Debates of Nov. 25th, 2025

Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the regional tariff response initiative is very helpful for any business in any sector that has been affected by American tariffs. It can be that it suddenly has capacity on the floor that it had not anticipated or it needs to retool or reorient. In addition to that, there is a lot of support from the Business Development Bank of Canada and the federal government.

People should reach out to their member of Parliament and FedDev for those supports, because they are available. We will not let them down.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the member talked about youth unemployment as though it just happened out of nowhere. This summer, youth unemployment was the highest it has been in our country in 30 or 40 years.

I am wondering what policies the government brought forward that added to youth unemployment, because it did not just happen by accident. Why are so many young people in this country finding it so hard to find employment if everything is going so well?

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I care about youth unemployment. I have a 21-year-old and a 19-year-old, and we hear from their friends about some of these challenges. Part of the challenge is that the tariffs are creating a lot of uncertainty, so nobody is adding a shift or expanding.

For young people who are interested in the trades, there is a lot that is promising in this budget. We are helping companies invest in themselves and giving them some certainty so they can create those jobs. We can have great careers in a number of different industries.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to join and add my comments to what is a disastrous budget 2025.

The member for Winnipeg North may be surprised by this, but I find it hard to believe that the Prime Minister can outspend even Justin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau added more debt to our country than all other prime ministers combined. Then this new guy walks in and is like, “Hold my beer. If you think that is spending, I will double Trudeau's promises.”

The Liberals got elected on the fact that this new Liberal Prime Minister, kind of the same as the old Liberal prime minister, was a financial wizard. He was going to control spending. He was going to deal with Donald Trump. He was the master negotiator who was going to get a deal done by July 21. I remember; everyone remembers that he said that.

I want the member for Winnipeg North to know that this will be my most factual speech. Everything I say is a commitment that the Prime Minister or one of his ministers made.

I was here in 2023, when the current finance minister promised grocery prices would go down by Thanksgiving. That was in 2023. The member can shake his head, but that is true. I just have an MNP report that says grocery prices this year, in 2025, are up $800 per family. That is $800 per family, according to the MNP report. Once again, we have a promise made but a promise not kept.

Another promise that was made, and I have heard nothing about this and there is nothing in the budget about it, is that they were going to break down interprovincial trade barriers. It was a promise made by this Prime Minister. I have actually asked a couple of ministers, a couple of times, to break down where they are at and what they have done to make interprovincial trade easier in this country. I have talked to a few of my counterparts in different provinces. There has been no progress made on that.

The Liberals said they were going to unleash the economy, another promise by the Prime Minister. I have not seen or heard of any change to interprovincial trade barriers since the Prime Minister made that commitment.

I do want to go back to the fact that the Prime Minister promised to get spending under control. As I said, I am going to use his own standards: It is a promise made but a promise not kept. The Prime Minister promised to keep the deficit to $62 billion. It is at $78 billion, almost $80 billion. He promised to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio. It is rising, and so is inflation. It will continue to rise.

He promised to spend less. He is spending $90 billion more than his campaign budget committed to. That actually adds $5,400 more in inflationary spending for each household. He promised more investment. The budget reveals that investment is collapsing.

I always find it amazing that the Liberals say they are going to invest more, that they will take taxpayers' dollars and decide which businesses should get it or not. There is always a follow-up question to that. Why do they need to invest more? What happened to private sector investment in this country? Why is the private sector not investing more in Canada?

I see a little quizzical look from one of my Liberal colleagues. Nutrien decided to invest $1 billion in Washington to add more capacity, instead of in Vancouver. The members across could not answer why they would invest $1 billion in the U.S. instead of in Canada right now, when they are headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It is because they do not think we have a dependable infrastructure or transportation system anymore. We lost $1 billion of investment, and the Liberals just shrugged. That was a Canadian company.

