On a point of order, Mr. Chair, as brevity is the soul of wit, I will be quick. I'm renowned in this committee for my brevity. In all seriousness, I just want to put a couple of comments onto the record, if the other members will indulge me.
Conservatives will not be supporting Bill C-32, the legislative implementation of the fall economic statement.
Prior to the announcement of the fall economic update, Conservatives stated that they had two requirements for the upcoming legislation: one, that there be no new taxes; and two, that there be no new spending. Conservatives put these requirements in place because we are acutely aware of the struggles that Canadians are facing in the midst of one of Canada's largest affordability crises.
Food bank usage has climbed to record highs, with 1.5 million Canadians using food banks in a single month. A third of those were children, so that's 500,000 children who had to go to food banks just to eat in one month.
Nearly half of Canadians are within $200 of insolvency, and with rising interest rates, many Canadians are now on the brink of losing their homes. The pain that has been inflicted is the responsibility of the failed Liberal tax-and-spend agenda.
In the fall economic statement the greedy government refused to give up even $1 of revenue while adding to Canadians' suffering. Instead, it is stubbornly refusing to relent on its plan to raise the carbon tax, which, according to the Bank of Canada, is inflationary, so this represents a double hit for Canadians. One is the direct impact on gas, groceries and home heating, but then there's also the impact of inflation, which, at its low rate of $40 per tonne, was estimated by the Bank of Canada to be 0.4% and very well could be over 1% when we get our numbers back from the PBO.
On January 1, the greedy Liberals will take yet more money from Canadians, and for what sin? What travesty have Canadians committed? They have gone to work. In one of Canada's worst labour shortages in recent history, the Liberals are actively disincentivizing work. They're punishing workers by increasing the payroll tax.
In addition to direct taxation, the government is indirectly increasing the burden on workers through inflationary spending. As Tiff Macklem said at this very committee in response to my colleague's question, more spending equals more inflation. The more the Liberals spend, the harder life gets for Canadians.
We have also heard comments, not just by the current Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem but also by former Bank of Canada governor and future Liberal leader Mark Carney that inflation is actually a homegrown problem that is a direct result of this government's tax-and-spend policies.
The government has had the opportunity to provide hope by reducing the burden through reductions in the carbon tax or the payroll tax, or even by cancelling the planned tax hikes on Canada's sacrosanct tradition of drinking beer. Unfortunately, the only thing it had to offer Canadians was more taxes and more inflation. At a time when Canadians needed a hand up, the Liberals dropped an anchor on them.
For these reasons and many more, Conservatives cannot support Bill C-32.
Thank you.