Debates of Dec. 16th, 2024

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, frankly, it pains me to see, in what is supposed to be a functioning democracy, a government that is in complete and utter collapse today. It is no secret that many in the House have lost confidence in the government. In fact, Canadians have lost confidence in the government. The only ones who seem to have not lost confidence in the government are its NDP coalition partners. The leader of the NDP holding off to get his pension is probably one of the most contemptible things I have seen in this country in a long time.

I want the hon. member's comments on the fact that we need an election now. We need to return to some sense of normalcy, decency and morality in this country, which a common-sense Conservative government could do.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if I did not make this emphasis known in my intervention, I certainly want to emphasize it in my response to my colleague's question. This is the final nail in the proverbial coffin of the leadership of the Prime Minister and the government. They have lost all moral and legal authority to govern. My colleague is absolutely correct. This is what I hear day in and day out from constituents in my riding, as well as from the constituents across the country who follow me on social media. They are not concerned whether the leader of our party is getting a security clearance. They want an election now. That is what everyone is talking about.

It is time to restore the promise this country once offered, which the Prime Minister and his government have destroyed. The leader of the NDP and his caucus need to show a backbone and put Canadian interests first. They need to put the needs of Canadians first, not the NDP leader's own selfish reasons.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, what has not changed is the Conservative Party of Canada's attitude toward what the member just finished saying. They have consistently made character assassinations of government members, and they have called for an election for over two years now. It is a joke for the member to try to give the impression that the time is now when he has been saying the time is now for the last two years.

We are not moving forward on a number of initiatives because the Conservative Party, in its self-interest, continues to filibuster on a motion, a motion about which I do not think the member knows what is supposed to be being debated right now. The motion, which we have been debating over the last six weeks, is to defer the issue to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. That is what the debate is about.

Could the member provide his thoughts on why the Conservatives are continuing to play this multi-million dollar game?

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what an absolutely insulting remark from the member of the Liberal Party. It is insulting to Canadians.

In 2021, Canadians gave the Liberals a minority government. They did not give them the plurality of the votes. We would be onto a different mandate by now if the Liberals did not have an unholy allegiance to the NDP. Are they on, or are they off? Are they dance partners, or are they waiting in the wings? Canadians did not vote for that, and that is what the member needs to be reminded of day in and day out.

Yes, I will continue to argue that we need an election now, every single day that I proudly represent the citizens of Brantford—Brant.

[Don Stewart, Conservative, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say happy holidays to the people of Toronto—St. Paul's and also give a shout-out to my father, who got out of the hospital this weekend. I wish him a speedy recovery.

I have been in this place for three months today, but that does not mean that I am three months old. I have been watching the government heading toward a crash like this for the better part of a year. It is surprising that it took this long to happen. When I look at the former minister of finance's letter, she says we must keep “our fiscal powder dry” to accommodate for an unknown shock, which may or may not come in the future. This would give some flexibility to the government to react.

Is the SDTC slush fund, which used up lots of taxpayer dollars, endemic of a government headed for a crash anyway, and the former finance minister is only now admitting to it?

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I articulated in my intervention, the government has demonstrated the complete opposite of what it promised Canadians. The Prime Minister wrote an open letter to Canadians shortly after his election in 2015. He promised to be a good economic steward of the taxpayer funds. He promised Canadians that the government would be open by default, as well as transparent and accountable.

Let us take a look at what has happened since 2015. It would take me probably another two minutes to outline the numerous scandals, the amount of government waste, the amount of misspent, misused, misappropriated and defrauded taxpayer funds, which I estimate to be well north of $1 billion. That is not exercising the public good, and it is not appropriate. This is why we need a carbon tax election now.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, could the member comment on the fact that Canadians are being held hostage by an erratic Prime Minister and the leader of the NDP, who is putting his $2.3-million pension ahead of the country?

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot disagree with that. These are selfish economic interests, and it is putting personal interests above the needs of Canadians.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, for two and a half months, the House has been seized with this privilege motion. We are still waiting on documents that were ordered by the House months ago, documents that would shed light on the misuse of taxpayer dollars through the Sustainable Development Technology Canada green slush fund. Despite a clear parliamentary order, the Liberal government has refused to comply, obstructing the vital work of Parliament and undermining the principles of transparency and accountability.

