Madam Speaker, today I will be splitting my time with the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
I stand in the House today as the voice of taxpayers for Edmonton Griesbach. As a fiscal watchdog, it is important for me to stand up to our out-of-control Liberal spending that will lead to waste, more debt and higher taxes.
In fact, the last economic outlook showed that government revenues were holding up better than expected. GDP growth in the last quarter of 2015 was also higher than expected. Because of good Conservative economic management, the Liberal government inherited a surplus of $3.2 billion. That is a fact that has been confirmed by Finance Canada in case anybody is wondering about it. However, the Liberals squandered that in less than 100 days.
During the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Canada had the best job creation and economic growth record among G7 countries. Across the country, especially in my riding, hard-working Canadians are worried about keeping their jobs.
The budget clearly shows that the government has no plan for jobs. For my constituents who are struggling to find employment, the disappointment continues. The budget extends the duration of EI benefits for areas hard hit by slowdown in the economy, but it overlooks my constituents. Canadians living in Calgary, northern Alberta, southern Alberta are getting these new benefits, but Edmontonians are being snubbed, and that is just not right.
I have heard from many of my constituents on this. They are outraged, and demand that they get the same treatment, and rightly so. This is simply not fair. What is worse, the Liberals' plan to raise taxes on job creating businesses will only make it harder for out-of-work Canadians to find employment.
In their platform and throughout the Liberal election campaign, they promised Canadians they would reduce the small business tax to 9% by 2019, but now they will not do that. This is a costly broken promise. Canadians did not vote for broken promises. Canadians want a plan that delivers jobs and economic growth.
Let us remember this. It is the private sector that creates job and drives economic growth, and there are so many commercially viable projects all over our great country that are just raring to go. I am talking about the energy east pipeline. I am talking about upgrades to telecommunications networks. How about extending the Billy Bishop Airport runway? Instead of borrowing more money with no jobs plan, why will the Liberals not take steps to make these projects happen?
However, as shown in the budget, job creation is just not the priority of the Liberals. Clearly, Liberal spending is out of control. It is enough to make this fiscal watchdog howl.
The Liberals had more than $3 billion in the bank at the end of last year. I do not think we can remind people enough about that. The Liberals have blown through that money and now they are breaking yet another election promise.
The Liberals told Canadians that they would only borrow $10 billion in 2016, but in fact the budget reveals they are borrowing about $30 billion from taxpayers. Now that is real change, is it not? Whereas they told Canadians they would balance the books in 2019, there is no balanced budgets in sight. That is real change too, sadly.
Moving forward, the Liberals will continue to borrow billions of dollars to pay for their spending promises. The Liberal plan does not create jobs and it does not control spending. The fact is that no matter how much money we borrow, average Canadians know that we always have to pay it back.
Under our former Conservative government, the federal tax burden was at its lowest level in 50 years. We lowered taxes 180 times, saving the average family of four almost $7,000 per year.
According to a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office, lower and middle-income Canadians have benefited the most from our tax plan, which is contrary to what the Liberals have said.
The Liberal government is now digging into the pockets of Canadians once again. Already, it is raising taxes on personal savings, workers, and small businesses. The Liberals' ballooning deficit means higher taxes for hard-working Canadians, job-creating businesses, and future generations. Canadians just cannot afford to have their pockets picked any further.
This budget is a real disappointment for Canadians who are looking for real action to create jobs and long-term economic prosperity. It has no plan for job creation, it borrows about $30 billion, and it takes hard-earned money out of the pockets of my constituents and Canadians right across the country.
On this side of the House, we know that this is not the recipe for long-term prosperity. That is why we demand a real plan to create jobs. We will fight to keep more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians, including those in my riding of Edmonton Griesbach. We will push the Liberals to live within their means and not borrow billions of dollars that will have to be paid back by hard-working Canadians and future generations. I will fight hard for Canadians on these fronts, and I know my colleagues will as well.