- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Board of Internal Economy
House leader of the official opposition
- Conservative
- Regina—Qu'Appelle
- Saskatchewan
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $172,932.98
- Government Page
- May/9/24 2:20:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister, Canadians are getting poorer. His inflationary deficits are pushing up inflation and interest rates.
That is because, when the Prime Minister goes into the markets and borrows billions to fund his spending spree, that bids up the interest rates for everyone else. A new report from the Bank of Canada is shocking. Average mortgage payments will rise by more than 20% in the next couple of years.
Where the heck are Canadian families supposed to come up with an extra few hundred dollars just to pay higher mortgage payments for the homes they already own?
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- Mar/19/24 8:13:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is truly an honour to pay tribute to a great Canadian, a great statesman, a great Conservative and a great man. He was someone who truly lived out his life in service to his fellow Canadians.
When I think of Brian Mulroney, I think of a man who led Canada out of a very difficult time. I cannot begin to enumerate the challenges that Brian Mulroney was facing when the Canadian people placed their trust in him at an unprecedented level. The massive majority that he won in 1984 was a testament to his leadership, his charisma, his ability to connect with people and his ability to show the people of Canada that he was genuinely on their side.
When we think about what he inherited, he inherited runaway inflation. My parents had to struggle with mortgage payments back in the early eighties. I remember the stories about it at the family table. My parents were stressing about how they were going to keep a roof over our heads as interest rates were well into the double digits for many years. That was a pain known by many Canadian families, all across the country.
He inherited a deficit that was out of control, with debt costs that were burdening the taxpayers and the state. He inherited an economy that, over the years, had become choked with government intervention. There were over 60 Crown corporations in 1984 when Brian Mulroney became Prime Minister. Canadians might not know this, but at one point the Government of Canada owned gas stations, Petro-Canada. The previous Liberal government had nationalized and created Crown corporations to manage all the different aspects of the oil and gas sector, including at the retail level. Let us imagine the Government of Canada running gas stations.
Crown corporations had so choked out the productive parts of our economy that Canada was in a very difficult economic situation with minimal growth, rampant deficits, runaway inflation and interest rates that followed. What did he do? He implemented a vision of free market economics, unleashing the power of hard-working Canadians that follows when government gets off their backs and out of their way. Brian Mulroney unleashed that on our country and freed our people to do what they do best.
We can look back and see how, at the end of his tenure, he had wrestled inflation to the ground and brought those interest rates down, and the dynamic private sector flourished and grew. Canadians rewarded him with a second term in 1988.
I truly believe that the mark of a leader who holds an office of power, whether it is a premier, prime minister or a mayor, is whether their political opponents undo the things that they have done. We all remember the debates at the time when Brian Mulroney was bringing in his vision of free trade. Free trade is such a great example of his leadership ability, his passion and his conviction. It was terribly unpopular for many months and years, but he saw the long-term benefits that would pay off for Canada. He saw that, once businesses and people would be able to freely trade back and forth with our largest ally, our largest economy and our largest trading partner, the gains would be massive.
In the 1988 election, every other political party fought him tooth and nail. This was not just a secondary or small issue that flared up a little. This was the seminal question of the 1988 election. Every single vested interest group that knew it had been benefiting from state protection went to war to confuse Canadians, undermine the arguments that were being presented, and try to scare people into voting against the free trade deal and against the Conservative Party. Many a politician would have taken a look at those polling numbers and said that they could not touch it, that it was not something that would fly.
It is campaigning 101 when we sit down with our team, look at our platform, look at the polls and say that we might like to do something one day, but the Canadian people are not there; we are not going to offer it and are not going to commit. Brian Mulroney said to forget the polls, that it was about what our country needed, what would make our country stronger and what would make our country more prosperous, and he fought through it all. With the power of his conviction, with his amazing communication style and with that smooth, silky baritone voice, he was able to convince Canadians to place their trust in him once again.
Of course, every single successive government has not only promised to keep that free trade deal, but now competes for better free trade deals. Political parties now have to show Canadians how they are going to find more markets for our exports and how they are going to sign new free trade deals with other countries. It is now remarkable to watch when we think back to that 1988 election and look at elections today.