Meanwhile, Canadians are hurting and the NDP-Liberal government is failing them. The issues facing Canadians are only growing more and more severe, yet the Liberal government persists in its efforts to evade transparency and accountability. From the skyrocketing costs of housing and basic necessities to the ever-increasing food inflation, the pain felt by everyday Canadians is undeniable, yet instead of tackling these issues head-on, the government has chosen to prolong its cover-up of ethical failures. Canadians are left to suffer while the Prime Minister and the Liberal government are busy protecting their own.

After nine years of the Prime Minister's leadership, the price of groceries has skyrocketed and food insecurity has become one of the most urgent issues facing Canadians. Food Banks Canada reported that in March of this year, there were more than two million visits to the food bank. That is a staggering increase of 90% since 2019. Canadians are already struggling with the cost of food, but unfortunately, things are set to get even worse. This was confirmed by Canada's Food Price Report 2025. The average Canadian family of four will have to spend $800 more on food in the coming year. That $800 is on top of the year-over-year increases on food, bringing the average total family spend on food to $16,833.

Meat and vegetables are expected to see an even higher price hike, with the cost of meat rising from 4% to 6% and vegetables by 4% to 5%. The rise in costs for nutritious food are particularly alarming given the growing number of reports of scurvy here in Canada. It has gotten so dire that doctors in Canada have been warned to consider scurvy as a potential diagnosis for their patients.

In northern Saskatchewan, 27 cases of scurvy have been diagnosed. In all of these cases, the patients had one thing in common: a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet. This was once a disease that was associated with sailors on long sea voyages and is now a growing concern in Canada due to limited access to affordable and nutritious food.

To be clear, the NDP-Liberals' two-month tax trick on chips and chocolate is not going to provide vulnerable Canadians with the nutrition they so desperately need. Scurvy should be unimaginable in Canada but that is the Prime Minister's record. The rise in food insecurity is a direct result of the Prime Minister's carbon tax. Food prices have risen 36% faster in Canada than in the United States, where there is no carbon tax.

The reality is simple. If we tax the farmer who grows the food and the trucker who ships the food, ultimately we end up taxing the family who buys the food.

Instead of giving Canadians tangible, permanent relief, the NDP-Liberal government is preparing to hike the carbon tax again next year. In the middle of a persistent affordability crisis, it is hell-bent on making life more expensive for Canadians. The carbon tax-obsessed Prime Minister is determined to quadruple the carbon tax to 61¢ per litre by 2030. Canadians want a carbon tax election, but the NDP-Liberal coalition continues to hold the interests of Canadians hostage. With its lust for power and backroom deals, the NDP-Liberal coalition is refusing to face the consequences of its policies at the ballot box.

Canadians cannot afford to wait any longer for relief from the damaging policies of the government. That is why, in light of the fall economic statement being delivered today, Conservatives have one simple demand: to stop. The government needs to stop all planned tax hikes, especially the carbon tax hike that would further increase the cost of food, gas, home heating and basic necessities. It needs to stop fuelling inflation by cutting wasteful inflationary spending, like the 390 million dollars' worth of contracts handed out through the Liberals' green slush fund. That includes the 58 million taxpayer dollars that went to 10 ineligible projects, the 334 million taxpayer dollars that went to 186 projects that involved conflicts of interest and the 58 million taxpayer dollars given to projects without ensuring the terms of the contribution agreement were met.

However, that is not enough. The Liberal government needs to stop adding to Canada's debt. Conservatives are calling for a dollar-for-dollar law that requires new spending be offset with an equal amount of savings. This afternoon's fall economic statement should confirm that the deficit for this year and last year has not risen above the already reckless $40-billion guardrail the former finance minister promised in this year's budget. Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe the Prime Minister or Mark Carney, the phantom finance minister, will heed our common-sense recommendations or, at the very least, maintain the already reckless so-called fiscal guardrail.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has said the deficit could be as high as $46.5 billion. The Prime Minister's former budget director has come out and said, “over the past few years, the federal government has consistently prioritized short-sighted decisions over long-term fiscal and economic stability.” The Prime Minister's own former budget director does not have faith that the government will show the fiscal restraint that is needed in the fall economic statement.

It is far from just the former budget director raising concerns with the anticipated fall economic statement. This morning, the deputy prime minister and the minister of finance resigned from cabinet. She has arguably been the most loyal cabinet minister to the Prime Minister, but even she is now raising alarm bells in the face of the Prime Minister's bullish tactics to spend taxpayer dollars rashly in a reckless attempt to save himself. The now former finance minister has admitted that excessive spending drives inflation. Her letter of resignation this morning confirms the Prime Minister's decisions are short-sighted.

