Madam Speaker, as the great Thomas Sowell said, “The more people who are dependent on government handouts, the more votes the left can depend on for an ever-expanding welfare state.” I cannot think of a better quote for tonight's debate, when we are talking about this temporary, two-month tax trick the Liberal-NDP government has introduced, which is nothing but a cheap gimmick just to buy votes from Canadians.
Overwhelmingly, with everyone we talk to, in no matter what part of the country, it is a common theme; people ask, “What happened to Canada? What kind of place did Canada turn into? How did Canada get so weak? How did Canada end up getting such weak borders, such a weak economy and such weak security?” The answer is simple: We have a weak, incompetent, selfish Prime Minister.
Growing up here, after immigrating to this country, I remember we did not have much. I know many people can relate to this story today, but the outcomes are much different. For me and my family, we did not move here with very much. We lived basement to basement, sometimes all in one room, because it was all we could afford. My dad was a taxi driver and my mom worked different jobs, including at a Tim Hortons and a long-term care home. I did not really get to see my parents growing up because they were working all the time just to put food on the table.
I remember at a very young age, my brother and I got a paper route. We would finish elementary school, come home and put together the newspapers. They would come in five or six bundles and we would have to put them together and hand them out, sometimes in the rain or snow and sometimes we would be chased by a dog. We had to earn money; we had no other choice. Growing up, I was considered an at-risk youth, but I did not feel much different from anyone else. Even though my family all struggled really hard, we could get by. That was the difference.
Even though we were not making much money, at that time, people could still afford a home, pay their rent or afford a mortgage payment. They could also go to the grocery store and were still able to get a week's worth of groceries with a powerful paycheque. This is why people keep asking, “What happened to Canada?”
I was an at-risk youth who lived through a lot of poverty and did not think there would be much of a future. My parents also did not think I would have much of a future just because of the way I grew up. I was very fortunate to grow up in the riding I get to represent today. That is the voice I bring to the House, for those people who grew up just like me.
Today the difference is, after nine years of the Liberal-NDP government, the Canada we all once knew is gone. The Canadian dream my and many other immigrant families came here for, and those who were born and grew up here knew about, where people could put in hard work, earn a powerful paycheque, live in a community safe from drugs, especially government-funded drugs, and safe from being abused or even murdered. We see today the rise in violent crime. That was the difference.
It only took nine years of the incompetent, weak Liberal-NDP Prime Minister to turn this country into what it is today. I could not have imagined we would be living in a country where over two million people visit a food bank in a single month, a third of whom are children. One in four people in this country are skipping meals and parents are doing it so they have enough food to give their kids. This is something I know about very well because I saw it in my own household, but we could still afford our rent then. We could still get groceries, even though we had to delay when we got them.
Today, we hear about moms putting water in their kids' milk just so they can stretch it out. They are buying less nutritious food and going shopping in the almost-expired aisles because that is all they can afford. There are other concerning statistics we have never seen in Canada before. One in five children live in poverty in this country. Child poverty is up after nine years of the incompetent Liberal-NDP government.
Canada has had the worst living standards of the last 40 years. Our GDP per capita has been on the decline for two years. In fact, technically, we are in a GDP-per-capita recession. In simple terms, Canadians are getting poorer. It is not just a term we use but what Canadians are feeling today. As much as the finance minister says the Liberals are in a vibecession, whatever that means, the vibe is clear in this country. Canadians are getting poorer. They are suffering or else two million of them would not be lining up at food banks.
Our jobs, our businesses and our investment are fleeing to the U.S., where there are fewer regulations and a better return on investment. In fact, almost half a trillion dollars' worth of our Canadian jobs and investment has gone to the U.S. It is making U.S. workers richer and the U.S. economy better, building pipelines in the U.S., and Canada is left footing the bill. That is what nine years of incompetence does. The Prime Minister has driven our good jobs and good investment out of Canada. That is the vibe of Canada today.
There was an explosion in population growth, even though the incompetent former immigration minister was warned by his own department that it was about to explode the immigration levels. There was already a housing crisis. They warned him it was only going to get worse. He ignored it. Just like this two-month temporary tax trick to buy votes, they exploded the population for votes and votes only. What did that do? It did exactly what his department told him it would, the same thing he ignored. It made housing even worse.
What kind of a government spends almost $89 billion on housing and sees housing costs double? What kind of measure of success is that? Is it really something to celebrate? Is it really a vibecession that it spent so much money to achieve such a horrible outcome? All of these people the Liberals brought here in search of getting more votes for themselves are now living under bridges and sleeping in their cars; they cannot afford housing because the Liberals have doubled housing costs. That is the reality.
