44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 5, 2023 11:00AM
- Jun/5/23 2:10:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal budget is the work of a finance minister who says one thing and does another. She does not answer a single question asked of her in this House, and she lectures Canadians who do not agree with her. The $60 billion in new spending pours gas on the inflationary fire. She admitted that to be true. She said she would not do it, and she did it anyway. She told Canadians that the budget would be balanced in 2027. Now, she says it will never be balanced. She said the debt ratio would go down, but she cannot tell this House the number, because it went up.
Canadians cannot afford the Prime Minister or the government. They think we can spend our way to prosperity, but the last eight years have created a crisis. There is good news, though. Conservatives will deliver lower prices and more powerful paycheques by capping spending, ending the deficits and scrapping the carbon tax. Those are our demands of this budget. The choice is clear. It is freedom versus control, prosperity versus poverty and technology versus more taxes.
There have been enough lectures from the minister. Canadians cannot afford to be duped by her any longer.
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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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- Jun/5/23 2:18:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, six months ago, the Minister of Finance promised a balanced budget by the year 2027. She said that deficits fuel inflation by throwing fuel on the inflationary fire. She was right. Her budget has added $60 billion of inflationary fuel. That amounts to $4,200 per family.
Will the Minister of Finance finally recognize that Canadians can pay no more and put before the House a plan to balance the budget in order to bring down inflation and interest rates?
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- Jun/5/23 2:21:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it was just six months ago that the minister promised a balanced budget by the year 2027. She said that deficits fuel inflation. The former finance minister John Manley, a Liberal, said that while the Bank of Canada was slamming on the brakes of inflation with higher rates, the government was slamming the gas with higher spending. This could cause the whole engine to blow when all that mortgage debt Canadians hold comes up for renewal unless the rates come down.
Therefore, will she act now to put in place a plan to balance the budget to bring down inflation and interest rates?
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- Jun/5/23 2:30:14 p.m.
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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?
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- Jun/5/23 2:32:43 p.m.
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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?
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- Jun/5/23 2:34:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives will continue to block the Liberal-NDP government from piling on an extra $4,200 of debt on the backs of struggling Canadians.
The finance minister's deficits are continuing to fuel inflation, driving up the cost of everything, and driving more Canadians to food banks than ever before. Her inflationary spending made housing more unaffordable, and rents and mortgages have doubled because of the government's failed policies.
When will the finance minister finally show some responsibility and balance the budget so interest rates can come down and Canadians can finally afford to live and heat their homes?
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- Jun/5/23 2:41:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, food costs are up. Inflation is up. Mortgage payments are up. Rental payments are up. Faith in the Prime Minister is down.
When will the Prime Minister end these inflationary deficits, scrap the tax and bring back the common sense of the common people?
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- Jun/5/23 2:43:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Liberal deficits drive inflation and Canadians are paying the price.
John Manley said that government fiscal policy is making it harder to contain inflation, and Stephen Poloz said that government deficits last year made the Bank of Canada raise interest rates higher, which means Canadians are paying a higher price for government spending. Just last month, inflation went higher when the Minister of Finance said Canadians should expect inflation to go lower.
Is there a plan to end inflationary deficits and spending to bring down inflation and interest rates?
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- Jun/5/23 2:44:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I also do not mind providing a bit of a history lesson to Conservatives, because, in fact, when the Liberals left government in 2006, they left the Conservatives with a big, healthy surplus. What did the Conservatives do? Well, they actually brought in years of deficits while cutting services and going through a global recession.
On the other hand, what did we do? We invested in Canadians. We have supported Canadians. In fact, we know that inflation is high, but when it comes to food inflation, a new report today actually announced that Canada is the second-lowest in the world when it comes to food inflation.
We know there is more to do. We know we need to support Canadians. We are doing the right thing.
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- Jun/5/23 2:50:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on July 1, the Liberal government is introducing a second carbon tax, an additional money grab from the pockets of cash-strapped Canadian families. With people already struggling to put food on the table, keep the lights on and make rent, how can the government justify yet another hurdle for them to overcome?
Running historic deficits and racking up reckless debt may be desirable for the government, but for many Canadians it is not an option. Will the government do the right thing and cancel its planned carbon tax increases?
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- Jun/5/23 2:52:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we know, the Minister of Finance said last November that deficits fuel inflation. What happened after that? A few months later, Liberal Party supporters told her they wanted deficits.
