Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the budget today.
Just before I start, I want to give a shout-out to my brother Larry. He made me this pen. He has made me a few other pens. He lives in Chilliwack. I just want to recognize my brother for being a good brother over the years.
Let us get to the budget. I remember when the Prime Minister said he would spend less and invest more. He meant that in reference to Justin Trudeau, but his budget does the exact opposite. As the recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer discovers, it spends billions more and invests billions less than the Prime Minister promised just months ago.
I think we all remember when he was running to be leader of the Liberal Party and in essence running to be the Prime Minister. This is from February 19. He said, out of his own mouth, “The essence of this is to spend less, and invest more.” This is right from the Prime Minister's mouth.
This is confirmed by The Globe and Mail, one of the Prime Minister's and Liberals' favourite newspapers. It says, “The former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England criticized the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for spending too much.” We all know that, do we not? “Total federal spending has jumped by about 9 per cent on average since the Liberals took power in 2015 and federal workforce grown by 40 per cent”. This is right out of the Prime Minister's mouth: “It is clear that the federal government is spending too much.” He also said, “At the same time Canada as a whole is investing too little.”
That was the promise he made to many Canadians across the country. A lot of voters took him at his word, and it seems that just a few months after that promise was made, things changed quickly.
How does Mark Carney spend more and invest less?