Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Marc-Aurèle-Fortin.
First, I would like to go back to the discussions we just had. Quebec receives equalization payments. We always forget that when a Quebecker buys gas that comes from Alberta, Alberta receives royalties from the oil companies. At some point, we need to set aside the myth surrounding equalization payments and acknowledge that subsidizing the oil industry not only exacerbates the climate crisis, it financially benefits people who are already raking in record profits.
We have repeatedly heard our government colleagues celebrate the low inflation rates Canada has had in recent months. Incidentally, this supposed return to normal last August, when inflation sat at roughly 1.9%, enabled the Bank of Canada to lower its key interest rate to 2.5%. Let us take a moment to think about that.
We on this side of the House quickly realized that when the Liberals brag about Canada's low inflation, they are actually celebrating low growth. There is a bit of bad news buried in what may seem like good news. Prices have stopped rising excessively only because they are already far too high. The fact is, this stagnation shows how little spending power Quebec and Canadian families have right now. In other words, it means our constituents do not have enough money in their pockets.
The numbers speak for themselves. With almost zero growth, or just 1%, the GDP per capita will go down this year, and probably next year, too. The government can say what it wants. While Canada is not technically in a recession, the people certainly feel like they are in one. It is not complicated. Prices that are already too high are staying that way, and although they have stopped skyrocketing, people are getting poorer.
Even worse, the steepest rise has been in the price of basic necessities, particularly the cost of rent and food. All across Quebec and Canada, household debt levels have skyrocketed. Unfortunately, the lowest income earners are the hardest hit.
As we know, the federal government is bloated, inflexible, costly, and often dysfunctional, and that is because it is out of touch with the reality of families, workers and communities. All too often, the federal government creates poorly designed programs that miss the mark. In its desire to standardize and centralize everything, the federal government forgets that each region has its own needs, its own unique features and its own priorities. The result: instead of solving problems, Ottawa's involvement nearly always makes them worse. Recent examples are self-explanatory and speak clearly to the situation we are in today.
This was notably the case with the international student file during the last session, when the Minister of Immigration at the time restricted access to post-graduate work permits for students who completed certain programs. At the same time, the federal government announced an across-the-board measure to address challenges specific to Ontario. This was a red flag for many stakeholders, who said that this change could adversely impact them, and that parts of Quebec, in particular, might suffer.
What this decision confirmed was that, as usual, before implementing these measures, the minister and his colleagues did not consult anyone directly involved on the ground or the institutions that were going to be impacted by the measures. For Liberals, the word “consultation” usually seems to mean hiring more consultants. They forget to consult the actual stakeholders, the ones who are on the ground and who are affected by all these measures.
Turning back to the matter of international students, it soon became clear that the citizenship and immigration minister's response was totally improvised. Worse still is the fact that the federal government did not even seem to know what was going on. I observed this myself in committee: The officials present were not familiar with Quebec's education system and its differences. The answers I received in committee were mind-blowing. The officials were unable to tell me what a CEGEP is. This is quite astonishing. People wonder why we want to make Quebec its own country. This was a blatant example of the lack of understanding of Quebec's unique differences that exists in the rest of Canada.
That is unfortunate, because too many of this government's decisions over the past few years have sent that same signal. It was then as it is now. The government still has no coherent plan.
Let us return to today's topic. The Bloc Québécois does not agree with every statement in the Conservative Party's motion, but we will vote in favour of it anyway. The federal government's mismanagement and the recurring deficits it is generating are a serious problem that we need to find solutions for.
The entire preamble of the Conservative motion is true. People are experiencing high levels of financial anxiety, and middle-income households are suffering the most. It is also true that inflation is currently under control and has dropped below 2%, which led the Bank of Canada to lower its interest rates by 25 basis points last week.
However, it would be false to say that the families everyone here represents are better off financially. That picture is misleading. Families' two most basic expenses, housing and food, are far too high.
We absolutely have to protect the most vulnerable people. The lower a person's income, the greater the proportion of that income they have to spend on food. It is basic math.
Meanwhile, here are two examples of transfers to individuals that would help the most vulnerable people cope with rising food prices, for which the federal government is to blame. First is employment insurance. The reform we have been waiting for, which has been promised since 2015, is still not on the table. This would make a big difference, especially in the current economic climate. We also have old age security, of course. Pensioners and seniors, the people who built the society we have today, are in a tough spot. These seniors are now facing very challenging situations, and that is unacceptable. Each and every one of us has a duty to fix this. This issue should be above partisanship, as the majority of federal members who supported the previous bill introduced by my colleague from Shefford understood.
Earlier, I heard the Liberal member say that that the Bloc Québécois wanted more spending. We we are proposing is targeted spending. Liberal members voted for the bill introduced by the member for Shefford to increase OAS for seniors aged 65 to 74 to address this inequity. They did that. What I heard earlier is that they were going back on their word. Once again, they are failing the most vulnerable people and that is unacceptable.
What is also unacceptable is the $83 billion in oil subsidies that I mentioned earlier. We have to stop that. This industry does not need money. It is making record profits and, moreover, it is contributing to the climate crisis in a very negative way. That also costs taxpayers money. Meanwhile, the government is going to build a pipeline that will cost a fortune, which cost 10 times more than it was supposed to. The private sector did not even want to build it. Given its spending and current fiscal management, this country is heading straight for a wall.
The member for Shefford also had a great proposal that would allow pensioners who wish to re-enter the workforce to be less impacted at tax time. This is targeted spending but, ultimately, it is actual investment that helps retired people make more money and put more food on their own tables. This would also be good for their mental health and physical health. It would help businesses and facilitate the transfer of expertise from this generation to a younger generation entering the workforce.
There are plenty of things that can be done to save money, but subsidizing the oil industry at the expense of the seniors and retirees who built the society we live in is certainly not one of them. We will gladly vote with the Conservatives, because the current government is doing a very poor job of managing public finances. The way it is acting right now is intolerable.
I get the impression that the Liberals are forgetting that it was the public that decided to give them a minority. At some point, they are going to have to get that into their heads.
