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 2:18:52 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 2:20:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is irresponsible are policies that drive up inflation and interest rates at a time when Canadian consumers are carrying the highest debt load in the G7. The fact is, consumers have the highest levels of debt. The total debt of all consumers in Canada is greater than the Canadian economy.
The inflation the minister is causing and admits to causing with her inflationary spending will drive up interest rates on the backs of these same indebted consumers, potentially leading to a crisis.
Will the Minister of Finance balance the budget in order to reduce inflation and interest rates before there is a crisis?
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- Jun/5/23 2:23:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is truly reckless is driving up inflation and interest rates on Canadian consumers who are the most indebted in the entire G7. In fact, the combined consumer debt is almost bigger than the entire Canadian economy. When the monster mortgages that Canadians took out, with the advice of the government back in 2021-22, come into higher rates for renewal there could be a massive mortgage meltdown.
Therefore, will the finance minister do what she promised only six months, and that is to stop putting fuel on the inflationary fire, balance the budget to bring down inflation and interest rates, yes or no?
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- Jun/5/23 2:31:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the finance minister can continue to lecture Canadians, but that will not pay their bills. She can continue to pretend like everything is fine, but that does not change the fact that people are hurting, and they are hurting because of her inflationary deficits, the tax increases and the broken promises of her boss's failed economic track record.
She said that she would balance the budget. She said that the debt ratio would go down. She said that there would be no more out-of-control spending. She did not keep her word. She does not answer questions in the House. Why would anybody trust anything she says?
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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 2:36:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all we do is listen to Canadians. What Canadians are telling us, on this side of the House, is that they are struggling, that they do not have enough money and that everything is more expensive. Why is everything more expensive? It is because of the inflationary measures taken by this government. That is quite clear. Everyone is saying so, even former Liberal ministers and prime ministers. This is not working.
With all due respect to my colleague, can he tell the House if they are going to end their inflationary measures so Canadians can keep more money in their pockets, yes or no?
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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 2:44:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of a record that, during the last recession, cut taxes for Canadians.
However, let us talk about energy and food costs, which are some of the biggest contributors to inflation. It is puzzling that the government continues to increase taxes on both fuel and food and making them more expensive by continuing to increase the carbon tax. These carbon taxes, as the central bank says, are inflationary, and this government wants to impose a second carbon tax, which will just make food and fuel more expensive, because we have to ship the food to the table and farmers use fuel in their operations.
When will the government realize that its policies are making inflation worse?
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- Jun/5/23 7:00:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising today to also request an emergency debate for the very serious matter we see happening across Canada today, which is the housing crisis. It is one that the housing minister refuses to acknowledge as something we are going through today.
New IMF data was released. It shows that Canadian households face the greatest risk of mortgage defaults as households struggle to cope with increasing interest rates. These high interest rates were caused by high inflationary deficit spending by the government. It made the Governor of the Bank of Canada raise the rates, causing Canadians headaches and all sorts of hardships when it comes to the housing crisis.
The finance minister, in November, said she did not want to throw fuel onto the inflationary fire, but then, with the recent budget, threw 68 billion dollars' worth of fuel on that inflationary fire. That made the inflation problem worse and will possibly have the Bank of Canada raise its interest rates once again, which would cause even more hardships.
We know that nine out of 10 young people cannot imagine home ownership. Newcomers do not even dream of ever owning a home, as the cost of living is growing because of the inflationary deficit spending by the Liberal government.
I would also implore you, when considering this decision, to also consider that we are on the reading stage of the budget, so it only limits the scope. We want to expand it because of how serious the housing crisis is and how much worse it is going to get when people start defaulting on mortgages, according to RBC and this IMF report.
I am requesting an emergency debate on this very serious matter.
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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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- 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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