I think it was fifteen times, Mr. Speaker. Surprise, surprise, the Liberal government refuses to provide an answer, here or even out and about. I would submit to the House that we may very likely have the first finance minister in Canadian history who believes the term “balanced budget” is dirty words.
I hope I am wrong about that. I hope that the finance minister will come to this place and tell Canadians that a balanced budget is important to Liberals, who of course campaigned on a promise to return to a balanced budget. However, more important, I hope we will learn exactly when the Liberals' fiscal plan will return to a balanced budget. Will it be in 2050, as the minister's own department contends, or when will it be? We do not know. Seriously, who knows? Does any member on any side have any idea when Canadians will see a balanced budget? That, of course, takes us to this motion today.
Here is the problem, as this motion summarizes. Spending continues to exceed revenue to at least the year 2050, unless the Liberals can show us otherwise. Spending, by the Liberals' own plan, is set to continue to rise. If the Liberals will not reduce spending, and we know they will not, then that leaves raising taxes. In effect, that is precisely what happens when the Liberals' national carbon tax comes fully online. Carbon taxes increase costs on businesses and hydro costs, and the businesses become less competitive overall. Increased CPP, let us not forget, increases payroll costs to employers, and that in turn makes Canadian employers less competitive against other jurisdictions.
Here is an interesting fact. Business investment continues to decline in Canada. In fact, it has declined basically every quarterly period since the current Liberal government was elected. I am going to give Liberal members of this place the benefit of the doubt to recognize the importance of business investment in Canada, and it is no surprise that if they make the business environment less competitive they lose investment. With Canadian business investment already in firm decline, how much longer can we continue to ignore that? If they are increasing costs onto our employers at the same time our competitors are decreasing them, as is the case in the United States, at the very least I would trust that Liberal members would agree that, if investment is already in decline—as is the case, the lowest since 1981—there is no fiscal capacity to further decrease Canadian competitiveness.
Keep in mind that the minister's own department, in a different set of reports, warned that increasing the Canada pension would be a drag on the Canadian economy for decades. However, of course the current Liberal government—or at least those who run things when the Prime Minister is travelling elsewhere for whatever reason—does not seem to care about Canadian competitiveness. Where do we go from here? Increased taxes are already hurting Canadian competitiveness.
Liberals will not reduce spending, so it is suggested that they may do a one-time sale of some federal airports to raise some cash. This strikes me as being like a tradesman selling his tools in order to make the minimum payment on credit card bills. I am open to privatization, but let us have a conversation and not simply put the items out on eBay. Yes, it would get them through next month's bills, but it would not change the fact that, as long as spending exceeds income, they have a household headed for trouble. We should not lose sight of the fact that it will be Canadian families of the future who will be left to pay these bills. Again, with an aging demographic, it looks as if our children and grandchildren will have a lot of work left for them from us, and that is not a positive development.
Basically, that is what this motion is about: hoping that budget 2017 will help fix these challenges and not continue to make them worse. As the opposition, we are asking for the government to take this motion seriously and introduce a budget that does not ignore the fiscal and competitive realities. The fact is that we are currently not paying our way and we are leaving debt and other challenges behind for our kids and grandkids to pay for. I would submit that it is not investing in the middle class; it is mortgaging it. It is time we stopped the out-of-control spending that results in higher taxes and creates serious challenges for our future generations. That is why I will be voting in favour of this motion. There are some members across the aisle who may not support it, but I really hope they think and also speak to the finance minister, and if not in tomorrow's budget, I hope these concepts are in future budgets. It is in Canada's best interests.