- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Louis-Saint-Laurent
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 63%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $128,105.00
- Government Page
- May/10/24 11:08:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, after nine years of this Liberal government and nine inflationary deficit budgets, this Liberal government is not worth the cost.
This is especially true considering that, unfortunately, it can rely on the Bloc Québécois's support. Yes, the Bloc Québécois voted in favour of $500 billion in budget appropriations. That means $500 billion in centralizing spending, and the Bloc Québécois said yes. It also means $500 billion in inflationary spending, and the Bloc Québécois said yes.
As a result, Quebeckers and Canadians are paying more for everything.
Yesterday, in the Quebec National Assembly, the leader of the Parti Québécois condemned the Liberal government's mismanagement of public funds. The Liberal Party's governance is so inept that it has become an argument in support of Quebec's independence. Things are not going well. I would like to remind the leader of the Parti Québécois, who forgot to mention it yesterday, that the Bloc Québécois voted for $500 billion in budgetary appropriations.
When will this Prime Minister, who is being propped up by the Bloc Québécois, stop wasting money? When will this government finally govern responsibly?
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- Apr/29/24 2:59:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, never in our country's glorious history have we had such a free-spending government. This is a $500‑billion budget. The Liberal Party voted in favour of it. Who else voted in favour of this $500-billion budget? The Bloc Québécois.
The Bloc Québécois is the reason this government is able to spend so extravagantly. The Bloc Québécois is the reason this government is so big, so centralist and so spendy.
Will any Liberal ministers stand up in support of the Bloc Québécois's position?
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- Apr/16/24 2:55:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, this Liberal government is not worth the cost. After eight years of astronomical deficits and spiralling debt, this government has never managed to control spending. This is a perfect recipe for inflation.
Canadians know what inflation is. Rents have doubled. Mortgages have doubled. Things have reached a point where it is cheaper to stay in a motel than have an apartment.
At the very least, will there be a plan, if only to control spending, later on when the budget is tabled?
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- Apr/9/24 2:40:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can tell the member and minister from Quebec City that I am well aware of what is happening in my riding and that, yes, people are struggling right now. Yes, inflation directly affects them. Yes, this government keeps spending recklessly without any control. That is fuelling inflation. When the government does not control its spending, it fuels inflation.
The member and minister is also a seasoned academic. When he goes back to his university, how will explain to his future students that a budget can balance itself, as the Prime Minister claims?
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- Oct/17/23 2:51:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after years years of irresponsible Liberal governance, inflation rates are rising, and so are mortgage rates.
However, let us remember that almost a year ago today, the Minister of Finance very proudly said that her government would balance the budget in 2028.
Six months ago, when the budget was tabled, that promise was scrapped. It was just not kept. Just last week, the Parliamentary Budget Officer determined that the next deficit will be 16% higher than expected.
Are the Liberals aware that their completely irresponsible management is hurting all Canadians?
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- Jun/9/23 11:25:04 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect for my colleague, the reality is that if he says that to people who are on the verge of losing their homes, they will laugh in his face or ask him whether he is prepared to take their keys because they can no longer pay for their home. That is the reality facing Canadian families.
If the member wants to quote studies, I could point out that the International Monetary Fund says that Canada is the country at the highest risk of mortgage defaults. This week, the Governor of the Bank of Canada said that mortgage payments could rise by 40%. This is the daily reality for Canadian families. Why does the government refuse to come up with a plan to balance the budget?
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- Jun/9/23 11:23:48 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the reality currently facing all Canadians. After eight years of Liberal governance, with chronic deficits and out-of-control spending, this is the reality. Uncontrolled deficits lead to higher inflation. Higher inflation leads to higher interest rates. What happens when interest rates go up? People run the risk of losing their homes. This is the reality facing Canadians every day, and will be for the months and years to come.
Why does the government not do what it did last November, that is, come up with a plan to balance the budget?
