Resuming debate, the hon. member for Calgary East.
House of Commons Hansard #69 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was meeting.
House of Commons Hansard #69 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was meeting.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Youth Criminal Justice Act Second reading of Bill C-231. The bill amends the Youth Criminal Justice Act to allow courts to refer young people struggling with addiction to treatment programs. It aims to prioritize rehabilitation over punishment for youth facing drug-related charges, enabling judges to delay sentencing pending treatment completion. Luc Berthold advocates this approach, seeing addiction as a mental health issue to be treated early. 8000 words, 1 hour.
Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1 Second reading of Bill C-15. The bill implements budget provisions, drawing Conservative criticism as a "credit card budget" that increases debt and the cost of living. Conservatives also raise concerns about a provision allowing ministers to grant "regulatory exemptions" and the lack of support for small businesses. Liberals argue the budget "strikes a balance" by investing in social programs and "creating jobs", while accusing the opposition of "filibustering legislation". Bloc members question the lack of "cell coverage" investment and the absence of a "digital services tax". 15600 words, 2 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
Liaison Members debate the systematic obstruction of parliamentary committees by the Liberal government, citing examples of cancelled meetings, ministerial absences, filibustering of government bills, and the failure to advance key legislation like bail reform. Liberals counter that Conservatives are also obstructing the budget implementation bill and other legislation, accusing them of political theatre and a lack of co-operation. 20300 words, 2 hours.
Liaison Members debate the Liberal government's alleged obstruction of parliamentary committees, with Conservatives citing frequent cancellation of meetings and ministers refusing to appear or provide information. Conservatives accuse the government of lacking accountability and transparency, while Liberals argue the opposition is filibustering important budget legislation. The role of committee chairs and ministerial responsibility are key points of contention. 6100 words, 45 minutes.
Bill C-15 Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1Government Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
Resuming debate, the hon. member for Calgary East.
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary East, AB
Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the colleague who spoke before me on a great speech. I wonder why he does not speak more in the House. Nonetheless, I congratulate him on a great speech.
We thought Justin Trudeau ran things like Fidel Castro, but the current Prime Minister said, “Hold my champagne.” When Canadians scream that there is no democracy happening under the Liberals, the Prime Minister says, “Who cares?”
The Liberals are now trying to ram a 630-plus page budget implementation act through the House without the proper scrutiny, without the proper consultations and without any type of accountability or transparency. They want the opposition to give them free rein on this massive spend, putting each Canadian household a further $5,400 in debt, when Canadians are already struggling. To those 2.2 million Canadians visiting a food bank every single month because of failed Liberal policies, this budget says, “Here is another $5,400.” For struggling families, because of the industrial carbon tax the Liberals want to increase, it means $1,000 extra for groceries this year and next year. Paycheques are not as strong as they used to be because of the government's failed policies.
That does not help young Canadians get into housing. As the government, the Liberals are spending more on bureaucracy, which means they block housing. In this budget, it is clear to those young Canadians who have given up on the dream of home ownership that it is even more impossible for them to get a home and that they will be stuck in their parents' basements. The Liberals are creating a fourth bureaucracy when the first three cost them $89 billion, the result of which is doubled housing costs, doubled rents, doubled mortgages and housing starts that are going down year after year. This is the record of the government.
One of the most pressing issues in this country is crime because of soft-on-crime policies under the Liberal government. They have given more rights to criminals than to victims. When they implemented Bill C-5 and Bill C-75, the Liberals made getting bail easier and reduced sentencing. Now Canadians live in fear. I never thought, when I moved to this country, that we would live in a country where people would be scared to be in their house, be in their cars or drop off their kids. There used to be a time in this country when we could leave our doors unlocked. We would know there was a party at someone's house because everyone's bikes would be outside, on the lawn. Now people lock up their bikes, and these still get stolen. They lock their cars, and these still get stolen. Break-ins are up. This country, under the Liberal government, has become lawless, but the Liberals want it that way.
Any time the Liberals introduce any legislation in the House, Canada becomes weaker, more unaffordable and more unsafe. That is why it is hard to support anything the Liberals do. It is simple, and the stats speak for themselves. Violent crime is up 54% in this country; it was down 34% under the Conservative government. Extortion, which has rocked the South Asian community, is up 330%. Gun crime is up 130% in this country. After 10 years of failed soft-on-crime policies, the Liberals want to trick Canadians into believing that they are going to take this issue seriously, when they are the ones who caused the problem in the first place.
