Mr. Speaker, I rise today to fight to eliminate the gas tax for the rest of the year so that every Canadian who drives will save 25¢ a litre, $20 per fill-up and $1,200 every year. This is part of our efforts as Conservatives to make life more affordable and put more money back in the pockets of hard-working people. We want to literally power our economy with more affordable gas and reverse the inflation we have seen over the past 10 years under the Liberals.
Before I address that issue, I want to point out that, yesterday, the Prime Minister manufactured a costly majority that Canadians rejected in the last general election. He did it through backroom deals that run counter to the interests of the people, with the help of politicians who defied the choices of their own voters in the election. Canadians did not choose this majority. The Prime Minister has imposed it through backroom deals. This now forces the Prime Minister to deliver results. He has been in power for a year now, and it is important to look at the results achieved so far. He has doubled the deficit, given Canada the worst food inflation in the G7, the worst housing costs in the G7, the worst household debt in the G7 and the only shrinking economy in the G7. No pipelines have been approved, and no crime legislation has passed. He replaced the old carbon tax with a new one, but not everyone is suffering. Liberal insiders continue to profit from big contracts, the appreciation of their investments, and the list goes on.
It is the same thing with the gas tax. The federal government gets 25¢ per litre for the gas tax. Today, the Prime Minister announced that he will be returning only a fraction of that amount to consumers, who are already overtaxed. He announced that he will simply suspend a third of federal taxes for a third of a year. We proposed eliminating all federal gas taxes for the rest of the year. Our Conservative approach would have allowed Canadians to save a lot more and would have provided relief to consumers, who need to keep more money in their pockets. We said that the government could recover the lost revenue in a number of ways. For example, because the oil companies are posting higher profits as a result of higher prices, the government is collecting much more revenue, enough to cover the revenue lost as a result of eliminating the gas tax for the entire year. Unfortunately, the Liberals have not yet managed to reverse the inflation that is costing Canadians so much.
While it is true that the Government of Canada did not cause the increase in world prices, it is also true that prices are a lot higher in Canada than in the United States, and taxes are the reason for that discrepancy. The Liberals continue to pursue an inflationary policy. The Prime Minister has created a budget deficit of close to $75 billion, which is a lot more than the deficit left by Justin Trudeau. He is keeping all the anti-development laws in place and by so doing, he is preventing our economy from growing.
The Liberals expect Canadians to give up, grow complacent and fade into the background so that they can exercise power without accountability. That is not going to happen. Our country and its people are worth fighting for. We are going to keep fighting for people to have housing, food and affordable energy. We are going to keep fighting for their safety. We are going to keep fighting for resource sector workers and for our soldiers. We are going to keep up our efforts to advance the interests of ordinary Canadians. I am going to keep leading the charge here, in the House, across the country and in the next election, when Canadians will take back control. We are going to rebuild the country that we know and love, and make it affordable for everyone. That is our goal.
I have risen today to address our Conservative proposal to eliminate all federal gas taxes for the rest of the year, saving families roughly 25¢ a litre, $20 per fill-up, and $1,200 between now and Christmas.
However, before I address that, let me just address that the Prime Minister has manufactured a costly majority that Canadians rejected in the last election. He did it through dirty backroom deals against the interests of the people, with the help of politicians who betrayed their voters and their citizens. The Liberals wanted a majority. Well, absolute power comes with absolute responsibility. They will actually have to get things done. They will have to do so without blaming others, and they will have to start now. So far, that has not been the case.
Here are the results of the Prime Minister. He has doubled the deficit and given Canada the worst food inflation in the G7, the worst household debt in the G7, the only shrinking economy in the G7 and the worst housing costs in the G7. No pipelines are approved, and no changes to the Criminal Code are approved. He has not replaced the carbon tax, but rather brought in a new carbon tax that, while currently lower, will rise higher and is much broader.
He promised to cut red tape and remove barriers to building. He has not removed a single Trudeau-era anti-development law, but stacked new laws on top of old ones. He has not removed a single government agency; he has created 12 new ones. He said that we were facing an existential crisis that required immediate action at unimaginable speeds. After Parliament, in just five days, rushed through massive, unprecedented legal powers for him to get things approved, he has not used those powers to approve a single solitary project of any kind almost a year later: nothing.
Speaking of projects, what about pipelines? What about the famous pipeline to the Pacific, the great symbol of our energy sovereignty? After a year of the Liberal Prime Minister promising unprecedented speeds, that project has no route, no permit, no builder, no timeline to start and no end date to be completed. Further, the only company that could potentially build it, Enbridge, has said that it is impossible to fill the pipeline, because the taxes and anti-production laws that the government has kept in place mean there will not be enough oil to run through it.
Finally, the Prime Minister has added another condition: that the Alberta people spend $20 billion on a carbon capture project that will lose money every year into eternity, a project that has never been done anywhere in the world and has no builder, no permit, no start date and no timeline. The promise is a phantom, another illusion.
The same is true with taxes. The federal government collects 25¢ a litre on gas and diesel. Today, the Prime Minister announced he will offer only a fraction of that back to overtaxed customers. In other words, he will only be suspending a third of the federal taxes for a third of the year. That is not good enough. Canadians cannot afford to put gas in their tanks. We want all gas taxes eliminated for the rest of the year to save Canadian families $1,200.
We will continue this fight. We know that the government has the money. It is getting $5 billion in extra revenues from the fact that the oil companies are making more profits and therefore paying more tax automatically and organically. That money should go back into the pockets of consumers, not into the coffers of government. We want this country to be affordable so that Canadians can fill their tanks, fill their grocery carts, fill their fridges and fill their stomachs without emptying their bank accounts. Now, the Liberals would ask Canadians to give up on this expectation, to lower their plans and to accept less.
We do not accept less. Canadians might be discouraged right now because of the current political situation, but let us say this: Canadians should not give up. We will continue the fight for Canadians to have affordable homes, affordable food and affordable fuel. We will fight for Canadians to have safe streets. We will fight for Canadians to have powerful paycheques and strong jobs. We will fight for our soldiers and law enforcement, who keep us safe.
I will continue to lead that fight in this House, across this country and in the next election, when we, as Conservatives, will work to restore the country that we all know and love.