44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 22, 2024 02:00PM
- May/22/24 11:37:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, continuing on this theme of talking about the economy, I was recently at committee, and one of my Conservative colleagues asked what I felt was a really good question of the competition commissioner. He asked if the government has ever blocked a corporate merger in Canadian history. The answer was no.
Despite having this competition commissioner and having these ideas around the importance of competition and the importance of stamping out anti-competitive behaviour, not a single corporate merger has been blocked or denied by the federal government.
I would ask him why that is, when we know that corporate concentration and anti-competitive behaviour are two of the driving factors behind the affordability crisis we are seeing. We are seeing these monopolies and oligopolies that are gouging Canadians every single day. The government can put a stop to that. Why does it not?
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- May/22/24 11:38:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the first thing I would like to point out to the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley is that we did, as a government, make the more than $70-million investment into Prince Rupert, into the water system and the infrastructure there. I know that I advocated for that. I know that he represents that riding. That was the city that I was born and raised in. Again, this is our government investing in infrastructure and in Canadians.
With regard to corporate concentration in Canada, there are many reasons why there is such a high degree of corporate concentration, of course, and we could have a great discussion on that front, but we did make changes to the efficiencies defence within the Competition Act. Those are the technical terms, where the Competition Bureau and the Competition Act will have much more teeth to block mergers and acquisitions or consolidations within the sector when they are not in the best interest of Canadian consumers.
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- May/22/24 11:39:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, it was a pleasure to be in my hometown of Port Colborne, Ontario, along with the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario, making a $1.6-billion announcement by Asahi Kasei, a company that is going to strengthen the Honda supply chain, not only in Ontario, but also across the country. This is a game-changer for the Niagara region. It is a game-changer economically. It is putting people to work, as well as strengthening the Niagara Port trade corridor.
My question to the member is with respect to supply chains. How does this announcement, and how do the actions by the government, strengthen our supply chains, as well as provide an integration of our supply chains, not only here domestically, but also binationally, and equally as important, internationally?
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- May/22/24 11:40:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Niagara Centre not only is a colleague and a dear friend, but also is a great advocate for the wine industry for the Great Lakes, which is an economic driver of his area. He was a huge advocate in attracting this multi-billion dollar investment to Port Colborne. The hon. member actually served as the mayor in that area as well, so congratulations to that member.
With regard to the supply chain, it was our government that put in place a supply chain task force. It is our government, through the Minister of Labour, that is working with the railways to ensure we continue to have a smooth transportation sector and that is continuing to make those critical investments, including in the national trade and corridors fund, which the member is well versed in as well.
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- May/22/24 11:41:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time tonight.
What we heard from the last few speakers blows my mind. It is unbelievable the mental gymnastics one has to do to figure out the current NDP-Liberal government. We have a member who stated that, right now, in 2024, it is the best historic time ever. Do members believe that?
The people watching at home should ask themselves if they are better off today or if they were better off in 2015. The vast majority of Canadians are feeling the disastrous impacts of the current federal government. There are countless examples of incompetency and outright fraud, and to have members proclaim that this is the best time ever is bizarre. It is wacko. What part of our country believes this is the best time ever? It is an unbelievable statement when we look at all the suffering and hurt that is unfortunately in our country because of the Liberal-NDP policies.
Think of the inflation the NDP-Liberal government has caused with its reckless overspending. The Prime Minister has added more debt to our federal government than all other prime ministers combined. This is the best time ever for the Liberals.
Then, we hear from another member who, in answering a question from another member, brags about the nepotism of helping to get funding for a water treatment plant. The government brags about this corporate welfare that goes on to every corner of Canada, with billions of dollars here and there, and somehow, the Liberal Party still believes this is the best historic time ever.
I have to correct the record. I did bring the receipts, and I brought some emails from real Canadians in my riding who do not believe this is the best historic time ever, as the Liberal-NDP government proclaims. It is one of the darkest times in our country's history. There is suffering. We just read in the Food Banks annual report that 25% of adults are needing to access the food bank. Tell them that this is the best historic time ever.
Tell that to a family who has just renewed their mortgage. Maybe they took the Prime Minister at his word that interest rates would stay low. Now, their mortgage has doubled. Why did that mortgage double? It was the interest rates. Why did the interest rates go up? The NDP-Liberal government has been printing money and has been spending at a pace that is chasing up the price of everything. We warned the government over three years ago that this reckless path would lead to a dead end, and I am fearful of that dead end coming too soon.