Does anyone really believe that the most anti-development, anti-resource government in Canadian history actually wants to get a pipeline built? They do what they always do. They create confusion among Canadians because they know it keeps Canadians divided. That is what they do to try to keep power. They want to keep all Canadians divided as much as possible. The Liberals' own caucus is divided. They signed a piece of paper, an MOU. They made a grandstand out of it. “We got this paper signed.” Then they did what they always do. Their “keep it in the ground” caucus was unleashed to tell Canadians and all the eco-radicals that there would be no pipeline. In fact, the member for Victoria admitted in a video that the MOU does not mean there is a project, a proponent or a pipeline. He spoke the truth we already knew from before.
What does that mean? It means more investment is going to flee from here. Under the Liberals, $600 billion has already left Canada in jobs, equipment and investment. Under the Prime Minister, $60 billion has already gone to the U.S. The Liberals have created an environment in Canada that is uninvestable, and jobs are fleeing just as fast. That is why Canadians are struggling.
This budget doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit, believe it or not. No one thought anyone was as expensive as Justin Trudeau. Then the current Prime Minister came along and broke the record. He doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit. This means higher costs on everything Canadians buy. It is why we are hearing stories of people wanting to leave. This country has become unaffordable and unsafe for all. There is no future. Youth are doing everything they are supposed to do. They are working hard, going to school and trying to pick up a job or two, yet they cannot afford a home, leave their parents' basements or even find a job in their field after they graduate, because the government has chased away so much investment from Canada.
I was in the GTA this weekend. It was unbelievable how many stories we heard, at event after event, meeting after meeting and round table after round table, about how Canadians feel this is not Canada anymore. Many people left other countries to come here and were promised the Canadian dream, where one could work hard, get a good paycheque with low taxes on it, get a home and afford housing and groceries. Most of all, this country would be safe for them. When they got here, it turned into the Liberal nightmare this country has become after 10 years of failed Liberal policies. In fact, everyone I talked to said, “Why did we move here? It feels like a third world country.”
That is what we are hearing across this country, because that is what the Liberals have turned Canada into. They want to trick Canadians into believing that this budget, their 10th, in fact, will somehow fix all the problems they created over the last 10 years. The last nine budgets put Canadians in this position, and somehow the 10th one is supposed to fix everything. It is nothing but a trick.
What Canadians need is leadership, jobs, hope and homes, which a Conservative leader can provide. The Conservative leader is someone who not only understands that pain but also sees it every single day when he talks to people. Unlike the Prime Minister, who works in the best interest of his Brookfield, banker and bondholder buddies, we will work on behalf of Canadians.
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary East, AB
Madam Speaker, I am being heckled because the Liberals cannot handle the truth. I would suggest that members from the GTA also talk to their constituents, whom we talk to on a regular basis. They are fed up with failed Liberal policies.
Only a Conservative government will unleash our resource sector and get pipelines built. We will make sure we get green projects built. We will get hydro, nuclear and every single type of project built in the best interest of Canadians so they can finally have, once again, a country where people work hard, get a powerful paycheque, can afford housing and groceries, and live in safe neighbourhoods.
John-Paul Danko Liberal Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON
Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for working Justin Trudeau and Fidel Castro into his speech. I am sure his “freedom convoy” supporters absolutely love that kind of nonsense. I should be shocked, but am not, by the continuing lack of integrity and by the cowardice shown by the Conservative members opposite. We are inside the House, where they are protected by parliamentary privilege from personal liability, and where they continually spread misinformation and make false and defamatory statements. It is nonsense that is then amplified by their propaganda networks and foreign actors.
Will the member opposite acknowledge that this nonsense is embarrassing, damaging to our democracy and the reason his party was rejected by voters in the last election?
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary East, AB
Madam Speaker, that is a bit rich coming from the member, whose government is the most corrupt government in Canadian history. No one has had more ethics violations than the Liberal Party has had in the history of Canada's government. We will take absolutely no lessons from the member or his party, who over and over again work in the best interests of their rich, elitist buddies and not in the best interest of Canadians.
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Madam Speaker, I enjoyed the part of my colleague's speech when he talked about the member for Battle River—Crowfoot. He spoke in particular about this member's empathy, which I find rather surprising, since that is not necessarily the first thing that we notice about him in the House.
At the same time, my colleague made me realize that the confidence vote in the Conservative leader is a bit of an elephant in the room when it comes to Bill C-15. What impact will that have on his party's work when it comes to the passage of Bill C-15? The bill still has to go through a few stages, including a study in committee and then the study in the House.
