Mr. Speaker, let us look back to 2015 and some of the promises that were made by the Prime Minister.
There would be modest deficits and the budget would balance itself in 2019. That was false. The deficit is at $22 billion this year and mounting. Then there was the reinstatement of life-long pensions for veterans. That was false again. We have seen multiple ethics scandals, a disastrous India trip, the payment to Omar Khadr, the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the Mark Norman affair, and threats to our security and sovereignty. The 2015 election was going to be the last election under first past the post.
Shall I dispense? Members obviously agree.
The Prime Minister said that Canada was back, but Canada was not back. The Liberals were back to their scandal-plagued days of backroom deals and backroom operatives, looking after their well-connected and well-heeled friends and working on two sets of rules: one for the Liberals and one for the rest of us.
The number of first-time Liberal MPs not reoffering this October is the most since 1997. For all the reasons I have stated, and much more, these members have come to realize, like many who voted for them in 2015, that the current Prime Minister is not as advertised.