Mr. Speaker, when it comes to our economy, the Liberals are telling Canadians that they have never had it so good, but here are the facts. Under the Liberal government, in the G7, Canada now has the highest household debt, the most unaffordable housing, the lowest investment per worker and the worst food price inflation, double that of the U.S.. Today's Stats Canada report shows that food inflation is once again rising, with the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables hitting a three-year high. Canada has the second-lowest productivity and the second-highest unemployment in the G7.
Almost 100,000 jobs were lost last month, 5,000 of which were from the auto sector. Thousands of spinoff jobs left our country as well. There were job losses in steel and lumber. Our youth unemployment rate is over 14%, and we have the fewest homes per capita in the G7. We have the second-slowest building permit process in the OECD.
I am not done yet. Under the Liberal government, 500 billion dollars' worth of investment has left Canada for the U.S., and twice as many Canadians are opening businesses in the U.S. as are doing so in Canada. The CFIB has said that more businesses have closed than opened. In fact, business closures have outpaced openings for six consecutive quarters, and 55% of small business owners say they would not recommend starting a business right now.
Input costs for our farmers are skyrocketing, especially with the fertilizer tariff the Liberal government put on our farmers. We are the only country in the G7 that has put those tariffs on farmers, and because of that, food prices have gone up. There are 2.2 million food bank visits in a single month. One in ten of those is by a senior, and a quarter are for youth and children. The gap between the rich and the poor is also growing. Sixty per cent of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque, only $200 away from bankruptcy. From the new numbers that came out today, we see that inflation is rising once again.
Canada used to be a happy nation. Canadians were happy people, but under the Liberal government, we went from the fifth-happiest 10 years ago to the 18th-happiest last year. Since the Prime Minister took office, we have become the 25th‑happiest in the world, so Canadians are not happy with the direction this country is going, yet the Prime Minister stood in the House and said, “Affordability is the best it has been in over a decade.”
Can the member tell me, beyond the Liberal insiders and Liberal elites who are getting rich from government contracts, do Liberals really feel that affordability has been the best since 2015?