Debates of April 28th, 2026

Spring Economic Update 2026

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the update fails to take into account the U.S. President's April 2 order, which slapped a 25% tariff on most of the goods exported to the United States from Quebec and even Ontario.

What good is an update that is not up to date? When we asked the Prime Minister questions about this, he said the answer would be in this update.

What good is yesterday's weather forecast?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is an important question. As I mentioned in my speech, we are aware that the results are there at the macroeconomic level. Still, we share the member's concerns for workers in the aluminum, steel, auto and softwood lumber sectors.

One thing is certain, and I think my colleague would agree. The best thing we can do is to support our workers as we have always done and build a strong economy together. I hope that the Bloc Québécois will join us for once so we can pass this legislation to support our workers, support our industries and ensure that together we build a strong Canada that works for everyone.

[Danielle Martin, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the people of University—Rosedale, many of whom could benefit from the Canada disability tax credit but have found the process to be difficult and onerous to navigate.

Could the minister elaborate on how this spring economic update will make this regime easier to navigate for Canadians living with disabilities and the health care workers who support them?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure everyone watching in University—Rosedale is proud of their new member of Parliament. It is just a few days, and she is already making a difference. She is right, and she has the experience.

We have made sure that people who need the disability tax credit, those who are entitled to it, can do it faster. We have listened to the community and the people, and what they told us is that the process was very cumbersome. They could not get the benefit.

This is about being a true Liberal. We are fiscally responsible, but we are also there for people. We are listening to communities. Two-thirds of the additional revenue we received has been used to make life more affordable for Canadians. That is truly building Canada strong for all.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing in the spring economic update on surveillance pricing. There is nothing on excessive tax profits, as oil companies are set to make some $90 billion in excess profits. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the $140 billion for housing is actually for developers in lost revenues. The government does not, in the economic budget, have the wherewithal to ensure that the Right Fit program for people with disabilities will be funded. Only $500,000 is needed to keep the program going for people with disabilities to find a home.

Why did the government not support people with disabilities?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have enormous respect for my colleague. She raises a very important question. With respect to the disability tax credit, we have listened to the community. We have made sure that it is more efficient. We want to make sure that the people who are entitled to the benefit can find the process easier.

One thing I want to say is that 50% of the new measures we have adopted in the spring economic update are to help Canadians from coast to coast. We are always going to have the backs of Canadians. We are going to support our workers and support our industry. We are going to build Canada strong, together.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us take a look at the facts. The former Liberal prime minister anticipated a $31-billion deficit this year. According to today's announcement, the projected deficit is twice the anticipated amount. Today, the government is confirming the creation of a sovereign wealth fund. The Minister of Finance compares Canada to Norway and Saudi Arabia. The major difference is that these countries develop their natural resources using their budget surpluses. Here, we run deficits. The government is going to put $25 billion on the credit card of Canadians to create this fund.

As for our biggest economic partner, the United States, the economic update contains only three short lines about the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. They say that they are going to talk about aluminum, steel, the automotive industry and forestry, and that the negotiations are going to resume. There are only three short lines about the agreement with our largest financial partner, the United States. It is also the country we conduct 75% of our trade with. Does the importance of this agreement amount to no more than that?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I realize this is an important document and that, as my colleague has only just arrived, he has not had time to read it in full. I will help him prepare for the next question period. The deficit is going down by $11 billion. It has not increased; it has decreased. I will help him out with his next question.

Here is what is important. He spoke of a sovereign wealth fund, a fund that will help build a strong Canada and enable people to invest. Instead of criticizing and heckling, I invite the members opposite to join us in building a strong and fair Canada for everyone. We are doing this for the whole country.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, once again, nothing new is being proposed for developing renewable energy, clean energy and public transit. However, new subsidies for oil and gas are being proposed. The government is even going so far as to expand subsidies for carbon storage in order to allow oil companies to drill and produce more oil from the oil sands.

The government is now providing $14.5 billion to oil and gas companies through this program. There are plans to increase the country's oil transportation capacity by 12%. A “superdeduction” is being offered for liquefied natural gas, which will cost $640 million. A $25-billion sovereign wealth fund is being created, a significant portion of which will go to oil and gas companies.