That is certainly not good news for someone who dreams of becoming the leader of the Liberal Party, but that is how Liberal supporters responded. What is especially bad news for all Canadians is that there is going to be a second Liberal carbon tax.
Will the Minister of Finance confirm the Parliamentary Budget Officer's conclusion that it will cost families in Quebec an extra $436, on average?
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- Jun/5/23 7:44:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it was interesting to listen to the Liberal member fearmongering about cuts, as many Liberal members do. If we take a look at actual history and facts, we will find that the last government to significantly cut transfers for health care, social services and other important programs was the one of finance minister Paul Martin's budgets of 1995-96 through 1997-98, where we went from $18.4 billion in 1995-96 to $14.7 billion in 1996-97 to $12.5 billion in 1997-98 because of the absolutely disastrous economic policies of the last incompetent Trudeau government, a government that racked up deficits in 14 out of 15 years. We now see another incompetent Liberal government doing the same thing.
Does that not concern the hon. member in the least?
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- Jun/5/23 8:36:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would respond to my colleague's question by saying there are many things that we find missing in this budget and that are not included, one of them being the ability to control the inflationary spending and the huge deficits. Just six months ago, the finance minister talked about having to end the inflationary deficits because she acknowledged that they were fuelling the flames of inflation.
There are a lot of things missing in this budget. We have made it very clear that there are some requirements that are missing for us to support the budget. They would include a move toward a balanced budget and something to control the inflationary spending and the increasing cost of living. Those are the things that are missing in this budget that we feel are very important.
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Madam Speaker, I have listened to a number of speeches on this year's budget and on Bill C-47, the budget implementation act, at all stages of debate.
I have been inspired by some of these speeches. I really enjoyed the one delivered by the hon. member for Abbotsford. He spoke about the lines the Minister of Finance said last year she would not cross. It was about the increase in a ratio called the debt-to-GDP, or gross domestic product.
I agree with him completely. It seems as though the government, from so many of its ministries, tells Canadians what to expect from them and then ignores those seemingly brave words. It spoke of short-term deficits of $10 billion to bring us back to balance by 2019. I remember that one quite well. Then it spoke of a carbon tax that would never rise above $50 per tonne. That was in the 2019 election platform, not so long ago.
I love when the Liberals say, “We have got Canadians' backs.” What does that even mean? They say, “We are laser focused on solving this problem.” Sure. The one I like best is, “We are not worried about inflation. We are worried about deflation.” I think they would like to erase those words from the record at this point.
Talk is cheap in today's politics, until Canadians actually see the consequences of breaking the real pillars that hold up our country's financial well-being. There will be reduced opportunities in an underperforming, non-resilient economy for generations.
Social programs such as health, education and welfare will be compromised because bankers will get paid first and the amount of priority spending is increasing. This means the amount of money we have to spend as Canadians taxpayers paying the interest on our debt is a rising rate and a rising number. It is escalating quickly.
Deficits do not solve themselves. They take planning and resolve. The consequences of not solving them are upon us with rising inflation, rising taxation and rising income inequality. There are rising labour tensions, as we saw with the recent strike at the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Canadians are just trying to have their wages and salaries keep up with the rising cost of living that the government's negligence has caused.
Inflated dollars buy less. They buy less food, less shelter and fewer social services. We are all poorer by degrees. The government just hopes Canadians do not notice it too much. Canadians are noticing, and they are wondering how a modern country is throwing away its future and has forgotten the lessons from the last time this scenario unfolded just four decades ago. Politicians change, but institutional memory, the decision-making, should learn from the lessons of history, especially recent history.
I would say Canada's debt-to-GDP is a somewhat useless ratio, as it only compares how bad our ability to provide balance for tomorrow's taxpayers is with that of other spendy governments in the world. The debt-to-GDP is increasing, and there is no benefit to having a high debt-to-GDP. There is only a cost, and it is a rapidly rising cost.
As so many have indicated, that rising cost has rising consequences. The government presents in its own set of data that its sacred ratio will peak next year, this time at 43.5%. Let me caution colleagues on this opportunistic representation of data and remind everyone how last year, the Minister of Finance said that this ratio had peaked and would not increase further. Those are words and promises without meaning or real intent. I think we know the answer to that choice.
Let us look at what is called a national accounts basis, as the rest of the world looks at these metrics. That is that there is only one gross domestic product and there are a number of government debts in Canada. If we add in each of the provinces, on top of the federal government's debt, we get a ratio that is higher than 95% on the ratio.
