It was a good point, and maybe the objective here was to make me lose my train of thought.
The Liberals and the coalition partners have said they want to basically ban vehicles using fuels by, I believe, 2035, if I'm not mistaken. It's just so impractical. It's not just impractical; it's impossible. Dealers—I mean car dealers—are finding it really hard to sell their EV vehicles. Why is that? Price is one thing, even though the price has gone down and even though there have been lots of subsidies. The charging aspect doesn't work for many people, and being able to travel to different places in the province or in the country doesn't work for many people. It doesn't work for everybody.
It's just crazy. Really, a lot of these policies are just crazy. Who is running the country? I mean, we know who's running the country, but do they actually consider the implications of what they're doing to people? Do they want people to have jobs? Do they want people to be able to move, to be able to have vehicles? Honestly, it seems as though the Liberal government is trying to bring us back down and to destroy our nation. That's what they're doing. It's not that they're trying; they are actually doing a fine job of tearing down our nation.
Let's just talk about per capita income. I think in 2017 or 2016, per capita income in Canada was about $55,000, and what is it right now? Nine years later, it is $54,000, approximately $54,000. We've gone down.
When Prime Minister Harper and the Conservatives were in power, in Canada our per capita income was about the same as that of the U.S., of Americans. Our dollar was strong, but that has been whittled away. It has been whittled away by incompetence. That's a shame. I say shame.
People are feeling this and crying out. Look at food banks in Canada: Millions of Canadians are lined up at food banks everywhere. I've visited food banks in Vancouver, and they've told me that use has gone up two or three times. It's doubled or tripled.
In my community also, we have a great food bank. It provides tremendous service. It's the Friends in Need Food Bank, and I will be helping out with the food drive this coming Saturday. People are generous in our community, but they're saying they don't have the goods to give the way they used to because demand is so great.
Let's talk about Toronto. One out of 10—10% of the population—relies on food banks. Toronto has 6.5 or seven million people. People are suffering out there. It's sad.
We had a by-election in Toronto—St. Paul's. It's been a stronghold for the Liberals. I know the by-elections quite often are challenging for a government in power, and we recognize that, but Conservatives won that strong seat.
We had a by-election a couple of days ago in Winnipeg. Liberals gained less than 5% of the popular vote. In Montreal, they lost a seat that was a stronghold of former prime minister Paul Martin. It was held by him. They've lost their way.
Well, this is not a new thing. They're out of touch as the government, unfortunately.
I know the members as individuals. I know different ones right there. I like them as people and enjoy having conversations. I don't care whether it's the Bloc or the NDP. I appreciate that we're people and we're all human, but nevertheless we have political philosophies that I attack. I don't mean it personally, but it is something that is affecting Canadians personally.
The previous Liberal president in my riding told me that the Liberals have just lost their way, and he was going to donate to my campaign. He was a former Liberal president.
If that isn't enough, the Liberal candidate that I ran against in the last election told me that he was going to vote for me in this election. That's not something I'd want to hear if I was a Liberal. I mean, honestly, the alarm bells are ringing. You know that. You see the polls. It's obvious for the Liberals here.
I think that this is a message too for the Bloc Québécois and the NDP. They've hitched their carriage to this horse, or however the illustration goes: They're hitched to this by voting with them. I can see why they're getting pretty squirmy in trying to pull out. It baffles me a bit.
I'll mention this in some comments. The Bloc is now saying they're going to—