How can the government claim to be serious about combatting climate change and how can it claim it will meet its reduction targets for 2030 and 2035 when it is going full steam ahead with oil?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell that my colleague read the economic update, but he only read part of it. I realize there are a lot of pages to read, so I will help my colleague out. The economic update also covers major projects. The Port of Montreal's Contrecoeur expansion project will boost its capacity by 60%. This will be the biggest port expansion in Canadian history. Quebec is a business leader. Quebec has green energy and entrepreneurs.

We will continue to invest in our entrepreneurs and our industries to build Canada strong all across this great country.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to congratulate the hon. minister on his presentation and thank him for proposing to simplify the disability tax credit. As a father, I appreciate that. We are ready to work with him to simplify the system and help more people. I have already filled out these forms and can attest to how complicated they are, so this is a worthwhile proposal.

Despite that, we now know that the Liberal Prime Minister has doubled the deficit left by Justin Trudeau, increasing it from $31 billion to $65 billion. No one thought it was possible to borrow and spend more than Justin Trudeau, but the current Liberal Prime Minister has done just that. This deficit-driven budget will lead to higher costs, higher taxes, and more debt on the national credit card. The Prime Minister is just another Liberal.

Today, the Liberal Prime Minister patted himself on the back for the Liberal's 11th credit card budget. On top of that, he told Canadians that the cost of living is the best it has been in 10 years. However, let us put aside these illusions and look at the reality faced by ordinary Canadians. We have the worst food inflation in the G7. The situation is quite dire for seniors in Quebec. According to the newspaper Le Journal de Montréal, one-third of seniors have an income of less than $25,000 a year. Many have to choose between rent, good groceries and medication. One retiree told Le Journal de Montréal that she would have been homeless if she had not found a solution at the last minute, given that the cost of rent is skyrocketing. Many seniors live on less than $1,900 a month. They are saying that they have to skip meals every day. We hear the same stories all across Canada.

The Liberals' credit card budget means higher inflation, higher prices today and higher taxes in the future, all while a small circle of well-connected Liberal elites continue to enrich themselves through subsidies, corporate welfare and tax havens, which the Prime Minister himself is also using.

Here are the facts from the Liberal economic update. It brings higher costs, more debt and more taxes being racked up on the national credit card. The Prime Minister is just another Liberal.

The Prime Minister broke his promise to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, which is set to rise in each of the next four years. The Prime Minister broke his promise to cut spending. In fact, spending is going up 5% this year, which is more than under Justin Trudeau and more than economic growth and inflation combined. Today, he announced $37 billion in new spending. That is the net number, not including the small savings measures he promised.

Since taking office, the Prime Minister has created 13 new agencies. That means more bureaucracy. Outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the biggest deficit in Canadian history, and government spending now accounts for the largest share of our economy since 1996. Interest on our national debt now stands at $59 billion. That is more than we spend on health care and more than we collect in GST. That means that when a Canadian pays GST, every penny goes to bankers and nothing goes to nurses and doctors. Every Canadian family will have to pay $3,400 in interest on the national debt this year. There is nothing left for services.

An increasing share of spending is going to Liberal cronies. We see this with the new sovereign wealth fund, which has no wealth to put in it. It is the new gimmick with no wealth in it. That will go on the credit card too, and the money will go to cronies and people well connected to the government. It is a big financial risk.

We see more waste benefiting the global elite. More specifically, we see $3 billion in funding for international climate finance. This is the same money scheme that this Liberal Prime Minister used to enrich himself at Brookfield and through his now bankrupt Net-Zero Banking Alliance. We see that there is $2.3 billion to subsidize electric cars manufactured abroad, which will jeopardize Canadian jobs. Another $11 million is earmarked for a major gathering of the financial elites to discuss how to spend taxpayers' money. The economic update also predicts slower economic growth and rising inflation.

All of this Liberal Prime Minister's policies are driving up the cost of living and driving down workers' wages while a small Liberal elite keeps getting richer. A year down the road, our economy is declining and the cost of living is rising. I say that simply so that we can face reality and put a plan in place to reverse the trend.

