SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 150 - Jan/31/23

Mr. Michael Barrett (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, CPC)

Jan/31/23 2:53:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, time and time again we see Liberal cabinet ministers breaking ethics laws to help their friends and Liberal insiders. The Liberals will funnel money and lucrative contracts to them. They will take illegal vacations. They will even interfere in criminal prosecution to help their friends. After eight years under the Prime Minister, Canadians have never had it so bad and Liberal insiders, friends and high-priced consultants have never had it so good. When will the Liberals stop the corruption and start putting the needs of Canadians first?

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Context: House Hansard - 150 - Jan/31/23

Mr. Michael Barrett (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, CPC)

Jan/31/23 2:54:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, throughout history and up until this point, governments were there for their people when they were facing hard times, but not those Liberals. They are there for insiders. The Prime Minister helped his buddies get off criminal charges. The Prime Minister took an illegal vacation. The intergovernmental affairs minister gave lucrative contracts to family members. The Prime Minister's hand-picked finance minister tried to give a half-billion dollars to WE. The trade minister just gave tens of thousands of dollars to her bestie. Canadians are lined up at food banks; Liberal insiders are lined up to get rich. What is it going to take for one of those corrupt ministers to resign?

116 words

Context: House Hansard - 150 - Jan/31/23

Mr. Michael Barrett (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, CPC)

Jan/31/23 5:58:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here this evening to discuss an issue that Canadians are very concerned about. That, of course, is the cost of living. Life seems so unaffordable for so many these days. We have folks lining up at food banks in record numbers. A third of those users are children, which works out to about 500,000 children using food banks in a single month. People are telling us that they cannot afford to heat their homes. They are skipping meals and reducing their grocery orders because they cannot afford to feed their families. That is the backdrop to what took place and started on January 1, a year of tax increases from the Liberal government. Payroll taxes went up on January 1. Workers and employers are paying more. We know that the Liberals are continuing their march to triple the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. The carbon tax is going up on April 1. Then we have what will affect most especially our restaurant industry and hospitality sector, the alcohol escalator tax. That will go up this year as well. There has been a rising cost of living and rising taxes under the Liberal government. After eight years under this Prime Minister, Canadians are getting less and they are paying more. They are looking to elected representatives from across this country for some relief. We have proposed straightforward steps to the government that it can take. I hope that it takes note of these as we prepare for the presentation of the budget in a few weeks. To introduce new spending, one needs to find new savings. Where are we going to find those savings? We could start with the increase in consulting fees at 50 times more than before. That is one spot. McKinsey & Company has received more than $100 million in contracts from the government. We do not know exactly how much but more than $100 million. What are the virtues that it brings? Certainly not its ethics or international reputation because it has proven to drag Canada's down. At a time when so many Canadians are hurting, it is so important that the government pay close attention to what Canadians are looking for: relief. Let us stop the tax increases and not introduce any new taxes. For any spending that the government plans it needs to make sure that it finds savings to match. Is the government ready to provide that relief to Canadians today?

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Context: House Hansard - 150 - Jan/31/23

Mr. Michael Barrett

Jan/31/23 6:06:20 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, that was certainly not an answer, and there were no lessons to be taken there. This is coming from a government that just had a fifth occurrence of one of its cabinet ministers breaking ethics laws in this country. We have corrupt ministers, which includes the Prime Minister, who have been found guilty of breaking ethics laws: the Prime Minister twice, the intergovernmental affairs minister, the former finance minister and now the international trade minister. There are lots of savings to be had, and the handouts, freebies and high-priced consultants the Liberals seem to favour, instead of looking after everyday Canadians, is what they should turn their attention to. They should take after everyday Canadians and stop the corruption. Are they ready to do that?

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