Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to elaborate on a question I posed to the government before the summer recess. In my question, I referenced half a trillion dollars in new inflationary spending that the government had ushered in. I spoke of Canadians' stress and frustration with the rampant inflation, causing the price of essentials to continue to climb month after month at the grocery store. I directly asked when Canadians could expect a federal budget to be introduced, one that reduced inflation and cut taxes.
It has now been over 12 weeks since my intervention. Has anything changed for the better? Well, we now have a date for the budget, November 4, nearly two-thirds of the way through the fiscal year. Trust is so low in the Prime Minister's predictions as Canadians are expecting yet another bait and switch.
This country has had no proof from the Liberal Party that it is governing differently than the last administration. The Liberals claim they are different, and in one respect they actually are: Their record is worse than Justin Trudeau's.
The Prime Minister has already warned Canadians to brace for a painful deficit, double that of Trudeau and what he left behind. This is a dangerously directionless experiment that the Liberals are undertaking. The Prime Minister promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7; he delivered the fastest-shrinking economy in the G7, with the second-highest unemployment, the worst household debt, and the worst housing prices. That is not what Canadians voted for.
The Prime Minister promised to build Canada up; instead he has wasted billions on bureaucracy and high-priced consultants, and he has driven inflation through the roof. The Parliamentary Budget Officer told committee that the government seems to have no fiscal anchors and that, “bet your boots”, Canadians will soon be paying much more to service the debt.
Canadians deserve better. We know they deserve better because of the real-life ripple effects we have seen becoming all too familiar. Between record-high taxes and reckless spending, the purchasing power of Canadians is being eroded at an alarming rate.
The Prime Minister said that he wants to be judged by prices at the grocery store. What a great sound bite that is to mislead Canadians in an election when they are desperate for hope. Canadians have now delivered their verdict; it is a failing grade. Statistics Canada confirms that food inflation is running 70% higher than the Bank of Canada's target. Meat is up 7%, beef is up 13%, coffee rose by 28% and even infant formula is climbing. Watching the Prime Minister in the House, I see a total indifference to these statistics. They do not matter; he got what he wanted.
A shocking 25% of families are struggling to afford food while the Liberal government spends billions on more bureaucrats, high-priced consultants and government-controlled projects that only fuel higher taxes, higher debt and higher inflation. Canadians know that the government is not investing their hard-earned tax dollars; it is bleeding them dry. Today, Canadians spend more of their income on taxes than they do on food, housing and clothing combined.
After 10 years of Liberal waste, Canadians are choosing between paying their bills and putting food on the table. The Prime Minister is generating a greater and greater chasm between, as the leader of the official opposition rightly says, the have-nots and the “have yachts”.
Conservatives demand that the Liberals stop the destructive mismanagement, rein in spending, and finally deliver a plan to bring down both the deficit and the cost of living for Canadians.