Today's decisions will have long-term repercussions for Canadians. That is why the former budget director also warned, “You can't pick and choose fiscal anchors as you go, and renege on a commitment you made only a year ago.... The fact of the matter is this government is losing control of public finances and Canadians are noticing.” Canadians are indeed noticing. Canadians cannot help but notice because it is Canadians who will always pay the price for the Prime Minister and his costly failures.

It is Canadian taxpayers who are on the hook for the waste and the mismanagement in the green slush fund, but it is not just for the green slush fund. The Liberal government's mismanagement is a pattern. The Auditor General has now revealed that the Liberal government's $50-billion CEBA program is its latest boondoggle. The Liberals paid out $3.5 billion in taxpayers' money through the CEBA program to over 77,000 recipients who did not meet eligibility requirements. That means 9% of the program's recipients were ineligible.

The Auditor General's report determined that the Ministry of Finance failed to provide effective oversight of the CEBA program. Even worse, the Liberal government awarded 92% of the total contracts to Accenture in a non-competitive process. Accenture took that money and then performed much of the work in Brazil instead of Canada. That work was done in Brazil, despite the Liberal government's claims of supporting Canadian jobs.

This is a government that has no regard for taxpayers' hard-earned money. The NDP-Liberal coalition's failures are not just numbers on a spreadsheet; they are real costs to Canadian families who are already struggling with skyrocketing costs of living. The Liberal government's high-tax and high-deficit agenda is fuelling inflation and it is the most vulnerable who are the hardest hit. Lower-income Canadians are disproportionately suffering from the government's inflationary policies. It is time for a government that puts Canadians first, not its own political interests. Canadians need a prime minister who understands the economic realities they are facing, who is focused on the long-term prosperity of Canadians, yet what have we heard from the current Prime Minister? “I'll let the bankers worry about the economy.” That recent display of incompetence from the Prime Minister follows memorable comments like budgets balance themselves and “you'll forgive me if I don't think about monetary policy.”

After nine years of his failed leadership, it is no wonder Canadians are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on their table. Everything is broken. The NDP-Liberal government has doubled the debt, doubled housing costs, caused the worst inflation in 40 years and sent two million people to the food bank. Canada's GDP per capita is smaller than it was when the Prime Minister took office. Canada has the most indebted households in the G7, with the worst housing inflation, and food prices have risen 37% faster in Canada than in the United States.

Our economy is teetering on the brink of collapse and now Canadians are faced with a threat of 25% tariffs on our shrinking economy. Canadians need a prime minister with the brains and the backbone to stand up for Canada. Canadians deserve a prime minister who actually worries about the economy, who will work for their future and who will take action to fix the mess the current government has created, a prime minister who will restore the Canadian promise that hard work leads to powerful paycheques and pensions that buy affordable groceries and homes in safe neighbourhoods.

The clock is running out on the NDP-Liberal coalition's backroom deals. Canadians will go to the polls in the coming year and they will have a clear choice: a choice between the NDP-Liberal coalition, which will continue to tax Canadians' food, punish their work and let crime spiral out of control, or the common-sense Conservatives, who will axe the carbon tax, build affordable homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Our common-sense plan is one of opportunity for all Canadians, a plan that rewards hard work, not who someone knows.

While Canadians have been struggling with rising costs over the last nine years of the Prime Minister’s leadership, the only people who seem to have gotten ahead are Liberals and Liberal insiders. The issues surrounding the Liberal’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada green slush fund are far from isolated incidents; they have been part of a disturbing pattern of mismanagement, lack of accountability and outright disregard for hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

That is the legacy of the Liberal government: an increasing cost of living that is making it difficult for Canadians to afford basic necessities, while demonstrating a blatant disregard for transparency and accountability. Canadians cannot afford the corruption of the NDP-Liberal government. The failure to provide the documents ordered by the House is not merely an obstruction; it is also an affront to the very principles of transparency and accountability that are essential to the proper functioning of our democracy.

