two-metre change in sea level over 60 years spells the extinction of the human race.
Emissions reductions require thoughtful policy that balances the interests of post-industrial economics, industrial economies and developing economies. Conservatives have argued that Canada, having a small size, can maximize our efforts by focusing on replacing coal with natural gas. Canada can lead in developing new technologies such as carbon capture and small modular reactors. The best part of those policies is that they do not leave people like Bonnie freezing over the winter. The problem with calling it a climate emergency is that it can be used to feed greed through a carbon tax.
We saw how this government crushed civil liberties such as the right to due process when it declared a public order emergency because of illegally parked trucks. What rights are they willing to lock down to stop their climate emergency fantasy? History is full of examples of good, decent people doing horrible things because the end was near. Our culture has even had an expression for those people. We say they drank the kool-aid. The government has been binge drinking the green kool-aid.
It has embraced the myth of a climate change apocalypse with a cult-like zealotry. This type of extremism is driving the polarization in our country. If one does not sign on to the leftist narrative one is attacked as a denier and a conspiracist. It does not matter if one believes that climate change is measured in millions of years. It does not matter if one supports reducing global emissions. If one does not support making energy unaffordable for the most vulnerable, one is shunned by the cult.
Does the government's parliamentary secretary agree with the minister that climate change will lead to the extinction of the human race? If she really believes that, can she tell us exactly how many seniors the government is willing to see freeze to death this winter?
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- Nov/2/22 6:47:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to address the issue of inflation. The elevated inflation experienced now in Canada and, frankly, the rest of the world is a major issue for all Canadians.
We do understand that Canadians continue to experience higher costs of living and that many are struggling to make ends meet. However, it is important to remember that inflation is a global phenomenon. It is a lingering result of the COVID pandemic, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and by the snarled supply chains that are affecting people and businesses around the world.
While Canada's inflation rate of 6.9% is less severe than that of many of our peers, like the United States at 8.2%, the United Kingdom at 10.1%, and Germany at 10%, we appreciate that this will continue to be a difficult time for a lot of Canadians. While it is not a made-in-Canada problem, we do have a made-in-Canada solution to help those who need it the most.
We are moving forward with our affordability plan, which includes targeted measures worth $12.1 billion. For example, now that Bill C-30 has received royal assent, individuals and families receiving the GST credit will receive additional support starting this week. With Bill C-31, we are proposing the Canada dental benefit for children under 12 in families with an annual income of under $90,000 who do not have access to a private dental plan.
I am confident the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke can appreciate the positive impacts that our affordability measures are having on her constituents.
I would like to remind the House that all of these support measures are targeted and fiscally responsible. Now is not the time to pour unnecessary fuel on the flames of inflation.
When it comes to pollution pricing, we know that a national price on pollution is the most effective and least costly way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That is why we have moved forward with this system.
Climate action is no longer a theoretical political debate. The reality is that it is an economic necessity. Most provinces have their own pollution pricing mechanisms. In the provinces where the federal backstop had to be applied, families get payments to offset the costs of the federal pollution pricing.
The reality is that most households are getting back more than they pay. Indeed, in the four provinces where the federal system applies, the climate action incentive payments mean that a family of four will receive $745 in Ontario, $832 in Manitoba, $1,101 in Saskatchewan and $1,079 in Alberta. In addition, families in rural and small communities, like those living in Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, are eligible to receive an extra 10%. This is putting more money back in the pockets of Canadians.
This is important work, but I want to also highlight that it is not the entire climate plan. It is one of the tools in the tool box. We are working hard on affordability and at the same time addressing climate change.
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