Why is it that TC Energy is investing in pipelines in America but not Canada? Where is that private investment going? It is going south. Why is that? It is because they do not believe in the regulations. We have Bill C-69, which the Supreme Court said was unconstitutional. The Liberals have still not done anything about it. We have the shipping ban off the port of Vancouver, which I think had a fair bit to do with Nutrien making the decision to invest in Washington and not Vancouver.

We have companies that will continue to look at Canada and see it as an unattractive place to invest, and that is because of government regulation and policy. When we hear Liberals talking about the investment the government will make, this is because they have scared away all the private investment and there is an atmosphere of uncertainty around investment in this country. They are going to take more and more taxpayers' dollars and throw them at projects, because they cannot convince private companies to invest in Canada anymore. That is a sad state of affairs, but that is where we are.

Imagine if, back in 2015, we had been able to see our country in 10 years' time and seen that in 2025 there would be the highest number of people in Canada's history who were using a food bank. Is that where we thought we would end up after 10 years of a Liberal government? The Liberals said they cared. I remember Justin Trudeau, with his hand over his heart, saying that the government was going to take on debt so Canadians did not have to. This was on national television, and he had this Care Bear stare that I remember very vividly.

Who do the Liberals think pays government debt? There is no magic money tree out behind the PMO, although sometimes I wish there was. The only way the government gets rid of debt is by taxing and taking more money from Canadians who earn a paycheque, or from companies' earnings, each and every day. Every time the Liberals say they are going to spend money so Canadians do not have to, Canadians need to realize they are taking that money out of their pockets. It snowed here yesterday, and it was a little chilly in Ottawa. It was so cold I actually saw the member for Winnipeg North with his hands in his own pockets for a change. He continues to nickel-and-dime Canadians to death.

The Liberals bring out their flagship program, the school lunch program. I have a big issue with it, because it actually is not feeding the number of kids they say it is, first of all, since 90% of kids do not get fed by this program. There are five million kids in this country, and the program is going to feed 400,000, which it has not done yet.

I also have a problem that the flagship program is giving food stamps to kids. The Liberals have run the government so poorly that parents cannot afford lunches and to feed their kids. Why is that? It is because they continue to layer tax upon tax on parents. Hard-working parents, after they get off work, instead of going to the grocery store now go to the food bank. That is what this country has come to after 10 years of their terrible fiscal policies and their inability to create more economic activity through the private sector.

I look at my kids, who are eight, 10 and 12 years old. My son was here with me a couple weeks ago, and he always asks, “Dad, why don't you stand up and say what you actually feel?” I say, “Son, there are some parliamentary language rules, and I am making sure I am following the rules,” but I am very passionate about this, because I believe there is nothing more that Canadian parents want than the ability to support their family and feed their own kids. If we took a poll, there would not be a family who said that they think the government should be the one that feeds their kids lunch.

Why can we not live in a country and work toward a country where parents have that ability? That is what I want for the next generation. There is a poll that shows that only 8% of Canadians, and members should hear this, think the next generation is going to be better off. People are losing faith in our country. Can members believe that? I never thought the next generation would be worse off than our generation. Something we should all aspire to is handing over a country where a person can do better than their parents. Every parent wants their kids to do better than they have done.

Under these 10 years with the Liberal government at the helm, people have lost faith in that. Youth do not think they can buy a home. Eight out of 10 youth do not think they are ever going to buy a home in this country. I never thought Canada would be in this kind of shape, where Canadians are working hard and trying to get ahead, and the government layers tax upon tax upon tax on them and makes life unaffordable.

This budget does the same thing. There is going to be $361 billion of debt added to this country over the next five years. Debt payments are going to go from $55 billion to $75 billion, which is exponentially higher than health transfers. It is a horrendous indictment and shows the failure of the Liberal government.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite asked a question earlier about what the federal government was going to do to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers. There is good news, since the federal government, with the support of the opposition, removed federal interprovincial trade barriers by Canada Day this year. As of just six days ago, tens of thousands of goods across Canada's 14 jurisdictions will soon be freely traded after an agreement was signed between all provinces, territories and the federal government to allow businesses to sell their products across Canada. It is called the Canadian mutual recognition agreement, and I think that is fantastic.