Do members remember when we used to be able to go to the grocery store and get a full week of groceries for $200? What does $200 get us now? It gets barely a bag, maybe a little more. That is why people are suffering so badly in this country. That is what nine years of incompetence from the Liberal-NDP government has done. When it doubles the national debt and food bank usage, it is nothing but misery for the good people who just want to work hard and make something for themselves and their families.
What does the Prime Minister do after doing all of that to them? He continues to kick them down harder. He kicks them down with a punishing carbon tax scam, one that takes more from Canadians than they get back in fake rebates, which was proven by the Liberals' own Parliamentary Budget Officer, and one that does not help to reduce emissions. We know that because their own department told us that.
They have no measure that tells us how much lower the emissions would be if they increased the carbon tax scam, because they know it is like the Prime Minister, not worth the cost. However, Canadians are left with that cost. They see that cost when they fill up with gas, when they go to the grocery store and when they have to turn up the heat, which they are all doing now since winter has started. They do not have the luxury of the multi-millionaire trust fund baby Prime Minister.
They actually have to go grocery shopping themselves, unlike the Prime Minister. They have to pump gas themselves. They have to drive their kids around to get to tutoring or to play sports. They do not have the luxuries that the spoiled Prime Minister has, who has exploited Canadians and made them poorer. That is the difference.
However, we have a common-sense Conservative leader who knows about hard work and who grew up in arguably the greatest city in the greatest province in this country, Calgary, Alberta. He talks about the common person because he is a common person. He is definitely an extraordinary person, but one who cares about everyday Canadians. That is why, on this side of the House, we have common-sense policies for the common people, the people who built this country and have kept it afloat even though the incompetent Liberal-NDP Prime Minister continuously kicks them down with his failed policies.
Has anyone ever seen so many homeless encampments in the country? The Prime Minister brags about housing, on which he somehow spent almost $90 billion. The only thing that really went up is the homeless encampments that have popped up around the country. Liberals brag that no one has invested as much in housing as the government has, but what did it get Canadians? It got them more homelessness, more food bank usage and more pain and suffering, but I guess it is all good because all of the people who are suffering are just in a vibecession; it is fine.
Canada is in an absolute productivity crisis after nine years of the government. We already know how much investment it drove out. We just have to look at the wage gap between a U.S. worker and a Canadian worker, and that gap is widening. In fact U.S. workers are $32,000 better off than Canadian workers. If the incompetent government had just kept pace with former prime minister Stephen Harper, then the gap would not be as wide and Canadian workers would be at least $4,300 richer a year. That would make a huge difference.
However, the government and its failed policies, supported by the NDP because its leader really wants his $2-million pension and keeps the incompetent, weak Prime Minister in place, have made Canada's economy worse than Alabama's, which has one of the lowest economies in the U.S.
Canadian household debt is the worst out of all of the G7 countries, but we have to look at why. With an average paycheque, Canadians used to spend about 40% just on housing, but after the government doubled housing costs and the national debt, what did that do? Instead of 40% of a worker's paycheque, now it is 60% to 80% in some cases that goes just to housing.
As I said before, when we go to the grocery store, we notice the difference. Prices in the U.S. are 37% lower at the grocery store than in Canada. It is all directly because of the carbon tax scam. The Liberals tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who ships the food and the grocery store that sells the food. Of course at the end of the day, the Canadians buying the food get hit with the overall cost. That is why it is a scam, nothing more, and why things are so expensive at the grocery store.
The government comes up with cheap gimmicks, the lollipops they give just to garner more votes. This is the reality. It is because it knows it cannot on its own record. It has had a failed record over the last nine years; that is why we have the statistics we have.
If I were to read the statistics about two million Canadians using food banks and one in four Canadians skipping meals, we would not think we were talking about a first world country. We would definitely think we are talking about a third world country. That is what the government has done.
The government keeps talking up a big game, but the member for Whitby talked about muzzling and not being able to speak, and that is ironic. The Toronto Star, of all outlets, published an article entitled “Liberal MP says he was threatened with ‘consequences’ for opposing $250 cheque proposal”. The article says, “Hamilton MP...said earlier this week that he would vote against the government’s cash rebates because they leave out seniors and people with disabilities.”
The article also says, “New Brunswick MP...said she would support the current measure when it comes to a vote, even though she believes it is too restrictive”, and “Newfoundland MP...said he would like to see the cheques expanded to include seniors who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement, but would support it as is because he does not want to cut off help for Canadians.”
According to the article, the St. Catharines MP, who is a Liberal, “said the benefit should be ‘targeted’, and said the Liberals have already enacted measures to help seniors, such as Ottawa's dental care program, which prioritized [seniors].” He is not in favour of what the government is putting out, yet Liberal MPs are being muzzled.
Remember the 24 MPs who supposedly signed a letter, who wanted the Prime Minister out? Where are they now?