Madam Speaker, families across my riding on Vancouver Island are struggling to house and feed themselves as the cost of living continues to rise.
The Duncan Foodbank and Lunch Kitchen and the Goldstream Food Bank in Langford are beyond capacity and are struggling to keep up with demand. This is heartbreaking. There is a new veterans food bank in Langford scheduled to open in mid-December, yet it is already being overwhelmed with requests for assistance from veterans, and even serving members of the military. This is heartbreaking.
I have risen in this House multiple times to fight for vital industries, like fisheries and forestry, that are in dire situations and facing shutdowns that will kill jobs and force even more people to food banks. These are all signs of a failing economy driven by the government's handouts and subsidies, which are fuelled by endless borrowed and printed money that serves only to further drive up the cost of food.
We must act now to help Canadians who are struggling. We must scrap the industrial carbon tax which drives up the cost of fertilizer and farm equipment and, ultimately, the cost of food. We do not need deficit-funded handouts. Canadians deserve more than—