The Conservative plan has four pillars. The first is affordable and abundant energy with no gas tax or carbon tax. The second is very low inflation and very low taxes thanks to cuts to the public service, consultants, corporate welfare, foreign aid and other kinds of waste. The third is free market competition. The fourth is national self-reliance because we can free up our natural resources to meet our own needs here at home. That is how we can and must make Canada more affordable at home, stronger at home and greater at home.

On this day, I want to congratulate the minister for his speech and thank him for his commitment as a father. I thank him for his commitment to simplify the disability tax credit. Our people should be spending their time living their lives rather than filling out forms. We want to make life simpler for people who already have enough challenges.

Unfortunately, then comes the bad news. The Liberal Prime Minister has now doubled the deficit that Justin Trudeau left behind, from $31 billion to $65 billion. Everyone thought it would be impossible to outspend the reckless Justin Trudeau, but then the new Liberal Prime Minister came along and said, “Hold my champagne”. On this day, as he congratulates himself for putting an 11th Liberal budget on the national credit card and tells Canadians that “Affordability is the best it has been in over a decade”, let us remember that his illusions are not reality.

With Canada's food prices rising the fastest in the G7, just last week in Calgary, on April 25, thousands of families lined up for hours at the Guru Nanak’s Free Kitchen, many with suitcases, so they could take away 80,000 pounds of free potatoes and groceries because they cannot afford to feed themselves. In Moose Jaw, the food bank has to limit visits to once a month instead of two. I do not know what people are doing for the rest of the year. There has been a 150% increase in the demand at that local food bank under the Liberal government. Nationwide, food banks are recording nearly 2.2 million visits per month. That is double from seven years ago. Working parents are skipping meals so their children can eat. Seniors are choosing between groceries and medication. Young families are staring down mortgage increases as inflationary government spending drives up their mortgage costs.

All of this is leading to real misery in people's lives, the real human costs we saw with the index of the World Happiness Report, which saw Canada fall from the fifth happiest in the world to the 25th during the span of the Liberal government. Among Canadians under the age of 25, we now rank 71st, behind the U.S., the U.K., Australia, even Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Moldova. Who would have thought that Kazakhstani, Vietnamese and Moldovan youth would be happier than Canadians in their youth, in the springtime of their lives?

That is the tragedy of Liberal credit card budgeting, which imposed higher costs on people's lives. Here is how it works. They put the nation's bill on the national credit card, and they force Canadians to put their bills on their personal credit cards. Meanwhile, a small group of Liberal elites and corporate insiders get fantastically rich off government handouts, bailouts and carve-outs. Today's Liberal fiscal update brings more costs, more debt and more bills on the national credit card. The Prime Minister is just another Liberal.

Here are the facts. He doubled the deficit from $31 billion to $65 billion. The Prime Minister broke his promise that he would reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio over the fiscal horizon. Today, he reported that the debt-to-GDP ratio will go up, not only over the fiscal horizon, but in every single year that this government serves. He broke his promise to spend less, with spending, year over year, going up 4.9%, which is far more than the combined inflation and economic growth, and about twice inflation plus population growth. He has added $37 billion of brand new spending measures in this economic update alone, on top of tens of billions of dollars already announced in the last year.

Since taking office a year ago, the Liberal Prime Minister has created 13 new government agencies. Outside of COVID, last year's was the largest deficit in Canadian history, and this year's spending is the highest, as a share of GDP, since 1996. Interest on the national debt will hit $59 billion this year, more than we transfer for health care and more than we collect in GST. That means every penny we pay in GST goes to bankers and bondholders, not to doctors and nurses. Every Canadian will spend $3,400 on interest payments.

An increasing share of spending goes to Liberal elites and corporate insiders, so not everyone is hurting. The Prime Minister's so-called sovereign wealth fund, which has no wealth to put in it, is relying 100% on the national credit card. Today, we learned that the government is going to spend millions of dollars to set up a transition office that will eventually set up a permanent office to borrow on the national credit card to place bets on Liberal-chosen corporations.

