- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Calgary Forest Lawn
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,041.76
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- Oct/18/23 2:58:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Business Council of Canada is warning the Liberal-NDP government that it can no longer run large, permanent deficits without fear. After eight long years, the Prime Minister has added more debt than every government between 1867 and 2015 combined, creating 40-year highs in inflation and the fastest interest rate hikes ever. There is a massive fear of a looming mortgage default crisis if the Liberals do not balance the budget now. He is just not worth the cost.
Will the Prime Minister stand up today and support our common-sense, fiscally responsible motion to bring in balanced budgets so that Canadians can keep their homes?
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- Oct/17/23 12:28:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to start by congratulating my good friend, the passionate member for King—Vaughan for her incredible speech. She is a great advocate for her community,
Canadians are going through housing hell right now. Nine out of 10 young people say they have lost the dream of home ownership. Newcomers will not be able to achieve home ownership. The IMF is now saying that Canada is the most at risk in the G7 for a mortgage default crisis. There is a major housing crisis in this country, which we need to take seriously before people start losing their homes.
We need to understand how we got here in the first place. The Liberal-NDP government spent more money than all governments before it combined. Let me put this into context. Between 2015 and 2023, the Liberal-NDP government spent more money than every single government did from 1867 to 2015, combined. That has led to 40-year highs in inflation, which has led to the most rapid mortgage interest rate hikes we have seen in the last three decades.
The Bank of Canada had to counter with something, and it did so with the interest rate hikes. That was done in reaction to something, and that something was the government deficit. It is not just Conservatives who admit that government deficits fuelled inflation, making interest rates go up. Random Liberals and others have said the same thing.
I will point to the three Ms: Manley, Macklem and Morneau. They have all admitted that government spending fuels inflation. Mark Carney, who could possibly be the next Liberal leader, also said that inflation was due to domestic pressures. It was nothing to do with outside pressures, as the Liberals and NDP try to make everyone believe. They say that it is always someone else's problem and never theirs. Even someone who could become a Liberal leader admits that the inflation we see today is due to domestic pressures.
Even the current finance minister has admitted this. Though she does not believe in it, she still admitted that government deficits do fuel inflation. It is too bad that, after she said she wanted to be careful to not fuel the inflationary fire, she dumped a $63-billion jerry can of fuel on that inflationary fire. What ended up happening? Inflation went up and so did mortgage interest rates. Once again, this is why Canada is now the most at-risk country in the G7 for a mortgage default crisis.
The Liberal-NDP government shows its incompetence over and over again. These are the geniuses who ended up spending $89 billion, almost $90 billion, on housing only to have housing costs double in this country. Mortgages have doubled. Rents have doubled. Let us look into that a bit deeper.
Why have mortgages doubled in this country? As I identified, it was a domino effect. All the money printing the government did was bounced off by bonds. What ended up happening? We flooded the market in doing that, and there was too much money chasing too few goods, which is literally the definition of inflation.
When inflation went up due to all the government deficits, the Bank of Canada had to do the opposite of what the government is doing. Former Liberal finance minister, John Manley, put it perfectly. He said that today's situation is much like the Liberal-NDP government deficit. It is like it is pressing the gas, the inflationary gas, while the Bank of Canada is slamming on the breaks as hard as it can with its interest rate hikes. Both things are happening at one time. They are working in opposite directions and the engine is going to blow.
Who will be left paying for this mess? Canadian taxpayers will be. There is only one party in the House that cares about taxpayers' money and wants to make sure that Canadians do not lose their homes. That is why our leader, the next prime minister of Canada, the hon. member for Carleton, put this motion forward. It is because we are more worried than ever that Canadians may lose their homes because of the out-of-control deficit spending of the Liberal-NDP government.
Housing costs have gone up. They have doubled in this country after the Liberals spent $89 billion on housing. How does that even happen in a country like Canada?
This is the reality of the failed policies of the Liberal government. I met a single mom in Calgary recently, a single mom with three kids. Her rent went up by $600 a month. She was already struggling to feed her kids and keep a roof over their heads. She was literally in the stat of being the one in five who are skipping meals today. She told me her heartbreaking story of, because of the cost of her rent going up due to these deficits, having to move back in with her abusive ex-husband.
