Madam Speaker, this is a real doozy of a budget. It is such a doozy that perhaps this will be my last speech in this Parliament, so let us make it count.
I want to start with some confessions. I believe we need to spend less and invest more. I believe we need to build Canada strong. I believe we need to make generational investments in Canada's future. Unfortunately, this budget does none of those things. Each of those slogans is taken straight from the Prime Minister's mouth or the Liberal Party platform.
We are six months in. The budget is six months late. Even with that homework extension, the budget fails to produce on each one of the Liberals' own platform promises, and the House must give their work a failing grade.
Let us walk through them.
The central promise was to spend less and invest more. In an April 19 Instagram video, the Prime Minister explained what he meant by that. He likened it to purchasing a house: The purchase price is a capital investment, and heat and electrical are operating expenses.
Let us take the first half of his promise on his own terms. Is he spending less on operating expenses? No. By the Liberals' own extremely loose definition of investment, the operating expenses are going up under budget 2025.
I would ask those following at home to please turn with me to Table A1.5 on page 233 of the budget.