Then there is $3 billion for international climate finance, the same money scheme the Prime Minister used to enrich himself at Brookfield and through his now bankrupt net-zero alliance. I see someone over there from Brookfield was applauding. It was the former environment minister. He might feel like he is out of business sitting in the corner, but no worries, the Prime Minister's net-zero alliance is also bankrupt, so he is not alone.

The Prime Minister has been wrong about everything, by the way. He tells us every day how smart he is. He was wrong to say we needed a bigger and broader carbon tax, wrong to oppose the pipeline to the Pacific, wrong to say there would be deflation after COVID, wrong to say that printing money would not cause prices to go up and wrong to say we should keep 50% of our oil in the ground. How can we ever expect him to get anything right when he has been so wrong for so long?

There is $11 million to hold a summit. One meeting with a bunch of global financial elites will cost $11 million. In case anyone is worried that this is something new, Justin Trudeau held the same meeting with the same people at a Shangri-La hotel 10 years ago to set up the Infrastructure Bank, and how did that work out?

Under the current Prime Minister, Canada now has the highest household debt in the G7, the most unaffordable housing in the G7, the lowest investment per worker in the G7, the second-worst productivity and the second-highest unemployment in the G7. Half a trillion dollars of net investment has fled to the United States. Twice as much capital has left than has returned. Twice as many Canadians are starting businesses abroad than they are at home. In fact, more Canadian firms opened in the U.S. than opened in Canada last year. Last week's Liberal convention had a solution for all these people and this money leaving. They said they want an exit tax: a gigantic wall of taxes to prevent people from fleeing the costly policies of the Prime Minister. Any country that punishes its citizens for fleeing has lost hope.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business reports that after one year of this Liberal Prime Minister, more businesses closed than opened; that we face an entrepreneurial drought; that high costs, red tape and uncertainty are crushing the next generation; that closures have outpaced start-ups for six straight quarters; and that over half of small businesses told a survey they would not recommend someone start a business in Canada today. The CFIB concludes that Canada's economic foundations are cracking. We cannot regulate and tax ambition out of our economy and expect to build a strong country.

Nothing has changed. Everything costs more. There is no real tax reform other than the rebranding of the carbon tax to be called the clean fuel standard. The Prime Minister promised to cut red tape, and yet not one anti-development law has been removed. As I said, 13 new agencies have been created. He said we would build at speeds not seen in generations, yet after we gave him unprecedented legal powers to approve big national projects, that new office, which those laws created, has not approved a single one.

Then there is the pipeline to the Pacific that he promised. It has no permit, no route, no investor, no start date, no end date, no starting point and no end point. The only company that we know could actually build the pipeline, Enbridge, says that Liberal laws and taxes will prevent us from generating enough oil to put in it. Finally, the Prime Minister wants Alberta to spend $20 billion on a money-losing carbon capture project that has never been proven anywhere as a condition for building the actual pipeline.

What about the Prime Minister's famous Davos speech on middle power alliances? It has produced a lot of MOUs, but zero new free trade agreements around the world. Announcements are not results. Lofty speeches do not pay mortgages, fill tanks or stock the shelves.

At the root, this Prime Minister still holds the same Liberal ideology of top-down government control that concentrates power and money among insiders like him, a philosophy that doubled our debt, killed growth and priced families out of the basics. He has been wrong on all of those issues all along. After one year of this Prime Minister, our economy is weaker, more expensive and less hopeful. I share these harsh facts because we must replace the illusion with reality if we are going to fix what the Liberals broke.

It has been said that optimism without realism is delusion, and realism without optimism is surrender. We will neither delude ourselves about the harsh reality nor surrender to Liberal failure. Today, Conservatives speak of a different, more hopeful, better Canada, a Canada that is the most affordable and autonomous anywhere on earth.

Everything in Canada should be dirt cheap, because we have the most dirt in which to build homes, dig resources and grow food. We hold the most resources per person of any country in the history of the world. A home with a yard, heat in the winter and fuel in the tank should be easily affordable. With vast farmland, the cost of food should not even be a concern.

