SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 233 - Oct/17/23

Oct/17/23 12:12:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want the member to explain how the New Democrats have no responsibility for the inflation in grocery prices, as they vote with the Liberal Party 95% of the time. How do they have no responsibility for interest rates going up so that people cannot afford their homes? How do they have no responsibility for mortgage rates going up so that Canadians cannot afford their homes? Rental rates are going up too so that they cannot afford their homes. It is so funny that those members want to say they have the answers. The only answer they have is playing lapdog to the Liberals and keeping the Prime Minister in power. It is pathetic.

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Mr. Daniel Blaikie

Oct/17/23 12:12:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, folks in the whip's office may be concerned that the member did not quite get his speaking notes right, because Conservative MPs for a long time now have been saying it has been an NDP-Liberal government for eight years, which is palpably untrue. It speaks to the fact that the Conservatives are not interested in getting to the truth; they are interested in getting into office, and they are prepared to say whatever it takes to get them there. Beware, Canada, because when they get there, it is not going to be what they are saying it is going to be.

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Mrs. Anna Roberts (King—Vaughan, CPC)

Oct/17/23 12:13:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Everywhere I go, people come up to me and say, you know, we're losing faith in the Liberal Party... I've had people tell me they can't afford to buy groceries. They can't afford to heat their homes, and that's hard to hear from, especially seniors who live alone and tell me that they go around their house in the spring and winter time with a blanket wrapped around them 'cause they can't afford the home heating fuel and they can't afford to buy beef or chicken. It is heart-wrenching when you hear someone say that you. This is a quote from the lone Liberal member who was brave enough to vote for his constituents instead of this high-inflationary Prime Minister. These are the same sentiments I hear day after day as I tour the country hearing from seniors. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend time with a group of seniors from the Northumberland—Peterborough South area. Their concerns mirror the same concerns as our friends from the Atlantic coast. I will be sharing my time with one of my favourite MPs, the member for Calgary Forest Lawn. After eight years of the Liberal government, the Prime Minister has added more to the national debt than all previous prime ministers combined. A half a trillion dollars of inflationary deficits has directly led to a 40-year inflation high. Prior to budget 2023, the Minister of Finance said, “What Canadians want right now is for inflation to come down and for interest rates to fall. And that is one of our primary goals in this year’s budget: not pour fuel on the fire of inflation.” Then she proceeded to usher in $60 billion of new spending. In order to combat inflation, the Bank of Canada has been forced to increase interest rates 10 times in just 19 months. These rate increases have increased mortgage payments. Since the Prime Minister took office, monthly mortgage payments have increased 150% and now cost $3,500 on a typical family home. I want my colleagues in this place to think about a few statistics I found on the nesto mortgage company website. In Toronto, as of 2021, the average house price was just over $1 million. The down payment required to purchase a home was just in excess of $232,000. It would take an average person 42.2 years to save for the down payment. To make a comparison, it took roughly 4.2 years to save up for the minimum down payment on a home in Toronto 10 years ago when our country enjoyed a Conservative government. In Vancouver, there is a similar situation. The average cost of a home is just in excess of $1.2 million with a minimum down payment of $242,000. The time to save for a down payment in Vancouver is 44.3 years. Just 10 years ago, it took an average of only 5.2 years to afford the minimum down payment for a home in Vancouver. On June 5, CTV News Toronto reported that the National Bank of Canada released its housing affordability report, indicating that it will take Torontonians about 25 years to save for a down payment on a house and the qualifying income level to purchase a property is in excess of $236,000. Does the average Canadian earn $236,000? I do not think so. If this does not make it clear, this Prime Minister just is not worth the cost. Let us think about it. According to TransUnion, the average credit card balance for Canadians in the second quarter of 2023 was $4,185, which is up from $3,909 in the second quarter. That is up from average monthly credit card spending of almost $2,447 in the third quarter of 2022, which is up 17.3% from the same time in 2021, and up 21.8% from 2019. From another report, Canadian consumer debt has risen to $2.4 trillion, with an average debt load of approximately $21,131, excluding mortgage payments. Canadians are using credit cards more as there was a 9% increase in credit card balances in June 2023 compared to the same time last year. These trends are a repeat of the past. Let us reflect on the 1980s when the lending rate for a five-year fixed mortgage was 22.75%. This caused homeowners with mortgages to struggle with high interest payments, resulting in foreclosures. Let us do some comparisons. In 1981, the average price of a home was $110,000. At an interest rate of 22.75%, the monthly payment was just under $2,000. Today, the average price of a home in Toronto is $1.2 million. At an interest rate of 7%, the mortgage payment is $6,724. What was the similarity during these two periods? Can anyone guess? Both prime ministers shared the same last name. In my previous life as a bank manager and mortgage specialist, I witnessed the hardship of many Canadians, friends and neighbours who lost their homes to the inflationary, out-of-control spending by the Trudeau Liberal government.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Oct/17/23 12:21:09 p.m.
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I believe the hon. member mentioned the name of the Prime Minister, so I just want to make sure that—