Would you thank your premier for me, because I think it is great?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

I will remind the member to address her comments through the Chair.

The hon. member for Regina—Lewvan.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, if it is going to happen, sure, but this is a Liberal kind of trick that they play. They say it is going to happen. There was an MOU signed. It is going to happen. They signed it on July 21.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Did you say that you will send me a press release, because I believe Liberal press releases?

Mr. Speaker, if it is going to happen, I would be happy to congratulate them on breaking down some interprovincial trade barriers. I want Canada to succeed. I believe in Canada as much, or more, than every one of those Liberals, but they think they can wrap themselves in the flag when it is convenient.

They say we will be Canada strong. Canada has never been in a weaker position, and it is because of your terrible fiscal policies.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

Again, I will remind members to address their comments through the Chair, and we will avoid this crosstalk and the challenges with going back and forth.

We will go back to questions and comments.

The hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks of the Liberal strategy to buy votes.

For example, during the last election campaign, the government handed out $3.7 billion in election goodies in the form of a carbon tax rebate for a period when the carbon tax was not even collected.

We in Quebec certainly find this shocking, since $814 million of our tax dollars went to fund these election goodies.

What does my colleague think about that?

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, we have been against the carbon tax for years, and now the Liberals have flip-flopped on it and decided it was politically unpopular. It was still their flagship policy for 10 years, and they flip-flopped like that because they will do and say anything to get elected. When it comes to the carbon tax and making sure we have affordability in this country, they should scrap the industrial carbon tax. They should scrap the food packaging tax. They should scrap the clean fuel standards, carbon tax 2.0, to make food affordable again.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that was a great speech by my seatmate and colleague from Saskatchewan.

We saw that the previous prime minister Justin Trudeau was declining in popularity at a dramatic rate, so much so that he even had to step down. He was planning to spend $154 billion over the next five years and to add that to our national debt. The current Prime Minister is planning to spend, over the next five years, $321 billion and to add that to our national debt. It is hard to believe and even hard to say.

Does the member believe the Prime Minister is worse than Justin Trudeau?

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, that is a tough but fair question. I guess the proof is in the pudding. He is spending more money than Justin Trudeau.

I want to add one thing about what they are spending money on. I want to talk about Regina—Lewvan. It is the home of the RCMP depot, and I hope people realize the government is cutting $98 million from the RCMP budget. It is asking our national police service to do more with less funding, and then the Liberals talk about adding 1,000 new RCMP members, which is going to cost $120 million, but they are giving them zero dollars for that. They are cutting the RCMP budget by $98 million, and then asking them to find $120 million over the next four years to train 1,000 more officers. It is shameful, and they should reimplement the budget the RCMP needs to keep Canadians safe.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to rise today on behalf of the people of Mississauga East—Cooksville to speak strongly in support of Bill C-15, the budget implementation act. This is a bill that reflects exactly what Canadians have been asking for: a government focused on building, protecting and empowering our country and our people.

When I walk through the neighbourhoods in my riding, whether on Kirwin Avenue or Dundas Street, or near the Burnhamthorpe Community Centre or Mississauga Valley Community Centre, I hear from all of my constituents, and members will hear those people's voices in this speech. I will share their stories and those of the thousands and millions of stakeholders who have brought their input into this budget.

People want the chance to have an affordable home, to find meaningful work, to raise their children in safety and to see their community grow with confidence. Budget 2025 would do just that. It is our government's plan to build Canada strong. The Prime Minister said it best when he said that the world has changed, and Canada must build the future we want for ourselves. We cannot sit back and wait for it. We must build. We must build it boldly and now. This is not a small vision, it is a generational project.

We are building homes, infrastructure and an economy by Canadians for Canadians. This budget shifts Canada from a posture of uncertainty to one of ambition. It makes generational investments to build the major infrastructure that underpins our prosperity, builds homes at a speed and scale our country has not seen in generations, builds industries that create good-paying careers and builds a stronger, more resilient, more independent Canadian economy.