It is not just a matter of parliamentary procedure; ultimately this comes down to the health of our democracy. That is why Conservatives are persistent with our demands. The Prime Minister could bring the months-long debate to a close if he respected the motion passed in the House and delivered on the production of documents. The refusal to fully release the requested documents is a deliberate attempt to prevent the Canadian public from understanding the full extent of the Liberal government’s corruption and mismanagement. With the refusal, the people responsible get to evade accountability.

The Liberal government has shown time and time again that it values protecting its own interests over the interests of Canadians. Whether it is allowing the $400 million in misused funds to go unchecked or failing to address the growing economic hardship faced by millions of Canadians, the government’s actions, or lack thereof, speak volumes. Canadians cannot afford to continue down this path of unchecked spending and hidden truths.

Accountability is not a luxury; it is a necessity in a democracy. The time for cover-ups and evasive behaviour is over. Canadians deserve a government that upholds its duty to them and a government that ensures that every dollar is spent responsibly and that the people responsible for mismanagement are held accountable. The green slush fund scandal is just one example of how the NDP-Liberal government’s lack of transparency has eroded public trust. The longer it continues to obstruct the production of documents, the deeper the damage to our democracy.

It is time for the Liberal government to stop protecting insiders and start listening to the Canadians who elected its members. It is time for the Prime Minister and his government to stop hiding and to start facing the reality of their actions. It is time for them to end the cover-up, restore trust in our public institutions and begin putting Canadians first. Canadians need transparency, accountability and, most of all, a government that works for them and not for itself. It is time for a carbon tax election.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to emphasize to people following the debate and what Conservatives have been saying inside and outside the chamber for years now that, quite simply, Canada is not broken and that in fact Canada is still the best country in the world to call home.

If we look at interest rates compared to the rest of the world, we see that Canada is doing exceptionally well. With respect to inflation, compared to the rest of the world, Canada is doing exceptionally well. With respect to the hard jobs numbers, there are more than double the number of jobs than under Stephen Harper, with the leader of the Conservative Party sitting in his cabinet, in the same time period. There are all sorts of national programs, from the school food program to a pharmacare program and a dental care program. There are lots of wonderful things actually happening.

Canada is not broken. I am wondering whether the member opposite would at the very least acknowledge that Canada still is the very best place in the world to call home and that in fact, contrary to what her leader says, Canada is not broken.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is, in my opinion, the best country in the world. We do have the best people.

I go home every weekend and I speak with Canadians who had never used a food bank before but are now using one, and with Canadians who are losing their house because they do not have a job. The Liberal government, where I am from, has attacked our energy sector and our agriculture sector to the point where the people who were working in wonderful careers in these sectors are now using food banks.

I want to repeat something from my speech, because I do not think the member across was listening: Canada has the most indebted households in the G7 and the worst housing inflation, and food prices have risen 37% faster in Canada than in the United States. I would just ask that the member opposite actually talk to his constituents and hear what they are saying.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is my first time speaking in the House as the Bloc Québécois whip, and it is a great honour for me to take on this role. However, I am doing so under rather unusual circumstances, to put it politely.

These are such unusual circumstances that I may not have another opportunity like this, so I want to wish all the members, and especially the people of Berthier—Maskinongé, whom I have the honour of representing, a wonderful holiday season.

We have rarely seen such a profound loss of confidence in a government. Not only did the finance minister resign on the very day she was to present the economic statement, but we have regularly felt we were going through some unprecedented and sometimes surreal events during this parliamentary session. That is the situation we are in right now.

As members know, the Bloc Québécois withdrew confidence in the government some time ago. This is nothing new. I would like my colleague to tell us what she thinks is going to happen next. What are we going to do this afternoon?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role and the new responsibility that he gets to bear.

It is quite interesting, actually. We know that the NDP has voted confidence in the Liberal government, not sometimes but literally all the time. We do know that right before the Elmwood—Transcona by-election, the leader of the NDP ripped up the supply and confidence agreement. We know that it was a big drama production and a show.

In her letter that was released today, the former finance minister said, referring to Canadians, “They know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves. Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end.” What is so shocking about that is that the New Democrat not get it. They keep having confidence in the Prime Minister, when the former deputy prime minister does not even have confidence in him. I do not get it.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I love our hon. colleague. Her intervention, as always, was fantastic and to the point. She speaks from the heart and she speaks for the constituents in her riding.

The hon. parliamentary secretary stood up and said, “Oh, everything's great”, but seven million Canadians are without a doctor; two million Canadians are going to food banks every month, and 47,000 Canadians have died from the opioid crisis in this country. That is the Liberal government's record. It is scandal after scandal and corruption after corruption.