He denationalized, as my colleague from Quebec just mentioned a few moments ago, over 20 Crown corporations that were cluttering up the economy. We all know what happens when governments run things. When governments run things, they do not provide great services at affordable costs. They are not responsive to consumer needs; they are responsive to what works best for government. We see this across the board. Imagine living in a country where there are 63 Crown corporations in everything from railways to airlines to retail gasoline. Brian Mulroney helped declutter the economy. He went to work weeding the garden.
That is how I evaluate a former prime minister's legacy. Despite all the opponents who were promising to fight tooth and nail over his vision and agenda, have any of them undone what he did? The answer is largely no, because he was right. It did make Canada a better place to have free trade deals. It did make Canada a better place to have a more dynamic free market where Canadians were free to do what they do best and be prosperous. The fact that so much of his legacy is intact today and that political parties compete over who will protect that legacy stronger is an amazing testament to Brian Mulroney as a statesman.
I want to share a couple of anecdotes to show what Brian Mulroney was as a human being.
To say that he was magnanimous would be an understatement, and he was not just charming. When we give praise, sometimes people think we are just engaging in flattery or trying to be nice so that someone reciprocates. With Brian Mulroney, it was genuine. People genuinely felt, whether it was in a phone call, when bumping into him at an event or when having the opportunity to sit down and really unpack something, that the entire time they were with Brian, they were the most important person in the world at that moment.
He was so quick to compliment and so slow to criticize. His criticism was always constructive, and he was such a booster, not just of the Conservative Party but of Canada. He wanted Canada to succeed. We saw this time and time again. When political parties of different stripes reached out to him for help on a file, he always said yes, because he always put his country first, and he always knew that his Conservative principles would make his country so much better.
He would often call me during my tenure as leader of the party. I was so thankful that I had the opportunity to tap into that wisdom and experience. Every single phone call I had with Brian Mulroney started off with the subject of what he wanted to talk about. He would say, “I want to talk to you about something”, and he would say what it was. However, he would also say, “Before we get there, how is that wonderful wife of yours? How is Jill doing? How are Thomas, Grace, Madeline, Mary and Henry?” He knew all their names, and he knew how old they were. He knew what I had told him the last time I was on the phone with him. If I mentioned that one of my children was playing sports, he would ask how that basketball team of theirs was going. He genuinely demonstrated that he cared about people on a human level, not just because of the office they happened to hold.
I could tell in everything he did that his guiding light was his family too. Mila was the rock, the person he credits with all his success, and his wonderful children have all gone on to be very successful themselves.
I just want to thank Brian Mulroney. I thank him for the service that he provided for our country. I thank Mila and their children. I thank them for putting up with the fact that they had to share their dad and husband for so many years with this wonderful country.
I sincerely wish that he rests in peace and that his friends and family are comforted in this difficult time and during the public state ceremonies and his funeral.
Thanks very much, Brian Mulroney. May you rest in peace.
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- Nov/23/23 2:24:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is disgraceful and cruel is using Ukraine's vulnerability, while Russian tanks are on its soil, to shove a carbon tax permanently down our throats.
Canadians should not be fooled by the Liberals' phony outrage. They are desperate to talk about anything except for their terrible budget. That is because not only are workers' paycheques going to pay for higher prices and interest rates, but now their tax dollars are going to pay for higher interest payments on the national debt. In fact, next year the government will spend more on the national debt than on health care and the armed forces.
When will the government stop its deficits so we can pay doctors, nurses and soldiers instead of bankers and bondholders?
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- Nov/23/23 2:23:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's mini-budget was full of bad news for Canadians. Rent is up, taxes are up, prices are up and interest rates are up to fight the inflation his deficits caused. In fact, Scotiabank said that its mortgage rates would be two full percentage points lower if the government could just control its spending. That would be the difference, for hundreds of thousands of Canadians, between losing their homes and being able to renew their mortgages.