We also have to subtract out the funds that do not belong to the government that it likes to include in its calculation. That is the amount it subtracts from workers who have to set aside money for programs, such as the Canada pension plan and the Quebec pension plan. I should point out that that is one of the costs to workers that is increasing substantially this year.
Canadians need to tell the government that these funds do not belong to the government. They belong to the people who have earned those pensions. The government should get them out of the calculations, trying to make its numbers more justifiable. These are not the Government of Canada's assets. They are being held in trust for Canadians at arm's-length organizations. The government has no recourse to these funds, or does it?
Does the government want to explain how it might have recourse to these funds, which Canadians think are sequestered for their retirement? I ask this question because the government went out of its way to freeze Canadians' bank accounts last year, and freezing earned benefits would pale in comparison to freezing a basic bank account, so someone could buy food and pay for their shelter in Canada.
In any event, for the financially literate, let us stop painting a rosier picture of reality. The government does not get to pick and choose which numbers it uses. Sustainable finance theories aside, and these are mock theories, the government does not get to pick and choose the numbers that affect people's lives. It should just be presented factually.
The irony is that the Liberal government presents a scenario in which provincial budget balances have collectively turned positive in 2022, and thus contributed to Canada's overall turnaround. Let us be clear. That is based on the surplus in one province, Alberta, and those revenues are predicated on world resource pricing of, yes, oil and gas, which the government scorns daily in the House.
As is said, comparing badly run jurisdictions in the world, Europe is a collection of poorly managed economies with no resource wealth, whereas Canada is a very poorly managed country with a backstop of significant resource wealth. It is very clear the country needs better management. We are in line for the job, and we are just waiting for the shareholders to fire this underperforming team.
I went through much of the budget presentation, and I noted a number of fictions that the government actually prints on government paper.
How is this? “The federal government’s fiscal anchor—reducing the federal debt-to-GDP ratio over the medium term—remains unchanged and is being met.” That is wrong. There is also this: “Even with higher borrowing costs, public debt charges as a share of the economy are projected to remain at historically low levels“. That is wrong, again.
The $44 billion in interest payments is up from $24 billion just two years ago, and a larger portion of the GDP than it had been in over 15 years. The government says these metrics are going in the right direction and hope that Canadians are not paying attention.
However, they are emulating themselves in the House of Commons by now putting nonsense on paper. Let us just keep spending and everything will balance itself.
How about this one? It says:
Budget 2023 proposes substantial measures as the next steps in the government's plan to “crowd-in” new private investment by leveraging public investment and government policy. The goal of this approach is not to substitute government for the private sector, nor supplant market-based decision making. It is to leverage the tools of government to mobilize the private sector.
No, it is not. That is fantasy. It is a false narrative based on giving taxpayer money to connected friends of the Liberal government.
We are giving foreign companies subsidies amounting to double the amount they are investing in this country to put Canadian taxpayer dollars in the pockets of foreign investors. That is how the Liberal government thinks it makes friends.
Who is laughing all the way to the bank? It is not Canadian taxpayers. It is not the $200 billion in project financing that was in line in Canada before the government created absolute market uncertainty.
What is not in this budget implementation bill? Anything to do with climate financing, just like last year. The budget speech indicated moving forward on climate initiatives, yet these exist nowhere in Bill C-47.
What is in this bill? A whole bunch of items that have nothing to do with the budget, including CEPA changes and jurisdictional oversteps. It is just tax, spend and divide. That is not the way to manage Canada's finances.
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- Jun/5/23 9:41:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to yet another inflationary, irresponsible Liberal budget that claims to rein in inflation, yet actually does the complete opposite.
The Liberals even claim that it is a made-in-Canada plan, while they continue their attack on workers' paycheques. Thanks to their irresponsible spending, Canadians from coast to coast to coast have found themselves bringing home less and less. People are lining up at food banks to put food on the table. Young people have given up hope of ever owning a home. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer has flagged several issues in the budget, ranging from a meagre economic outlook in the coming years to lack of fiscal transparency and an incoming recession. The Liberal government has had eight long years to step up for Canadians, but, despite managing to spend more than all past prime ministers combined, its chronic fiscal mismanagement and reckless policies have left Canadians struggling.