In Mississauga East—Cooksville, housing is top of mind: homes, condos, apartments, co-ops and affordable housing. I recently met Maria, a single mom working two jobs to keep up with her rent. She told me, “Peter, I love this community, and I want to continue to find a way to stay here and grow my family here.” Well, I want Maria to stay and grow her family in our community, and this budget is designed for Maria and families like hers.

Through Build Canada Homes, the government is doubling the pace of homebuilding over the next decade, using partnerships with Mississauga, municipalities, Ontario, provinces and the private sector to move faster and be stronger. Homes will be built with Canadian materials, Canadian labour and innovative construction that reduces delays and lowers costs. The Prime Minister put it clearly: “We will build Canadian and buy Canadian...creating new orders”. We will also create new jobs and new opportunities for workers and businesses across our great country.

In Mississauga East—Cooksville, our community knows the value of good infrastructure. Transit, roads, schools, hospitals and water systems are the foundation of our daily life. Budget 2025 provides $51 billion over 10 years through the build communities strong fund to strengthen the local infrastructure Canadians rely on most. It is a fund that is nation building and that empowers Canadians with faster commutes, better connections and stronger communities.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities welcomes this budget. It says that budget 2025 “recognizes a core reality: municipal infrastructure is essential to economic infrastructure...critical to...housing delivery [and] economic strength”. For Mississauga, what does this mean? It means safer streets, modern community centres, improved transit and the infrastructure needed to build more homes and support more families.

We are attracting more investment and building Canada's economic strength. However, the world is more uncertain than at any time in recent history. Trade patterns are shifting. Old assumptions are eroding. The Prime Minister said that, in the face of global uncertainty, Canada must focus on what we can control. We must build the strongest, most independent, most competitive economy in the G7. Budget 2025 does exactly that by unlocking $1 trillion in investment.

Just today, we heard the Prime Minister talk about a $70-billion investment pledged by the UAE to Canada. This ambitious plan unleashes this $1 trillion in public and private investments over five years by accelerating nation-building projects; fast-tracking approvals through the Major Projects Office; building the roads, bridges, rail and trade corridors that we need; supporting critical minerals and advanced manufacturing; and modernizing ports and transportation networks. The first wave of our major projects will drive more than $60 billion into the economy and create thousands of well-paying jobs.

The Mining Association of Canada said that budget 2025 enhances the competitiveness of Canadian mining and accelerates critical mineral investments. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said budget 2025 helps set the conditions for productivity and investment. Canada needs bold action, and this budget recognizes the urgency.

This is about taking back control of our economic destiny. This is about building an economy by Canadians for Canadians. Budget 2025 is designed to give Canadians real opportunities, meaningful opportunities and a more affordable life. It is about building better careers and a stronger workforce by investing in our people's skills.

That is why the government is launching a nationwide re-skilling initiative for up to 50,000 workers, extending and modernizing employment insurance, creating digital jobs and training platforms with private sector partners. The workforce alliance would unite our labour unions, employers and industries to modernize that skills development.

The Canadian Labour Congress has praised this approach by saying Canadian unions welcome the billions invested in homebuilding infrastructure, skills training and the new $1,100 tax credit for our PSWs.

I think of Keisha in Mississauga East—Cooksville, who is a dedicated personal support worker, caring for seniors in our community. She told me, “I don't need much, but I just need a little bit of help.” The new PSW tax credit, that $1,100, is designed for people like Keisha, who give so much of themselves to our community.

Bill C-15 would deliver major steps forward toward fairness and affordability. It would exempt the Canada disability benefit from income calculations, expand the disability support deduction, strengthen the consumer protections in the financial sector and modernize access to banking, credit unions and digital payments. This is all lowering costs for people and giving people more control over their financial future.