Will the Conservatives propose amendments in committee? What impact will the confidence vote have on the Conservatives' position on Bill C-15? Are they prepared to trigger an election for something as important as the implementation of this budget?
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary East, AB
Madam Speaker, to address some of the things my Bloc colleague is asking about, we are always putting amendments forward because we want what is in the best interest of Canadians. This bill, obviously, in 600 pages, is going to slam $80 billion onto Canadians, but the interesting thing is that, at the committee it is supposed to go to, the finance committee, the Liberals are filibustering themselves, so nothing can get done. As usual, they put on this big show that the opposition is blocking everything, when it is they who are, especially in the last few weeks, cancelling their own committees and blocking their own committees. They are filibustering themselves because they do not want anything to be done. They know Canadians know that everything they have been doing is a trick, and Canadians have had it with this government.
Warren Steinley Conservative Regina—Lewvan, SK
Madam Speaker, my colleague from Calgary East and I are from neighbouring provinces, and I really appreciate his insight when it comes to the financial picture of our country.
I would ask him this: It is interesting that the member for Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas is clutching his pearls and saying that we are saying such terrible things, but then he did not say anything that we had said that was not correct. They talk about misinformation, yet they never say what we have said that was not correct, and I do think this next election is going to be about a lot of things. One is corporate welfare. This government gave Stellantis $15 billion, and then Stellantis announced a deal with the United States for $13 billion. This government gave Algoma Steel $500 million, and we lost 1,000 jobs.
Can my colleague point to any investment of taxpayers' dollars that this government has spent that has led to success in terms of the average Canadian getting more employment?
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary East, AB
Madam Speaker, I was looking for that, and I found it: all the investments that supposedly have led to major jobs. The fact of the matter is that nothing this government has done has moved any needle forward. The member pointed to Stellantis, whose jobs left. Just today, there was news about a Calgary company that is shutting down altogether.
The Prime Minister, during the election, said he had his elbows up and was the one who was going to deal with Trump. His elbows are missing, and now he is down on his knees begging for a deal, because he was not able to deliver on all the promises that he broke. That is just the same old Liberal government: It promises a lot but breaks every promise, and at the end of the day, it costs Canadians, costs Canadian jobs and costs our economy.
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations, ON
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the great constituents of Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations.
Budgets are not just balance sheets. They have consequences, and the consequences of the budget are already visible: higher food prices, fewer full-time jobs, rising debt and record food bank use. This is not theory. It is the lived, sad reality of families who can no longer afford groceries, seniors forced to return to work to cover basic costs, and workers who cannot find full-time hours. The budget did not fix that reality. It locked it in.
When the Prime Minister told Canadians how to judge his government, he said to judge him by “their experience at the grocery store”. Canadians have done exactly that, and what they see is sticker shock where supper used to be.
Today, Canada has one of the weakest growth performances in the G7. Food inflation is double the Bank of Canada's target, with food prices rising nearly 40% faster than in the U.S. and homebuilding predicted to fall by as much as 13%. This is not recovery. This is the cost of the Prime Minister, the costliest the country has ever seen.
Who would have imagined that we would have a hunger crisis in a G7 country? Last week, Feed Ontario released a hunger report that should shock the conscience of every member in the House, reporting 8.7 million food bank visits in Ontario alone and 24,000 visits every single day. One in 16 Ontarians now relies on food bank usage.
Here is the statistic that breaks the Liberal illusion that everything is fine: Nearly one in four food bank users actually has a job. Food Banks Canada puts it bluntly: “Employment is no longer a reliable buffer against poverty.”
That means that people are working but still going hungry. In my community of Brantford, in the past three years, the number of people relying on the food bank in a single year has doubled, from 5,000 to more than 10,000 people. The situation was so bad that the city council had to declare a food insecurity emergency. As the Brantford Food Bank director put it, “In 20 years on this job, I wasn’t sure we’d ever get here, where food security is being taken as an emergency in our community.”
When a Canadian city is forced to declare a food emergency, that is not a trend. It is a warning and a direct indictment of the failures of leadership in the country. More than half of food bank users now cite food prices as a reason they are there. More than a quarter cite housing. This is Canada in 2025, with parents skipping meals for their children, seniors choosing between prescriptions and groceries, and workers lining up at food banks after full-time shifts.
“Canada's Food Price Report” for 2026 confirms the worst: Families will pay nearly $1,000 more per year for food; 86% of Canadians are eating less meat, and beef, chicken and pork are all increasing at once, a devastating trifecta. Canadians are being forced to abandon healthy food because they simply cannot afford it.