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- Jun/8/23 2:25:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague has a selective memory. The Conservative leader clearly said that there are two things the government must do. First, it should not create new taxes and, more importantly, it should have a plan to reduce spending and get to a balanced budget.
Why have a balanced budget? That would honour the word of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance who said that deficits add fuel to the inflationary fire.
Does the Deputy Prime Minister still agree with herself, namely that they really need to control spending and, most importantly, aim for a balanced budget for all Canadians?
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- Jun/6/23 2:39:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, members will perhaps recall one of the most ridiculous statements made in the history of Canadian politics when the Prime Minister said that budgets balance themselves.
No one repeated it because it makes no sense. The problem is that, after eight years of Liberal governance, budgets have never balanced themselves. We have had deficit upon deficit.
I will share something. Last November, we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel when the Minister of Finance said that we should not throw fuel on the inflationary fire, meaning that spending must be controlled.
Why did she change her mind, with the disastrous results we are seeing today?
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- Jun/5/23 2:53:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have absolutely nothing against the Minister of the Environment, but my question was for the future leader of the Liberal Party or at least, its aspiring future leader, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Why? Simply put, the matter directly affects the wallets of every Canadian family. The Parliamentary Budget Officer said it would cost Quebec families $436 on average.
Could the Minister of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister and aspiring prime minister tell Canadians whether or not this is true?
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- Jun/5/23 2:52:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we know, the Minister of Finance said last November that deficits fuel inflation. What happened after that? A few months later, Liberal Party supporters told her they wanted deficits.
That is certainly not good news for someone who dreams of becoming the leader of the Liberal Party, but that is how Liberal supporters responded. What is especially bad news for all Canadians is that there is going to be a second Liberal carbon tax.
Will the Minister of Finance confirm the Parliamentary Budget Officer's conclusion that it will cost families in Quebec an extra $436, on average?
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- May/30/23 2:55:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we speak, 1.5 million Canadians are using food banks every month. As we speak, one in five families has to cut back on their food budget because they do not have enough money in their pockets. As we speak, to help Canadians, this Liberal government has decided to invent a new tax: the Liberal carbon tax 2.0. That is what the government will create, and it will cost every Quebec family an extra $436. We are not the ones saying that, it is the PBO.
Why is the finance minister imposing another tax on Canadians?
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- May/17/23 2:49:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, the Deputy Prime Minister refuses to answer a very simple question. Every Canadian with a mortgage has to know how much interest they are paying on their debt.
Let us now consider how realistic her budget is, because it included $60 billion in new spending. That is a recipe for creating and fuelling inflation. However, just a few months ago, she said that we must not pour fuel on the fire of inflation.
Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree with what she said last November, or, once again, does she not know the answer?
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- May/15/23 2:40:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps the Minister of Finance has a short memory.
Just a few short months ago, in November, she was very proud to table the economic update and said that she could see the light at the end of the tunnel and would have a target for balancing the budget. That was in November.
Just one month ago, she tabled her budget, and there was nothing. There was nothing about balancing the budget. Even worse, two weeks ago her party gave her a slap in the face. Her party wants nothing to do with balancing the budget.
The Minister of Finance, who was so proud in November to say that we were headed towards balancing the budget—
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- May/15/23 2:39:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians want to know one thing. When will this government really understand the problems that directly affect them every day?
When she was in Japan, Washington or elsewhere in the world, did the Minister of Finance think about the 1.5 million Canadians who are using food banks? Did she think about the fact that one in five families have to trim their budgets to put food on the table? We are talking about basic necessities. Did she think about the people who have been paying twice as much in rent or on their mortgage payments over the past eight years under this government? That is the daily reality for Canadians.
When will the government finally get in touch with Canadians' reality?
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- Apr/27/23 8:18:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always good when a member of Parliament talks about his riding on the national level and provides concrete examples. On the other hand, we need to recognize this budget that the member will support has no plan to get back to a balanced budget. We need to remember in 2015 this party was elected saying that there would be three small deficits, a $10-billion maximum and then a zero deficit in 2019. This promise was put aside; it was put in the garbage.
