Madam Speaker, first off, I should tell you that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, because we have much to say about this issue.
I want to pick up on my colleague's last few words. If the Liberals' carbon tax plan was really intended to return this money directly to Canadian families, why did they not propose such a plan in the first place? Instead, they asked the provinces to impose a carbon tax, and any holdouts had this solution forced on them. What a load of claptrap. Whenever we bring up the carbon tax with the members of this government, their story changes by the hour, and unfortunately, nothing is being done to help our planet.
We are here to discuss a real issue for Canadian families and indeed for all Canadians, namely the consequences of the Prime Minister's mistakes. He is making Canadians across the country pay for his failures and for his inability to balance the budget. That means taxes will go up again, which will leave us more vulnerable to a possible economic downturn. Again, that is not something that is happening today, but it is something we can expect to happen, and Canadians will be the ones paying the price.
In 2015, the Prime Minister promised to balance the budget in 2019. Today, I just heard a speech about honesty in politics, openness and how to get people to pay more attention to politics. How can we trust a party whose leader promised over and over that if Canadians voted for him, he would post small deficits, then an even smaller deficit, and ultimately return to a balanced budget in 2019? That claim appears in his platform and was repeated many times. It was not just anyone saying it, it was the party leader, the person leading the government today.
What happened when that party took office? Once it got what it wanted, it no longer felt obligated to keep its promises and commitments and to run only small deficits, so we now have enormous deficits. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Department of Finance, with this government, it will take years to balance the budget. With a party that does that sort of thing, where is the honesty, justice and transparency for Canadians?
Every year that the Prime Minister runs deficits, he is borrowing money from future generations, my children and grandchildren and those of all Canadians. One day, someone will have to pay back that money. Unfortunately, it is our future generations that will have to pay for this Prime Minister's mistakes, mistakes he will continue to repeat as long as he is the head of government. It is time to put an end to this government before the damage becomes irreversible.
That is why our motion today calls on the government to do one simple little thing. It would take the Prime Minister's Office two minutes to agree to the request in the motion we moved today. We just want the Prime Minister to confirm in writing that he will not raise Canadians' taxes any more. When the Prime Minister is in the House for question period, he can often be seen signing all kinds of documents. If he wanted to, he could take two minutes tomorrow to write up a little note saying that he promises not to raise Canadians' taxes any more.
However, judging from the speeches today and everything the Prime Minister and government members have said, they clearly have no intention of making any such promise. Why? Because they have no intention of keeping it.
Our motion summarizes the facts. I would like to take a closer look at it because I think that will be helpful to Canadians who will soon have an opportunity to put an end to the mandate of a Prime Minister who is more concerned about image than about Canadians' well-being. The only thing he is really interested in is Canadians' money, and that is because he needs to cover his massive deficits.
The motion begins as follows:
That, given:
(a) 81% of middle-income Canadians are seeing higher taxes since the government came to power;
The fact is that the people of my riding, Mégantic—L'Érable, simply do not believe that the Liberal government has improved their lives in any way, shape or form since 2015.
The motion goes on:
(b) the average income tax increase for middle income families is $840;
Despite the government's rhetoric, it is always careful not to mention all the schemes it is using to try to take more and more money out of the pockets of middle-class Canadians, the very ones it claims to want to help.
Of course, the Prime Minister does not need to worry about a tax hike of $840. However, for many Canadians who are just $200 away from not being able to pay their bills every month, that is a lot of money.
Returning to the text of the motion, it continues:
(c) the government's higher Canada Pension Plan premiums could eventually cost up to $2,200 per household;
This is another Liberal government scheme. The Liberals take Canadians for granted, and they know full well the money will eventually run out because they keep posting deficit after deficit.
Every measure the government takes ends up with the need to come up with even more money. Where is the Liberal government going to get the money to pay for its out-of-control spending? Obviously, that money is going to come out of the pockets of Canadians in the middle class and those working hard to join it, as the government likes to say. They are the ones who have to pay for the Prime Minister's mistakes.
The government is looking for money, but the benefits will not materialize until much later. By some magical thinking that I cannot even describe, the Liberal government thinks that the money will somehow end up in taxpayers' pockets. However, anyone who pays for a phone bill, power, bill, heating, groceries or a child's education knows full well that the family budget does not balance itself.
According to the Fraser Institute, more than 90% of Canadian families will pay more in taxes once the Liberals' increases in Canada pension plan contributions are fully implemented by 2025.
It goes on:
(d) the government cancelled the Family Tax Cut of up to $2,000 per household;
The government, however, claims to want to help families.
Next:
(e) the government cancelled the Arts and Fitness tax credit of up to $225 per child;
Thousands of Canadian families got a nasty surprise when the Liberals announced they were eliminating this tax credit, even though this was not mentioned in their election platform. This decision had an impact on hundreds and even thousands of young people. I know that many young families decided not to register their children in certain courses. Some children were deprived of their physical and cultural activities just because their parents could not afford it.
At one time, I was the head of a gymnastics club. I know just how hard the parents who volunteer at these clubs work to bring down costs as much as possible so that children can practice their sport. The more competitive an activity, the greater the cost. As the head of a club, I can tell you that many talented young people were no longer able to compete in their favourite sport because their family could not afford it.
Children are the big losers when a fitness and arts tax credit is eliminated, along with the parents who volunteer and the clubs themselves, which work hard to succeed.
The motion states the following:
(f) the government cancelled the education and textbook tax credits of up to $560 per student;
(g) the government's higher employment insurance premiums are up to $85 per worker;
(h) the...carbon tax...;
(i) the government's intrusive tax measures for small business will raise taxes on thousands of family businesses all across Canada;
This is a shameless attempt to dip into farmers' pockets.
I could go on for another 20 minutes, and unfortunately I had a lot more to say, but my time is quickly running out.
I want to conclude by saying that we are right in demanding that the Prime Minister to provide written confirmation that he will not further raise any taxes on Canadians.