We should be able to afford everything we want in this wonderful, splendid country with all of the abundant bounty that we have been given. That is our birthright, and it is our potential. Our mission for an affordable, autonomous, strong country is realistic. We possess the third most uranium, the most hydro potential and the cheapest natural gas to produce affordable, abundant electricity. We have the most oil reserves anywhere in the G7 and the shortest shipping distances from the Americas to both Asia and Europe. We have the most land per person of any G7 country, by far, on which to build homes. We rank third globally in farmland per person. We should have the most affordable food.

Conservatives choose a big, open, free market economy where everyone can fulfill their potential, where our money is sound, where our money buys more and where the people are thoroughly in charge of their own lives. Our plan rests on four principles: one, affordable, abundant energy; two, low inflation and taxes by cutting the cost of government; three, free market competition; and four, national self-reliance.

Energy touches every aspect of our lives. Conservatives, therefore, propose to scrap all taxes for all of the year on gas and to get rid of all carbon taxes forever. Workers and farmers would pay less. Truckers would deliver our goods more affordably.

We also need strong money. Strong money rewards work and savings. Like Switzerland, we will balance budgets in the medium term by slashing spending on consultants, bureaucrats, corporate welfare, foreign aid and handouts to false refugees. We will cancel the $90-billion wasteful Alto rail project and enforce a strict dollar-for-dollar rule. Every new dollar of spending will be matched with a dollar of savings to pay for it.

We will unlock and unblock the free enterprise system. We will end corporate welfare, cut taxes, end taxes on homebuilding, energy and reinvestment, and lower taxes on work by simplifying and lowering the rates in our Income Tax Act. We will unblock homebuilding and resource extraction by eliminating delays. We will do all of this because we believe in an economy that serves the hard-working people of this country.

The choice is clear: We can have an economy of lobbyists and handouts, or we can have hard work and competition. Between political aristocracy and economic meritocracy, I choose meritocracy.

The final principle, of course, is autonomy. Our Canadian sovereignty act will bring home paycheques and production through free enterprise and not subsidies. We will repeal the anti-development law, Bill C-69, lift the northern B.C. oil shipping ban, scrap the industrial carbon tax, cut regulatory burdens by 25% in two years and bring in a two-for-one rule. Every new regulation must eliminate two old ones

We will move to the world's fastest permitting, and we will bring in binding pre-permits so we can get projects moving quickly and our economy rolling. We will unblock a dozen LNG plants, create a strategic energy and mineral reserve for crises and for leverage, and we will use that leverage to fight for tariff-free trade with the United States. That means building up our leverage to end the needless tariffs on our steel, aluminum, autos and lumber. Pushing a new auto pact will also allow us to work with our American friends to increase production on both sides of the border.

We will seek to relaunch the Keystone pipeline to move hundreds of thousands of additional barrels of oil south of the border, and we will not seek a permanent rupture with our closest customer in favour of a strategic partnership for a new world order with the dictatorship in Beijing.

Canada sells 20 times more to the United States than it does to China, and that is not going to fundamentally change, no matter how many illusions and falsehoods the Prime Minister promises. The same Prime Minister knows this. That is why he has 91% of his investments in the United States and not in Canada. Unfortunately, under his leadership, his investments are among those that have fled.

In short, we need to remove the obstacles, the tariffs, the taxes, the red tape and the bureaucracy. Other government obstacles need to be removed. In essence, we need the government to get out of the way. It is not about what the government must do; it is about what it must stop doing. As Saint-Exupéry, the famous French author, said, “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to remove.”

By removing Liberal burdens, Liberal taxes and Liberal red tape, we will liberate the Canadian people to fulfill their potential. By lifting 11 years of Liberal burdens, we can free Canadian energy, genius and ambition. There is a Canada in the heart of every immigrant and pioneer, and in every indigenous person whose lineage dates back to time immemorial. It is this: With freedom we can achieve anything. Our promise is not a memory. It is our destiny.