Is the member concerned about the fact that we have deficits and debts that one day we will need to pay back? When does he think the government will pay it back? We are living beyond the budget that we have now.
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Mr. Speaker, earlier, when answering a question, my colleague stated that he was there, in Montreal, when the Liberal federal government announced the investment in a Volkswagen plant in Ontario. The announcement was made in Montreal. I was there.
I can tell my colleagues that many people looked confused. They wondered if St. Thomas was in Quebec, but in fact, it is in Ontario. It took several very long weeks to get the details, but the story finally appeared on the front page of the National Post this morning. I will come back to that.
My colleague and I were both elected in 2015, when this government came to power by promising small deficits for three years and a balanced budget in 2019. It obviously ignored that promise.
My question for my colleague is the following. Does he believe that $1.220 trillion in debt is a good thing? That works out to $81,000 per family. Does he believe that a constant increase in taxes is a good thing? What does he think of the deficit, which continues to increase and is being ignored by the government, which said that it would balance the budget in five years? What does he think of this government's management of public funds?
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- Mar/29/23 2:49:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, after eight years, the Liberal government clearly demonstrated that the out-of-control spending is not over.
We have a $43-billion deficit. That is $43 billion that we do not have. That is $43 billion that our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will have to pay back. That is $43 billion that will contribute to inflation. Furthermore, taxes will increase on Saturday.
Ultimately, the $43-billion deficit means an extra $4,200 in debt for every Canadian family.
Is the Prime Minister prepared to rise in the House and repeat his famous line, “The budget is going to balance itself”?
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, I am the member for Louis‑Saint‑Laurent. Louis St. Laurent was the prime minister of Canada during the 1950s. He was the one who, among other things, balanced the budget after the Second World War.
I make that historic reference today because I want to talk about the issue of public finances, the direct repercussions they have on Canadian families, and the management by this Liberal government, for seven years minus two weeks now, of Canadian public funds. Their management is really very different from that of one of their Liberal predecessors, the Right Hon. Louis St. Laurent, who balanced the budget after the Second World War.
The bill we are considering today has in its title the words, “cost of living relief”. The Liberal approach is not the best one, in our point of view, since the best way to relieve the cost of living for Canadians is not so much by giving them money, but by leaving more money in their pockets, which is exactly the opposite of what these people have done for the last seven years minus two weeks.
What have we seen in the seven years the Liberals have been in power?
Seven years ago, during the 2015 election campaign, they promised to run three modest deficits and then achieve a zero deficit in 2019. Instead, there were three major deficits that kept growing and, in 2019, the zero deficit promise was thrown away. We are paying for it today with staggering debt and high deficits.
Some people will point out that the Liberals had to deal with a pandemic. Yes, of course, but they were already having a hard time being economical and responsible with the economic prosperity that we left behind after our time in government. Do not forget that we left them a balanced budget and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. However, they took advantage of that and spent lavishly.
It is becoming clear that inflation is the number one problem for all Canadian families. This government has not done the one thing that all other industrialized countries, particularly our G7 partners, have done. Whether it is Japan, France, England, Italy, Germany or the United States, under Joe Biden, the current Canadian Prime Minister's good buddy, the other six G7 countries have all lowered taxes and the tax burden on their citizens at some point in recent months. All the G7 countries have done so, except Canada under this Liberal government.
That is not the right approach.
The more money people have in their pockets, the lower the cost of living. The more money is printed, the more inflation rises. This is a fundamental economic principle, but one that this government has not wanted to embrace. For months now, we in the official opposition have been calling on the government to follow the lead of all the other G7 countries and lower taxes. It did not do that.
Worse, the very least the government could do to ease the burden on Canadians during this inflationary time is not increase taxes. On January 1, there will be an extra charge for employment insurance. This will affect everyone.
To be clear, we are in favour of setting money aside at the right time, but we are against taking money out of taxpayers' pockets for additional spending today. That is the principle we should be respecting.