It was not like that nine years ago, before the Liberal government took place, and it will not be like that when Canadians elect a strong Conservative government. I just want to give our hon. colleague another opportunity to talk about what she hears on the doorsteps in her riding of Battlefords—Lloydminster.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the kind words.

It is just so sad, especially coming up to Christmas. I was at the grocery store on the weekend, and I saw people who had to take things off the conveyor belt to put them back. What is baffling to me and what I do not understand is that what we are debating today is the Liberal government's failure to produce documents that they were ordered by this place to produce, and the lengths it would go to to cover up. Whatever is in the documents must be very damning if the government is willing to go to this extent to keep covering up the corruption and the mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, which is ultimately hurting Canadians.

As I said in my remarks, it is hurting the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable, the people who are on the brink of losing their house and those who are not feeding themselves. I referred to scurvy; there are scurvy diagnoses happening in Saskatchewan, in Canada. That is unacceptable.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would observe that we live in the greatest country. However, we have the worst Prime Minister and the worst government in Canadian history.

The Prime Minister long ago lost the moral authority to govern, but today, if there was any doubt, we have seen that the government has lost its ability to carry on the very functions of government, because in four hours, the government has to present the fall economic statement. The problem is that there is no finance minister. The finance minister resigned in what is a truly unprecedented set of circumstances demonstrating that the Prime Minister has lost all control.

The member spoke about the fact that, notwithstanding that the leader of the NDP ripped up his coalition agreement with the costly and corrupt government, the leader of the NDP has propped up the government on confidence vote after confidence vote after confidence vote, three times. The member said she does not understand why.

I would put it to the member that the reason the leader of the NDP is propping up the Prime Minister is so he can pad his pockets with a $2.3-million pension. Pension over Canadians is the priority of the leader of the NDP. Would the member agree?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I absolutely do agree that the leader of the NDP cares about himself, his own self-interest, padding his pension and making sure he checks that box, and he does not care whom he is hurting along the way. It does not matter whether it is his own caucus members, many of whom will not return to this place because they are not putting the interests of Canadians first, or whether it is Canadians.

The NDP leader literally has voted to increase the carbon tax time and time again. He pretends he does not like the Liberals and their supply and confidence agreement, and he literally rips it up but tapes it back together. It is just so sad and so disheartening that some people can be so selfish and only care about themselves, when our fellow Canadians are hurting.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I was going to talk about a lot of things, but the news this morning, or the tweet from the finance minister, has really changed things.

We are here today debating the privilege motion, which is the failure to produce documents pertaining to SDTC and the corruption that ensued from that. We know that the government is withholding documents from the House of Commons. We have seen this happen before with the Liberal government. We have had elections over it in the past, and here we are again today, debating a production of documents privilege motion.

What is the debate about? It is about an organization called SDTC, which is responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding to companies to pursue so-called green technologies, and this organization has been tasked with divvying out this money. It turns out, as we have heard from the Auditor General, that nearly $400 million this organization has given out was done under a cloud of conflict of interest, where people who were sitting on the board were giving their own companies money from this organization. That may come as no surprise to Canadians, as Canadians have come to expect that from this government, and Conservatives have been holding the government to account on this for a number of months now.

However, what is new today is that the finance minister has resigned her seat. She has written a letter to the Prime Minister, and I would like to read that letter here this morning just so we are all clear on what was going on there. The letter reads:

Dear Prime Minister,

It has been the honour of my life to serve in government, working for Canada and Canadians. We have accomplished a lot together.

On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the Cabinet.

Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet.

To be effective, a Minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence and possess the authority that comes with it.

For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada.

Our country today faces a grave challenge. The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.

We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.

That means pushing back against 'America First' economic nationalism with a determined effort to fight for capital and investment and the jobs they bring. That means working in good faith and humility with the Premiers of the provinces and territories of our great and diverse country, and building a true Team Canada response.

I know Canadians would recognize and respect such an approach. They know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves. Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end. But how we deal with the threat our country currently faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer. Canada will win if we are strong, smart, and united.

It is this conviction which has driven my strenuous efforts this fall to manage our spending in ways that will give us the flexibility we will need to meet the serious challenges presented by the United States.

I will always be grateful for the chance to have served in government and I will always be proud of our government's work for Canada and Canadians.

