SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 298 - Apr/11/24

Mr. Dean Allison (Niagara West, CPC)

Apr/11/24 2:01:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last weekend, I was out door knocking in my riding of Niagara West, and next door, in the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek was our Conservative candidate Ned Kuruc. The topic that came up most was the cost of living. Folks at the doors said that the basics are getting too expensive and that things are getting worse. Many cannot pay their monthly bills. They are getting further and further behind. It is difficult to pay the mortgage. It is difficult to pay the rent. Grocery prices are through the roof. Gas prices continue to go up. Utility bills for home heating are getting ridiculous. When all is said and done, paycheques do not cover the bills at the end of the month. Most people said that the policies of the Liberal government and the Prime Minister have put them in the financial position they are in. Higher carbon taxes, inflation caused by reckless spending and high interest rates all create the perfect storm to drain the family budget. However, if we were to ask those guys across the aisle, they would deny causing any of it. It is mind-boggling. They have been in government for more than eight years, and they are responsible for all of it. For my constituents of Niagara West, the Liberals are just not worth the cost.

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Context: House Hansard - 298 - Apr/11/24

Mr. Kevin Waugh (Saskatoon—Grasswood, CPC)

Apr/11/24 2:12:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government just slapped Canadians with a 23% carbon tax increase on April 1. It did this while food banks are servicing a record number of hungry Canadians and farmers are struggling to keep up with crippling taxes. The government needs to pass Bill C-234 in its original form to remove the carbon tax on farmers and help bring down the cost of food for all Canadians. Conservatives have sent a letter to the Prime Minister with three demands to fix the budget. Common-sense Conservatives will not agree to support the budget unless Liberals axe the tax, build homes and cap spending with a dollar-for-dollar rule to bring down interest rates and inflation. The government must find a dollar of savings for every dollar of spending. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

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Spending

Context: House Hansard - 298 - Apr/11/24

Mr. Mel Arnold (North Okanagan—Shuswap, CPC)

Apr/11/24 2:16:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Prime Minister has shamelessly delivered record high deficits, driving up inflation and causing sky-high interest rates. His government has doubled rent, mortgage payments and down payments. Food banks received a record 2 million visits in a single month last year, and a million more are expected to use food banks this year. He has added more to the national debt than all previous prime ministers combined. While life has gotten worse for Canadians, the PM is spending more than ever. Now, a leading economist says that rate cuts may be delayed because of high government spending. We saw that this week, when the Bank of Canada held its rate in efforts to maintain its policy of quantitative tightening. Canadians are seeing that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Will the Prime Minister cap his spending with a dollar-for-dollar rule and bring down interest rates and inflation, or will he continue to make Canadians pay for his failures?

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Context: House Hansard - 298 - Apr/11/24

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Apr/11/24 4:59:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have been looking for my moment to also comment on the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for La Prairie. I think the Bloc Québécois member's argument was very strong. When he presented his question of privilege, I thought it was solid and clear. I thought it was a violation of privilege to start seeing budgetary information shared in advance. In the last while, in digging into my own research, I have come to the view that it is less clear than that. The hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby has also pointed this out, and we have heard this from a number of other presenters in this place, including the hon. Liberal House leader. I agree with the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby that it is troubling to see that there is not a clear set of rules around protecting budgetary information from early leak. It appears to me now that, as much as I was convinced by the argument from the hon. member for La Prairie, we probably do not have a convincing argument for a point of privilege here. We do have a clear need for more work to be done, perhaps at PROC or elsewhere. We have a very clear tradition. Over the years, people have faced criminal sanction for leaking budgetary information. However, now it appears we can differentiate between the kind of information that could be used in the sense of insider trading, to create a financial benefit for someone who leaked the information, and public policy, which the government can of course discuss in advance. We have seen, more than one time, information released in an attempt to create some razzle-dazzle effect in advance of the budget. We are seeing more public relations material than we are seeing a budget. In the Harper years, I started calling it the “big, thick spring brochure” as opposed to a budget, because it very rarely actually had a budget in it. We could not compare this year's spending to last year's spending. We could not work through the work tables at the back of the budget department by department and compare what was happening. That tradition of big fat brochures has been continuing without access to an actual budget. Canadians need to know that, and they need clarity around how much of this is now promotional materials, with governments explaining what they want to do. There is less and less rigour around whether the money has been spent, whether it can be tracked, whether it can be compared to previous years, and whether we are comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges. In other words, my advice to the Speaker, for what it is worth, would be that this is not a point of privilege. However, there is an issue here of substance for which greater clarity would be helpful and to which I would urge the Minister of Finance to actually bring some rigour to the budgetary process and make sure that Canadians who pick up the budget can actually find, in the big fat spring brochure, an actual budget.

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