- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Board of Internal Economy
Chief opposition whip
Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
- Conservative
- South Surrey—White Rock
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $130,172.43
- Government Page
- Dec/7/22 2:38:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we do not get to pick and choose out of the report. The Auditor General found waste in the billions, and the minister then said that she changed her numbers under pressure from the opposition. Yes, she called the Auditor General's integrity into question. It is shameful.
Meals on Wheels in my community had to close because of high food costs and rising gas prices. Volunteers cannot afford to deliver meals. The $32 billion in government waste is an insult to those who have been stretching dimes into dollars.
Why should the Auditor General, seniors, workers and the vulnerable pay the price for Liberal waste?
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- Dec/7/22 2:36:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General tabled a damning report, finding $32 billion of waste. The Liberals borrowed and printed cash so they could give CERB cheques to prisoners, non-residents and paid civil servants. The minister tried to cover up her incompetence by then bludgeoning the Auditor General on her integrity.
The Conservatives believe in hope. With the huge increase today in interest rate hikes, when will the Prime Minister stop hurting Canadians and attacking those who tell the truth about the waste?
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- Oct/27/22 2:34:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister should tell that to the Liberal MP from Malpeque, who says he is considering leaving Canada because the cost of living is too high.
Yesterday's interest rate hike is another punch in the gut for people in the Lower Mainland. The impact on renters and homeowners is cruel to families trying to make a living and meet their costs. This costly coalition is to blame for this mess. Their unrestrained inflationary spending drove up costs and interest rates. The NDP-Liberals need to stop hurting B.C. with irresponsible spending and high taxes.
Will they axe the triple tax?
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- Oct/27/22 2:32:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the people of Vancouver Island cannot afford this costly coalition. Residents of Port Alberni pay nearly two dollars per litre for gas. In Comox, groceries are up 11% since last year. With interest rates on the rise, many islanders are in danger of losing their homes. Their NDP MPs do not care. They are pushing the Liberals to drive up the cost of living with more greedy taxes and unlimited spending.
Will the coalition members show some compassion, stop their inflationary spending and scrap their tax hikes?
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Madam Speaker, the way the Liberal government is going about it will absolutely add to inflation. One-time cheques on these measures do not a dental plan make. This is not a dental plan; this is a one-time payment. This is not a rent plan; it is a one-time payment. As I just mentioned, for someone paying $2,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, $500 does not go very far.
What need to happens is that inflation needs to be dealt with, which is in itself a tax because it takes away from everyone. It is a regressive tax. It hurts low-income people the most. Liberals have to get the fiscal house of Canada in order. That would help people far more than one cheque.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Peace River—Westlock. Before I begin my remarks on Bill C-30, I do want to express my condolences and sympathies to all those suffering along the Atlantic seaboard. Even though they prepared as best they could, there have been some tragic results. I know that all Canadians are hoping for the very best, and for a very strong and quick recovery for all those affected.
Right now, Canada is facing the highest rate of inflation in 40 years. Canadians are struggling. They do not know what lies ahead or if it will get any easier. Grocery prices have risen at the fastest pace since 1981, soaring above 10% on average, with some items having risen over 30%. This means a typical family of four now spends over $1,200 more each year to put food on the table. That is if inflation does not rise further, something we have no guarantee of under the Liberal government.
Rising gas, heating and rent costs are weighing on the majority of Canadians, who are struggling to get from one paycheque to the other.
Rental increases are crippling income levels, with many having to take on second or third jobs to afford to pay their bills and travel to work. I have heard from many constituents who cannot afford the basic essentials anymore for themselves or their children.
If someone loses their rental accommodation for any reason, or needs to change location, they are hit with gouging increases. A single dad in my riding who has had full-time employment for years, and who is well regarded there, lost his basement suite because new owners wanted to take the space for themselves. He and his young son were literally priced out of other rental spaces that would be anyway similar. Friends are helping them out for now while he continues to try to find a home.
Bill C-30, which amends the goods and services tax credit, would double the amount for individuals and families with low and modest incomes. The GST credit would equal a one-time top-up for an additional $467 for singles without children with a net income of about $39,000, and up to $934 for a family of four. This one-time assistance measure, which Conservatives support as welcome tax relief for workers and families, does little to address the inflation-fuelled affordability crisis facing all Canadians. Individuals without children earning more than $49,200, or a couple with two children earning more than $58,500, would receive no benefits.
This benefit, which equates to $77 per month for a qualifying family of four, covers less than 40% of the Prime Minister's inflation at the grocery store alone, and does not begin to cover the rising costs of heat, gasoline and rent. More than 70% of families with children will not receive this support.
Housing, the cost of living crisis, homelessness and mental health concerns are top issues for B.C. residents. In 2021 alone, there were over 13 million visits to food banks across Canada. That is up 20%. Do the Liberals in the government, who often speak about the need to raise Canadian children out of poverty, realize that children represent over 30% of those food bank users in Canada?
