44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 5, 2023 11:00AM
- Jun/5/23 2:30:14 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, the finance minister has never found a tax that she did not like, a pocket that she did not want to pick or a deficit that she did not want to run. Thanks to her endless spending, we have a crisis. Canadians are paying more for groceries, more to fill up on gas and more to heat the home, if they can afford one.
Will she finally stop the reckless deficits, stick to a single thing that she told Canadians and tell us in which month of the year never will she balance the budget?
104 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/5/23 2:32:43 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the finance minister pretended to have an inflationary epiphany back in November. She admitted that deficits lead to inflation finally. She said that she did not want to pour fuel on the fire of inflation. She promised no more deficits after 2027, the same deficits that gave Canadians the worst cost-of-living crisis in history.
It only took her six months after that to do a massive flip-flop and admit in her failed budget that she would never end her deficit spending and poured a $60-billion jerry can of fuel on the inflationary fire she started.
Will she stand up and admit she misled Canadians and end her inflationary deficit spending?
116 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/5/23 2:34:37 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, Canada's GDP grew by 3.1% in the first quarter of this year. That is the fastest growth in the G7. We have recovered more than 900,000 jobs since the trough of COVID.
By contrast, after 2008, the Conservatives failed to support Canadians and failed to help Canada recover from the 2008 recession. In fact, as David Dodge said, “because it was obsessively focused on reducing the federal deficit...the Harper government unnecessarily contributed to”—
82 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/5/23 2:54:16 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are constantly harping on about the deficit, but let me remind them that when the Harper government came to power, after the Liberal Party, it was left a budget surplus that it burned through. The Conservatives burned through the surplus by cutting revenues, services and programs. Every time something goes wrong, the Conservatives' first instinct is to make sweeping cuts.
We, on the other hand, have decided to help Canadians. We are asking the Conservatives to get a move on so that we can pass the budget and let Canadians reap the benefits.
97 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/5/23 5:08:51 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, let me be very clear. What Conservatives are blocking is this Liberal-NDP government piling another 4,200 dollars' worth of debt on to the struggling backs of hard-working Canadians. That is what we will continue to block.
We have two simple asks. The Liberal-NDP government needs to lower the deficit and lower the inflation. We see nine out of 10 young people blocked out of home ownership, and we see mortgages and rents going up. That is because these two parties got together and put Canadians further into debt than any government before them combined, which raised the interest rates. Today, we have a housing crisis along with a crisis of cost of living. It is because of the failed policies of this government.
Conservatives will continue to stand up for Canadians, make sure that we lower the price and bring it home for them.
150 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/5/23 9:21:46 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that, if he carves out that particular element and removes the $60 billion in new spending; if he removes the more than $40 billion in deficit spending, which this country cannot afford right now and which is driving up the cost of everything, and we see the devastating results of that; and if the member wants to go back and say that he thinks they should carve out the 988 suicide prevention hotline, I would be very happy to support it.
88 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/5/23 9:55:45 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, there were promises in the 2015 election campaign from the Liberals of a small deficit for one year and then a return to balanced budgets, but what has been delivered is something totally different. We have seen eight years of inflationary spending, and now the government is signalling that it will never return to a balanced budget and will continue its out-of-control spending as long as it can. Hopefully, we can end that soon.
If that were not bad enough, to go along with these massive deficits, we are seeing increasing interest rates in an attempt to rein in the skyrocketing inflation the deficits have caused. Compile all of this, and it spells bad news for Canadians. Canada's debt is projected to reach $1.22 trillion in fiscal year 2023-24. That is nearly $81,000 of debt per household.
One of the results of this inflationary spending is to cause inflation to go up to the highest rates we have seen in 40 years. The previous high was under a former Liberal government with an out-of-control spending problem. The high inflation rate is resulting in the Bank of Canada raising interest rates to try to rein in inflation, rates that the Liberal government was warned about, but it failed to take the warning. Therefore, now, as a result, we have record high national debt combined with jacked-up interest rates that will see Canada's debt service costs projected to reach $43.9 billion for fiscal year 2023-24.
Can members imagine the good $43.9 billion could do if it were not required to pay just for the debt? That is not to pay off the debt. That is just to pay the annual debt service cost. None of that estimated $43.9 billion would be going to reduce the deficit or the cost in future years. It is only to pay that annual debt service fee. That is $43.9 billion that could have gone to health care, to the nurses, doctors and hospitals where health care workers have been stretched to and beyond their limit. That is $43.9 billion that could have been going to infrastructure projects to improve water and wastewater projects in our communities, indigenous communities and municipalities. That is $43.9 billion that could have gone to transportation projects to help people get to work on time, or $43.9 billion to get homes built. However this $43.9 billion is only going to pay the debt service costs.
I used to ask people at home if they could envision what $20 billion looked like because I myself had trouble envisioning what that looks like. I would get blank stares or heads shaking back, and so I would ask them if they can imagine what five $100 bills would look like in their hand. They would say, “Yes, I can picture five $100 bills.” I said that is what $20 billion is to every living Canadian, every infant, every youth, every adult, every senior and every veteran. It is five $100 bills in debt. That was what the $20-billion deficits were causing. Now we are seeing $40-billion deficits.
537 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
