44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 12, 2023 11:00AM
- Jun/12/23 2:11:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, under the government, Canadian families are in more debt than any other country in the G7. Last week, with the passage of budget 2023, the costly coalition poured another 60 billion dollars' worth of fuel onto the inflationary fire, sparking another interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada. Families with variable-rate mortgages, those who the Prime Minister encouraged to borrow, promising rates would be low for a long time, are seeing their monthly payments going up again. Even before last week's hike, rate increases had already added $1,000 a month to the average $500,000 mortgage. In my province of B.C., the average cost of a home is $995,000. We can think about how this rate hike will impact British Columbians.
Thanks to the government, families are worried about how they are going to pay for their groceries, day care, summer camps and everything else. Conservatives would put a stop to deficit spending, get inflation under control, create powerful paycheques and get homes built that Canadians can afford. For their home, my home, our home, Conservatives are going to bring it home.
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- Jun/12/23 2:23:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the Leader of the Opposition cite the IMF, and I hope that means he is aware that it is the IMF that confirms Canada has the lowest deficit in the G7 and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 by some measure.
I really have to point out to the Canadians listening the appalling behaviour of this reckless and irresponsible opposition, which has been blocking sensible, important measures to support Canadians at a critical time.
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- Jun/12/23 2:44:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as everyone knows, the government's reckless spending is causing serious problems across the country.
A few days ago, the Bank of Canada had to react to this Prime Minister's inflationary spending by raising interest rates for the ninth time. Canadians are struggling to stay warm, to buy food and to pay their mortgages, which, I would remind members, have doubled. Some Canadians are even in default.
Will the Prime Minister immediately put a stop to his inflation-causing deficit spending and table a plan to balance the budget as soon as possible?
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- Jun/12/23 2:51:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is embarrassing is that, while Canadians are suffering, the finance minister dumped a $60-billion jerry can of fuel on the inflationary fire she started.
Liberals do not understand that reducing the deficits would reduce inflation, bank interest rates and the risk of a mortgage default crisis. The interest rate hikes will cost an extra $1,300 a month for Canadians, who are already struggling to pay mortgages that cost $3,000 on average.
If the Liberals do not have any plans to reduce this deficit, will they at least get out of the way, so Conservatives can save Canadians' homes?
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- Jun/12/23 2:52:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has run massive deficits for eight long years, and, as predicted, inflation has soared, leading to unaffordable mortgage rates for households across this country.
Canadians have the highest household debt in the G7, and today, we now have the highest risk of mortgage default in the OECD nations. The solution is obvious: It is to end deficit spending, stop inflation and help Canadian families.
Will the Prime Minister and his government commit to ending his inflationary spending to prevent a fiscal crisis?
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- Jun/12/23 2:53:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to be absolutely clear, in the hon. member's question, when he refers to deficit spending, he is largely referring to the supports that kept families fed during the pandemic.
The programs that we put forward helped keep a roof over the heads of kids in my community. They helped small businesses keep the lights on and the doors open.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Hon. Sean Fraser: They can jeer during my response as they may, but Conservatives know this is true. In fact, they knew that—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Jun/12/23 2:53:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the deficit spending Conservatives are talking about included the pandemic supports that made sure that families in my community could keep food on the table and a roof over their kids' heads. Those supports helped small businesses keep the lights on and the doors open. Now they are blaming the Canadians who availed themselves of those pandemic benefits for the deficit spending they now are attributing inflation to.
The reality is they do not support this spending now, and, at the time, their leader held a press conference in which he said that, as a Conservative, he did not support those big, fat government programs. However, I support them, because they kept my neighbours fed when they needed it.
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- Jun/12/23 2:58:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that the government's record deficit spending has shot inflation through the roof. As a result, Canadians are spending more on food than ever before. This is particularly marked in rural communities like my own, where higher shipping costs add on to the cost of the end product and will only continue to get more expensive with this government's carbon taxes.
Will the government finally acknowledge the damage its lavish and out-of-control spending is having on the kitchen table?
Canadians are needing help. It needs to end its inflation-inducing monetary policy. Will it do it?
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- Jun/12/23 3:03:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious problem. Massive Liberal deficits are fuelling inflation. Inflation causes interest rates to go up. Higher interest rates lead to higher mortgage payments and more mortgage defaults. To stop mortgage defaults, we need to balance the budget, end the big deficits and reduce interest rates.
Will the Prime Minister end his inflationary deficit spending so Canadians can afford to live?
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- Jun/12/23 3:04:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is certainly not a very serious answer.
The bank governor is working to rein in inflation by increasing interest rates. At the same time, the Prime Minister's massive $60-billion spending spree is fuelling inflation and has caused yet another interest rate hike just last week. While the Liberals are making the Bank of Canada's job even harder, it is ordinary Canadians who will be dropping their keys off at their banks and saying goodbye to their homes.
Will the Prime Minister put an end to his inflationary deficit spending and let Canadians keep their homes?
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- Jun/13/23 12:00:39 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today because of a question I asked some time ago in the House of Commons, which went unanswered in many respects. We talked about, at that point in time, the inflation and the toll it was taking on Canada's businesses, both in their ability to borrow and with respect to the bankruptcies that were happening across Canada. That is on the rise as well.
When I asked that question, it was just before the budget came out on March 28. I asked the Prime Minister and I asked the government to ensure there were no new taxes coming forward in the budget so there would not be more burden felt by Canadians, and by Canadian businesses in particular, from the rising cost of CPI, the Consumer Price Index in Canada. This is something that continues to haunt Canadians, and it has haunted us more again, as we have seen in the last little while.
There was a point when it looked like the Bank of Canada was actually getting inflation under control. When I say “under control”, I mean back down to about the 4% level, or about double where it needs to be in order for the economy to manage to the point where it is deemed to be stable, which is between 1% and 3%. Usually, we say about 2%. That is not happening anymore.
On June 7, the Bank of Canada raised the bank rate again because the CPI was continuing to increase. Why did the CPI increase after April? What happened after the budget? The government imposed an increase in the carbon tax, a new tax, 30% of which was felt directly by consumers. The government will tell consumers that they get all their money back, yet it has been proven time and time again by objective officers of Parliament that it is in fact an in-and-out scheme, where Canadians are being fooled about how much they are getting back.
On top of that, the government is designing a new tax from July 1, which is going to double the effect of the clean fuel regulations, which is going to take a total now of 61¢ on average per litre of gasoline out of the pockets of Canadians. One cannot sit there and impose more taxes and more costs on Canadians without it having an effect on everything they buy, and that in itself creates inflation. These things all flow all the way through the value chain. When one increases the cost of things, one increases inflation. When one increases inflation, one increases the cost of debt and devalues the work people do, because everything costs more. Therefore, what they used to take home does not buy as much. It is not worth as much to them as it was before the inflation was created.
We have more inflation and we are on a spiral. The government continues to create more inflation. We must think about everything it is doing here. It is over-budget on everything it is doing. A $41-billion deficit plan for this year is already out of date. Three months into when that budget was planned, we are already well past that. We have all kinds of industrial commitments for which the government never foresaw, for some strange reason, that it would have to pay the bill at the end of the day. In addition, interest rates go up, and interest rates are going up again. They go up not just for Canadians; they go up also for the Canadian government. The Canadian government is going to pay more in interest this year because the bank rate just went up, and that causes more interest to be paid by the government, which causes more interest to be paid by Canadians. This is a vicious cycle. The government needs to get over it. Will it please commit to looking at inflation and stop the increase in costs upon Canadians?
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