Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Prince Albert.
I am very pleased to rise in the House today back in good health. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Lévis—Lotbinière for once again renewing their trust in me for this 45th Parliament. It was truly a very special election for me. Every election is special, but I will remember this one since I had to undergo radiation every day of the campaign.
That said, I need to sincerely thank my entire family, my wife Chantal, my children and grandchildren who kept my spirits up during this ordeal. I also want to thank all the health care professionals at the Lévis cancer centre for providing me with such good care. Finally, I want to thank my entire team, who held down the fort while I was away having treatment.
Without all those people, I might have gotten discouraged, but in life, like in farming, we reap what we sow. I had always gone out of my way to support others, but this time, other people supported me. I will always be grateful to them for that.
I might have been tempted to retire, but my mission here in the House is not yet accomplished. My mission is to do my utmost to help the people in my riding and make their lives better. That has always been my purpose in politics, and I want to keep pursuing that purpose.
I rise today to speak to the motion moved by the hon. member for Foothills regarding the Prime Minister's failures.
The Liberal Prime Minister said he would be judged by the cost of groceries. If he still wants to be judged by that standard, the verdict is clear: He has failed.
This is not surprising given that, during the eleventh-hour Liberal leadership race to replace Justin Trudeau, he was the only one who could not say what the average Canadian family spent on groceries.
I would even suggest that he is one of the few Canadians who has not felt the pinch of rising costs across the board. He is a former head banker who, unlike a growing number of Canadians, does not have to get his meals from a food bank.
The Daily Bread Food Bank expects four million visits in 2025, twice as many as prepandemic levels.
This represents a 142% increase in food bank use compared to 2015, when a Conservative government, of which I was honoured to be a part, left the Liberals with a strong, proud, free and prosperous Canada. It is sad to see what they have done with it.
As I said earlier this week in the House, the Prime Minister's honeymoon is over. I think all indicators show that this is true.
This Liberal government will be no different from those that came before it. Food inflation is 70% higher than the Bank of Canada's projections. Food prices have increased 40% since the Liberals came to power.
Now, let us talk about solutions, which are readily available and on the table. We invite the Liberals to have the courage to copy our ideas, as usual.
Here is what we want.
That...the House call on the Liberal Prime Minister to stop taxing food by eliminating: (a) the industrial carbon tax on fertilizer and farm equipment; (b) the inflation tax (money-printing deficits); (c) carbon tax two (the so-called clean fuel standard); and (d) the food packaging tax (plastic ban and packaging requirements).
As a farmer myself, I know that producers want to feed the world. That said, obstacles and excessive taxes prevent them from offering good quality products at low cost. Consumers are the ones paying the price.
Food should never be a luxury. I was talking to other producers who explained to me that one of the problems they face is red tape, those unnecessary regulations that set arbitrary rules or formal standards that are seen as excessive, rigid and redundant. This is what we have come to expect from the Liberal government over the past 10 years. That is why, at times, producers say that, far from being the solution, the government is sometimes the problem.
A hundred years ago, seven out of 10 people were farmers. Today, only 1% of the population works in agriculture, and that percentage keeps dropping. Farmers contribute to Canada's food security. If we want to encourage the next generation of farmers, it is important to give that 1% all the flexibility they need to produce our food.
The Liberal Prime Minister played a trick on us when he claimed he had axed the carbon tax. There is still a hidden carbon tax. It is the industrial carbon tax, which applies directly to farm machinery and fertilizers used in the fields. Just like the former carbon tax, it directly affects the price of food by punishing work at the source. Few farmers can do without fertilizer to fertilize their land. The government is still taxing this essential item, however, and that is directly reflected in food prices.
On top of this, the Liberals are on a green crusade against plastics of all kinds. Far from actually helping the environment, all it does is make life more difficult for grocers, who have to worry about alternative packaging. All of these laws are directly reflected in food prices.
Here are some striking examples.
Food inflation in Canada is up 3.24% over last year. Food inflation is now 70% above the target. Meat prices are up 7.62%, after a 4.7% increase in July alone. Fresh and frozen beef are up 12.7%, and processed meat is up 5.3%. Coffee is up 27.9%, and infant formula is up 6.6%.
Canadians are struggling. Their paycheques are being eaten up by these price increases. However, the Liberals are still imposing their philosophy of centralizing, regulating and taxing everything instead of leaving all the power in the hands of the people closest to production.
I would now like to take a few moments to speak to a very big concern I have about agriculture in Canada. I worked in agriculture all my life, ever since I was a young man. A very high percentage of the population at that time was passionate about farming and also had the opportunity to work in agriculture. Over the years, that percentage has declined significantly, to the point where only 1% of the Canadian population now owns farms in Canada.
This is a tiny percentage, given the enormous responsibility these individuals bear. These people are passionate about their work, but the entire mental and financial burden of owning Canada's agricultural heritage falls on just 1% of the population. That said, these people are doing an exceptional job. They have innovated and invested in high-potential machinery technologies, but they still have to work countless hours to successfully support their businesses. During peak production times, they work between 75 and 95 hours per week. These individuals often get little rest and have to sacrifice their precious time, including time with their families, to support their businesses and feed Canadians.
We owe them our deepest gratitude, and I hope that Canadians will give farmers the respect they deserve. If there is a farmer in the area who has a farm stand, I want Canadians to support them by buying produce directly from the farm. This gesture is greatly appreciated by the farmers and provides them with extra income to help them get through the more financially difficult months.
In closing, I want to thank the entire agricultural sector and all the hard-working women and men in this industry. It is my hope that they will be allowed to continue their work in peace. The Conservative Party of Canada will always be the party of farmers, and we will ensure, to the extent that our nation's finances allow, that farmers can keep plying their trade with the same passion for generations to come.