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Mrs. Anna Roberts

Oct/17/23 12:21:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am speaking about Pierre Elliott Trudeau. I apologize.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Oct/17/23 12:21:28 p.m.
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I appreciate the clarification. The hon. member for King—Vaughan.

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Mrs. Anna Roberts

Oct/17/23 12:21:32 p.m.
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Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. History continues to repeat itself today as we see the Liberal-NDP government force the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates due to their out-of-control spending habits. This Liberal Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. The Liberal-NDP government must exercise fiscal discipline over its inflation-driving deficits, so that interest rates can be lowered in order to avoid a mortgage default crisis as warned by the International Monetary Fund and to ensure Canadians do not lose their homes. The government must introduce a fiscal plan that includes a pathway to balanced budgets in order to decrease inflation and interest rates. Alternatively, it needs to get out of the way, so that Conservatives and our Conservative leader can fix what the Liberals have broken and bring hope back to Canadians.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Oct/17/23 12:22:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I know the member was talking about inflation. What we have seen and what we know with the numbers that have come out today is that the only sector of the economy that continues to experience significant growth in terms of inflation and indeed is pushing up the inflation numbers is the transportation sector. I wonder if the member can comment on how she sees the government bringing in policy that will help to decrease inflation, specifically in the transportation sector.

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Mrs. Anna Roberts

Oct/17/23 12:23:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an easy response. Let us get rid of the carbon tax. The Liberal member for Avalon stated that his constituents in Newfoundland cannot afford to heat their homes or feed their families. Let us get rid of the carbon tax. Let us give those Atlantic provinces the opportunity to live.

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Mr. Mario Simard (Jonquière, BQ)

Oct/17/23 12:23:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the real carbon tax is the $83 billion the government is giving to oil companies between now and 2035. At the natural resources committee yesterday, the member for Lakeland responded to that ineptitude by asking the other members not to give the Suncor representative a hard time. Worse still, a Conservative member apologized to Suncor on behalf of all Canadians because the committee was asking questions about what the company was doing with public money. If there is one thing that is not common sense, it is the $83 billion the government will be giving the greedy oil and gas industry between now and 2035. If my colleague really cares about what happens to people who cannot afford groceries and rent, the first thing she should do is demand that the government stop funding the greedy oil and gas industry.

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Mrs. Anna Roberts

Oct/17/23 12:24:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our Conservative Party has a plan and that plan is to use the technology in this country to ensure that we are green. One of the things that we have to look at is the windmills. Does anyone here know that it takes 176,000 gallons of oil to service the windmills in this country? If we stopped oil production, who is going to service those windmills? We need to make sure that the carbon tax is kept under control, because with the carbon tax, people cannot afford their homes. They cannot afford to feed their families. They cannot afford to go to the grocery stores. They cannot afford the gas in their car to drive to work. That is going to hurt the economy.

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Ms. Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, NDP)

Oct/17/23 12:25:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, today's Conservative motion ignores the real role of corporate greed in the rising cost of living. We know that many working people and people on fixed incomes are struggling right now. What are the Conservatives going to do about making sure the wealthy pay their fair share? Does the member agree that the wealthy in our country need to pay their fair share and will she and other Conservatives support putting a wealth tax on the rich in this country?