Does the government realize that time is running out? Will it end its deficit spending so that Canadians can keep their homes?
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- Sep/21/23 2:36:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is that their inflationary spending is evaporating any benefit that Canadians might hope for. The Prime Minister admitted in this House that any benefit their programs might have provided Canadians was completely wiped out by higher inflation and higher interest rates.
The former Liberal finance minister knows this. John Manley said, “This is a bit like driving your car with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake generally.... That’s not a good plan for controlling the direction of your vehicle, not a good plan for controlling the direction of the economy either.”
This reckless driving is forcing Canadians out of their homes and pushing food off their table. When will they stop the inflationary deficits so that Canadians can stay in their homes?
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- Sep/21/23 2:35:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, it is crystal clear that he is not worth the cost. His deficits are driving up inflation. Even his finance minister knows this. Just one year ago, she said that her goal was to “not pour fuel on the fire of inflation”.
Then what did she do? She grabbed the jerry can and poured $60 billion of new spending on that dumpster fire. The result was higher inflation, which means higher interest rates, which means Canadians will have bigger mortgage payments and may not be able to stay in their homes.
Time is running out. When will the government stop its inflationary deficits so that Canadians can keep a roof over their heads?
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- Jun/5/23 2:11:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, “Water, water everywhere, so let's all have a drink.” At least Homer Simpson thought so as he scooped up a mouthful of sea-water to quench his thirst. Of course, while it may have the illusion of relief, drinking ocean water will not cure thirst; it will only make it worse. That is a lot like the Liberal budget. It is full of salt water.
Canadians are parched with inflation caused by massive Liberal deficits. Even prominent Liberals, such as John Manley, Bill Morneau and the finance minister herself admitted that bigger deficits would make the problem worse. Not only are the Liberals salting the water by tripling the first carbon tax and introducing a second one, but they are also racking up $63 billion in new inflationary deficits. Extra spending means extra borrowing, which means higher interest rates for Canadians.
Therefore, the illusion that Liberals are offering in response to the cost of living crisis will actually just make things worse. Canadians will not be fooled. They are smarter than Homer Simpson and the finance minister, and they are demanding the real relief that Conservatives are offering. We are offering the fresh water of lower taxes, an end to inflationary deficits and a stop to the waste and mismanagement.
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- Feb/16/23 2:21:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, eight years of inflationary deficits fuelled by Liberal waste and corruption have caused an incredible hardship for our Canadians.
To fight that Liberal inflation, the Bank of Canada has massively hiked interest rates. Higher interest rates mean higher mortgage payments, meaning people have to pay more to the bank just to live in the house they already own. In fact, the average mortgage payment for a typical home in Canada has soared to over $3,000 a month.
Will the Prime Minister take responsibility and admit that it was his waste and corruption that is causing this cost of living crisis, or will he get out of the way and let Conservatives fix his mess?
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- Feb/14/23 2:21:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always smart to vote against inflationary deficits that drive up the cost of living.
The Liberals have learned the wrong lesson from this hotel bill scandal. One would think that, after billing taxpayers $6,000 a night for a single room, the lesson learned would be to book a cheaper room next time. Instead, the lesson the Liberals have learned is to cover it up better.
Emails between the PM's staff reveal government officials scheming to cover up the scandal. One even suggested burying these costs in next year's public accounts. The word finally came down from the minister herself to simply stop answering questions altogether, all this at a time when Canadians are paying more just to stay in their own homes.
Why is treating taxpayers' money with respect never the lesson the Liberals learn?
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- Feb/14/23 2:19:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this scandal stings taxpayers so much because it comes at a time when housing costs are taking more and more out of Canadian paycheques.
After eight years of Liberal deficits, interest rates have risen, meaning homeowners have to pay more to the banks in interest payments just to stay in their own homes. In fact, after eight years of the Liberal government, the average monthly mortgage cost has more than doubled and the average $600,000 mortgage sees interest costs go from $12,000 a year to over $30,000 a year.
Again, does the minister think it was a good idea for the Prime Minister to bill taxpayers for one night's hotel stay what homeowners pay in two full months on their mortgages?