We live in an era of rising threats such as fraud, organized crime, illegal smuggling and global instability. The Prime Minister said we must protect our communities, our borders and our way of life. In this budget, safer communities and stronger borders are presented in hiring 1,000 new CBSA officers, expanding border intelligence and detection systems, launching a national fraud strategy, and creating a dedicated financial crimes agency.

The National Police Federation has said that these measures demonstrate a commitment to its members and to safer communities. CARP, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, affirms that stronger fraud protections, quicker access to funds and supports for caregivers will significantly improve the financial security of Canadian seniors.

In Cooksville, Applewood and across Mississauga, families want to know that their streets are safe and their children are protected. These measures would help ensure exactly that. The budget would strengthen the systems Canadians rely on for community well-being, health care, research and community supports.

In Mississauga, we are building the biggest, most innovative hospital in Canada right now. That hospital will take care of all the families in my riding and all the families in the ridings across Mississauga. Beyond that, it will take care of the greater Toronto area. That is how large this hospital will be. Within this budget, there are a number of investments for health care that will help with that hospital's development.

When it comes to helping our most needy, the food bank welcome targeted, affordable measures that will help ease the pressures on families.

This is a transformational moment. The world is changing and Canada must choose whether to wait or to build. I say we need to build. That is what we are doing. We are building the homes Canadians deserve, building the industries of the future and building safer communities. It is building opportunities and fairness for workers, and it builds confidence in our country and ourselves.

This is Canada strong, built by Canadians for Canadians. To my colleagues on all sides of the aisle who are here, let us build a Canada that is more prosperous, more secure, more united and more confident than ever before. Let us pass this bill. Let us build this future. Let us build Canada strong.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague talked a lot about housing. What I am hearing from the residents of Middlesex—London is that housing has become completely unaffordable.

The Liberals talk about taking GST off for first-time homebuyers. The Conservatives' plan was to take the GST off all new home builds, because the reality is that it is very difficult to find homes under a million dollars now. A lot of people have purchased a home at some point in their life, and now they are looking at expanding their family and trying to purchase a larger home, perhaps, to house their family.

I am just wondering if the member would comment on why the budget falls so short and why it does not include all new home builds with regard to the GST exemption.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that my hon. colleague has some interest in housing. The Conservatives had gotten out of the housing business. It is the Liberal government that has brought housing back to the wonderful House of Commons.

Within our budget, we are helping, in terms of those who are buying new homes, the new homebuyers, by taking the GST off. I am glad to see that the Province of Ontario has followed suit. This will save new homebuyers a great deal of money.

We are investing in all housing. That includes co-ops, affordable housing and purpose-built rentals. It is right across the spectrum of housing. This is an ambitious plan to build the most housing we have ever built here in Canada.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said in his speech that we must focus on what we can control.

The Council of Canadian Academies has confirmed that Canada is experiencing a major research and innovation crisis. Investment is falling. There is a brain drain. Productivity is stagnating, and the federal system is falling behind the rest of the world.

What is there for research and innovation in the most recent federal budget? There is a 2% cut. There is no increase to offset inflation and no support for the next generation of scientists. Do we know what else his government is saying? It is speaking out of both sides of its mouth when it says that it wants to be the best and a global leader in innovation.

I have a plant at home. If I do not water it, it may not grow.

I would like my colleague to explain how he can say that he wants to be the best when he is not even making the research investments it takes to be the best in the world in terms of innovation.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I patently disagree. That is a false statement that the member has made. The government is investing in innovation. I have spoken to people from many industries. They talk about the SR&ED program, how we are enhancing that program and what it means, and about the investment tax credits we are providing to businesses to accelerate them. That is all done through research and development, through innovation. This is the type of investments that we are seeing—

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order.

I encourage my colleague to reread the budget. Research funding is being cut by 2% at the three granting agencies.

He says that I am stating falsehoods. I think it is up to him to take another look at things.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

I thank the hon. member, but that is a point of debate.