Why is this happening? The Prime Minister keeps saying that inflation is global but government costs are very local. Fuel, fertilizer, transport and packaging: Every cost that hits a Canadian farmer now hits a family at the checkout. When Conservatives demanded that the government scrap the hidden taxes on food, namely the industrial carbon tax, the food packaging tax and the fuel standard tax still adding 17¢ per litre, the Liberals voted no. The results speak for themselves.
Under the Prime Minister, Canada now has one of the weakest growth performances in the G7. Productivity is collapsing, and business investment is falling quarter after quarter. Nearly one in five part-time workers wants full-time hours but cannot find them, because the jobs simply are not there. Last month alone, Canada lost 9,400 full-time jobs. At the same time, nearly 30,000 Canadians over the age of 55 were forced into part-time work over the past year, 10,000 of them just in the last month, as rising grocery bills pushed seniors back into the workforce.
This is what an affordability crisis looks like on a pay stub. Canadians do not need accounting tricks. They need paycheques they can live on.
Let us talk about the day care failure. For young families trying to raise children in Canada, the problem gets even worse. The government loves to point out the $10-a-day child care as a flagship success, but for families who cannot find a space or are still paying double that, the branding means nothing. Half of parents now report difficulty finding child care. Nearly one-third of families are on wait lists. Over three-quarters of centres have wait-lists, and 86% cannot find staff. Even the Auditor General confirmed that the $10-a-day promise is not the reality many families experience. Once again, this government announces a photo op and fails to deliver.
The Prime Minister also promised to negotiate a win with the United States, elbows up. Since that promise, tariffs have doubled, negotiations have stalled and foundational industries face collapse. At Algoma Steel, 1,000 workers lost their jobs after $400 million in Liberal subsidies with no job guarantees. At Crofton, 375 workers lost their livelihoods.
Last week, Canadians were also getting a stunning glimpse of how casually this government handles billions of taxpayer dollars, when it was revealed that the Minister of Industry never even read the contract that handed $15 billion in subsidies to Stellantis, a deal she later defended after the company announced 3,000 job cuts. Think about that: There were $15 billion committed and thousands of workers laid off, and the minister responsible never reviewed the agreement. It is complete and utter incompetence. That single moment says everything about this government's approach: no diligence before the cheque is written, no accountability after workers lose their jobs, and no consequences for those who sign away billions without even reading the fine print.
When the government claimed that it was separating operating and capital spending, Canadians were warned that the books were being cooked. The Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed exactly that. Capital investment was inflated by $94 billion. True capital spending is 30% lower than claimed. Corporate subsidies were falsely counted as investment. The operating budget will not balance itself for at least five years. The debt-to-GDP ratio is rising again. The new fiscal anchor has only a 7.5% chance of being met. Even with claimed savings, total new spending still rises to $90 billion, which translates to $5,400 per family. Even Fitch Ratings warned that this budget erodes Canada's fiscal credibility.
The Prime Minister also promised 500,000 new homes per year. The PBO exposed the real truth: Only 5,200 homes per year will be added. Build Canada Homes will construct just over 1,600 units annually. Rents will rise to over $2,000 per month for a two-bedroom unit. Instead of restoring the dream of home ownership, the Liberals are forcing Canadians into permanent renting status.
Before this budget, Conservatives offered a clear, responsible plan and solution: Bring down the deficit to the level the Liberals promised, scrap the hidden taxes on food, end the inflation tax by cutting government waste, and restore housing supply by cutting red tape and development charges. Every single one was rejected.
This is the most expensive Prime Minister this country has ever had, and Canadians are paying the bill at the grocery store, at the rent counter and on their credit cards. Every dollar the Liberals spend comes from Canadian pockets. The more the Liberals spend, the higher food costs rise, the higher rent rises and the higher the interest payment rises. Canadians now spend more on debt interest than on health care transfers.
Conservatives will not and cannot support this costly budget. We will continue to fight for an affordable budget, paycheques that beat inflation, homes that people can buy, food that families can afford and an economy that rewards hard work again. Canadians have simply sacrificed enough after 10 years of failed leadership. It is time to end the Liberals' out-of-control spending and bring home an affordable budget for all Canadians.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Madam Speaker, as members know, just a number of months ago, Canada elected a new Prime Minister and a new government. When I reflect on what the member actually said, he raised concerns about jobs, but we have seen in excess of 50,000 jobs created in each of the last three months. That is the reality of it.