Canadians continue to watch prices soar, from food to fuel, home heating and even housing prices. Making ends meet through the cost of living crisis has become impossible. Despite all this, the government continues to hike the carbon tax and the excise tax on alcohol, against the interests of hard-working Canadians. Enough is enough.
The Liberal government has had eight years to step up for Canadians, but it is now time for it to step down and for common-sense Conservative solutions to be enacted to truly help Canadians across the country. As Conservatives, we set these three conditions for our support of budget 2023: It must bring home powerful paycheques, with lower taxes, so hard work pays off again. It must bring home lower prices by eliminating the inflationary carbon tax and deficits. Finally, it must bring homes that young people can afford by removing gatekeepers and speeding up the construction and affordability of housing.
The Liberals have rolled out over $43 billion of inflationary spending and senseless tax grabs that would burden Canadians from coast to coast. After eight years of the Liberal government, we all see how its solutions simply do not work. Conservatives have the right solutions that do work, so paycheques will work for the Canadians who do the work.
I am proud to say that Conservatives will not support this budget, and here is why: The Liberals' budget 2023 continues the Liberals' war on work, dedicated workers and workers' paycheques. Instead of listening to struggling Canadians suffering under the worst affordability crisis they have ever seen, the Liberals continue with their reckless, inflationary spending, while increasing taxes. This means that workers are punished for working hard and take home even less of their paycheques.
The government's inflationary spending has caused the cost of groceries to skyrocket, leaving one in five Canadians skipping meals or relying on food banks. The misleading grocery rebate would only give $234 for a single adult to cover the rising cost of living, which the Liberal government's reckless spending caused. Canada's food price report 2023 predicts that a family of four will spend up to $1,065 more on food this year, which is drastically higher than the $467 grocery rebate that they will receive.
On April 1, the Liberal government hiked the senseless carbon tax, costing the average family between $402 and $847 in 2023, even after the rebates. The government also continues to raise taxes on still-recovering restaurants and breweries by increasing the excise tax on alcohol by 2%. The temporary cap in the hikes of the alcohol excise tax is only valid for a year, and it is not enough.
The Liberal policies of hiking taxes and clawing back money that should remain in the pockets of Canadians in the first place must end. Conservatives will prioritize fixing what the Liberals broke by ensuring powerful paycheques and opportunities for the people who do the work. The down payment that is necessary nowadays for an average home has doubled after eight years of the Liberal government. We believe in bringing homes young people can afford so that they do not continue to live in their parents' basements because they have given up on their dreams of home ownership.
Back when the Liberals first took office, the average rent in Canada for a one-bedroom apartment was $973. After eight years of the current government, the price has skyrocketed to $1,760. The average mortgage and rent payments have also nearly doubled since the Liberals took office, increasing to $3,100 from what was once $1,400.
Before the Liberals took office, Canadians only needed 39% of the average paycheque to make monthly payments on the average house. After eight long years of Liberal recklessness, this number has risen to 62%, leaving Canadians with way less of their paycheques to spend on other necessities.
The Liberal government has not outlined any plans to get rid of the gatekeepers and get more affordable housing built. Its inflationary spending and misguided policies have left people giving up on home ownership. Conservatives believe in building a country with homes people can actually afford by getting rid of the gatekeepers, freeing up land, speeding up building permits and getting shovels in the ground to get affordable housing built. While the Liberal government continues to overspend and overtax, we will continue to prioritize the interests of hard-working Canadians by getting affordable housing built fast.
Eight long years of the Liberal government has brought nothing but reckless inflationary spending, senseless tax hikes and irresponsible policies, leading to the worst affordability crisis Canadians have ever seen. Canadians from coast to coast to coast have found themselves bringing home less. People are lining up at food banks to put food on the table. Young people have given up the hope of ever owning a home. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer has flagged several issues in the budget, ranging from the meagre economic outlook in the coming years to a lack of fiscal transparency and an incoming recession. That is the effect of the Liberal government, which has had eight long years to step up for Canadians. Now is the time for it to step down and adopt our common-sense Conservative solutions to make Canada work for the people who have done the work.
We will continue to demand the following: offering powerful paycheques, with lower taxes, so hard work pays off again; lowering prices by eliminating the inflationary carbon tax and deficits; and building homes that young people can afford by removing gatekeepers and speeding up the construction of affordable housing.
Because our pragmatic demands were not met, we will not be supporting this inflationary Liberal budget.
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- Jun/5/23 9:55:45 p.m.
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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.
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