Mr. Speaker, these Liberals like to try to call this a generational budget. I guess if we look at the generations of young Canadians it is going to take to pay off the massive deficit in this year's budget and the accumulated debt after 10 years of the Liberal government, it is in fact generational because it will take generations of Canadians to try to make a dent in paying it off.
All of the debt that was accumulated from 1867 until 2015, these Liberals have managed to double in 10 years. Think about that for a second. All the debt accumulated from every government from 1867 to 2015, the Liberals more than doubled in the last 10 years and that is debt that is going to have to be repaid by generations of young Canadians who are going to suffer through higher taxes, higher inflation, higher interest rates, all the things that come with this excess spending by the Liberal government.
If they also want to talk about a generational budget, this generational budget would deliver generational job losses. We look at job losses in the auto sector and the job losses in the steel sector. We just had the announcement of 1,000 job losses yesterday in the steel sector. This is the result of specific policies and decisions made by the government. We can look at the generational devastation in the softwood lumber industry, which the current government has been unable to resolve in eight years of government. If members recall, under the government of Stephen Harper, the softwood lumber dispute was resolved within six months of that government's taking office. Now we are looking at eight years and we are looking at tens of thousands of jobs lost, mills closed, etc.
If we also look at generational opportunities for corruption, then this budget is also generational. The Liberals have decided that the best way to spur the Canadian economy is to set up a special office and the Prime Minister will pick certain projects that will get special status. These are the people who brought us the WE Charity scandal, the green slush fund and many other scandals over the past years. All of these things have been a boon to Liberal insiders, who get rich on these schemes.
These are three ways in which, I guess, this budget is generational, but generationally bad and would cause generations of damage to the country I love and all Conservatives love.
Let us talk a bit about some of those specifics. We now have 1,000 job layoffs in the steel industry in addition to other layoffs that have happened in the steel industry over the course of the current government. The Liberals are going to say it is caused by the tariffs from President Trump in the United States. Sure, that is one factor, and it would be great if that were to be resolved, but we have a Prime Minister who said, “Who cares?” and that is “boring”. If members wonder why we have not actually solved the trade dispute with the United States, which has now cost 1,000 job layoffs in the steel industry, it is because we have a Prime Minister who so casually says “Who cares?” and that is “boring”.
This is the result of “Who cares?” and that is “boring” when we are talking about our largest trading partner, but it does not stop there. Let us look at what is happening in the auto industry. We have now lost production at the Brampton assembly plant and others could be facing the same fate because, once again, the tariffs that are put on our auto sector by President Trump have not been resolved by the Prime Minister. Some of us might recall that it was the Prime Minister who said that he would have a deal by July 21. The last time I checked my calendar, I saw we are quite past July 21. Again, if I go back to when the Prime Minister says, “Who cares?” and that is “boring” when asked about whether he has met with President Trump to resolve the tariffs, members might understand why they blew past July 21 and we are now into December with no resolution on these things.
If we want to talk about the softwood lumber industry, this has been absolutely devastating for communities across the country. Again, this has not be been resolved in eight years. From Justin Trudeau who did absolutely nothing to resolve the softwood lumber dispute, we now have a Prime Minister who says, “Who cares?” and that is “boring”. Wait a minute. That was just with respect to the tariffs that the President recently put on steel, aluminum and autos. I do not think softwood lumber even reaches the issue plate for him. It is even below, “Who cares?” and that is “boring”. That is what the Prime Minister is saying to all those families and communities who rely on these industries: “Who cares?” and that is “boring”.
One thing I want to comment on is that the Liberal industry minister has stood up many times and said there was a jobs guarantee in these contracts. I had the opportunity to sit in on the OGGO committee and look at these contracts. Now, I cannot speak about the specifics of those contracts because they cannot be released, but what I can say is that if I had drafted a contract like that for a project when I was in my second year of law school, I would have gotten an F. This is the Government of Canada allegedly signing a contract to give a corporation $15 billion. Again, if I had turned in that contract in my second year of law school, my contracts professor would have given me an F, and that is what we get with these guys. We do not get things that are good for the Canadian economy.
Let us talk about the second generational thing in this budget, which is the generational debt the Liberals are going to be adding onto every single Canadian. There is $78 billion this year, although the PBO estimates that it will be even higher. As I said earlier, there is the debt of successive governments from 1867 to 2015, which is one chunk of debt, but from 2015 to 2025, the Liberals doubled it. Let us think about that. Let it sink in. What took over 100 years to accumulate, the Liberals doubled in 10 years.
The voters in my riding ask me all the time, “Kyle, what is actually better after all of this spending?” Is health care better? No. We have waiting lists that are completely unacceptable. We now spend more money on interest on the debt, which is like making the minimum payment on a credit card. We pay more money servicing the interest on the debt than we do on health transfers to the provinces. This is the effect of piling generational debt onto Canadians and the next generation of Canadians. These are significant problems.
What else is better? Are our armed forces better equipped? No, they are not. Is the cost of living less? No, it is not. Is it easier to buy a house? No, it is not. Are our roads less congested? No, they are not. When we think about doubling the national debt in 10 years and ask Canadians if anything is better, and their is answer is, “I cannot think of anything that is better,” we have to ask ourselves what the heck these guys did with all of this money.
We get dribs and drabs of this. We had a great intervention by a Conservative member looking at some of the spending envelopes recently. He talked about something for a gender barracks in a Lebanese ski school. There was $4 million for that. If Canadians looked at where the government is spending money, they would be 100% horrified.
I briefly talked about generational corruption, because rather than creating an even playing field and economic zones where the best companies get to put forward their ideas and compete to try to get through a streamlined environmental process, these guys decided the way to do it is to hand-pick projects. Lo and behold, who is getting some of this project money? It is Brookfield. How much more money is Brookfield going to get through backroom, insider deals with the Liberal government? I guess we are going to have wait and see, because that is what the Liberals have decided to do.
What is even scarier is that the CEO of Brookfield testified at committee and said that every time Brookfield does well, the Prime Minister does well financially because of his enormous shareholdings in Brookfield. What did the Liberals do? They set up a projects office where they hand-pick the projects. Can members imagine the backroom dealing that will go on to get those projects bumped up the list? The green slush fund is going to look like small potatoes at the end of what is happening with the special projects office, because the well-known insiders will know who to talk to and what to do to sneak their little projects up the list so that people get rich. Who is going to get rich? It is Liberal insiders.
This is one of the reasons we absolutely have to oppose this budget. It has generational debt, generational job losses and generational corruption. We are voting against this budget.