SoVote

Mr. Philip Lawrence (Northumberland—Peterborough South, CPC)

Jun/3/24 2:10:47 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, Bill Morneau, John Manley, David Dodge and even future Liberal leader Mark Carney all agree that our lack of economic growth is making Canadians poorer, and things just got worse. Statistics Canada revised Canada's GDP growth for Q4 from 1.0 to 0.1. Further, our GDP per capita fell again 0.7%, marking the eighth quarter of decline. While Canada is just barely avoiding a technical recession, Canadians themselves have been in the longest recession since the Great Depression. Canada's stagnating economy is having a devastating impact on Canadians. Food banks are overwhelmed. Students are living under bridges, and workers are living out of their cars. There is no denying it: After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, it is not worth the cost.

130 words

Context: House Hansard - 323 - Jun/3/24

Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Jun/3/24 2:52:12 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, never before has so much been spent to achieve so little. Despite a doubling of the national debt, today, Statistics Canada confirmed that GDP per capita has fallen again for the sixth time in seven quarters. Under the Prime Minister, Canadians have seen one of the steepest falls in the standard of living in our history. Why is the Prime Minister spending so much to make Canadians so poor?

79 words

Context: House Hansard - 323 - Jun/3/24

Mr. Marty Morantz (Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, CPC)

Jun/3/24 2:53:34 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that the Canadian standard of living is declining. In the United States, GDP per capita has grown more than 8% since 2019. Our economy is now underperforming the United States by the widest margin since 1965, while under the Prime Minister, the government has grown morbidly obese. More Canadians are visiting food banks than ever before. This is economic malpractice. Why is the Prime Minister spending so much to make Canadians so poor?

81 words

Context: House Hansard - 323 - Jun/3/24

Mr. Philip Lawrence (Northumberland—Peterborough South, CPC)

Jun/3/24 6:24:13 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I am aware that there will be about three minutes for my speech. I am not sure if the time carries forward or whether we are done debate, but if it does I will be splitting my time with the member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake. It is my pleasure to rise in this House. I want to put a little context around the pharmacare situation and, really, the economy in general. The future Liberal leader Mark Carney said that it is impossible to redistribute what one does not have. That is the very scenario that we find ourselves in. Over the last nine years, we have experienced incredible fiscal and monetary, I might add, mismanagement of our economy. When the Liberals took the reins of power nine years ago, we had a balanced budget and we had a low GDP-to-debt ratio. Now, some nine years later, we have one of the worst debt-to-GDP ratios. We are looking at about 43%, in terms of debt-to-GDP ratio, which is shocking because the finance minister clearly said in 2022 that the government has a “fiscal anchor”, a line it shall not cross, and that the debt-to-GDP ratio would not increase. Then what did it do? It went up. According to the PBO, who we heard from today, it is actually going to go up the next two years. Speaking of the PBO, I am not sure if anyone caught this because it was only audio, unfortunately, but members will not believe what the Parliamentary Budget Officer said. He was getting challenged by Liberals for the error he made with respect to the calculation of the carbon tax, and what he said is that he actually knows his numbers are right because he has the numbers in front of him, the same numbers that the Liberals would not release to the public. It is incredible. The PBO came out and said that he has their analysis, but he just cannot share it because the Liberals will not share it. They have a carbon tax analysis that shows six out of 10 Canadians pay more in carbon tax than they get back in rebate. That being said, I will just sum up my three minutes with this comment from the great Margaret Thatcher. She said, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.” We have hit that point. We are now paying more in interest than we are in health care transfers. Let us have a little common sense, the government cannot redistribute what it does not have. An obsession with redistribution to the extent that it is no longer focusing on growth will hurt everyone, most notably the most vulnerable.

469 words

Context: House Hansard - 323 - Jun/3/24

Mr. Brad Vis

Jun/3/24 9:20:53 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I will point out that, in respect to the carbon tax rebate, that money was collected from small business owners and redistributed back to small business owners. It is, in fact, not an investment. It is a wealth-distribution scheme put forward by the government. It is not the Conservative Party of Canada, the loyal opposition, but Bank of Canada officials who outlined that we have a productivity crisis in Canada. It is the Bank of Canada that is outlining that the GDP per worker in this country is falling precipitously. That means workers are getting less on average than they did in the past. In other words, people are working harder and taking home less every month. That is what Conservatives want to fix, and that is why we continually say, “more powerful paycheques”. We want Canadians to be able to keep more for their hard work. We also want to see policies from government that give Canadian business a foundation of success moving forward.

170 words