I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues as a Liberal Member of Parliament, and I am committed to running again for my seat in Toronto in the next federal election.

With gratitude,

The [former finance minister]

That is the letter that was written to the Prime Minister this morning. It was shocking news for all of us, and it speaks to what Conservatives have been calling for, for a very long time, which is that there is no confidence in the government.

We have been saying this for quite a while. The Bloc has recently joined us in this as well. Now the former finance minister is suggesting that Canadians have no confidence in the government. What is increasingly concerning or confusing to me is the fact that the NDP continues to prop up the failed government, continues to provide confidence in the Liberal government, despite the fact that we are now seeing that even top-level members of the cabinet no longer have that.

We saw the resignation of the housing minister earlier today in a press conference where he said he is no longer seeking re-election. He has resigned from cabinet as well. We see that the troubles of our country are piling up. The government is in chaos and unable to address the issues. Conservatives have put forward a common-sense plan to axe the tax, to get rid of the carbon tax, to free up our economy and ensure that Canadians can afford food. When we tax the farmer who grows the food, we tax the trucker who drives the truck to deliver the food and we tax the grocery store that sells us the food, Canadians cannot afford food.

We have seen this over and over again, and we have been relaying this message to the government, pointing out that more Canadians are visiting food banks than ever before. We have been calling for a common-sense plan to remove the carbon tax, to make us competitive with our neighbouring countries, like the United States, which is our biggest trading partner in many ways but also our competition in an increasing number of ways. To have our economy saddled with the carbon tax while the Americans are not puts us at a significant disadvantage.

I think that the former finance minister recognized that. She recognized that, so she chose to resign today. We noticed last week already that there seemed to be some daylight between the Prime Minister and the former finance minister around a fiscal guardrail. We heard repeatedly from the former finance minister that she was concerned about the finances of our country and that she wanted to keep the deficit to $40 billion.

From my perspective, a balanced budget is the thing we ought to be pursuing, not a deficit of $40 billion. However, it appears, in the fall economic statement the former finance minister was expected to deliver today, even that target would not have been met. We see that, increasingly, Canadians are lacking confidence in the government. The former finance minister is lacking confidence in the government, and Canadians are feeling the weight of the carbon tax, which is hampering our economy and making life unaffordable.

If that were not enough, the government intends to triple the carbon tax. As if life is not difficult enough in Canada, if we cannot afford to heat, house and eat in Canada because of the carbon tax at its current level, imagine what it is going to be when it triples over the next number of years. It is not an April Fool's Day joke, but every April 1, we get an increase in the carbon tax. This happens over and over again until Canadians cannot afford to live.

It is interesting as well that the housing minister resigned today. Common-sense Conservatives have put forward a plan to build the homes across Canada by removing the GST on new home builds. This would save on average about $50,000 per new home build and would stimulate new home builds across the country. We are building fewer homes than we did in the 1970s, yet our population growth is dramatically higher than it was.

I would also point out that the housing minister formerly was the immigration minister. In some ways, he was responsible in his former role for the problems in his current role, which he was unable to fix and now is resigning from that position altogether. I wish the former housing minister well in his new endeavours. I hope he is more successful in those endeavours than he was as the minister of immigration and then housing, as he seemed to have been a total failure in both of those.

It is interesting we get two ministers of the cabinet resigning on the same day, with one very clearly outlining that they have lost confidence in the Prime Minister. It is also interesting to note that, in the resignation letter of the former finance minister, she talks about “keeping our fiscal powder dry”. Conservatives have been arguing for a long time for that: to ensure that we balance the budget and keep the fundamentals of our fiscal home in order. This is something that the Prime Minister, from the get-go, has been loath to achieve.

I remember back in 2015, when I was first running to be a member of Parliament, that the Prime Minister said he was going to run small deficits. I also remember former prime minister Stephen Harper, at the time, pointing out that they were going to run these very small, very tiny deficits. Those deficits have ballooned dramatically. Never, ever, I think, in the entire tenure of the Prime Minister, has the deficit been $10 billion. It has always been dramatically more than that.

We have seen the initial four years of $10-billion deficits grow into multi-billion dollar deficits, $60-billion and $70-billion deficits, for nearly a decade. After nine years of the Prime Minister, the national debt has doubled. The Prime Minister has taken on more debt than all other prime ministers combined. To say that we need to keep our fiscal powder dry is almost somewhat humorous. I am glad that the former finance minister is pointing this out today, but the Prime Minister has failed to do that for nearly nine years and came in on a promise to run deficit budgets.

