SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 239 - Oct/25/23

Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Oct/25/23 2:42:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is not being there for Canadians. He is taking money out of their pockets. If members do not believe me, they can listen to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who today said, “government spending will be adding to demand more than supply is growing. And in an environment where we’re trying to moderate spending and get inflation down, that’s not helpful”. That adds to the voice of former Liberal finance minister John Manley, who has accused the Prime Minister of pressing on the inflationary gas pedal. Will the Prime Minister tell us if he agrees with the bank governor that his government spending is not helpful for inflation?

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Context: House Hansard - 239 - Oct/25/23

Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Oct/25/23 2:46:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is very determined to avoid discussing the growing evidence of the link between his deficits and the inflation Canadians pay. Let us review what the bank governor said today. He said that, one, inflation risks are rising; two, inflation will not get back to target until the year 2025, which is two years out; and three, the bank is now leaving its door open to further rate hikes, probably spurred on by the deficits of the government. With mortgage payments up 150%, for God's sake, why will he not get rid of these inflationary deficits so Canadians can keep their homes?

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Context: House Hansard - 239 - Oct/25/23

Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Oct/25/23 2:54:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years in office, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost of inflation and interest rates. Today, the Governor of the Bank of Canada noted three things in his report. First, inflationary risks have increased. Second, he is considering raising interest rates again, and third, the government's deficits and spending are driving up inflation, which is also increasing the risk of interest rate hikes. Will the Prime Minister finally reverse his inflationary policies before Canadians start losing their homes?

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Context: House Hansard - 239 - Oct/25/23

Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)

Oct/25/23 7:05:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise tonight on adjournment business and talk about a question I put to the government last June. I asked the government about interest rates, and I pointed out the devastating effect that interest rates are having on Canadian homebuyers and homeowners. I asked when the Prime Minister would take the advice of other Liberals, including former finance minister, John Manley. John Manley asked the Liberals to take their foot off the inflationary gas pedal and stop pouring gas on the inflationary fire, so there would be less pressure on interest rates so we could avoid a crisis among mortgage holders and mortgage payers, and also get some relief to homebuyers amid this affordability crisis. The response I got was really quite disappointing. The parliamentary secretary at the time did not even make any attempt to answer the question. I am not even sure if he heard the question, because his response was totally unrelated to any of the elements that my question contained. He talked about small business loans. He actually said something that is false. He should probably be brought to the House and made to withdraw his statement. He falsely claimed that opposition parties voted specifically against the CEBA support program for small businesses during COVID. That is an untrue statement. That is a fact. He should apologize and withdraw the remarks; they were unparliamentary and false. Be that as it may, it gives me an opportunity tonight to get a little deeper on this issue. The truth is homeowners across Canada are concerned about whether they are going to be able to stay in the house that they already own. Mortgage payments are more than doubling for most mortgage customers when their mortgages renew. We have people who bought homes in 2018 with five-year fixed mortgages that are maturing this year, and they are beside themselves because they do not know how they are going to make the payments. People are seeing their mortgage payments go from $2,500 to $6,000 a month. They cannot do that; they do not have the income to do that. In some cases, people are going to lose their homes. Depending on what city they are in, depending on what their local market is doing, they may not even be able to sell their home. We saw transactions that could not close. At the time I asked the question, I had been speaking to some people in the industry. I have over 20 years in the mortgage brokerage business before I was a member of Parliament. I was talking to some of my colleagues and some of the industry people in Calgary. We have people who could not close on new construction deals because of the enormous shift in interest rates that occurred. The government is absolutely oblivious to this and the role it has played in pouring inflationary gas onto the fire. It has a responsibility to do something, to rein in inflation. It talks about the support payments during a small period of its time in office, but most of the deficits that it has piled on were before and after COVID, or had nothing to do with COVID support payments. We have half a trillion plus in new debt, more than every government in history combined. This has an effect on interest rates and inflation. When are the Liberals going to rein it in and do something to help quell the inflationary fire?

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