The hon. member for Mississauga East—Cooksville.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, again, innovation is so important to the budget, and that is why we are investing in research and development, investing in companies and investing in people: to be able to innovate and to create not only the jobs of today but also the jobs of tomorrow.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if I can pick up on the generational investments the member made reference to and just go a little bit beyond that. Coming out of the last federal election, as the member will know, the Prime Minister talked a great deal about expanding trade opportunities beyond the Canada-U.S. border. It is really quite impressive what is taking place in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, India, Korea, Philippines, England and Northern Ireland. These are all places in which we are getting substantial commitments to carry forward the idea of expanding trade opportunities.

I am wondering if the member could provide his thoughts on why that is an important thing for us to be doing.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is a trading nation. Diversification is our tool to be able to weather any storm and to make us more resilient. The member is quite right; we have agreements with Europe, with Asia and with countries around the world. We have the most trade agreements of any G7 country, but we have to continue to open up even more opportunities. The member mentioned many countries. Indonesia is another one that we just signed a free trade agreement with.

We brought a free trade agreement to the House, the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement. The Conservatives voted against it. It is unbelievable that they would be against trade, because we are a trading nation, and trade is so important for us.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the hard-working families, farmers and forgotten rural communities of Bow River in southern Alberta to speak against a budget that will make life more expensive for every single Canadian. The government has delivered a spending plan that will drive up the cost of food, drive up the cost of housing, drive up the cost of energy and dig this country deeper and deeper into debt than at any time in our history, and for what? It would be for more bureaucracy, more waste, more costly programs that fail the people the Liberals claim to help, and yet another round of broken promises from the Prime Minister and his finance minister.

Let us start with the basics. The finance minister promised Canadians a $62-billion deficit, but instead the deficit is now $78 billion. I remember a time when a $3-billion, $4-billion or $5-billion deficit was dramatic and worthy of bringing the government down. Now it is almost as if money means nothing anymore.

The finance minister promised to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio. He promised to rein in government spending, but instead he is spending $90 billion more, an equivalent of $5,400 in new inflationary spending for every household in the country. He promised to work with municipalities to cut homebuilding taxes in half and to get more homes built, but the budget breaks that promise too, making housing more expensive and more unattainable for young Canadians. He promised stronger investment, yet the budget reveals that business investment is collapsing. These are not small misunderstandings; they are broken commitments that have real consequences for real families.

On the subject of consequences, economic consequences, nothing is more destructive to jobs and investment than the government's looming oil and gas emissions cap. Further illustrating the disconnect between the government's projections and reality, ECCC's own modelling assumed that the cap would reduce production by only 0.7%. How do we become a global energy superpower by reducing production by 0.7%? That is the first fallacy.

However, as Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot confirmed to the environment committee, the modelling was already flawed. It relied on overly optimistic scenarios from the Canadian energy regulator and the International Energy Agency that have not matched actual market trend. In reality, the independent estimates from The Conference Board of Canada and Deloitte suggest production could fall by as much as 11%, a figure that aligns much more closely with observed trends.

Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer's 5.4% projection appears conservative in light of the current data. The Parliamentary Budget Officer also reported that the emissions cap would cost over 40,000 jobs and shrink nominal GDP by $20.5 billion U.S. by 2032.

This is a stark discrepancy, and it indicates the government is downplaying the true economic impact of its own policy. It is putting Canadian energy investment at risk, it is putting jobs at risk and, as Dr. Exner-Pirot warned, the cap acts as a production cap in disguise, driving capital out of the country and sending good-paying Canadian jobs to jurisdictions with weaker environmental standards.

The budget hints at delays, and it softens the language, but it does not go nearly far enough. If Canadians want Canada to be an energy superpower, and if we want to attract capital instead of driving it away, the emissions cap must be taken off the table. Only then can we restore investor confidence, protect thousands of jobs and unleash the full potential of Canadian energy.

One of the most shocking features of the Prime Minister's budget is that just the interest on the national debt will reach $55.6 billion next year. That is a hard number to let sink in. This means that we would spend more just to service the debt than we spend on the entire Canada health transfer. It is more than the entire GST revenue; the equivalent is that every single dollar collected through GST would now go straight to a banker or a bondholder rather than to a doctor, a nurse or patient care. That would be the true cost of the government's reckless spending.

