Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place and join in debate on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. I particularly appreciated the speech by the MP for Mégantic—L'Érable. He made many good points that I hope to follow up on.
Our motion today is a serious one:
That, given that, after nine years, the government has doubled housing costs, taxed food, punished work, unleashed crime, and is the most centralizing government in Canadian history, the House has lost confidence in the government and offers Canadians the option to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.
I have to say that although I did not know about this particular opposition motion until recently, I came to the topic well prepared today. Back home in my riding, I write a weekly MP report to my constituents, as I am certain many others in this place do as well. For the past few weeks I wrote extensively about this particular topic, as I knew, we all knew, it would be coming up in this place.
On September 4, I of course wrote about the leader of the NDP's tearing up his agreement with the Liberal government. When it came to answering a question on what it would mean to have an election, here is what I wrote: “The NDP can, and I suspect likely will, continue to vote with the...Liberal government”. Well, it is almost like I am psychic. Who could have possibly predicted that the NDP leader would continue to stand with the Liberal government after the great theatrical performance of tearing up the agreement?
When I was asked why I thought the NDP leader staged the theatrical performance, here is what I wrote in response: “In my view, the Leader of the NDP is responding to criticism for what has been his current NDP strategy of bitterly condemning and complaining about things...Liberals do outside the House of Commons that the NDP fully supports when inside the House of Commons.” Once again it was an almost psychic reading of the NDP leader.
Often I like to ask my local citizens a question at the conclusion of my report. The following week I asked the question, “If given the chance to participate in a non-confidence vote on [this Liberal] government, would you opt for an election now or prefer to wait until October 2025?” I suspect it will not surprise any member of this place to learn that an overwhelming number of Canadians want a carbon tax election, and that they want it now. The fact that even the leader of the NDP says he no longer stands with a carbon tax speaks volumes. I mention these things because I now can say with complete and total certainty that the good people I represent want a carbon tax election.
Let me go back to the leader of the NDP. Imagine for a moment that he broadcasts his own radio talk show. If people ever wanted to know about the incompetent and bad performance of the Liberal government, they could tune in to the NDP leader's AM radio show, as it would be 24-7 talking about just how bad the Liberal government is. It is the same Liberal government about which the NDP leader said, “The fact is, the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people”.
The leader of the NDP is clear that the government is the enabler of corporate greed. Let us for a moment surmise that everything the NDP leader says is true. When it comes to the Liberal government's incompetence, he is not really that far off. However, here is the thing. Who is the greatest enabler of the Liberal government? It is, wait for it, the leader of the NDP. I know that is hard to believe. How can someone say that a Liberal government is so incompetent and yet still support the Liberal government every single day?
Once again, this week we learned that after all of the great theatrics, the leader of the NDP still stands with the Liberals. It is such a totally nonsensical situation to say, “Yes, I think it is the worst government ever and does not deserve to be re-elected whatsoever, but I will do everything in my power to keep its members of Parliament elected.” It literally makes no sense to anyone, yet it is a “wash, rinse and repeat” tactic for the NDP.
Of course, joining in now is the Bloc Québécois. To some extent, I can sort of see the situation from the NDP's perspective after many years of blindly supporting the Liberal government no matter what. Many people now view the NDP and the Liberals as largely one and the same. When I knock on the doors of many seniors in my riding who were long-time NDP supporters, they tell me that voting NDP used to mean something and that the NDP has lost its way.
I will now go back to the Bloc. The Bloc's suddenly standing with the Prime Minister is something I did not fully expect. After all, the Liberal government has failed to deliver for the people of Quebec just as badly as it has for the citizens of every other province and territory. The Liberal government has literally turned failure into an art form on immigration, foreign interference in our democratic process, softwood lumber and the now $60-million so-called gun buyback program that has not bought a single firearm.
Crime is up massively. There is corruption in the federal program for contracting, complete fiscal mismanagement, and failure with our military and in our foreign policy. Everywhere we look, there is so much failure. That is not good for our provinces and territories. It is not good for Canada.
Worse yet, the Bloc is now supporting a Liberal-NDP coalition that has doubled housing costs, taxed food, punished work and unleashed crime. We know that the House leader for the Bloc has said that there has been “excessive centralization” never before seen in history, and that a government that has difficultly managing it owns missions was starting to get its hands “into the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces.”
There is one quick note I would like to share with the Bloc members in this place. There is a small value-added business in my riding whose owner sources his raw goods from two places. One of those places happens to be Quebec. Every time the carbon tax increases, the shipping bill from the trucking company he uses to get the raw supply from Quebec becomes more expensive. The trucking company literally sent out a note making it clear that it is increasing its shipping rates because of the carbon tax. After the next carbon tax increase, it will be more cost-effective to get those raw goods from outside of Canada. What a shame.
The jurisdictions that do not have carbon taxes and the trucking costs from the border of the B.C. interior are much cheaper than Quebec. The business owner says the carbon tax makes him feel punished for trying to use Quebec-sourced goods or, for that matter, goods from any other Canadian province.
Does the Bloc think that is good for Canada? Why does the Bloc want to become the new NDP and stand with the Liberal government? It is so bizarre. Every Bloc member of this place will have to answer to their own constituents as to why the Bloc is now working for the Prime Minister instead of working for them.
Before I close, I have to come back to something the leader of the NDP said recently: “it is the people's time.” I could not agree with him more on this. Why not give the people an election so they can be heard, because we work for the people? I do not know about the Bloc, the NDP and the Liberals, but I work for the people who sent me here. I do not work for the Prime Minister.
Every time they vote against a confidence motion, they are voting against the people and against giving them a say on the Liberal government. It is well past time to give the people their say and have a carbon tax election. It is the people's time. I for one dare the NDP leader to stand for a change, using his own words, instead of standing for the Liberals.
Canadians want a government that will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Canada's common-sense Conservatives are ready to do that for them. We believe government should serve the people, not the other way around. Therefore I ask my friends in this place to start putting the pressure on the government and to vote in support of the motion. I do hope that the voices of Canadians will be heard, not just through my words but also through our collective voice as a Parliament.