Worse yet, on April 1, the government plans to increase the Liberal carbon tax. It does not want to increase it by a little bit. It wants to multiply it not by one or two, but by three. The Liberal government wants to triple the Liberal carbon tax on April 1.
Every Canadian family is struggling because inflation is increasing, and now the government wants to take advantage of this horrible situation that Canadian families are going through and raise taxes. That is outrageous.
What planet do these people live on? Not only are they not cutting taxes as the leaders of every G7 country have done, but they are going to triple them. Some will say that that does not apply to Quebec. Just a minute. The Liberal carbon tax did not apply until now.
That is because Quebec has a cap-and-trade system. I should know that because I voted for it when I was a member of the National Assembly. Thus, in Quebec, the Liberal carbon tax does not apply because the revenue generated is about the same. However, what will happen in four or five months when the Liberal government triples the Liberal carbon tax?
My colleague asked that question yesterday. The minister replied that he would give him a briefing since he did not understand how it works. However, it was a very simple question. Does tripling the Liberal carbon tax affect Quebec, yes or no? We have been unable to get a clear and precise answer. It is not looking good for Quebeckers. We will have an opportunity to discuss this again with the Quebec government that was re-elected just two days ago.
Increasing taxes, increasing the tax burden, is not the best way to reduce the cost of living. The best way is to let Canadians hang on to more of their money to mitigate the impact of inflation, which is affecting us all.
Facts are facts, and the facts are disturbing for sure. As we speak, Canadians are paying, on average, 43% in taxes, which is more than they spend on food, housing and clothing.
What worries me most in all this is food. If there is one basic good we have to protect, it is food. This is not about indulgences, sweets and treats. This is about a basic need, the need to eat. I talked about that in the House on Monday. Last Friday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I attended an event in support of Comptoir Agoshin, a food bank in Wendake. I also attended the grand opening of a community fridge in Val‑Bélair. The fact is, these two organizations exist to provide food aid for people in need. The people in charge told me they cannot source enough to meet demand. People who used to donate not that long ago are now coming in for help.
For a G7 country, that is just terrible. Canada is rich because of its people, its resources and the work done by its citizens. If a G7 country's food banks cannot meet demand, that is bad news for all Canadians. When butter costs 17% more, bread costs 18% more, pasta costs 30% to 32% more, and soup costs $20 more, basic needs are being taken away. There is a reason that, unfortunately, four out of five Canadians are trimming their food budget because of inflation. That is not a good thing. It is very concerning.
That is why we must tackle the inflation problem directly, in a positive and constructive manner. We know that it is a global problem. I am sure my friends across the way will say that inflation is not just happening in Canada, it is everywhere. I would reply that taxes have been cut everywhere except in Canada.
This government is greedy. This government is all too happy to take money out of Canadians' pockets, even when it comes to food. People will say that gas has nothing to do with food. On the contrary, the food on our supermarket shelves does not fall from the sky. It is transported. It comes from somewhere. When it is transported, it is highly likely that the vehicle that transported it consumed energy, which is often gas. The Liberal carbon tax has a direct impact on that.
The same goes for production. There is no agricultural production in my riding, but all my colleagues who have farms and farmers in their ridings are telling us about the real and painful consequences that the higher gas taxes will have for farmers, especially with what is coming in April.
We have to watch this government and make sure it does not triple the Liberal carbon tax. That is what it plans to do.
That is why we have serious reservations about this government's approach to the management of public funds and the inflation crisis. We seriously urge the government to rethink its position and to lower taxes.
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- Sep/29/22 2:32:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if there is one thing all parties should agree on, it is the fact that Canadians should have enough to eat.
Unfortunately, because of inflation, four in five families have had to cut their food budget because of inflation. The government could have chosen to help Canadians directly. Instead, it committed to tripling the Liberal carbon tax as of April 1. That will have a direct impact on food. Canadians are already struggling as it is.
Could the Liberal government make the right decision and cancel this Liberal carbon tax hike, which is three times too high?
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