When we talk about productivity, and the Conservatives have been talking a lot about productivity, one of the greatest gains in productivity is in our manufacturing industry. Of course, the Conservatives do not reference those sorts of things.
However, my real beef with the Conservative Party of Canada today is how self-serving its members are in regard to their own political best interest. We just had another member who stood up and spoke about the bail reform legislation and somehow tried to imply that it was the Liberals who were preventing it.
Whether it is the budget bill or the bail reform bill, Canadians understand and need to know that it is the Conservative Party of Canada that is preventing its passage. Would—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The hon. member for Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations.
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations, ON
Madam Speaker, the level of hypocrisy coming from that member is absolutely through the roof. I am a proud member of the justice committee. I am the vice-chair of the justice committee.
Every member of the Liberal government, including that member, should be ashamed of what has been happening at the justice committee. They have been stalling, filibustering, cancelling meetings without notice at the very last minute, not scheduling any meetings this week, the very last week of our sitting. They do not have the audacity to put together a meeting.
The member needs to look at himself in the mirror. They have failed Canadians. They are not delivering on the promise of bail reform, because they are dragging their heels.
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Madam Speaker, I think it is time we all took a break. I want to take this opportunity to share something positive.
This past weekend, the PwC Tremblant World Cup was held in Mont-Tremblant. Franco-Ontarian athlete Valérie Grenier, who lives in Laurentides—Labelle, made it to the podium, winning the bronze medal.
It is good to talk about positive things. I think we all need to take a little break, eat some turkey and rest before coming back to deliberate on the 634 pages of the budget.
In the meantime, I am hoping my colleague can tell me, with Carney's major shift in oil—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The hon. member knows that she cannot name members in the House.
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to tell me whether he will still vote against the next budget, since we now know that the Prime Minister has made a major shift in favour of the oil industry.
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations, ON
Madam Speaker, I offer my congratulations to the member and her riding for that stellar performance and win.
On the issue of the Prime Minister flip-flopping, the Prime Minister wrote a book called Values. He was absolutely against everything that he is promising now to Canadians. With all due respect to my friend, I have some deep reservations as to his true motive.
Is this ultimately going to benefit Brookfield in the end? Wherever the Prime Minister goes, four times around the world, meeting with world leaders and stakeholders in Canada and stakeholders in the U.S., Brookfield is not too far behind. He is always at the ready to take a phone call. I really question his sincerity in everything he has announced so far.
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK
Madam Speaker, earlier in the chamber, we had a member accuse one of our members of misinformation. This is a continuing trend we are seeing from the Liberals.
Conservatives bring facts to the debate. If the Liberals do not believe us, all they need to do is open a newspaper, read the news on their phone or watch TV, because that is how we get a lot of our facts and information, as well as from all the research, and the hours we spend doing the research. We work very hard on doing this. They get up here and try to gaslight Canadians by saying we deliberately spread misinformation, yet they never say what we said was wrong.
I wonder if the member could provide some insight as to why he thinks the Liberals would want to do that.
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations, ON
Madam Speaker, that is their formula. They love to mislead Canadians and paint a rosy picture that we have never had it so good. They can tell that to the people in my riding who are lining up in record numbers at food banks. They can tell that to a struggling—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
Resuming debate, the hon. member for Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake.
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
Madam Speaker, we know that Canadians want a budget that makes life more affordable, but the Liberal government has not delivered on that. The Liberal government's long-awaited budget is costly and also irresponsible. It is, in fact, the most expensive budget in our history outside of the pandemic years. It is what some call a “credit card budget”, and it is Canadians, today and tomorrow, who will be footing this bill.
The Prime Minister promised to keep the deficit at $62 billion, and that deficit was already too high. However, the Prime Minister did not even keep that promise. Instead, the budget has a deficit of $78 billion, which is $16 billion more than what was promised and double what former prime minister Justin Trudeau left behind.
The increased deficit in the budget is part of a series of broken promises. The Prime Minister promised to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio, but the debt-to-GDP ratio is going up. The Prime Minister promised his government would spend less, but the Liberals would spend $80 billion more. That equates to $5,400 more in inflationary spending per Canadian household. The Prime Minister promised to help municipalities cut homebuilding taxes in half. Instead, the cost of building homes continues to rise. He also promised more investment, but it is clear that investment is actually collapsing in Canada.
Rising uncertainty, taxes, regulations and debt are all contributing to the loss of investment. Unfortunately, it gets worse. In an attempt to appear fiscally disciplined, the Prime Minister worked out a scheme to split operational spending and capital spending, except not everything the Prime Minister deemed an investment is actually an investment. The independent Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed this.
