SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

John Brassard

  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Barrie—Innisfil
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 68%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $99,360.72

  • Government Page
  • May/7/24 5:06:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, clearly the country is in desperate need of infrastructure replacement, and not just from a rail standpoint. The difficulty I have with the budget, frankly, is that it does not necessarily focus all of its attention on that. I see a lot of debt and a lot of deficit. I see problems for future generations that are going to be caught up in many of the issues that the budget faces, not the least of which is the ability for young people to have hope for their future. They are being weighed down in mountains of debt and deficit as well. We need to control spending.
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  • Apr/10/24 2:20:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadian families and business owners are paying the price with an NDP-Liberal government that is addicted to debt and deficits. Record-high deficits and carbon taxes driving up inflation are increasing the costs on everything, including the necessities of life. Interest rate increases fuelled by NDP-Liberal spending and increased debt are punishing Canadian families and business owners. We are just now starting to see the full impact that increases on mortgage rates are having on mortgage renewals, and it is a crisis. No prime minister has added more to the national debt than the current Prime Minister. Through it all, he has been aided and abetted by his NDP coalition partners. Anyone who has any sense at all knows that one does not put more fuel on an already out-of-control debt-and-deficit fire. It is time for a return to fiscal common sense in this country that sees a government cap spending to bring down interest rates and inflation with a dollar-for-dollar rule that finds a dollar in savings for every new dollar spent. Common-sense Conservatives will not support the budget unless it axes the tax, builds homes not photo ops, and caps spending.
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  • Apr/27/23 7:54:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the people of Barrie—Innisfil, in this case, to speak about the budget. It is not lost on me that game five of the Leafs is on tonight. I understand that the score is 1-1 at the first intermission. I am pretty certain that my mom and everybody in this place are the only ones hearing me speak tonight, because many are watching the game. With respect to the budget implementation act, it is not going to be a surprise to the other side, and certainly not a surprise to many of the constituents who voted for me, that I will not be supporting the budget. There are many reasons not to, and I am going to highlight just a few tonight, along with how the budget would directly impact the businesses and residents of Barrie—Innisfil. The sheer magnitude of the numbers speaks volumes about a government whose spending is completely out of control. As a result of the spending, the billions of dollars of deficits and the trillions of dollars of debt being created, future generations are going to be impacted by the decisions that are made today, for many generations to come, including my children. Quite frankly, I am very concerned about their future. I am concerned about the future of many young people in my riding of Barrie—Innisfil, many of whom are becoming despondent. They are angry that they have been lied to and let down by the Prime Minister, who, in 2015, made all these promises, particularly to the younger generation. They are not now finding themselves angry or upset, but despondent, because many of them are not going to be able to afford the types of things that even their parents and grandparents have been able to enjoy. Worse yet, the burden of debt and deficit is something that this generation and future generations will pay for for a long time. The magnitude of the numbers is just staggering. The numbers are staggering with respect to what this budget sets out, not just as current expenditures but also future expenditures. Cumulative spending for the next five years is at a record $3.1 trillion. If these numbers are to be believed, remembering that in the fall the Liberals promised a balanced budget, and if they do not add in any more spending for the rest of the term, they would add $130 billion to the debt with these projected deficits. The national debt would rise to a record $1.3 trillion, with a debt ceiling, in the Financial Administration Act, that is set at $1.8 trillion. We are rapidly approaching that debt ceiling. I know many members have spoken about this, but the Prime Minister has actually doubled the debt, more than all previous prime ministers combined, as a result of the spending. That is a scary proposition. We often talk about the interest on the national debt because it has an impact on services that government provides. It is about $44 billion today and will rise to $50 billion in five years if the government's interest rate calculations are correct. This is a government that has not been very good at predicting interest rates. There is the famous video of when the Prime Minister was asked by Glen McGregor of CTV about the potential for rising interest rates. He had almost a stunned look on his face and suggested that interest rates are low and are going to remain low. We have seen, I believe, eight interest rate increases over the last year, which are having a dramatic effect on affordability for people, whether it is variable-rate loans or mortgages, or mortgages