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- Feb/10/23 11:30:44 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, eight years of Liberal deficits, waste and corruption have driven inflation to record highs, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the grocery aisle. The Prime Minister likes to try to blame everyone else, but even the Liberals are now admitting that inflation is caused by domestic factors. One of those factors is the carbon tax. It makes everything farmers use to grow their crops more expensive, and those costs get passed onto consumers. The government is now going to triple that carbon tax.
Why should Canadians believe anything the Liberals say about addressing the cost of living crisis, when they are deliberately making Canadians pay more for food?
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- Nov/24/22 3:18:01 p.m.
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Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is the best part of Thursday. It is the Thursday question. I just want to ask the government House leader if he can inform the members as to the business for the rest of this week and for next week as well.
I would like to take the opportunity to make a couple of suggestions for government business. We had the Bank of Canada governor admit at committee that deficits fuel inflation, so I was wondering if there would be an opportunity for the government to introduce another fall economic update where it would lower its deficits.
Also, I was wondering if the government might schedule a take-note debate at some point next week so that the House can really study the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report that concludes, based on numbers that the government has provided, that the vast majority of Canadians pay far more in the carbon tax than anything they hope to receive in the form of a rebate.
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- Oct/28/22 11:22:56 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we are against is the inflationary deficits that the government is causing. The reason prices are going up today is that the government flooded the banking system with $400 billion of brand new cash, and now Canadians have to pay for it.
Again, and these are based on modest estimates from the Canadian Real Estate Association, a typical family in Ottawa will have to come up with an extra $1,000 a month when they go to renew their mortgage. Once again, has the government been briefed on how many Canadian families are going to lose their homes because of the Liberal-caused inflation?
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- Oct/28/22 11:20:12 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told Canadians not to worry about his massive deficits and borrowing and spending, because he said interest rates would stay low for a very long time. Then he turned around and pumped $400 billion into Canada's banking system, causing prices to rise.
Now, to fight the inflation the Liberals caused, the Bank of Canada has again jacked up interest rates. For the average mortgage in Vancouver, that means families will have to find another $1,900 a month just to stay in their own homes.
Has the government been briefed on how many Canadians will have to turn their keys over to the bank as they struggle to pay these rising mortgage costs?
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- Oct/7/22 11:22:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals have their hands in Canadians' back pockets taking more and more out of the paycheques that Canadians work so hard to earn, and prices are continuing to rise because of this government. Any relief that Canadians may hope to experience will evaporate in a very short period of time as inflation continues to hurt Canadian families.
Once again, we know that inflation is caused by Liberal deficits and we know that prices are going to go up even more when they triple the carbon tax. An easy way to help Canadians with the cost of living crisis that the costly coalition has caused is to cancel their plans to triple the carbon tax. Will they do that?
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- Oct/7/22 11:20:54 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal economic policy can be summed up in four words: “smaller paycheques; higher prices”. Smaller paycheques come into effect in the new year when this government takes a bigger bite out of the paycheques that Canadians work so hard to earn, but higher prices are here today. Because of Liberal deficits forcing the Bank of Canada to flood our economy with money, prices are at record highs.
Hard-working moms and dads picking up groceries this weekend for the Thanksgiving meal are in for a sticker shock. Turkey is up 15%, and potatoes are up 22%. Those prices are going to rise even further after the government triples its carbon tax.
Why will this government not give Canadians a break and cancel its plans to triple the carbon tax?
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- Sep/29/22 10:06:50 a.m.
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moved:
That, given that the cost of government is driving up inflation, making the price of goods Canadians buy and the interest they pay unaffordable, this House call on the government to commit to no new taxes on gas, groceries, home heating and pay cheques.
He said: Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak to this very important and timely motion.
The government's economic policy can be summed up in four simple words: smaller paycheques, higher prices. The cost of government is driving up the cost of living. What do the Conservatives mean when we say that? If we look at why prices are rising, it is directly linked to the massive deficits the Prime Minister has been racking up pretty much since his first day in office. In its first year in power, the government made a conscious decision to spend more money than it received and plunge this country into those deficits. That weakened our economy before the pandemic.