Significantly, one in eight of those accessing food banks is employed. These services are a last resort for most, but they are becoming increasingly common for Canadians who have no other choice. Realistically, how could $77 a month address the burden of this level of desperation? It does not.
The core issue impacting every person in this country is rising inflation levels. Unlike tax-relief measures, such as the GST credit, the government is implementing inflationary proposals, such as tripling the carbon tax on April 1 and lowering every Canadians' paycheque by increasing the employment insurance and Canadian pension plan premiums on the first of January.
Under the previous Conservative government, CPP premiums remained stable and never increased. The fund was left actuarially sound for the next 75 years, and CPP benefits increased every year. Of course, working Canadians want to contribute to their retirements and will continue to do so, but this is not the time to increase those mandatory payments at source when buying power is shrinking more and more.
Tripling the carbon tax will mean that Canadians will again pay more for groceries and home heating and will add up to 37.57¢ per litre to the cost of gas. Yesterday, in the morning, in my riding of South Surrey—White Rock, regular gas prices were sitting at $2.339 a litre. The cost fell in the evening to a mere $2.289 per litre. At this rate, British Columbians will be paying close to three dollars per litre in no time at all.
My riding is a suburb of Vancouver with only one polytechnic university. White Rock is small and bordered beautifully by the water, but Surrey is growing rapidly. Infrastructure, however, has not yet fully caught up to the residential and industrial growth. In South Surrey, with no rapid transit and only bus lanes to get people in and out to Vancouver and beyond, or to get to the major universities in Burnaby and the UBC peninsula, these changes are burdensome and distressing to many who must drive to where they need to go. By the way, moving into Vancouver is not an option when a one-bedroom apartment now rents for $2,600 per month. The Liberals' one-time rent cheque would pay for about five to six days out of 365.
At a time when the national focus should be getting the country's deficit back under control, the government is clawing back at the drastically reduced disposable income of hard-working Canadians, instead of cutting unnecessary spending within the bureaucracy. This government's approach is very limited. It lacks long-term vision for economic recovery.
Many experts are raising alarm bells on the government's financial strategy. The heads of our major banks, including CIBC, the Bank of Montreal and Scotiabank are all warning that handing out cheques is inflationary and will make our economic woes worsen. Derek Holt, vice-president of Scotiabank, has stated, “Any belief that [these measures] will ease inflationary pressures must have studied different economics textbooks.”
Inflation has been described as the cruellest tax of all by economists, because it hurts everyone by making all goods and services more expensive and it impacts low-income Canadians, seniors and students the most. Despite the relief that is offered by the government, high inflation crushes the ability for low-income Canadians to afford the basic necessities of life and curbs the ability of middle-income households to afford optional activities like sports or better quality food for their kids.
According to finance professor Andrey Pavlov at SFU's Beedie school of business, “If we have high inflation and that inflation continues, that assistance isn’t going to do very much to help anyone, including the recipients of that assistance. It’s just not going to be enough.”
Conservatives are advocating to bring inflation back under control. We need to do that. We need to stop inflationary spending. Conservatives understand monetary policy. We warned that inflation would naturally result from the Liberals' spending sprees, which continue. We will fight the government's tax hikes and inflationary deficits to protect Canadian paycheques and savings. We must do this because Canadians are not enjoying a higher standard of living, as I just heard. Canadians are hurting, and it is our job to transform hurt into hope.
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- Jun/6/22 2:36:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, inflation, stagnation, frustration: these are common, everyday, kitchen table words now in Canada.
Inflation means higher costs of production for all food. For farmers and producers, as their costs go up, they cannot continue to absorb these losses. Consumers are stressed. Everyone loses. Food banks are overwhelmed. One out of five Canadians reports going hungry at night.
When is the government going to get serious, help Canadians and get Canada-created inflation under control?
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- May/19/22 2:52:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are seeing 30-year-high inflation. A single dad in my riding tells me he was looking at an illegal 18-by-18 foot rental unit for $1,500 a month and competing with dozens of others.
My daughter and her husband rent in east Vancouver. Their small one-bedroom has no storage and no parking for $2,200 per month. How can young people save for a down payment on a house when their entire pay is going to rent and food?
When is the government going to get serious and help working Canadians with this cost-of-living crisis?
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- Feb/3/22 2:58:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Prime Minister is not concerned about monetary policy, but Canadians are.
I ran into my constituent, Anousha, at the grocery store in January. She was close to tears, and frankly scared about how she was going to get her family through in heat and meat all this winter. The price of gas for Anousha to get her from work to her kids' school is, wait for it, $1.78 a litre in B.C. There is no false narrative there.
Will the government tell us what plan it has to dry Anousha’s tears?
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