The Liberals cooked the books. They made up their own definition of capital spending, one that according to the PBO is overly expansive and expands well beyond the accepted international practice. When the PBO did the real math, capital investment spending was 30% lower. That is a $94-billion difference. That means the Prime Minister's claim that he will balance operational spending over the next five years is also inaccurate. There is no path to balance operational spending in five years, never mind a path to balance the budget overall.
This matters to Canadians in a very real way. The spending is not abstract. Debt is not free, and it has real consequences. The more the Liberals spend, the more it costs Canadians. Canadians pay for this spending through inflation and through higher taxes. The cost to service Canada's debt is not insignificant. Canada is now paying more to service the national debt than it pays in health care transfers to the provinces. Every dollar used to service the debt is a dollar that cannot go to services that Canadians rely on. It is a dollar that is taken out of the pockets of Canadians and passed on to bankers and bondholders.
The Liberal budget would continue to raise the cost of living for every single Canadian. It would pour fuel on the inflationary fire that the Liberal government has been burning for 10 years. It would make homes more expensive. It would make food more expensive. It would make everything more expensive. Canadians are already facing inflated food prices. Food should be affordable and within reach for every single Canadian. Unfortunately, that is not the reality here in Canada.
Food insecurity is on the rise in record-breaking numbers. Food banks and organizations across the country have been sounding the alarm, but the Liberal government is failing to take food affordability seriously. “Canada's Food Price Report”, published just last week, reported that Canadian families will spend nearly $1,000 more on food next year. It forecast that overall food prices will increase by another 4% to 6%. Those increases are on top of year-over-year increases that have made food unaffordable. Nearly 2.2 million people visited food banks in Canada on a monthly basis this year, and one-quarter of Canadian households are already food insecure. That is 25%.
While the Liberals in this House claim their policies are working, Canadians know they are not. Four out of five Canadians say food is their top expense pressure. Food inflation has outpaced overall inflation for nine straight months. It took decades in Canada to reach one million monthly food bank visits, and under the Liberal government, it took only half a decade to more than double that number. Canadians are turning to food banks more often, more regularly and for longer periods of time. Nearly one in five Canadians visiting a food bank is employed but still cannot make ends meet. One-third of those visiting food banks are children. Parents are skipping meals just to feed their children. Seniors are forced to choose between groceries and their medication. Some parents are watering down baby formula or even buying opened containers wherever they can find it.
This is a clear sign that Canadians are being failed by the Liberal government. These are basic necessities, and for many, they are out of reach. It is no wonder when we look at the prices. Statistics Canada has reported that the cost of baby formula has skyrocketed by nearly 84% since 2017, with a 30% increase in just the last two years. Something is deeply wrong when baby formula is one of the most stolen food items in Canada, yet the Liberal budget would do nothing to make food more affordable. Not a single measure would deal with the root causes of high food prices, and not one serious step would be taken to reduce the cost of producing food in Canada.
Instead, the Liberal government is increasing the cost of food. Its industrial carbon tax would be going up, and this would increase the cost of fertilizer and farm equipment. It would increase the cost of grain drying, trucking and food processing. Every step of the food supply chain is becoming more expensive, and these costs do not simply disappear. Our farmers are absorbing significant costs. Compounded by increased market uncertainty, many are struggling to keep their operations viable. This is a growing threat to our food security that cannot be ignored.
As these costs increase across the supply chain, it ultimately means significant costs to Canadians at the grocery checkout. This is not the only hidden tax hitting Canadians at the grocery store. The Liberal food packaging tax is a tax on food, the Liberal fuel standard that adds 17¢ per litre is a tax on food, and the Liberals' inflation tax is yet another hidden tax on food. Conservatives have already put forward a motion in the House to cut these hidden taxes on food, and the Liberals rejected that motion. Their budget would double down on their decision.
Canadians deserve better than this credit card budget. This budget is not an affordable budget. This budget would mean more debt, more taxes, more inflation and more broken promises. This budget would be a burden on Canadians who are already struggling to pay for basic necessities. Conservatives are focused on restoring fiscal responsibility and making life more affordable for Canadians; removing the Liberal-made barriers that block major projects and slow down growth; cancelling the job-killing industrial carbon tax; and creating the conditions for real, sustainable investments. The Canadian promise that hard work will earn people a roof over their head, food on their table and a safe neighbourhood to live in should be—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
We are over time.
With questions and comments, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister has the floor.