coming up for renewal. We are into a three-year cycle of mortgage renewals and people are going to be awfully shocked when they renew and see how much more those mortgage interest rates are going to cost. In fact, many people are now paying more in interest and not even paying down the principal as a result of renewing, adding to the existing affordability crisis. The projection numbers in this budget are staggering. I was supposed to make this speech on Monday, but because of some procedural things, here we are on Thursday night. The other day, in preparation for tonight, I had an opportunity to speak with my staff. As members of Parliament, as everyone knows, we are on the ground. We talk to our constituents at events we attend and we see what is happening, but when I am in Ottawa, it is really my constituency people who are receiving the phone calls and getting the emails from seniors and average, middle-class families in Barrie—Innisfil who are concerned. I asked them what some of the messages were that people were telling them on the phone. They were very similar to what I hear when I am out in public, which is that paycheques are thinner, that people are not making as much as they once were. A lot of that has to do with increased taxation, but it also has to do with payroll tax increases, increases in the CPP and EI for example, which eat it away. Grocery prices have doubled. Gas bills have tripled, in large part because of the carbon tax. I am going to speak about that in a second. The other thing they said is that hydro rates have gone up. All of that is adding to the affordability crisis for people in Barrie—Innisfil, not just individuals, families and households, but also businesses. We get phone calls from businesses talking about these increased costs, particularly in the agriculture sector, which forms a large part of my constituency in Innisfil. I have talked to producers and wholesalers, who are telling me about the cost of the carbon tax on their gas bills and how it is increasing their production costs. Of course, those costs are going to be passed on, through the wholesalers and producers, to the end consumers, which means that we are going to continue to see increases in grocery prices down the line. Social agencies are struggling as well. In Innisfil, we had a tremendous, compassionate individual whose name was Troy Scott. Unfortunately, he passed away as a result of COVID. He was the local Foodland owner. After his passing, the Town of Innisfil decided it was going to honour his memory by having Troy Scott community fridges placed strategically around different areas in the municipality. This is how bad the food insecurity crisis is: As soon as those fridges are filled, they are emptied. There are people coming on a daily basis who, because of the food crisis and the fact they cannot afford to buy food, are seeking food from these fridges because it is free. We have a very benevolent community filling up those fridges, but they are being emptied just as quickly. Other social agencies are struggling. There is something structurally wrong in this country right now, a G7 country, when Canadians are feeling an affordability and inflation crunch like never before, particularly as it relates to food insecurity and housing affordability and attainability. It is a big problem that needs to be fixed. One of the main reasons why I cannot support this is the continuation of the carbon tax that the budget implementation act calls for. We asked the government to deal with this from an affordability crisis perspective and to axe the carbon tax because of the impact it is having on Canadian families, businesses, wholesalers and producers. In 2019, the government ran on a promise of $50 a tonne. A year later, it announced that the carbon tax was going to go up to $170 a tonne by 2030. That is going to increase prices beyond what people can afford in a community like Barrie—Innisfil, with a lack of significant mass transit and connectivity from community to community. We have the GO train, which gets people to Toronto, but most people drive to work. They either drive to work within the GTA or they drive to Barrie. It is costing them money every time they fill up their car or turn on the furnace or the air conditioning in their home. That is adding to the cost of life. Groceries are being impacted by it as well. The government has said it is adding money to the pockets of people, but the PBO has countered that. The other thing concerns Lake Simcoe. It is mentioned in this budget, but is part of a broader lakes program. We have asked for specific funding. The government, in 2019, stood at the end of Bayfield Street and promised $40 million for the Lake Simcoe fund. It has not sent a dime yet, which is another broken promise. I am not certain that Lake Simcoe is going to be a priority. I hope it is. This budget adds a lot more pain than gain to Canadian families, particularly those I represent in Barrie—Innisfil. That is just part of the reason why I cannot support the budget.
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  • Apr/18/23 12:16:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, listening to the hon. member's speech, one would think Canadians, and particularly Torontonians, have never had it so good. In fact, prior to the pandemic, of the 128 food bank networks across the greater Toronto area, 65,000 people were using the food bank. This March, 275,000 people used the food bank. Across Canada, 1.5 million people are using food banks. Does the hon. member not take any responsibility for government policy creating this mess in terms of the debt, the deficits and the increased inflation, all the things that have contributed to this food bank usage?