This is the reality of Canadians today. The Liberal-NDP government's failed policies have put Canadians in these types of positions. We can only imagine how many more of these stories we will hear as we travel the country. It is a sad state in Canada today. It should not be. However, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, it is definitely not worth this cost.
We are talking to industry stakeholders and everyday Canadians. We are hearing that people cannot get into housing because of supply. We are also talking to the people who actually build the homes. The number one issue today is interest rates, which were fuelled by the government's deficits. Builders will be sitting on land, and they will not be able to build. In some cases it does not make sense, with all the bureaucracy and with all the red tape created by the government. Along with a willingness to let municipalities create more and more bureaucracy, it is getting harder and harder to build, let alone how much housing costs have gone up for the builders. In some cases it does not make sense to build.
That is why we need to see a balanced, fiscally responsible plan for back-to-balance budgets. I hope the Prime Minister finally understands that budgets do not balance themselves.
An hon. member: Don't hold your breath.
Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan: Madam Speaker, my colleague says, “Don't hold your breath”, and I will not.
Let us put this back into the context of why we brought forward this motion in the first place. It is because of a looming crisis that could take place in this country if the Liberal-NDP government does not bring back balanced budgets. I want to remind Canadians, once again, that it was the finance minister, back in November, who told Canadians, and promised Canadians in writing, that she would bring in balanced budgets in 2027-28.
I will take a step back to before that. It was the same finance minister who told Canadians to go out and borrow as much as they want, that interest rates would be low for a very long time. People started getting mortgages. We saw a big boom in people wanting housing. What those borrowers did not expect, after she said that, was that she would dump hundreds of billions of dollars of fuel on the inflationary fire, which made their interest rates go up. Now there is a looming crisis.
In November of last year, the finance minister promised to bring in balanced budgets. We had a hope that maybe the Liberal-NDP government had seen the light. However, once again, it was only months after that when she said that she was just kidding, that she was never going to balance budgets anyway, and then promised to balance the budget in the year never. Canadians lost all hope.
What we need to do today, under our common sense leader, is bring in a common sense plan to balance the budget, to bring down the inflation and to make sure that Canadians do not lose their homes. When the member for Carleton becomes the next prime minister of this country, we are going to bring home more homes, which people could actually afford; bring down costs; bring home lower prices by axing the failed carbon tax, which is inflationary and making the cost of everything go up; make sure that once we bring down the inflation by controlling deficits, people will not lose their homes.
We are going to bring it home for Canadians.
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- Oct/16/23 2:37:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the finance minister is known for speeding up, just for the wrong reasons.
By adding more debt than every government before them combined, she put the pedal to the metal on her deficits and revved up inflation. Unlike on an Alberta highway, the consequence of her spending is not just a speeding ticket; it is a bigger deficit, as well as higher inflation. These things have led to higher interest rates, putting Canada most at risk in the G7 for a mortgage default crisis.
After eight years, the Liberals are definitely not worth the cost. Is the finance minister going to blow through her budget deficit projections, again, by more than $6 billion, yes or no?
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- Oct/16/23 2:35:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of failed Liberal-NDP policies, the finance minister experiences inflation much differently than everyday Canadians.
Her enormous inflationary deficits led to 40-year highs in inflation that caused the Bank of Canada interest rates to go up, more than ever in history. They are just not worth the cost.
After promising to balance the budget, her own budget watchdog called her out, proving Liberal deficits could reach almost $50 billion this year. I guess budgets do not balance themselves after all.
Could the finance minister tell Canadians how much she is adding to the federal debt this year, or are we asking for too much?
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- May/29/23 8:28:33 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, since the minister flip-flopped on that, she also flip-flopped when the Liberals said, in 2015, they would run modest, short-term deficits of less than $10 billion in each of the next two years and return to balance in 2019. What happened?
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- Dec/2/22 11:18:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Governor of the Bank of Canada has confirmed that if the Liberal deficit has been lower, inflation would have been lower today. The enormous deficit is going to cost each and every Canadian an extra $3,500, meaning less money for food, less money for gas and less money to heat their homes.
When will the Liberals understand that their failed policies and enormous deficits are causing continuous pain on Canadians?
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