SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Rachael Thomas

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Lethbridge
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 65%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $131,565.29

  • Government Page
  • Dec/9/22 11:33:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is the problem with the Liberals: They make excuse after excuse. They are spending a whole lot of money to accomplish a whole lot of nothing. At the end of the day, it is Canadians who pay the bill. The cost of living is going up. Meanwhile, the government has no problem spending. Canadians are facing inflation at a 40-year record high, grocery prices have skyrocketed and 20% of Canadians are forced to skip meals. Meanwhile, those across the way continue to chat with one another and maybe even laugh in mockery. Twenty per cent of Canadians are forced to skip meals, 1.5 million Canadians are going to a food bank—
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  • Dec/9/22 11:32:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians were advised by the Deputy Prime Minister that they should cut their Disney+ accounts in order to help them make ends meet. Meanwhile, the government has no problems spending $6,000 on a single hotel night, $54 million on a failed arrive scam app and, more recently, $32 billion on altogether illegitimate or suspicious funding with regard to COVID. The worst part is that Canadians are actually on the hook for all this spending, the Canadian people, who work incredibly hard. When will the Liberals show them some respect and stop their wasteful spending?
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  • Nov/23/22 3:12:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister has no problem spending $6,000 of taxpayer money on a single hotel night, Canadians are struggling just to feed their families. Thanks to the Liberals, everything in this country is broken. There are 1.5 million Canadians who accessed a food bank in a single month; inflation is at a 40-year high, and over half of all Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque, finding it difficult to make ends meet. The question is simple. When will the Liberals stop making life difficult for Canadians and actually give them control of their lives?
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  • Oct/31/22 2:57:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think there is much hope in there for Canadians, so let me ask again. It is no secret that Canadians are struggling to be able to make ends meet. Just putting healthy food on the table is a struggle. We know that the number of Canadians going to food banks is skyrocketing. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has no problem jet-setting around the world or spending $6,000 a night on hotel rooms. Again, I would ask them to please come back down to reality. Would the government stop its punitive tax hikes and its out-of-control inflationary spending in order to make sure that Canadians can afford to live?
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  • Oct/31/22 2:56:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, whether it is home heating, groceries or gasoline, Canadians are finding it extremely difficult just to be able to make ends meet. While I am concerned for all Canadians, there is one group in particular that has my heart and that is those who live on a fixed income. At the end of the day, as prices go up, they do not have the ability to create a greater income for themselves, which puts them in a place of trouble. Many of them are living on the edge of poverty, which is not okay. My question is very simple. Will the Liberals demonstrate a bit of compassion today and commit to stopping their out-of-control inflationary spending spree and to stopping their punitive tax hikes on those who are finding it hard to make ends meet?
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  • Sep/29/22 4:46:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I believe what the member is referring to is something that is very procedural. There is the substance of something brought forward and then there is the process. We disagree with the process. We absolutely stand for Canadians who live with a disability. We are talking about a population within this country who lives on a small government stipend. They do not have an opportunity to go get a job or earn an extra wage right now, but they have to make those same dollars stretch even further due to the government's poor policies.
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  • Sep/29/22 4:45:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the motion on the table here today concerns increased taxation and the way that influences Canadians. As Conservatives, we are asking that we halt any further increases to taxation because we want to allow Canadians to keep more of the money they work hard to earn. I do not think that is too much to ask. Canadians are hurting in this country right now because the cost of living is being driven through the roof due to the current government's reckless decisions. Its members continue to be heartless in the policies they are implementing and in their refusal to back down from the increase of taxes. It is shameful.
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  • Sep/29/22 4:43:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, due to the decorum of the member, I will not answer the question.
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  • Sep/29/22 4:42:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was wondering if you would desire for the House to stay on topic with the motion today.
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  • Sep/29/22 4:41:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the motion on the floor today is, in fact, about serving Canadians. It is, in fact, about making them better off. The motion on the floor today, unfortunately, is not about what the opposite member mentioned. I think you would probably desire, Madam Speaker, that we stay focused on what we are discussing today.