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  • Jan/30/23 2:18:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Prime Minister's high taxes and inflationary deficits, 22% of Canadians, 28% of them women, say they are completely broke. After eight years, 32% say they will be in the same boat if prices continue rising. After eight years, 52% are concerned they do not have enough money to feed their families. After eight years, 1.5 million Canadians are using food banks every month. After eight years, young people feel lied to and let down by this Prime Minister. After eight years, seniors can barely afford groceries and many are living in the cold, unable to heat their homes. After eight years, Canadians are anxious, angry and worried about their future. After eight years, this Prime Minister is completely out of touch and has no solutions to the problems that he has created. After eight years of dividing Canadians, this is a Prime Minister who cannot be redeemed; he can only be replaced. After eight years, Canada's Conservatives, led by the member for Carleton, are focused and ready to lead and as Parliament returns, we will show Canadians why.
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  • Mar/31/22 4:09:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not happen to believe that earning a profit is a bad thing. I also do not happen to believe nor share the view of the NDP regarding businesses earning a profit. Whether it is a small-town business in Barrie—Innisfil or a large corporation, they pay their fair share of taxes. The NDP talks a lot about a 1% tax on the rich. That is going to generate about $7 billion a year in revenue, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. We have a debt right now— Some hon. members: Oh, oh! Mr. John Brassard: Do not clap right now, because we have a deficit of $400 billion, and $400 billion minus $7 billion is $393 billion. Where are they going to get the rest of that money back? Where are they going to get the rest of the money to pay for that deficit? They are going to get it with an economy that is firing on all cylinders, not by picking and choosing winners, and by making sure that every sector in every region of this country is economically firing on all cylinders.
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  • Mar/31/22 3:55:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Calgary Centre. Far too often, it is easy for us to sit in this symbol of democracy and lose perspective on what is happening within our constituencies. The affordability factor is real right now. What many people were saying was a transitory inflation period has actually become a state of permanent inflation, and it is affecting everything from gasoline to home heating. The impact it is having on Canadians is very real, specifically in my constituency of Barrie—Innisfil. A little later I am going to be talking about some of the impacts that were told to me directly from people so that not only this place but Canadians can understand the real impacts inflation and the affordability crisis Canadians are facing today are having on my constituency. Canadians have been resilient for the past two years dealing with COVID. There have been many government programs that have been implemented. As a result of that, we have seen increases in debt and deficit. The latest figures I heard were $400 billion in deficit and $1.3 trillion in debt. What we are saying, through this motion, is that there needs to be some semblance of getting back to a fiscal framework where we are not seeing those levels of increase in debt and deficit through unsustainable government programs. There is no question some of these measures that were implemented needed to be implemented. They needed to be targeted. In many ways, Conservatives supported some of those measures, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. We are getting to a point right now where many Canadians, young Canadians, seniors and families, are losing hope that there is a prosperous future for them because of the fiscal situation they are in. This is a fiscal situation that has been exacerbated by government debt and deficit, which is leaving us vulnerable. We are starting to see increases in interest rates and the service level of that debt is going to have a profound effect on families with mortgages, lines of credit and credit cards. However, it is even going to have a more profound effect on government as this debt piles up and the cost of servicing that debt increases. I would argue there is an attack on many aspects of revenue in this country. We have seen certain sectors of our economy, like the natural resource sector, the fisheries over the last several weeks and other sectors, attacked through legislative and regulatory burdens. Traditional sectors that normally create revenue for the government have been attacked, and that is increasing the vulnerability of not just government revenues but the ability to pay for those increases in servicing costs. Canadians are struggling more than ever as a result of inflation, which is now at 5.7% and is the highest inflation in a generation. It is the highest inflation rate in over 30 years. Canadians are being burdened not just by the inflation but by the level of debt. We saw just recently a Statistics Canada report that showed $1.86 of every household income coming in is going toward servicing debt. Think about that. Just a year ago or two years ago we were at $1.70. That number is steadily increasing and it is causing a problem. The amount that households have added to their debt burden has amounted