Well, Mr. Speaker, I would disagree, and I will tell members why for the next 10 minutes.
The first budget presented by the new finance minister promised discipline, responsibility and a new direction. However, every single one of those promises was broken.
Six months ago, the minister promised Canadians a deficit of $62 billion. In the budget that was presented a couple of weeks ago, it was $78 billion. He promised a declining debt-to-GDP ratio, but it is rising. In fact, Fitch, the government's own credit rating agency, and the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer, until he is replaced because the Prime Minister does not like to hear challenges to his authority, have warned of credit downgrades. This would add billions more in interest costs. This is alarming.
He promised to spend less and, instead, the budget spends $90 billion more. That is $5,400 of extra inflationary spending per household, and that has consequences. He promised help for municipalities, to get Ottawa support in cutting the homebuilding taxes in half. Instead, that promise is gone, and higher housing costs for young people desperate to enter the market are the price of the Prime Minister.
He promised more investment, but the budget itself admits the truth, that private sector investment in Canada is collapsing.
The most alarming number of all is that Canada will spend $55.6 billion on interest on the debt next year. That is more than all the transfers from the federal government to the provinces for health and more than is collected in GST by the government. To put that in perspective, every single dollar of GST paid by Canadians is not going to doctors, to nurses or to hospitals; it is going to bankers and bondholders. This is not fiscal responsibility. This is not economic leadership. It is certainly not what the Prime Minister promised Canadians.
When I first rose in the House four years ago to speak on the fall economic statement of 2021, I warned about the dangerous trend that was already appearing: declining investment, falling productivity and a shrinking standard of living. Every year since, when I have spoken on the budget, usually in the spring, I have raised the same warnings. Every year, under the Liberal government, the situation has gotten worse.
Today, Canada's standard of living is in its steepest decline in 40 years. According to the OECD, Canada is on track to have the worst economic growth of all 38 advanced economies over the next four decades, right through to 2060. The productivity gap with the United States is now at its widest since the 1950s, and business investment per worker has fallen to half of what it currently is in the U.S. Since 2014, business investment in Canada has dropped 20%, while in the United States, it has grown by over 70%. This is not a momentary blip. It is a structural decline that is directly tied to policy choices made by the Liberals over the past decade.
I will talk about what this means to the people of Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, who live in the fast-growing suburban communities of Paris, St. George, Waterdown, Binbrook and Mount Hope. Families are already struggling to make ends meet because they have seen their mortgages increase as they go to renew them.
The Bank of Canada has warned that with millions of mortgages still coming due in 2025 and 2026, some people are facing a 20%, 30% or even 60% increase in payments. That can be $1,000 or $1,500 added on to a mortgage payment each month in our region and across Canada. That is really a gut punch to household budgets.
The other thing that they are being squeezed with is grocery prices. They remain painfully expensive. In fact, there was a report last week out of Dalhousie University, which said that 80.6% of Canadians, that is four in five, identify food as the biggest, most pressing expense they are facing.
This is in a country where we grow so much food and can export it around the world. Of course, if we had trade deals with certain countries and were not facing the impediments that have resulted since the Prime Minister took office, we would export more. How sad is that? We know that gas and home heating are still higher because the industrial carbon tax remains. We also know that Canadians are working harder but are falling further behind. Affordability is not just a talking point; it is a crisis at kitchen tables.
What worries me are the long-term consequences of this budget, because the finance minister would add $321.7 billion to the national debt over the next five years. This is more than double what his predecessor would have added, and it would add $10 million to our debt every hour. These costs are being passed on to Canadian taxpayers, and this inflationary pressure is causing grocery prices to rise and the interest rates on mortgages to be impacted.
The federal debt is now $1.35 trillion, and what do Canadians get for all of this? It is a GDP growth of 1.1%, which is the second-lowest in the G7. Ten years ago, at the end of a decade of Conservative government, we were the best-performing economy in the G7, but we are no longer today. Unemployment is rising an average of 6.4%. Investments are falling, and as a result, living standards are declining. This is not a plan for prosperity; this budget gambles away Canadian futures.
Across the great riding of Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, there are four fall fairs and there are two summer festivals. I had a booth at each of them this year, as I do every year. My team and I spoke to thousands of people over the course of the 24 days of those fairs and festivals, and two themes were entirely consistent and top of mind among constituents. One was affordability, and the second was the increasing concern that a middle-class life in Canada is no longer possible. I assured them it was not this way 10 years ago, and it will not be this way once the government is replaced
It does not have to be this way. My parents came as the children of immigrants to Canada. They worked hard. They saved up. They had the belief that every generation should get more and should be stronger. We were not born with a silver spoon in our mouths, but they passed on the middle-class dream of Canada to my brothers and me.
Owning a home was an achievable goal. Building a future was achievable, but for young people today, it is simply out of reach after 10 years of Liberal budgets. Families are feeling squeezed. Young people see no path to home ownership. Entrepreneurs are facing barriers at every turn, and seniors worry about the price of groceries. A senior came into my constituency office during the break week and said they no longer buy beef because it was out of reach for them at the current price. This is someone who had a reasonable pension income from their work in the private sector previously.
Canada should be a place where hard work is rewarded, investment is welcomed and opportunity is rising, not shrinking. Canadians are not asking for perfection, but they are desperately asking for affordability and for a plan that respects their sacrifices, and this budget does not meet that expectation. That is why Conservatives will oppose this costly, reckless budget if the government will not deliver a budget that helps Canadians.
Conservatives will continue to champion letting workers keep more of every dollar of their paycheque by cutting taxes, making homes affordable by clearing the bureaucracy that blocks building, bringing down food prices by cutting hidden taxes, restoring fiscal responsibility that reins in runaway deficits and rebuilding confidence in our economy so we are attracting investment and rewarding innovators in the Canadian economy. We would open Canada up to those economic opportunities again, not choke it with red tape and debt, as the government has been doing for 10 years. We would build a positive, hopeful future for every Canadian.
Budget 2025 does not meet the moment. It raises the deficit, it raises the debt, it raises inflation, it raises the cost of living on every household in the country, it ignores warnings and it leaves Canadians paying more and getting less. Canadians deserve better than this. They deserve leadership that respects their struggles, listens to their concerns and delivers real results. We will continue to fight for accountability, and we will continue to fight for affordability.