I do agree with the former finance minister when she says that we are facing “grave” challenges with the prospect of a 25% tariff. Particularly where I come from in northern Alberta, softwood lumber is a major part of the economy. I always say to everybody that I come from the promised land. We do forestry, oil field and farming where I come from. We have been suffering under double-digit percentage tariffs on our softwood lumber for as long as the Prime Minister has been the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister has totally failed to secure a softwood lumber deal with the United States. He has put our industry at a significant disadvantage. He has failed to not only defend our industry against American tariffs, but also failed to defend our industry here at home when provincial governments worked very hard to shut down the forestry industry. Then he has failed in terms of forest management when the federal government is involved in it. In Jasper National Park, the federal government is entirely responsible for forest management, and we saw large swathes of the national park burn because of poor forest management practices over the last 10 years.

We know what it is like to live under these tariffs in one particular industry, and we are concerned about the possibility of the entire Canadian economy suffering under a 25% tariff. We need a government that is focused on Canada first. We need a government that is focused on ensuring we have a united front here in Canada. From the Liberal government, we see chaos. We see finance ministers resigning, a deputy prime minister resigning her post, because the Prime Minister no longer has confidence in them and they no longer have confidence in the Prime Minister.

Conservatives have been calling for a carbon tax election, and I think that there is no better time than right now to call that election, to ensure that we can have a government that has the confidence of Canadians, that can negotiate with the United States and that can ensure that we do not face the 25% tariff that the Americans are threatening. Then we can fix some of these other problems and disputes that we have with the United States around software lumber. We can then restore the dream of North American free trade, which I have lived under my entire life and which, I think, was good for North America in general.

We need a government that can combat the buy America policies of several of the American states, so that we can ensure that we have a fortress North America rather than a conflict between Canada and the United States.

I note that the former finance minister did not mention, in her resignation letter, the fiscal anchor that she had put in place for herself. I would note that this was, I think, the third fiscal anchor. A declining debt-to-GDP ratio was the first one, but when that no longer held, she then moved to this $40-billion deficit. I note that she does not mention it explicitly in her resignation letter, but we did note last week that there seemed to be a number of rumblings coming not only out of the Liberal caucus, but also out of the ministry, around a dispute between the Prime Minister and the former finance minister over these fiscal guardrails that the former finance minister had put in place and whether the Prime Minister was willing to abide by them.

What seems obvious from the letter that we have from the former finance minister is that there was a significant disagreement and that the Prime Minister chose to fire the former finance minister rather than abide by the fiscal guardrails. The letter notes that, “On Friday, you”, referring to the Prime Minister, “told me”, that is, the former finance minister, “you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in cabinet.”

That is effective dismissal. The finance minister is generally noted to be the most high-ranking minister in the cabinet. It is generally the most prestigious position. A transfer out of that position to any other position would be seen as a demotion, which is an effective dismissal. I would say that the Prime Minister fired the former finance minister.

This has happened before to cabinet ministers who have stood up for Canada and who have stood up for what they believed to be right. We need to look no further than Jody Wilson-Raybould, who was in a very similar position. She felt that the defence of SNC-Lavalin should be done by the company itself in court and not by political interference by the justice minister, and she got into a dispute with the Prime Minister about this.

We saw a significant level of pressure brought to bear upon her to skirt around justice. We saw what happened to her as well. She was fired as the justice minister. She was also asked if she would be willing to take a lateral move. Therefore, we see that this is an MO of the Prime Minister, that he wants to get his way. No cabinet minister may push for what is good for Canada or for what is good for their ministry. It is insisted that they abide by the whims and wishes of the Prime Minister.

Today, we see another casualty of the whims and wishes of the Prime Minister, with the resignation of the former finance minister, which only goes to cover up, again, and distract from, again, the major scandals that have been plaguing the Liberal government over the last number of years. To bring it back to the privilege debate that we have been debating today, this just adds to a long line of scandals that have been happening with the government: SNC-Lavalin, the WE Charity scandal, SDTC and never mind the environment minister's severe conflict of interest with Cycle Capital.