Einstein once talked about the magic of compound interest, but the current government is showing us the magic of compound spending. Under the Prime Minister, the federal debt has soared to $1.35 trillion, and the budget adds another $321 billion over the next five years, more than double what the previous government would have added over the same period. Canadians are paying for runaway debt. Taking five dollars out of a taxpayer's pocket and giving two dollars back as a handout is a broken proposition, and it devalues the contract a government has with the people.

The budget also fails Canadian farmers and rural communities. Major farm organizations have been clear in their criticism. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture stated that while the government included some measures, the budget is “a missed opportunity to address some of our sector's most pressing challenges such as a permanently increased interest free threshold for the Advance Payments Program, [dealing with] labour disruptions in the food supply chain, [and] protecting farmland”.

Modernizing the Canada Grain Act should also be a priority. Grain Growers of Canada warned that “without extended interswitching, farmers lose a competitive tool that [keeps] costs in check and performance accountable” in terms of grain and commodity transport.

The Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada called the budget a failure on food security, stating bluntly that “this budget fails to deliver on the government's earlier promises” and that it falls short on all counts.

Moreover, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency modernization measures do not go far enough. For too long, the agency has shifted responsibility between itself and Health Canada and Agriculture Canada, depending on where the pressure was coming from to perform, and it has left farmers without accountability or timely action. Without structural reform, the CFIA will continue to hide behind bureaucracy rather than provide the certainty and transparency farmers need in order to operate efficiently and safely. Canadian farmers, the ag industry and the public demand it. The incremental digital upgrades planned cannot fix the systemic issue.

The government's approach leaves Canadian farmers exposed to higher costs, excessive regulation and competitive disadvantage. Until the industrial carbon tax is removed, bureaucratic barriers are reduced and the CFIA is truly reformed to act decisively on agriculture issues, this budget will continue to fail rural Canadians.

Nowhere is the impact of the budget more painfully felt than at the grocery store. Canadians are already facing one of the worst affordability crises in living memory, and the budget only makes it worse. Food inflation came in at 70% higher than the Bank of Canada's target. Families are spending $800 dollars more this year than they did last year, just to feed themselves. The prices of basic necessities such as meat, coffee and baby formula are all skyrocketing. Beef is up more than 12%; processed meat, more than 5%; coffee, more than 27%; infant formula, 6.6%; and soup, 5.3%.

These are not luxuries; these are staples. When the cost of basic staples goes up, everything else in life becomes harder for working families. While the government finds new ways to tax food at the checkout counter, it continues taxing food at the farm gate as well.

Rural communities know the reality: The government's refusal to scrap the industrial carbon tax on fertilizer and farm equipment, and its doubling down on it in the budget, is breaking Canadian farmers. Farmers in my riding and across Canada have pleaded with the government to end the carbon tax on growing food. Instead, the budget doubles down. It keeps the carbon tax on barns, irrigation, grain drying, fertilizer production, tractors and combines. When we tax the people who grow the food, we invariably raise the cost of the food they produce.

The consequences are real. These increases hurt rural Canadians, seniors on fixed incomes, single parents, and young families trying to get ahead. They are the result of high taxes, high deficits and high regulation from a government that refuses to listen.

Conservatives believe in a simple principle: If we want to make life affordable, we cut taxes, cut waste, build homes, unleash industry and remove the bureaucratic barriers that hold Canadians back. Instead the Prime Minister and his finance minister are choosing the opposite path: bigger government, higher taxes, more regulation, higher deficits and more debt, and Canadians are paying the price.

Canadians deserve a government focused on lowering costs, not on raising them. They deserve a government that believes in farmers, families and workers, not in big bureaucracies and high taxes. They deserve a government that respects the value of a dollar and the dignity of work.

Conservatives are ready to deliver.