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Mrs. Anna Roberts

Oct/17/23 12:26:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have seen these Liberals contract work outside of our government bureaucrats. They are the ones that spend money on consultants. That is greed. We have Conservative plans to ensure that the out-of-control spending is within the budget. They do not know how to balance a budget. Conservatives do.

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Mr. Scot Davidson (York—Simcoe, CPC)

Oct/17/23 12:26:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague is actually my neighbour in the soup and salad bowl of Canada, King—Vaughan. We were chatting earlier today about how important it is to get out in the community. I know my hon. colleague is always out in King—Vaughan, chatting with people. She told me that she had a number of conversations over the past week with people in the riding. Boots on the ground are important. I wonder if she could elaborate on those conversations and what people are telling her right now.

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Mrs. Anna Roberts

Oct/17/23 12:27:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it saddens me to say that, yes, I did speak to several constituents during the past riding week. I was saddened to hear of seniors who are in their mid-to-late 70s having to go back to work just to make ends meet. They cannot afford this additional carbon tax. They cannot afford to pay their utility bills. They cannot afford to buy groceries. They cannot afford to do the things they once enjoyed. Now, with this additional tax and the burden that this government has placed on our Canadian population, when does it end? I will tell us when it ends, when our leader and the Conservative Party form government.

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Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan (Calgary Forest Lawn, CPC)

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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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Oct/17/23 12:37:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I know that before this member, the member for King—Vaughan made the comment that only Conservatives know how to bring in a balanced budget. I am assuming this member thinks the same thing. An hon. member: That's right. Mr. Mark Gerretsen: Madam Speaker, she just yelled that I am right. The unfortunate thing for her is that no Conservative has ever done it, not in Brian Mulroney's time and not in Stephen Harper's time. Let me correct that record. It is true that Stephen Harper had two surpluses in the beginning, but those came off the heels of Paul Martin's budgets. The only prime ministers since 1970 to actually run a surplus, a balance or have no deficit have been Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. There is absolutely no historical record that would suggest that Conservatives actually have the know-how to do that. Could the member please inform the House as to exactly how Conservatives would do that, and without the rhetoric of bringing down interest rates to lower inflation?

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Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Oct/17/23 12:39:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, while the member was asking his question, I was looking for the Liberals' plan to balance the budget or how many times they have done so. I obviously could not find anything, and I will remind the member that it was the Prime Minister who thought budgets would balance themselves. The Liberals were left with a surplus when they formed government in 2015, and they withered that away. It was the Liberal-NDP government that said it would not run deficits of more than $10 billion. Now we are sitting at half a trillion dollars in deficit, which drove up interest rates, and now we are in this looming crisis. The government needs to get its deficit under control so that Canadians do not lose their homes.

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Mr. Jean-Denis Garon (Mirabel, BQ)

Oct/17/23 12:39:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Conservatives have all kinds of things to teach us on this opposition day. However, they need to be reminded that the last Conservative government ran deficits for seven years straight. I would sure like to know what today's Conservatives, whose leader was part of the Harper government, would do differently from what they always did in the past—should they come to power—so they can finally stop being a party that habitually runs deficits.

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Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan

Oct/17/23 12:40:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to actually let my hon. colleague know what our plan is. First of all, we are seeing today that productivity is as bad as it was back in the Great Depression. We would make sure to bring up productivity, including by getting more of our resources to market to make sure more of Canada gets our low-carbon intense energy and to bring better jobs and a better economy to this country. We would also bring in a dollar-for-dollar law under our next prime minister, the member for Carleton, where we would have to find a dollar of savings for every dollar the government spends. Because of the failed policies of the Liberal-NDP government, Canadians are having to make the choice of finding a dollar of saving to spend a dollar, just because of how bad things have gotten and how much their taxes are hurting them. The government should work that exact same way. The government needs to work for the people, and that is how we would do it. We would bring in a dollar-for-dollar law and make sure we got rid of all the wasteful spending, such as the $22 billion that was spent on worthless Liberal insider consultants because the ministers are too incompetent to do their own jobs.

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