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  • Sep/29/22 4:34:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, more and more Canadians are struggling to get by because their dollars are valued less and less due to inflation. Let us talk about charities for a moment. Many charities have filled the gaps we have had in this country, but because Canadians are so hard done by right now, they do not even have enough left at the end of the month to donate where they normally would. This is then leaving an increased gap in social services and the ability to care for one another. That is shameful. We have an affordability crisis that is actually destroying people's lives, but the government can play a role. It can if it chooses to. It is simple. It needs to axe the tax. It needs to stop its out-of-control spending, and it needs to be a responsible government that brings in investment rather than pushing it out. There are other things, too. We have an opportunity in the realm of agriculture. We are incredible at producing food. We literally feed the world. My riding of Lethbridge does this incredibly well. The bounty that comes from there should be celebrated, but instead we have a government that wants to put policies in place that would reduce crop yield. We have a government that wants to punish our farmers and producers, those who bring life, rather than celebrate them or give them credit for the incredible superpower they hold. There is another superpower too: energy. We have the third-largest oil reserve in the world, and we are the fifth-largest producer of natural gas. Just like food, the world needs energy. It is what keeps us going, and Canada has the potential to be the solution to the world's needs in this regard. We could be stepping up and taking our place on the world stage, but instead we are shrinking back. We could displace the reliance, currently in existence, on regimes that we should not be supporting, but instead we continue. We have an opportunity to be the answer to Europe's need for LNG, as the chancellor of Germany asked us to be, but the Prime Minister responded by saying there is no business case. How is there is no business case? Of course there is a business case. There are people in need of energy, and we have energy. The government should figure out the infrastructure and make it happen. It simply takes political will. The NDP and the Liberals love to rail against profitable organizations, but in their attempt to foster an environment of hostility and demonize those who would generate wealth, they forget about a few facts. One is that, in the generation of wealth, jobs are created. In the generation of wealth, taxes are paid and, ultimately, those taxes come full circle and help support the very social programs that we value. It is crucial to understand that without the generation of wealth, there is no safety net for those in need. Let me say that again. Without the generation of wealth, there is no safety net for those in need. Therefore, instead of demonizing the businesses that are producing jobs, generating wealth and helping our country do well, let us celebrate them. I am confident that, if we can get government out of the way to provide the freedom for Canadians to reach their greatest potential, our nation would not only thrive but also be a leader among nations. It just takes a bit of political will. We have the opportunity to foster an environment of entrepreneurship, to remove unnecessary boundaries and red tape, to scrap excess taxation, and to draw investment into our country. That is what Conservatives are calling on the government to do. Yesterday, we gave the folks opposite an opportunity to vote with Conservatives and for Canadians. We asked them to do this by halting their plan to triple the carbon tax. Sadly, they chose themselves instead of the Canadian people, so today we are giving them another opportunity to stand with millions of Canadians. Millions of Canadians are struggling to get by. Millions of Canadians are struggling to feed their families, pay their rent, afford their mortgages and fuel their cars. That is real. The folks across the way can pull out whatever sorts of charts, graphs and “statistics” they want. It is not going to convince Canadians that somehow they are better off just because the Liberals told them so. Canadians know the reality. They feel the reality, day in and day out, when they have to make hard choices about where they will spend their last dollar. In the midst of an affordability crisis, we are calling on the government today to stop their planned tax increases on the paycheques of Canadians so they can keep more of the money they earn. Canadians and Conservatives are hoping that the government will finally demonstrate some compassion, do the right thing and vote in favour of this motion today. It is time to give Canadians back the control of their lives that they always should have had because the potential is within the people. The future of this country is within the people. They are the problem-solvers. They are the solution makers. They are the wealth generators. They are the ones who are going to take us toward a prosperous future. They are the ones who deserve for the government to get out of the way to allow them to move forward in the direction they wish to go.
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  • Sep/29/22 4:31:52 p.m.
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During question period today my Conservative colleagues and I asked the government to demonstrate a little compassion and to stop its planned tax hikes. The Liberals responded with obscure studies and statistics, telling us that, actually, we had it all wrong and that Canadians were better off and getting ahead. It was as if to say that government knows best and that what Canadians are feeling is illegitimate. How demeaning and how heartless. I have heard many of my constituents share their stories with me and post other stories online that tell me that they are struggling, they are hopeless and many of them are in despair. I am talking about a senior who recently came into my constituency office in Lethbridge to share with me that she lives in a mobile home and she is having a hard time making ends meet. Normally she would go to her neighbour or maybe her son in order to get assistance, but the reality is that they are in the same boat. I am talking about another couple who came into my office who had lost their home because they could not make their mortgage renewal due to inflation. Now they are living in an RV in their parents' backyard. She is struggling immensely with mental health issues. I am talking about an elderly man from Medicine Hat, Alberta, who, several weeks ago, submitted his application for medical assistance in dying because he cannot afford to pay for medication, food and shelter. He made the choice to end his life. In a public statement, this man, who lives with a physical disability, said that he does not want to die; he simply can't afford to live. These are the kinds of stories that are transpiring from coast to coast to coast. This is not the Canada these folks deserve. A recent report revealed that almost a quarter of Canadians are having to cut back on the food they eat or the groceries they buy, because they just simply cannot afford it. Meanwhile, the number of people accessing food banks and the number of children going to sleep hungry at night is drastically increasing. We are a country that feeds the world. There is no need for this. However, there are ramifications for “Justinflation”. These ramifications—
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  • Sep/29/22 4:30:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, today's motion is about putting people first. It is about Canadians. It is about seeing them. It is about hearing them. It is about making sure they are understood. It is about doing no harm. That is what today's debate is all about. I am advocating for Canadians. This should not be something that is controversial or that causes disgraceful comments to be made within this place from the opposite side, but somehow it is. The last several months have left Canadians absolutely dumbfounded at the federal government's lack of care, concern and compassion toward them. As food prices have continued to rise astronomically due to inflation, as energy costs have put people in detrimental places, the Prime Minister is choosing to increase the cost of living for Canadians through one policy implementation after another.
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  • May/18/22 2:50:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, because of the government’s reckless debt spending, Canadians are becoming poorer by the day. That is because inflation has now reached a record of 6.8%. Groceries are up by 10%. Gas is over $2.30 a litre in parts of western Canada, and housing prices have doubled. Sadly, these realities do not seem to register with the Prime Minister because someone else foots his bill. Would the Prime Minister please demonstrate just a little bit humility today and try to put himself in the shoes of working-class Canadians and stop the out-of-control spending that is condemning the Canadian people to a life of poverty?
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