Mr. Speaker, the motion states, and I quote, “That the House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the government.” It is a simple motion that, in a few words, will reveal the true nature of this 44th Parliament. Everyone in the House, whether Conservative, Bloc Québécois, NDP, Green, Liberal or even independent, will have to reveal whether they have confidence in this Prime Minister, after nine years of Liberal governance that has changed Canada like no other prime minister has ever done before, a prime minister in a minority government who, up until now, had bought his survival by making a pact with the NDP.
Listening to the leader of the NDP, in the past and again just recently, extol the virtues of his decision to enter into this coalition, a coalition that went against the choice of voters in the last election, one cannot help but draw a comparison with a certain fable from La Fontaine that I would like to quote: An envious little frog,
Not bigger than an egg,
A stately bullock spies,
And, smitten with his size,
Attempts to be as big...
Does anyone see the similarity? The conclusion is even more revealing and explosive. “Is this enough?” “No, no.”
“Well, then, is this?” “Poh! poh!”
The frog continues to swell. “Enough! you don't begin to be.” And thus the reptile sits,
Enlarging till she splits.
That is how the NDP-Liberal coalition blew up, leaving no trace of the little orange frog, not that the bullock cares.
That is what just happened. Their deal had a disastrous impact on Canadian families, workers and businesses. The no-good Liberal government survived thanks to that deal, but it caused the worst inflation we have seen in 40 years. This Prime Minister increased the national debt more than all of his predecessors combined. Violent crime is on the rise across Canada. The streets are getting more dangerous. Too many Canadians are living on the street or in tents because they can no longer afford an apartment or because they are victims of the hard-drug epidemic plaguing the country.
This bad Liberal government, with the support of the Bloc Québécois, doubled our national debt with over $500 billion in inflationary spending. Bloc Québécois members have voted nearly 200 times to keep the most incompetent prime minister in our history in power. This bad government literally killed the dream that young Canadians have of one day owning their own home. This bad government is responsible for so many ethical breaches that we do not have enough fingers to count them. This bad Liberal government, to satisfy its Prime Minister's obvious natural propensity for spending, did not hesitate for a second to trample on provincial jurisdictions. This bad Liberal government succeeded in swelling the public service by over 40%, hiring more than 100,000 new public servants, yet Canadians cannot get simple answers to their questions over the phone. We can all testify to that.
Following a misguided tweet from the Prime Minister, this bad Liberal government completely destroyed an immigration system that was working relatively well, pushing Quebec to a breaking point. As for social services, infrastructure is not keeping pace with the rhythm imposed by this post-national Prime Minister. This Prime Minister, by the admission of one of his own MPs, is taking a divide and conquer approach to Canadians. This reminds me of one of the very first promises from this bad Prime Minister, during my first federal election campaign. Those who were elected in 2015 will remember. He said he would run small deficits for two years in a row. Then, it would be even smaller, and then we would go back to a balanced budget before the end of his term. Nine years later, that promise is completely meaningless. The term “balanced budget” does not exist in this bad government's budgets.
Despite all of that, despite the end of their coalition, despite the bad government, despite all the noise coming from the NDP on September 4 when the orange coalition frog exploded, the NDP says it still has confidence in this government. The NDP is still going to vote for this bad Prime Minister to allow him to continue. “Continue” is the Prime Minister's favourite word. He is going to continue to hurt Canada a bit longer. NDP voters are going to remember that, but there is worse. The grand prize for deception goes to the Bloc Québécois.
I want to quote from a speech given on April 17 in the House after this bad Liberal government tabled its most recent budget. It reads as follows:
Mr. Speaker, I refuse to believe that the Prime Minister is working hand in hand with Quebec. On the contrary, I believe he has his hand in Quebeckers' pockets. He is blatantly abusing the fiscal imbalance. He is blatantly abusing his spending power. Furthermore, he is racking up an appalling deficit that Quebeckers will be paying off for a long time to come simply to save his government's skin, and his own skin, in the next election.
That is the quite the condemnation of the last budget and of the Liberal Prime Minister. Who said that? Was it a Conservative? It sounds like something a Conservative might have said, but it was not a Conservative. It was the leader of the Bloc Québécois, the new political lieutenant for Quebec for this bad Prime Minister, who said that.
Despite all of the Bloc Québécois's grandstanding and fancy speeches and all of the pompous speeches its leader gives everywhere, the Bloc is preparing to tell the Prime Minister that he does not have to worry, that the Bloc has confidence in him, even if he has a bad government, even if he has his hands in Quebeckers' pockets and even if he is blatantly abusing the fiscal imbalance. That is clear. Even before the Bloc got anything from the government, it announced that it still appreciated the Liberal Prime Minister. The Bloc announced that it was going to vote in favour of this bad Prime Minister.
It is going to vote against the simple little motion I read out at the beginning, which says that the House has no confidence in this Prime Minister and the government. It is a simple motion. If the Bloc Québécois really wanted to walk the talk, it would vote with the Conservatives tomorrow. If they vote against a simple motion like this, it is because they like the Prime Minister. It is because they want this Prime Minister to stay in power time and again. In the words of the leader of the Bloc Québécois, “Quebeckers will be paying...for a long time to come simply to save his government's skin...in the next election”.
Today, the leader of the “Liberal Bloc”, the new coalition set to save the Prime Minister, is still talking out of both sides of his mouth to keep his place at the head of the parade by saying one thing and then the opposite in the same tweet. He announces his support for the Prime Minister while threatening to defeat him. Actions speak louder than words, and there is seldom any shortage of words when the leader of the Bloc Québécois takes the floor. The choice is clear. A vote for the motion is a vote to bring down a bad government. It is a vote to end federal Liberal interference in Quebec's jurisdictions and to restore hope to Quebeckers. A vote against the motion is a vote against Quebeckers, whose grocery bills have skyrocketed, who can no longer afford their mortgage payments, who no longer have access to housing, and who want the streets made safe again for their children.
I am often asked what the Conservatives have planned. It is simple and easy to remember. The next Conservative government's plan is to focus on Quebeckers and Canadians. What is the plan? A common-sense Conservative government will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. This needs to happen, and it needs to happen now, after nine years of this bad Liberal government.
We have to respect the Canadian voters and Quebec voters who elected a minority government. I say that because it is not said often enough. A minority government as bad as this one should not live to see another day. Again, I invite all parliamentarians who have doubts about the quality and competence of this Prime Minister to vote in favour of our motion and not to show more love for the Liberal Prime Minister by voting against the motion. It is time to give Canadians and Quebeckers a real choice and trigger an election to elect a common-sense Conservative government.