Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments by my hon. colleague from Kingston and the Islands, foreshadowing the big desire the Liberals have to go to an election, sooner rather than later, in the upcoming months. I wish a fond farewell. That is an interesting conversation, but we will have that on a later date.
Today, I want to address a question that I brought to the House in question period a few weeks back. Referring to the Minister of Finance, I said, “Canadians do not believe a word that comes out of the minister's mouth. There are 213,000 more unemployed Canadians. The government has the worst job-creation record in the G7. Canadians are tired of empty platitudes and broken promises. It is time for the Liberal front benches to get to work so that Canadians from coast to coast to coast can get back to earning paycheques“ instead of receiving pink slips.
Right now people across the country have a desire to go back to work and one of the things that is holding them back is a plan from the government. I cannot believe that more people are not talking about the fact that the Liberal government has not brought forward a budget for two years. That is two years without a financial plan for Canadians during a pandemic. People are looking for hope, optimism and a safe return to work. The government has sat on its hands and not brought forward that safe plan.
When I asked the finance minister when the Liberals would get to work and deliver a plan, this was her rebuttal:
...if the member opposite does not want to believe my words, let me quote David Parkinson from The Globe and Mail. Here is what he has to say: “For the economy as a whole, there are remarkably healthy signs. Unlike last spring's lockdowns...it appears we've learned how to keep the economy rolling.... The underlying recovery remains largely intact.” Thanks again to all the hard-working, innovative Canadian business owners...
Regarding the comment “remains largely intact”, a CTV article says, “One year into the pandemic, Canada's job market is 599,100 short of where it was in February of last year, or 3.1 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.” We saw a bit of optimism in the return of jobs in February, but we are still almost 600,000 jobs short of where were last February. It is incumbent on the government to bring forward a plan so Canadians can go back to work.
Canadians are desperately wanting some hope and optimism from the government and it has failed to bring anything forward. The Conservatives have a plan to secure jobs, secure our future and bring back jobs that we lost, not only the 600,000 but the million jobs that were lost during the pandemic. Canadians are looking for that. They are looking for a government that is ethical. We know ethics problems are running rampant in the front benches of the Liberal government. Canadians want to have some certainty and clarity on where we are going in the future and how the government is going to help lead them in the direction of jobs and prosperity.
The answer I received to my question was far from satisfactory. I am hoping that whoever stands up for the Liberal government tonight can answer this question. I do not want the member to trumpet the fact that the Liberals had one good month of job creation. Where are the 600,000 jobs that Canadians were going to before the pandemic hit in February 2020?