This is a government that does not live within its means. A household has to manage its finances in a way that it is not going further in debt with every paycheque. Unfortunately, for nine long years, the federal government has added more debt and more spending that has ballooned the government. There are 40% more bureaucrats working in Canada. For the Canadians who are relying on services from the government, do they think this is the best historic time ever for our country? I doubt it.
There is more pain out there. Unfortunately, this is a track record we have seen over and over again around the world when governments get in trouble and start printing money. When Ottawa prints an extra dollar of money, the result is that the dollar in one's pants is worth less. The quantitative easing the government has done has driven up the price. Also, when one sprays money in every corner of the country, chasing fewer goods, it is math and economics that prices will rise. That is what we are experiencing today in Canada, unfortunately.
In a moment, in the best time ever, historically in Canada, we have an NDP-Liberal government that has a majority. It has enough seats in the House that it can carry on in whatever fashion it would like within the rules. It has found itself in some trouble.
This is the fall economic statement. Typically, we have October, November and December in fall. Then we are into winter: December, January, February, March. No, that is spring: March, April, May. We are almost in the summer, and the mismanagement of Parliament is at the feet of the incompetent government. The bill is about the fall economic statement, and we are almost in the fall. The mismanagement of the House is what is most embarrassing for the government.
Let us get back to Canadians, and let us hear from them. We have a few more weeks of this session, and once we wrap up, I would encourage members to go out, knock on some doors and talk to real Canadians. They can talk to people, pick up the phone. I am sure there are callbacks waiting in members' offices or emails from regular Canadians who do not feel that this is the most historic, best time in Canada. I am going to share some of the emails I have received.
Gail wrote in and said, “Hi, thank you for voting for ordinary Canadians. I hope more representatives are added to your side in the next election. Please continue all that you can to halt this rampant government spending and to work towards a balanced budget for the sake of integrity and the benefits of all Canadians. Thank you.”
I thank Gail for emailing. Gail represents many Canadians who are watching in disbelief as the government continues to blow money and rack up debt that we all know has to be paid back. The future generations are going to have to pay that debt. Every dollar that we collect from GST across Canada goes to banks and bondholders, not services. It just services the debt. It does not even pay it down, and that is a disgrace.
Randy wrote in. He said, “Good morning. As you are my MP for the Saskatoon area, I would like to make my voice heard. I'm really opposed to our Prime Minister's new budget and the mounting debt to my grandchild. The idea that [the Prime Minister] thinks it's okay to raise taxes to accommodate his spending habits is an abomination and an affront to me personally. Please keep the pressure on the federal Liberals. I can't even imagine what it will take to fix this country once the Liberals are voted out. Good luck. I'm praying for change. Regards and blessings, Randy.”
I would tell Randy to not fear too much. The Conservatives do have a plan. We have a simple plan that would axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. That is what we would do as a government. I will walk through some of those plans. I know we are going to hear more about our plans in the platform, but this is a good indication of how we are going to dig ourselves out of this hole.
The Conservatives would axe the tax. The carbon tax is a tax on anything that moves, and we have seen the disastrous effect of tripling the carbon tax. Everything costs more, because everything needs to be trucked and hauled to us. When exporting goods from Canada, we pay that carbon tax as well. It drives up the cost. The carbon tax drives up the cost of the transportation, the food that the farmers are producing and even the retail operations.
The Conservatives would axe the tax and make everything more affordable. We would build the homes. We would get the bureaucrats out of the way. We would get rid of the gatekeepers and build those homes so Canadians have a chance of home ownership, not rental forever. We would fix the budget by bringing in a law that is pay-as-you-go; for every dollar of spending, we have to find a dollar of savings. That is just a common-sense Conservative solution.
We would stop the crime. There is too much crime in our streets. The repeat violent offenders who are out on bail are conducting many of the violent crimes in our communities. If we changed the bail system back to what we had before this disaster in government, we would be better off.
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the member talks about the passage of Bill C-59 and blames the government. What the member does not tell people who are listening is that the Conservative Party focused a great deal of attention on filibustering and preventing legislation from passing. This is one of those pieces of legislation, and their tactics were just demonstrated by yet another amendment to it. However, the member believes, or tries to give the false impression, that the government is not able to pass the bill, when it is allowing for opposition to continue in this fashion to prevent legislation from passing. Interestingly enough, this particular legislation would allow for the top-up of the rebate to be doubled for rural areas.
I am wondering why the Conservative Party chooses to filibuster all legislation and then tries to blame the government for not passing legislation, yet its members cry when we bring in time allocation.
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- May/22/24 11:52:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I had a very low opinion before tonight of the member who asked me the question, and after tonight, I do not respect him at all.
