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.