Mr. Speaker, I wish I could say I am pleased to rise in this House to comment on the Liberal budget, but unfortunately, I cannot. As the newly elected member for Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, I have to sadly say that the Liberal budget does almost nothing to address the concerns of the thousands of people I spoke to while campaigning during the election.
As I travelled from community to community during the election campaign, the message was consistent and clear: Life has become less and less affordable. The very necessities of basic life, such as food, housing and energy, have been increasing well beyond the ability of average working-class people to make ends meet. They understood that the last 10 years of Liberal policies were a very large part of the cost of living rising so fast.
From where I am standing, it looks like the government is still driving down the same reckless road it has been on for the past 10 years. Let us think about it. They plan to spend $321 billion over the next five years, and that is on top of the $1.3 trillion of federal debt we already have in this country. Who is going to pick up that tab? It will not be us. It will be our kids and grandkids who will be left paying the interest on the massive debt we have accumulated.
As I read the budget, I could not help but think of my grandsons. They do not even know it yet, but they each owe more than $30,000 as their share of Canada's national debt, all because of the Liberals' irresponsible spending.
Nothing in this budget will help lower the cost of living for northerners. In fact, it will only make things worse.
During the election campaign just six months ago, the Prime Minister made a lot of promises. In my view, he has broken them all. He promised to keep the deficit below $62 billion. This week's budget indicates that the deficit will be $78 billion this year and that his tax plan will add another $321 billion to our debt over the next five years.
It was not all that long ago the former finance minister, the member for University—Rosedale, resigned as the minister of finance because the former prime minister blew past the Liberals' own self-imposed $40-billion deficit cap to $62 billion. It makes me wonder if the Liberals across the aisle have forgotten the words of that very same minister, who called for a little fiscal discipline and warned against throwing money at costly political gimmicks.
Let us put this in perspective. In 2025 and 2026, the interest payments on our national debt will be $55.6 billion. This is more than the entire amount of money the Government of Canada sends to the provinces for health care. If one is waiting on a list for an MRI, a hip or knee replacement, or any other medical procedure that would improve their quality of life, the Liberal budget does nothing for them or their family's health.
The total amount of money spent by the Canadian federal government is projected to be $538 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year. These costs have been caused by the last decade of out-of-control Liberal spending, which has created inflationary pressures, driving the cost of everything through the roof. One would think that when the government spends $538 billion, there would be investments for our seniors to help with the ever-rising costs of food and housing, and money to address addiction, mental health and homelessness.
I had reserved hope that this budget would contain measures to unlock the vast wealth and prosperity right under our feet in northern Ontario with the Ring of Fire. Opening this area to exploration has been a major priority for northern Ontario. The Ring of Fire is not even listed on the major projects list for consideration. There is only a vague mention that hopefully sometime in the next two years the government will encourage companies to invest in the Ring of Fire. While many other projects will be funded by federal dollars, we are left to wonder when we can start to explore and generate prosperity for the people in northern Ontario.
My great-grandparents, Joe and Azilda Bélanger, packed up and left Saint-André-Avellin, Quebec, back in 1886 looking for a better life in Ontario. They worked the land from sun-up to sundown just to scrape by. My grandfather followed in their footsteps, keeping up with the farm and operating his very own logging camps in the winter.
My dad followed the example of my grandfather and became an entrepreneur. He wore many hats throughout his life. He worked in the forestry industry and in construction, and later ran his own grocery store and then a hotel he owned, all while farming the same land Joe and Azilda farmed back in 1886. He did all this with just a grade 4 education. That is what I like to call real northern Ontario grit.
As for me, I was fortunate enough to get a university education, work in the corporate world and eventually run my very own small business. Now I have the privilege of serving as a member of Parliament. My kids and their generation are better educated than those before them and work just as hard, yet they struggle. That keeps me up at night. For the first time in our history, this generation might end up worse off than the one before, and that is what motivated me to run for office.
For 10 years, uncontrolled spending, high taxes, inflation and bad natural resource policies have made life more difficult. This is not the Canada I grew up in, nor is it the Canada I want for my grandchildren. The Liberals talk about the future and hope, but their actions never produce results that would make life more affordable for Canadians.
The Minister of Finance said that our GDP is too weak and that the Liberals are going to fix it, because they believe in Canada. He said they are going to do this and do that, that we are going to be the best in the G7 and that the Liberals are going to bet big on Canada.
I believe in Canada, but what I do not believe in is betting big on this Liberal budget. It is a very risky proposition. What we have seen in the last 10 years is a lot of promises. Liberals are big on talk, with little action and few results.
I hope my friends across the aisle will take a look at where we are headed. Canada's fiscal situation is not sustainable. I am asking them to accept the amendments we will be putting forward to make life more affordable for all Canadians, if not for their sake, for the sake of the next generation of Canadians, the sons, daughters, nieces and nephews, the young folks who deserve a fair shot at living the Canadian dream, just as we did. Let us not saddle them with debt and broken promises.