Mr. Speaker, it is with pride and some emotion that I announce that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Durham.
We are gathered here to go over the government's budget. This is a budget in which, for the third time in a row, the government fails to keep its promises, fails to keep its word to Canadians, and throws caution to the wind when it comes to the sound management of public finances. Never in the history of Canada has a government spent so much to give Canadians so little. Those are the words of our leader, the leader of the opposition, who thankfully will be leading this country in two years.
Two and a half years ago, the Liberal Party was elected on a promise to run small deficits and return to a balanced budget in 2019. Those small deficits were meant to be invested in infrastructure. In my overview, hon. members will see that there is no sign of small deficits, a balanced budget, or infrastructure plans, and the parliamentary budget officer agrees. The deficit is currently $18 billion. A deficit is a clear indication of overspending. It is proof that expenses are out of control. It is proof that the government is so irresponsible that it is sending the bill to our children and grandchildren.
When we are a family, we have a budget and, yes, sometimes we will go to the bank and borrow money to buy a house. That is quite normal, but we do not go to the bank to borrow money to buy food. That is exactly what the government is doing. If as a family we are doing that, it is because we have a deep problem. We cannot control our spending and we spend too much.
No head of household can live on a line of credit and max out credit cards indefinitely. That is what this government is doing. Who could forget the tragedy of the 1970s that mired us in skyrocketing debt and chronic deficits? Who could forget that Canada's 15th Prime Minister, he of the same name as our current Prime Minister, introduced deficit spending in a time of peace and economic stability? Like father, like son, unfortunately.
The government has no idea how to manage public spending properly. Eliminating the deficit and balancing the budget are like foreign concepts, even though, two and a half years ago, the Liberals promised they would balance the budget in 2019-20. That promise just might have been motivated by the fact that 2019 is an election year, but at least they had a game plan that people could either support or reject. Voters made informed decisions based on the Liberals' promise to balance the budget in 2019, but what is the forecast for 2019 now? Another deficit. How about for 2020? Another deficit. 2021? Another deficit. 2022? Another deficit. 2023? Another deficit. In this budget, the government has looked as far into the future as it can, and all it sees, all we see, is deficits. The government has no idea when the deficit will be gone. That is irresponsible.
We cannot accept the fact that the government was elected, with the hope and the confidence of the people of Canada, saying it would get back to zero deficit in 2019, and today, just a year and a half before the election, the Liberals have no plan and no idea at all of how to get back to zero deficit. That is totally irresponsible and it is not fair to the Canadian people who voted for them in the belief that they would get back to zero deficit in 2019. They failed in this promise and that is totally unacceptable.
Under this budget, 90% of middle-class families are paying more taxes today than they were three years ago, when we were in government. That figure comes from the Fraser Institute, whose analysis has determined that families will be paying up to $2,000 more. That is because this government eliminated tax credits. Astonishingly, it even did away with the public transit tax credit. These people keep saying they support mass transit and green spaces, yet they scrapped the tax credit that we Conservatives had introduced to help public transit users.
It is also worrying that not one cent of the $330 billion spent by the current government has been set aside for the difficult NAFTA negotiations or for responding to competition from the United States, which is both our number one trading partner and our main competitor. We can all see that the U.S. administration is aggressively protectionist, and that is its right. We can disagree with that stance, but these people are acting in the capacity to which they were duly elected. However, our government has failed to set aside a single cent in this budget for tackling these new economic challenges.
Last week, we were treated to the spectacle of the Prime Minister dashing here, there, and everywhere to visit steel and aluminum workers. He put on a fine show, but what are the measures in the budget for countering the Americans' competitive approach? There are none. The same goes for NAFTA. On the whole, we find this budget disappointing.
I am proud to represent the people of Louis-Saint-Laurent and, to put it mildly, the people of the Quebec City region are not very pleased with this budget. Once again, the Liberal candidates, who I ran against during the election two and a half years ago, made several promises that this government still has not kept to our satisfaction.
For example, the National Optics Institute is looking for federal money in order to expand across Canada. The government promised $25 million, but this is the third budget and the money has not materialized. The Institut nordique du Québec, which seeks to develop the full potential of northern Canada, is also waiting for federal money in order to establish a presence at Laval University, in the Quebec region. However, the Liberals have still not kept this promise.
We can say the same about the expansion of the Port of Québec, a vector for wealth creation and the economy in Quebec City. The Liberals promised to support the port authority in its expansion efforts, known as Québec 2020, but, once again, there is no money after a third budget. That is also the case for the Quebec Bridge, a one-of-a-kind architectural achievement recognized by all as part of the world's engineering heritage. Congratulations. The Liberals stated that the issue of who is to maintain the Quebec bridge was to be resolved in 2016. It is now 2018 and, with 2019 approaching, this issue has not yet been resolved. There is a great deal of disappointment in the Quebec City region.
These fine people will say that Canada's economy is doing well. However, the Liberals inherited an exceptional economic situation from our government. Under our government, Canada was the first G7 country to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression with the best debt-to-GDP ratio and a balanced budget. The Liberals are extremely lucky that they followed a Conservative government because we left the house in order.
Since the Liberals took office, they have also benefited from a thriving American economy. When the American economy is doing well, it certainly helps because we are an exporting country and 20% of our international trade is with the United States. What is more, the price of oil is two or three times higher than when we were in office. Let us also not forget that the dollar has been low, which is a big help for an exporting country.
The government is therefore doing a very poor job of managing the things it is able to control since it is running deficits and has no idea when it will return to a zero deficit and balance the budget. The strength of the offshore economy is creating wealth in Canada, and the government has no influence over that.
We are angry that, day after day, the government refuses to answer our questions about when it will balance the budget. The parliamentary budget officer is also fed up. In a scathing report tabled last week, he indicated that it was high time that the Liberals came up with a plan to balance the budget.