Mr. Speaker, what have Liberals given Canadians after 10 years? They have forced 2.2 million Canadians to food banks in a single month. They have ensured that Canada has the most indebted households in the entire G7. They have made sure that food inflation is the highest in the entire G7.
After causing all of that and knowing they caused all that, the first thing the Liberals are trying to do in this budget implementation act is to give unlimited powers to their ministers, and to do what? It is so they can reward, behind backdoor shady deals, and give Liberal-connected insiders, whether individuals or companies like Brookfield, contracts that would be void of and could avoid the Conflict of Interest Act.
In fact, the Liberals wanted to give unlimited powers to ministers and the Prime Minister to give contracts to any entity or company that would avoid any act of Parliament, including the Conflict of Interest Act, or anything except something that would break the Criminal Code. These could be shady backroom deals.
We have seen this with the Liberals before. While this country is being hit with high inflation and a crime rate that is out of control because of soft-on-crime Liberal policies, and after knowing all of that, this was what the Liberals wanted to do. It shows where the Prime Minister and the Liberal government's priorities are. They are not with Canadians. They are once again for Liberals and well-connected Liberal insiders.
The Prime Minister said a lot of things during the election, but I want to highlight some of the things he said he would do. He said that he was the guy, and that if he was elected, he would fix all the problems that 10 years of the Liberals created. In fact, a Liberal is a Liberal, and he liberalled once again. His promises or rhetoric would never match what reality is for Canadians.
This is the guy who says to judge him by the price of food at the grocery store. What ended up happening after he said that? Canada now has the highest food inflation in the entire G7. It is the highest. In fact, it is double what it is in the U.S., and I hear the Liberals being happy about that. They do not care that there are moms who have to double-check and triple-check the price of food now before they buy it, that they have to starve themselves or choose less nutritious food for their children because of how high food inflation is in Canada after 10 years of the Liberals' failed policies.
What did the Liberals do in this budget? They could have done a lot in this budget to help bring down food prices. Remember, it was the current finance minister, right before Thanksgiving 2023, who tried to put on this strong act and said he was going to call all the CEOs from the grocery stores, tell them what was on his mind and tell them the way it is, and that after that, grocery prices would come down. Thanksgiving 2023, Thanksgiving 2024 and Thanksgiving 2025 went by, and the only thing that happened was that Canada got the highest food inflation in the G7. This is the track record of the government.
Once again they talked a big game, but the reality for Canadians did not match the big rhetoric coming out of the Liberals' mouths. The Prime Minister, again, said that he was the guy who should be judged by the prices at the grocery store. The verdict is out, and it is very expensive. It is one of the reasons 2.2 million Canadians are visiting a food bank in a single month now, a third of whom are children. Children are starving in this country. I cannot believe we are talking about this in a first world country like Canada. This is the reality, where people who used to volunteer at food banks are now standing in line at the food bank, waiting for food, because they are hungry. Once again the Prime Minister's rhetoric did not match what the reality of Canadians is today.
This is the same Prime Minister who said he was going to get a deal with Trump, that he was the guy. Canadians should elect him and watch his elbows go up. What happened after that? He continued the same failed policies of Justin Trudeau, who for 10 years was blocking our resources and making sure that nothing got built in this country. It is the same reason Canada is not the strong, sovereign, independent country and energy superpower that it should be today. It is because the Prime Minister doubled down on those same policies. He said he signed a piece of paper saying they intend and want pipelines to be built, but the same policies that were passed that do not let anything get built in this country are still there, and they will continue to be there because this eco-radical government's ideology will not let them get anything built.
We should have had pipelines built. We could have had mines built. In fact, when I talked to a mining company in B.C., they said it takes something like 18 years to get a mine approved. Who wants to invest in Canada and pump in all this money for 18 years to maybe get a permit approved for a mine? It is ridiculous. This is why more than $600 billion of good Canadian investment has fled to the U.S. in 10 years under the Liberals. The Prime Minister is no different, because close to $60 billion of Canadian investment fled to the U.S. once he became Prime Minister.
There is no investment environment left in Canada for people to see any type of return, because the same failed policies, like Bill C-69, the “no new pipelines” bill, are still there. Bill C-48, which does not let our product leave the west coast, is still there. The industrial carbon tax, which also contributes to higher grocery prices, is still there. While I am talking about grocery prices, the Liberals have still not gotten rid of the food packaging tax, which adds an extra $1 billion in costs on food every single year. That is not in this budget. In fact, they promised in this budget that food prices would go up, because the industrial carbon tax would go up. When it comes to our energy sector, the industrial carbon tax is still there and does more harm than good. The Liberals do not really have a plan.
All of this is the reason Canada is so reliant on the U.S. We are reliant on other countries. We know the stories. When our allies came to us, looking for our good, low-carbon energy, these guys turned them away, saying there was no business case. We still do not have a case, because nothing is getting built in this country. Under the Liberals, nothing will get built in this country. Then the Prime Minister said they were going to build at speeds not seen since World War II, yet, according to their own housing agency, every single year they miss their targets. They are well below their targets.
Instead of putting foundations into the ground, the only thing that these guys have created in this budget is a fourth bureaucracy. After they spent over $90 billion on housing, housing is more expensive than ever. In fact, youth do not now think they will ever be able to afford a house unless they have the bank of mom and dad. That is the reality after 10 years of the Liberal government. We need to turn all of that around and bring hope back to this country.
Under the leadership of our leader, that is what the Conservatives will do. We need to get our resources to market and get rid of these bad Liberal laws that are anti-development, anti-growth and anti-resources. We need to get those out of the way so we can produce more here and sell more, so we are not only independent but self-reliant and can become an energy superpower once again, as we used to be.
Conservatives are going to get all the gatekeepers out of the way so we can get more homes built in this country. We are going to stop the out-of-control deficits, like the ones the government continues to have, that make taxes go up. We will bring down everyone's taxes and make sure inflation does not get out of control like it does under the Liberals, so Canadians can keep more in their pockets and spend more on what they want to spend it on.
A Conservative government is also going to bring back safe streets, something the entire country is crying for. That will happen under the Conservatives.