It is fair to say that nobody could have seen the COVID pandemic coming, but it is also prudent for a government to predict that the unknown could occur. We might not have known that it was going to be this crisis, but governments must be prepared for any number of world or global events that it might be forced to respond to. Plunging the country into those deficits when times were good was therefore a foolish thing to do. Obviously, in retrospect, it was massively unhelpful, as our country had to deal with the COVID pandemic from a weakened position because of the government's policies.
I know so many of my colleagues want to speak to this very important motion, because it is affecting people's lives in such a real and practical way, so I will be splitting my time this morning to allow for more members to participate in this debate.
How did the government's deficits lead to that higher spending? Well, the government had to go out and borrow a bunch of money that it did not have, so it turned to the Bank of Canada, and the Bank of Canada made a decision to underwrite the government's deficit spending by purchasing government bonds, or IOUs. When a government has to borrow money, it writes a promise to pay the money back. That is called a bond. Normally, individuals or institutions can buy those bonds and expect to get paid the interest, and the government pays the bond back at the end of the term. However, the Bank of Canada did something a little different: It created new money right out of thin air to buy those government bonds.
It started creating five billion dollars in new currency every single week, starting in March 2020, to buy those government bonds. That new money, not backed up by new production, not backed up by economic growth and not backed up by any extra production of goods or services, washed through the system.
There could be big winners when the government creates money out of thin air. The big winners are the large financial institutions that get the money first, because they go out and gobble up assets. They buy property and commodities. They do that with the new money before everybody realizes there is a whole new influx of currency in the system. When everybody else gets that money when it eventually makes its way through the economy, prices start to go up. Those large financial institutions and wealthy investors can then sell those commodities and make money on the difference. That is why prices have gone up, and it is also why we have seen record profits at large financial institutions like the big banks.
That is why we say that the cost of government has driven up the cost of living. Literally, the government's extra spending, wasteful spending, forced the Bank of Canada to underwrite those deficits, creating that new money and causing prices to rise. That is the higher prices.
What about the smaller paycheques? Well, what the government is planning to do on January 1 is take a bigger bite out of Canadians' paycheques with an increase in paycheque taxes. Canadians are going to be forced to pay more right off the top on their paycheques, and the government is going to take part of the extra tax it collects, scoop it out of the EI fund and spend it.
We know this. We know the government's plan for the EI increase is simply going to be gobbled up by regular government spending. In fact, the extra premiums the government will collect will put the EI fund into a $10-billion surplus over the short term, and all of that will be taken by the Prime Minister to finance his pet spending projects.
Where is a big chunk of that extra money going? It is going to the interest on our national debt. The Prime Minister has racked up more debt than every single other prime minister combined, and the PBO report indicates that just the interest on our national debt, which Canadian taxpayers will be forced to pay, will double. Soon, the portion of our tax dollars that go to pay just the interest on that national debt will be higher than the amount that is spent on the Canadian Armed Forces. That is the scale we are talking about.
What is the result? Well, we have all heard the heart-wrenching stories in our ridings. We have all heard from the seniors who have had to delay their retirement and watch their life savings evaporate with inflation. Thirty year-olds are trapped in tiny, 400-square-foot apartments in our large cities or, even worse, are still living in their parents' basement because the price of homes has doubled under the Liberals. Single mothers are putting water in their children's milk so they can afford the 10% year-over-year increase in the price of groceries.
It is no wonder that people are worried. Most are lucky just to get by, but so many are falling far behind. There are people in this country who are just barely hanging on. These are our friends and neighbours, and we in the House are their servants. It is up to us to take real action to address this Liberal-caused inflation crisis.
The Conservatives are bringing forward very simple and practical solutions to help Canadians across the country. Today, the Conservatives are calling on the government to not make the situation worse. The Liberals have already done damage with higher prices. They do not need to shrink Canadians' paycheques, which is what this government is planning to do. Not only are they adding inflationary fuel on the fire with their continued plans to increase spending, but they are reducing Canadians' ability to cope with the government-caused inflation by shrinking those paycheques.
