Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my hon. colleague, the member for Richmond—Arthabaska.
It is with great honour that I rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-15, the budget implementation act.
The bill is massive, over 600 pages long, and I have even heard some of my colleagues across the aisle call it a big, beautiful bill. These large bills, known as omnibus bills, often carry a lot of the government's priorities in a single document, including things that make it virtually unsupportable. When in opposition, the Liberals condemned the practice of omnibus bills, only for them to put forward exactly the same thing. It is unfortunate that the Liberals talk out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand, the Liberals constantly criticized the Conservatives in the House for putting forward large bills, then on the other hand, they do exactly the same thing.
Given the size of the bill, I find it shocking that it missed the mark on addressing so many key issues. One of the biggest issues affecting every Canadian, which I will be drawing attention to, is the cost of groceries. Not only does Bill C-15 not address the rising cost of food, but the out-of-control spending in this omnibus bill would actually make food inflation worse.
Like so many Canadians struggling to make ends meet, I remember what life was like 10 years ago, before the Liberals took over. We had a prosperous economy that weathered the 2008 economic crisis, and a growing, stable middle class. At the time, I was working as a construction electrician, and my wife and I raised our three teenagers. If members have had the pleasure of feeding teenagers, they know that they can eat and that they eat a lot. I used to joke with my kids and tell them that I would be able to afford a brand new truck when they moved out with the money I would save from how much they ate.
In those days, Canada was doing well. Wages were high and steadily increasing. The cost of living was manageable, and most Canadians could even brag that we had a higher standard of living than Americans did. Unfortunately, those days seem to be long in the rear-view mirror. We are now seeing headlines in The Globe and Mail such as “Out of nowhere, Canada became poorer than Alabama. How is that possible?” It is shocking to think about it in these terms, but after a decade of economic vandalism by the Liberal government, this is where we are at.
Food banks in the country are seeing an unprecedented rise in usage. National food bank organizations, like Food Banks Canada, have sounded the alarm, highlighting that just last month there were 2.2 million food bank visits across Canada. That is double the monthly food bank usage recorded just six years ago. It is clear that the crisis in our food banks is only growing.
Young families looking to make ends meet while also providing nutritious meals for their family are feeling squeezed by rising costs. Just since the last election, the price of produce like peppers and lettuce is up more than 40%. The price of beef is up more than 27%. The price of baby formula has risen 13%. Canadians cannot keep up, and the rampant spending found in government policies like those in Bill C-15 will only make matters worse.
Back in the day, I used to enjoy working overtime because I knew that when I put in a little extra effort, it meant we would be able to afford something extra for our family, like a new TV, some furniture, a home renovation or just something nice that was outside the family budget. Now, after 10 years of the Liberal government's economic mismanagement, those days are gone. My friends in the trades tell me that they need to work overtime just to make ends meet. I cannot stress enough the word “need”. The fact that a good-paying construction job does not even give Canadian families enough money to make ends meet is a travesty, and the government should be ashamed that it has let the cost of living crisis get so out of control.
A family's rent or mortgage used to be the biggest monthly expense, but now groceries are quickly becoming that. This is a direct result of Liberal deficit spending and debt accumulation driving down the value of our dollar and increasing the cost of literally everything Canadians buy. This is not a difficult concept to grasp: If a country owes more money, it prints more money, and when governments print more money, the dollar is worth less to investors.
Government members will tell us that it is not our fault and that it is the result of global economic challenges, but 70% of all the food that Canadians consume comes from right here in Canada. That is not a global economic problem; it is a Liberal government policy problem. This is not to mention that other countries are weathering global economic challenges better than we are, rather than using them as an excuse to ignore rising costs.
As I mentioned earlier, Canadians know what it was like when the economic crisis hit in 2008. Our government of the day did not make excuses. It took action, spurred the economy and came out of the crisis better than most.
Last weekend, I was sitting down with an electrician friend of mine. He said to me that he was having trouble making ends meet. I was floored. He is well-established in our trade, has a good-paying job, is married with two kids and has been living in his home for five years. He shared with me that he remembers shopping with his wife when they first moved into their home. Back then, one could get a shopping cart full of groceries and feed a family of four for $250.
The grocery store he went to used to offer a promotion that if someone spent $250 or more, they would get a free gift. He told me that many times when they were at the till after getting everything they needed to feed their family, his wife would have him run around to grab a couple more things so they could qualify for the free item. Their cart was full of good, healthy, nutritious food, including meat, vegetables and all the things a growing family needs, plus a few extra goodies they did not need but could afford. He says that now, after buying groceries and paying their utilities, there is no money left at the end of the month for savings, extras or even emergencies.
This story is all too familiar for so many families in Canada today, but the reality is that it never used to be like this. People are working two or three jobs just to get by, and those who cannot make it are forced to food banks.
The budget does not do anything to give hope to Canadians, and the massive spending will continue to increase food prices and push more Canadian families toward financial insecurity. We have the ability to feed Canadians good food at affordable prices. As I said, the vast majority of the food we consume is produced domestically and is not impacted by global economic instability, regardless of what the government claims.
I know what I will hear from my colleagues across the aisle. They will argue that global factors are responsible for rising costs and that Bill C-19 would provide relief for Canadians. To some extent that is true, and that is why we are helping fast-track it. It would provide much-needed relief to Canadians who have gone through so much, but it is still a half measure. Canadians need more help, and the Liberals can start by lowering spending and reducing the burden of inflation on Canadians. When the government put forward both Bill C-15 and Bill C-19, it took one step forward and two steps back.
Even my parents are struggling with the rising cost of food. A retired principal and a schoolteacher on a fixed pension, they are truly feeling the squeeze. The skyrocketing cost of food is quickly eroding their standard of living. They worked hard their whole life, educated the next generation and saved to set themselves up to enjoy retirement, only to have their standard of living taken away by the Liberal government's economic mismanagement.
When the government spends during an inflation crisis, it adds fuel to the fire, and in turn, goods cost more. My parents, as well as many seniors, are having trouble keeping up with the rapidly rising cost of living, and that is taking away from their lifestyle that they worked so hard for their whole life. We owe it to the people who had a hand in building our great country to do right by them and keep our economy in check. At the end of the day, the reality is that empty promises and Liberal slogans will not put food on the table for struggling Canadian families.
Life can be hard enough. The government should stop making it harder for working families, and instead give them a hand. Therefore, I am calling on the Liberals to do the right thing: Rein in their out-of-control spending and work to lower the inflationary burden on Canadian families.
