Mr. Speaker, I am going to split my time with the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle.
I will start by saying that the threats by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump come as a serious threat to Canada and to our prosperity. That is exactly why we are here tonight, but while this announcement is somewhat unprecedented and obviously worrying, it is not for a moment unexpected. Donald Trump did not appear out of nowhere. He was effectively running for president for four years, most of that time as a front-runner. He made tariffs and trade restrictions a central part of his platform and a central part of his campaign as a whole. The president-elect literally said, “Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented.” Those were his words, but last night's announcement revealed that the Prime Minister does not have a plan. He certainly does not have a Canada first plan for our economy or for our security.
However, let us look at how the government worked against Canada. It continued with its radical economic vandalism and its job-killing agenda. The Prime Minister continued to hike the carbon tax and raise capital gains taxes, adding piles of red tape on top of an already struggling business sector. He pushed forward with an agenda that doubled home prices. He doubled the national debt. Crime has doubled in this country. Our GDP per capita is smaller now than when the Prime Minister took office. In fact, it dropped more than any other G7 country since COVID.
We have the most indebted households and the worst housing inflation, and food prices have risen 37% faster here than in the U.S., while record numbers of Canadians now visit food banks. That is the Liberals' record. The Canadian economy now stands at record weakness, and we are already at a disadvantage. Businesses were already thinking about leaving, and now it is going to get even worse.
It is hard to see how anybody might think that we are starting from a negotiating position of strength, and speaking of negotiations, has anybody on that side of the House, anybody in the Prime Minister's office or anybody anywhere else thought to continue the relationships with the president-elect's team since 2020? Has anybody thought to build relationships with members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate, or with anybody of importance in Washington? We know that the Liberals say it, but it is quite clear that saying it does not make it reality, and could anybody read the writing on the wall to see what was coming?
I think we know the answers to all those questions, although the Liberals certainly act as though that is not the case, and it is clearer than ever that the Prime Minister has no plan. That is what we are demanding. He had no plan to anticipate the re-election of Donald Trump. He sat around for weeks until these tariffs were announced, and his big idea is a call tomorrow, a bunch of politicians sitting around a table for a photo op.
We need a Canada first plan. That is what the Leader of the Opposition reiterated. We needed it yesterday on the economy, on security, on the border and on so much else, but for good measure, let us start with the economy.
The Prime Minister has to now cancel the plan to quadruple the carbon tax to 61¢ a litre. It was a bad idea then. It is certainly a bad idea now that is going to tax everyone, so we are going to axe the tax on everyone, on everything, forever, and that is going to ensure our prosperity, or at least a stronger negotiating position with the U.S. These tax rises cost more for everything, including food, gas and energy, and combined with those tariffs from Donald Trump, or the threat of those tariffs, they will put our economy six feet under.
Additionally, the Prime Minister must revoke his plan to place the energy cap on natural resources industries, which would see our country produce 35% less. Natural resources are our biggest job creator and our biggest export. The U.S. wants what we have. Donald Trump says he wants to cut energy prices in half, and he can do that by importing clean Canadian energy.
Finally, the Prime Minister must cancel all of the tax increases on work, on investment and on making things here in Canada. They were a bad idea then, and they are certainly a bad idea now. His capital gains increases are going to drive businesses south. They are going to take thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars with them to the U.S.
These common-sense economic policies of axing the tax and scrapping the cap would not only save Canadian jobs; they would also help us in a negotiating position with the United States. They would help reverse the economic vandalism that we have seen after nine years of this Prime Minister, this Liberal-NDP government and the carnage they have caused in the Canadian economy.
It goes way past the economy. On immigration, the Prime Minister had already admitted he had broken a generational consensus on immigration, on the system. Every Canadian will tell us that too now. There are 4.9 million temporary visas and permits that have been issued, and they are to expire in December 2025, but yesterday, the immigration minister practically revealed that there is no plan to ensure that those who overstay their welcome actually go home.
The government let in two ISIS terrorists, a father and son duo, plotting an attack about 10 minutes from the riding that I represent. Another one was arrested near Montreal for planning an attack on a Jewish community in New York. The government utterly failed to properly screen the people coming in here. We need a Canada first approach to protect our security and our sovereignty, and to control those who are living in and those who are leaving our country. We need to protect Canadians, to keep our own country safe.
On top of that, a Canada first plan would put a stop to the out-of-control illegal drugs in this country. There are 47,000 Canadians who have died due to drug overdoses. This is higher than the number of people Canada lost in the Second World War. This number is staggering. There is a 200% increase in overdose deaths after just nine years of the Prime Minister, and it is thanks to his radical legalization of drugs and his policies that put continued addiction over hope and recovery. We have talked about it in the House so many times, and it is time for the Prime Minister to finally act on it.
Today, the police chief in the city of London, in Ontario, confirmed what we have been saying for years: The hard drugs of the Liberal-NDP unsafe supply programs are being diverted into our streets. Last year, the force seized 30,000 hydromorphone pills, most of them sourced directly from these programs. They are flooding into our streets, and they are also flooding across the border into the U.S. We know that. All we have to do is look outside.
We must put a stop to our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our aunts and uncles falling victim to the poisonous plan the Prime Minister and the Liberal-NDP government are pushing. We must end the vast black market transnational trade of dangerous drugs that the Prime Minister has created. The Prime Minister can do that today by immediately announcing he will end his failed, radical, unsafe supply experiment to bring our loved ones home drug-free with detox treatment and wraparound services, and stop funding the drug smugglers and the transnational trade.
Everyone sees that the Prime Minister cannot negotiate. Everyone sees that the Prime Minister cannot keep his promises. Everyone sees that the Prime Minister has lost control, not only of his own caucus, of his own party, but of the entire country. The president-elect has opened the door to not implementing these tariffs: As long as we implement the ideas we spoke about tonight, then he implies that the tariffs will not be levied.
From there, we find a silver lining. It is because we can fix these issues. The Prime Minister can do that. He can stand up and tell Canadians. He can show up in this debate and tell Canadians he will axe the tax and finally lay out a plan to make sure those who overstay their welcome with their permits live up to their agreements and actually leave this country. He can tell Canadians he will immediately end his unsafe consumption, free drug bonanza. He can do all of those things. The only thing missing in all of this is the Prime Minister and his leadership. He has been here for nine years. He has had three presidents, and he has failed.
If we read Robert Lighthizer's book, which I am sure many of my colleagues will quote tonight, we will know that the Prime Minister's first approach with Donald Trump failed, and we cannot afford a second one. He can continue to stick his head in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong. He can continue pushing jobs and money out of this country. The Prime Minister has a choice to make tonight. We as Canadians only hope he makes the right choice, to put Canada first. I know he will not do that, and that is why this country desperately needs an election.