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- May/22/24 11:52:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is really unfortunate that the member would have that kind of attitude. I think it is very low of the member, but it is up to him to decide whether he wants to answer questions. The Conservative Party continues to mislead Canadians consistently, and the best example of that is the price on pollution. The Conservative Party tries to tell Canadians that they are paying more, when the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that more than 80% are receiving more money back in the rebates than they are paying in the tax.
My question to the member is this: Why are the Conservative Party and the leader of the Conservative Party being so dishonest and misleading Canadians?
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- May/22/24 11:53:13 p.m.
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With respect to the “dishonest” terminology, I would rather that members not use that kind of terminology.
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- May/22/24 11:53:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is okay. No one respects that man either.
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Mr. Speaker, it feels like perhaps it is the hour, but things are getting a bit testy, and I thought I would take this in a different direction, because bills like the one before us are always a mixed bag. There is stuff in them that some folks support, and there is stuff in them that some folks really oppose.
I am wondering whether my colleague can just pick one thing from Bill C-59, the bill that we are debating, that he supports and that he thinks would take our country in the right direction. Can he tell us what it is?
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Mr. Speaker, the best thing I can say about Bill C-59 is that it gets us a day closer to the election that will change the government and save Canada from the reckless NDP-Liberal coalition government that is wrecking our country. We have a plan that will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, stop the crime and save Canada. We will make Canada the greatest country that we all love so much, the country that was so much better before the Prime Minister was elected.
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- May/22/24 11:55:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder, if my colleague from Saskatoon—University looks back over the last nine years, what is the legacy of the current government: two million people visiting food banks, out-of-control debt; out-of-control crime, out-of-control spending, and out of control ethics violations? What does he think the legacy of the current government will be?
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- May/22/24 11:55:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think those are all terrible things that the government is going to be known for. I think it is the debt, though. One cannot pile on more debt than every other prime minister combined. What comes next? We have all experienced the nineties and the eighties. All political stripes overspent, then interest rates were jacked up, and it hurt ordinary Canadians. That is the legacy of the government. It is giving the next generation no hope for the future.
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Mr. Speaker, if you will indulge me for a minute of my four minutes, I offer condolences to my Aunt Freddie and my cousins and their children on the passing of my Uncle Phil earlier this evening, and to my dad and his sisters, for whom he was their older brother. He was a very generous man. He worked very hard. He gave to his community and to his church community. He was loved by his family and he loved his family. He loved Canada and he will be missed.
In the short time I have, I am going to really focus on one aspect of what I was going to speak about as we look at Bill C-59, the fall economic statement from last November. Of course, we have had the federal budget since, and it has only compounded the cost of living issues and housing issues that we are seeing across Canada. Therefore, let me focus on something that I hear so often from constituents in my community and that weighs very heavy on their minds. It is the interest rate increases that have resulted as a consequence of the inflationary spending, the inflationary taxes and the inflationary deficits of the NDP-Liberal government.
Whether it is the $20 billion of inflationary spending that was piled on in the fall economic statement or the $50 billion that was piled on in the recent budget, that has an impact. We know from the report from Scotiabank that 2% of interest rate increases can be attributed to government overspending, and other banks have made the same comment. The CIBC made the same cautionary warning prior to the recent budget.
Flamborough—Glanbrook is on the western edge of the GTA, surrounding the city of Hamilton. It is made up of very fast-growing communities, where people have fled the GTA to buy a house for a more affordable amount than what they could get in Toronto or Mississauga. Communities like Waterdown, Binbrook, Elfrida and Hannon are where first-time homeowners, often young families, new Canadians or even seniors who are looking to retire on modest savings, have seen these alarming rate increases. I hear this from the mortgage brokers. I hear this from constituents. It is an absolute gut punch to see those interest rate increases that have resulted from the policies of the Liberal-NDP government.
We had the report earlier in May from the Bank of Canada, which predicted the very steep incline we are going to see in the next few years in mortgage payments. If it is a variable mortgage, the prediction is for a median monthly payment increase of up to 60%. If it is a fixed mortgage that someone is renewing, the median monthly payment could be increased by up to 20%. That has a devastating impact on household budgets, and that is, again, the consequence of these inflationary policies and the spending by the current government.
In my final few moments, I will just say that hope is on the way. The common-sense Conservative government would cap the spending, fix the budget and axe the tax so that these people in my communities and across Canada could actually afford their mortgage payments, or it is not impacting their rents, so hope is on the way.
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- May/23/24 12:00:01 a.m.
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It being midnight, pursuant to the order made on Wednesday, February 28, this House stands adjourned until later this day at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 12 a.m.)
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