Mr. Speaker, I was really glad to hear the parliamentary secretary bring up the gift to Loblaws to upgrade its refrigerators. This company makes billions in profit, yet the Liberal government is giving it a handout to upgrade its refrigerators. Meanwhile, people at home in my riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap have approached me to ask how the government could be so arrogant and ridiculous to provide this company with millions of dollars to upgrade its fridges, when they are struggling to get by with the new taxes that have been put on by the government.
In the latest budget book, entitled “Investing in the Middle Class to Grow Canada's Economy”, a couple of pages describe what I believe is the carbon tax. The Liberals have hidden the tax under “fuel charge proceeds”, and they start out at about $2.1 billion this year. However, on the expenditures page, there is a matching line noting $2.1 billion going out. With respect to projections down the road, the number reaches about $5.6 billion coming in, in these fuel charges, and there are $5.6 billion going out.
How can the government possibly imagine that it can manage $5.6 billion, give out more to the public than it is taking in and still balance the books? The budget is simply not as advertised.