A new poll out today is just jaw-dropping: 90% of Canadians are tightening their household budgets due to inflation. Almost half, or 46%, say they are worse off now than they were at the same time last year when it comes to their own finances, which represents a 12-year high. Over half say that it is difficult to feed their household, and this number rises to seven in 10, or 68%, among those with household incomes below $50,000. Canadians cannot keep up.
As for grocery prices, I have five children and our grocery bill is big enough as it is with a few teenagers in the house. Those prices have skyrocketed, up over 10% and rising at the fastest pace in 40 years. With inflationary pressures at this rate, the government's supports do not even help the problem but contribute to it, as that extra spending is added to the amount of money the government needs to borrow, which is causing that vicious circle of higher inflation.
The average Canadian family now spends more of its income on taxes than it does on basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing combined. By comparison, 33.5% of the average family's income went to pay taxes in 1961. Thirty-three per cent of income in 1961 went to taxes and now that number is 43%, so more is spent on taxes than food, shelter and clothing combined. It is simply jaw-dropping.
On Tuesday, the Conservatives proposed that the government should cancel its plan to triple the carbon tax. The cost of everything is set to skyrocket as the government triples the amount that it charges Canadians on home heating and fuel, with all the effects that has on literally everything else that Canadians have to buy. Groceries, lumber and household items all go up when the government raises the carbon tax by 300%.
Today, we have another practical solution: The government should get its hands off Canadians' paycheques and let Canadians keep more of their hard-earned dollars. It has already robbed Canadians of the purchasing power that they are already earning, and their existing paycheques are already devalued because of the government's inflationary policies. It is never a good time to raise taxes, but the absolute worst time to raise taxes on Canadians' paycheques is when they are already struggling so hard to get by with day-to-day goods.
I hope every member of the House supports this common-sense, practical motion to stop the government's tax hikes on Canadians' paycheques.
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- Sep/20/22 3:03:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what has been vaporized is Canadians' purchasing power as the government has caused the record-breaking inflation that is hammering Canadians' abilities to make ends meet.
The best way to stop inflation is to put an end to the deficits that caused it in the first place. Instead, the Liberals are going to make the problem a whole lot worse. Rising prices have robbed Canadians of the ability to heat their homes and fill their fridges, and in the coming new year, the government is planning on hiking payroll taxes and carbon taxes, meaning Canadians will have to spend more as they take home less.
Will the government simply cancel its planned tax hikes?
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- Sep/20/22 3:00:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cost of government is driving up the cost of living. A half trillion dollars of Liberal inflationary deficits have bid up the cost of the goods we buy and the interest we pay. Inflation is running at historic highs and taking a massive bite out of the ability of Canadians to pay the bills.
Now, if one thought it could not get much worse, one would be wrong, because the Liberals are planning on raising taxes on the paycheques of Canadians by hiking CPP and EI premiums.
Instead of making the problem worse, will the government commit to cancelling its planned tax hikes and cancel its tripling of the carbon tax?
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- May/19/22 2:11:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, inflation is not like the weather. It is not something that just happens like a snowstorm in May. The inflation that Canadians are suffering from today is a direct result of the deficits the Prime Minister racked up, bankrolled by the money printing of the Bank of Canada.
When the Prime Minister ran out out of other people's money to borrow, he turned to the bank, and the governor was only too happy to oblige. The Bank of Canada created over $400 billion in brand new money to purchase the government bonds to pay for the out-of-control Liberal spending.
Any time we get more dollars chasing fewer goods, we get inflation. The decision to bankroll the government's deficit spending undermined the bank's independence. It has one main mandate: to keep inflation at 2%. It has completely failed and Canadians are right to demand accountability.
To restore the bank's independence, the leadership at the bank needs to stop acting like it is the Prime Minister's personal ATM. As Milton Friedman said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon”. We cannot expect the Prime Minister to know that. He brags that he does not even think about monetary policy.
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