Imagine a young tradesperson able to afford the homes that he builds; a mother filling her grocery cart worry-free, making decisions about her children's nutrition and not worried about emptying her bank account; families breathing freely; entrepreneurs launching ideas the same day they invent them; and our resources coming out of the ground and enriching all our people, not foreign coffers. No limits exist on the potential of the Canadian people when they are free to pursue it. We must be realistic and optimistic, because a realist counts the odds, while an optimist changes them. Let us do both.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, where I agree with the leader of the Conservative Party is that we should look at the contrast. There is a great, big difference. On the one hand, we have a Prime Minister, elected one year ago today, and a government that recognize that in order to grow the economy and to protect our security into the future, we need to invest in Canada. We need to invest in our infrastructure and in our people. From day one, those are the types of actions we have witnessed in the fall budget. We saw it detailed in the spring update that was tabled only an hour ago, full of good news.

The Conservative Party has nothing new to add, and that is unfortunate. I think the bar should be set higher for the official opposition, quite frankly. Let us recognize that if we want to build a strong and healthy country, we have to be able to invest in people and invest in the country. The question—

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

The hon. leader of the official opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member has been rattling on about the same thing for the last 10 years.

What has the result of the Liberal government been? It doubled the debt, doubled housing costs, doubled food bank lineups and gave us the worst growth in the G7 and the worst food price inflation in the G7. We have seen the results. Every time the Liberals use the word “invest”, what they mean is to add more debt. Today, we got more costs, more debt, more taxes and more on the national credit card.

What we need is not a credit card economy. We need a paycheque economy, an economy where hard work brings home a powerful paycheque that buys affordable food and homes in safe neighbourhoods. That is the promise of Canada that we would restore.

[Patrick Bonin, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition often talks about corporate welfare. I would like to hear him talk about the additional oil and gas subsidies provided in this economic update. The government is now spending $14.5 billion on carbon capture and sequestration and has expanded the tax credit to allow more oil production. That makes it a direct subsidy for oil production.

LNG projects qualify for an accelerated capital cost allowance, which amounts to another $640 million. On top of that, the government is setting up a $25-billion sovereign wealth fund to finance major projects, but also any business or project that received government funds in the past. For example, if the government wanted to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, the money could be provided through this sovereign wealth fund.

I would like to know the leader of the official opposition's thoughts about what he calls corporate welfare. Are these subsidies unacceptable when they are granted to oil and gas companies?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that question is very simple. The oil sector does not need corporate welfare. It is extremely profitable if companies are allowed to operate. The problem is not a lack of money. The product these companies produce is extremely valuable. The problem is the government barriers that are preventing these companies from producing this resource. Let us therefore issue permits within six months for pipelines and new projects. Let us axe the industrial carbon tax and allow oil companies to pay more to help fund health care for all Canadians, including Quebeckers.

They do not need corporate welfare. Instead, they need the government to get out of the way. The Liberals want to tax, regulate and ultimately subsidize oil companies. We do not want any of that. We simply want to unleash the potential of our investors and workers so they can thrive in the free market.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have a contradiction today. We have a Liberal government that is celebrating bigger deficits while Canadians continue to struggle under them. Canadians are now staring down a $67-billion deficit that, two years ago, would have been unthinkable because, even under Justin Trudeau, the projection was half of that. This, of course, is not even the full picture because it does not include the $100 billion for submarines, which is the largest military procurement in our history.

My question for the member is simple: Does he think that the Liberals will ever balance the budget?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, of course, the budget is going to balance itself. We make fun of Justin Trudeau, but how can we really continue doing that when the new Liberal Prime Minister has a deficit that is 100 times bigger? Did members ever imagine that anyone could outspend Justin Trudeau, that anyone could be more irresponsible than Justin Trudeau?

We wonder, is it sheer incompetence, or is it because the Liberal Prime Minister and the elites around him actually profit off of all of the inflation and the handouts this creates? Members will remember that the CEO of Brookfield said that inflation drives profits for Brookfield. It means that the company can charge higher rent to working-class tenants. It means its stock price goes up. It means its assets go up in price while destroying the working-class people.