All of those things would be more than enough to take down any government, yet here we are; it is still standing.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I realize that the leader of the Conservative Party was a member of the inner circle for Stephen Harper when he was a minister and a parliamentary secretary. When the Conservatives talk about corruption, I could talk about the anti-terrorism corruption of $3.1 billion; the Phoenix scandal of $2.2 billion; the G8 spending scandal; the ETS scandal; the F-35 scandal; the Senate scandal; the election scandals and the cuts to the Auditor General for foreign interference, which is a long one. Those are not to mention another booklet of 70 other types of scandals the leader of the Conservative Party was involved in with the government of Stephen Harper.

My question is more related to an image that the Conservatives are trying to portray to Canadians, that Canada is broken, which is not the case. Canada is the best country in the world to call home. When we compare Canada to the rest of the world, we will find that our interest rates are down, that our inflation is down and that there have been twice as many jobs created under the Liberal government as there were under the Harper government when the leader of the Conservative Party sat at the cabinet table. We have the most significant number of trade agreements ever signed in the history of our nation. We have a school food program. We have pharmacare. There have been a lot of proactive things.

Does the member opposite seriously believe that Canada is broken?

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is the greatest country in the world, and the Government of Canada is indeed broken. Everything is in shambles. We see that cabinet ministers are resigning, left, right and centre. The rumours are that two more cabinet ministers are going to resign. I wonder who those will be.

Perhaps it will be the environment minister. I think it would be appropriate for him to resign, given his severe conflicts of interest that have come to light through Cycle Capital. He owns a significant number of shares in Cycle Capital. SDTC, the organization that we are discussing today, gave Cycle Capital companies over $200 million in a significant conflict of interest for the environment minister.

My question, in return, to the member opposite is this: Does he know who the next two ministers to resign will be?

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for over a month now, the Conservatives have brought government to a standstill to talk about contempt of Parliament, specifically the fact that the government refuses to hand over the documents requested by Parliament. They have used this time to give all kinds of examples of Liberal corruption. However, we know that corruption and this kind of phenomenon of contempt of Parliament exist because the system allows them to exist.

Why not seize on this opportunity, then, to do something constructive? Why do the Conservatives not tell us about the measures they are going to put in place? How are they going to change the system to rein in corruption and make sure that this kind of situation never happens again?

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are looking forward to a carbon tax election, where we would be able to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. I am looking forward to having another confidence vote in which we would be supported by the Bloc, and I am looking forward to the NDP members actually voting with us in non-confidence in the Liberal government. We have seen that the former finance minister has resigned today, stating no confidence in the government. I look forward to the Bloc and the NDP supporting that as well.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of Christmas, I hope the hon. member will join me in wishing the Liberal Party well tomorrow night at its Christmas party, which is being held somewhere close to the Hill. I wish the Liberals all the best for tomorrow night's Christmas party.

We have a government that is literally collapsing in front of us right now. The only confidence that is being shown in the government is by the NDP. I recall when the NDP-Liberal costly, comfy coalition was conceived in 2022. I spoke, at the time, about the fact that the NDP was heading to an abyss of irrelevance and that it was actually playing right into the Prime Minister's hands. Given the fact that the New Democrats have supported the current Liberal government more than 25 times in votes of confidence as it relates to scrapping and axing the carbon tax, the fact that NDP members have continued to show their confidence in the government, even after the leader of the NDP ripped up the coalition agreement with much fanfare, and the fact that the NDP leader is here in order to secure his pension, is it not time that the NDP members join not just with Canadians but also with a majority of Canadians and show no confidence in the current Liberal government?

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think it will come as any surprise to my colleague that I agree with him when he says that we should have another confidence vote in the government and that the NDP should vote with us on that.

I want to recognize the hon. member for Barrie—Innisfil in his role as the former House leader in this place. He orchestrated and delivered many confidence votes in that time, and I want to thank him for his role in that position. I look forward to having the opportunity for another confidence vote very soon.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his words. It is quite interesting. I want to bring a date to the minds of those who are in the chamber: February 12, 2019. Does anybody know what happened that day? Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet on that date. It is almost like déjà vu. Even the former finance minister does not have confidence in the Prime Minister.

During the debate this morning, we heard through commentary that the NDP members have confidence in the Prime Minister, and they have voted over and over to increase taxes and to confirm their confidence. We have heard that the leader of the NDP wants to protect his pension. He wants to get his pension before he shows non-confidence in the government.

Does the member agree with that statement?