to $50 billion just over the last quarter. These are staggering numbers that really put at risk those working-class, middle-class and lower-class households in this country that have been struggling and will continue to struggle under this burden of debt. What we are talking about today is at least attempting to get this fiscal house in order. History in this country has shown that previous Liberal governments like the Martin and Chrétien governments were very good at fiscal responsibility and social Liberal tendencies. This is where I would classify my politics. I believe we need to be responsible in our finances, but we also need to look after the most vulnerable. It is the most vulnerable who are at the greatest risk as a result of this debt increase, this debt burden and this out-of-control government spending, debt and deficits. The social safety net programs that many Canadians rely on are at risk as a result of the servicing costs of debt. We really need to get to a point where we are focused on this fiscal framework and getting things aligned. It does not have to come from austerity and it does not have to come from cuts. I will speak about that in a couple of minutes. We know that the government's spending is certainly out of control. Two-thirds of Canadians say that inflation and an affordability crisis are their top economic concerns. Canadians are requiring real solutions to skyrocketing inflation and the cost of living. This is not just hitting households; it is hitting businesses. I just had a meeting with the Barrie Chamber of Commerce, and the increase of costs is a very a real and serious threat and concern to the economic recovery of businesses. A friend of mine who owns a local business just got his carbon tax bill, for example, and that bill alone was $1,384. Businesses with tight margins of, say, 10%, have to come up with 13,800 dollars' worth of sales just to pay for the carbon tax. Again, businesses are getting to a point right now where they are becoming uncompetitive. Gas price is another significant concern. It is up 30% since last year. The price of gas in Barrie today is 167.9¢. Tomorrow the carbon tax is going to see a 25% increase, which means that the price of fuel is going to go up by 11¢. This may not be a problem in downtown Toronto, downtown Montreal or downtown Vancouver, but it is a problem in Barrie—Innisfil, where there are a lot of people who drive to the GTA. They drive for an hour and are filling up their tanks for over $120. I have heard stories that it is costing $120, whereas a year ago it might have cost $65 or $70. This is how much of an impact it is having on affordability for families, and it is taking away from other things. There are seniors who are no longer driving to places for fear that they will have to put gas in their cars, so they are limiting their social interaction at a time when they should be increasing it after the COVID crisis. It is becoming a real problem. There is a story about the Innisfil Food Bank. It is seeing an increase in demand, but it is also seeing an increase in the costs of servicing that demand because of grocery prices. Here is what happens. When the prices increase and the carbon tax increases, the manufacturers and wholesalers pass that on and we end up paying a price for it at the grocery store. We are already seeing that day in and day out every time people go to the grocery store. The Innisfil Food Bank says that more donations will not be enough because as prices skyrocket, more people can no longer afford to buy groceries. Just a month ago, I took advantage of the resources available to me through the House. I sent out a householder to my residents and asked this question: “How concerned are you about the rising cost of groceries, gas and heating your home?” I will give a sample of some of the responses that I heard from Barrie—Innisfil. “I fear my children in their 20's will never be able to afford a home of their own. It's quite heartbreaking”, says Christine of Barrie. “The price of living makes things extremely hard to live. The amount of taxes we pay is ridiculous. If you don't save while you're young, by the time you retire how will you survive? You work for 30 years in a job and just have a Canada pension”, says John of Innisfil. In another one from Innisfil, Garry says, “$6.00 increases in OAS. It's time to get something for seniors. We are staving.” Robert from Barrie says it is “$1.50 per a litre of gas”. That was last month. It is $1.67 this morning. He says it is “$255.00 for 1 month's heating bill. Housing prices + rent [are] out of control.” Monica from Innisfil says she is “finding it difficult to advance and afford an adult life (kids) and keep up with bills even on a teacher's salary”. She is worried about inflation and says, “a recession will happen”. Those are examples of what I am hearing. How do we recover from this? We do not attack those sectors that produce. We make sure that it is about the power of businesses, the people who they employ and the products and services they produce in every sector and region of this country, and that Canada becomes competitive, not just domestically but internationally, so we have the confidence for domestic investment and foreign investment. Let us make sure that we are firing on all cylinders. We have focused on the expense side of the ledger for the last two years. It is time we focus on the revenue side of the ledger, have a budget that Canadians expect, with no wild, out-of-control spending, and make sure that we do things right in this country.
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