At the same time, the money that the Prime Minister is putting on the national credit card is funding corporate welfare and handouts to insiders. While the Liberals lock up all the other small business owners and entrepreneurs, they give special deals to Liberal insiders and powerful elites. That is the economy that they have created. It is an economy for insiders and elites. We want an economy that is bottom-up, free enterprise for every Canadian who works hard, pays their taxes and plays by the rules.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we know that people living with disabilities who qualify get $200 for the Canada disability benefit. That is very meagre and the Liberals offered nothing in terms of an increase, despite the high rates of inflation.

Also, we talked to the Liberals and brought forward ideas about improving the disability tax credit form to honour people who are living with disabilities in their province or territory so they would automatically qualify. What do the Liberals do? They tinker with the form and say it is good enough, but it is costing 250,000 doctor-hours a year and one million patient visits just to fill out that form. That red tape alone is a reason to honour people living with disabilities in their province or territory.

Does the leader of the official opposition support our proposal that if people are on disability in their province or territory, they should automatically qualify? Do the Conservatives support increasing the Canada disability benefit for those living with disabilities?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. First of all, obviously, if somebody is on disability, they should automatically qualify for the disability tax credit. I will note there are a lot of people who should also qualify for, but are not receiving, disability provincially. It should not necessarily be the case in the reverse direction.

The other thing that needs to be simplified is the disability savings account. I think that when somebody applies for the disability tax credit, they should be able to tick a box for the CRA to contact their bank and alert the bank to set up, free of charge, a registered disability savings account. It took us two trips to the bank and a large stack of paper in order to do it. It took forever. I cannot imagine that a very busy single mother working as a waitress is going to be able to go to the bank twice and fill out all those forms. As a result, 18 years later, her child is not going to have a savings account to help with their future.

Let us make it automatic. Let us make it simple. Let us empower people's lives and not drown them in paperwork.

[Nathalie Provost, Liberal, Secretary of State (Nature)]

Mr. Speaker, I am very curious about the opposition that today's economic update has triggered given that, every day in question period, people talk about the massive barriers to housing and property ownership that all Canadians, especially young people, encounter.

As stated in the budget and the economic update, the government wants to build and create a build communities strong fund. The government will use this $51‑billion fund to support projects for communities and infrastructure development.

Will you support this measure? It is important and it will be good for the whole country.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

I cannot personally speak to that, but I will let the leader of the official opposition comment.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the government has created so many funds, so many agencies and so many programs to shift the burden of government spending onto Canadians that it is hard to know which one she is talking about. I imagine it is the sovereign wealth fund. It is a bottomless pit.

Normally, sovereign wealth funds accumulate surpluses. Countries like Norway, Saudi Arabia and Singapore have surpluses year after year. They save and set aside this money to bring prosperity to their people. Here in Canada, there are no surpluses. There are deficits, year after year. We have a debt of over $1 trillion that needs to be paid off.

The Prime Minister says he plans to use credit cards to invest in influential government-linked companies. I imagine Canadians will lose money and pay interest on the new debt the Prime Minister is going to add. It is ridiculous.

We need to encourage investment, eliminate taxes and barriers, and promote free enterprise in Canada.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to form an opinion about a document that is so unfinished. The purpose of an economic update is to take stock. We know that the government shifted the budget cycle and tabled a budget in the fall, a budget it was probably not ready for. We saw that certain measures were unfinished. We saw the advance GST cheque.

The government did not table a budget after it was elected, even though it had campaigned on addressing the economic emergency. Today, we thought we would get a budget update containing better measures to help our businesses, our manufacturing sector, Quebec's economy and Canada's economy adapt to a situation that has changed. The thing that has changed is the tariffs. We will talk about trade deals later on, but we have a Prime Minister who claimed to be a master negotiator.

At present, not only is there no deal with the U.S., but there are no negotiations with the U.S., yet a partner like Mexico—

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I was very impressed with the Leader of the Opposition earlier for being able to stay focused while the Liberals were leaving.

Now it is my colleague from Mirabel's turn to speak. We listened respectfully while members from other parties gave speeches. It might be nice if we could get the same respect from the other parties.