Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the hard-working small business owners, farmers and families in my riding of Middlesex—London, I say enough is enough. Bill C-30, the Liberal government's spring economic update implementation bill, does little to improve the quality of life for Canadians but does saddle them with lost investment opportunities and more generational debt. After months of the Prime Minister promising real change, Canadians are receiving more of the same temporary band-aids and half measures that fail to address the root causes of the affordability crisis, which is making life more expensive for every family across the country.
Let me be perfectly clear from the outset: This is not a serious economic policy but a collection of short-term, worthless political gestures designed to create headlines while the Liberals avoid making the hard decisions that Canada needs to get our economy back on track.
What does Bill C-30 actually deliver? It provides a temporary suspension of the federal excise tax on gasoline and diesel, but only until September 7. That is just four and a half months of partial relief. After that, the taxes snap right back, so families will be struggling at the pumps, small businesses will still face high operating costs and farmers will still have to pay more to bring food to our tables.
For those in Middlesex—London, where our rural roads stretch for kilometres and agriculture is the backbone of our local economy, this bill provides no relief at all. Farmers rely on diesel to run tractors, combines and transport trucks. Truckers haul our produce to market. Families drive long distances just to get to the city to buy groceries, go to a medical appointment or go to the grocery store. What the Liberal government is offering is not meaningful support. The bill gives it the opportunity for photo ops, plain and simple. It is a short-term gimmick to distract from the real pain that Canadians are facing every single day.
Conservatives have been crystal clear. We want the permanent removal of all federal taxes on fuel for the remainder of 2026 and beyond. That would deliver real, tangible results and savings of roughly 25¢ per litre at the pumps for families, truckers and farmers right across the country. That is about $1,200 a year for an average family. That is real help for the producers who keep our grocery store shelves stocked. Instead, the Liberals are offering this fleeting discount and calling it leadership. I call it what it is, which is insufficient and insulting to people who are struggling.
This pattern of temporary fixes repeats throughout the bill. There are minor tweaks to tax deductions for tradespeople, short extensions to EI benefits, small adjustments to the Canada pension plan and a few technical changes, such as an enhanced capital cost allowance. These may sound good in Liberal press releases and offer some temporary minor relief to some Canadians, but they do nothing to solve the real root causes of the problems, which are reckless Liberal spending, exploding Liberal deficits and a government that refuses to live within its means.
The so-called hero banker PM has run the federal deficit nearly double in less than a year, and there is nothing to show for it. We are now looking at the largest deficit, outside of the pandemic, in our history. The national debt exceeds $1.3 trillion. Interest payments alone now cost taxpayers more than $59 billion annually, more than we spend on health transfers to the provinces. Every Canadian family is effectively paying over $3,400 a year just to service this debt. That is money that could go toward schools and hospitals, or back into the pockets of hard-working Canadians, the ones who earned it.
While families in Middlesex—London are being forced to choose between filling their gas tank or their grocery cart and between paying the hydro bill or the mortgage, the Liberals are busy creating new funds and new ways to spend the money we do not have. They call it an “investment in the future”, but Canadians, especially rural Canadians, call that more debt being passed on to our children and grandchildren.
As someone who comes from a farming background, I hear every week from constituents that high fuel costs, with carbon taxes layered on top, and red tape are threatening the family farms that have been in operation for generations. These are the people who work from dawn to dusk to produce the food we all depend on, yet the government continues to punish them with policies that drive up their input costs while grocery prices keep climbing for everyone else.
The bill captures the Liberal approach perfectly: It manages the crisis instead of solves it and offers temporary relief instead of structural reform. The Liberals spend more, tax more and regulate more, and then hope no one notices when the bill is due.
If I were not a responsible, functioning adult, I might think that was a good idea. The Conservatives offer a fundamentally different vision, one grounded in common sense and fiscal responsibility. We believe that the government should live within its means, just as families and farmers across Middlesex—London do every single day. That starts with permanently axing the carbon tax, not just the consumer portion but the entire carbon tax, including the industrial backstop that is driving up the cost of fuel, fertilizers and natural gas for drying grain and heating barns.
The Conservatives would cut wasteful bureaucracy and the billions of dollars that are being squandered to consultants. We would repeal antidevelopment laws, such as Bill C-69, that block pipelines, energy projects and resource development. We would get serious about building homes by slashing red tape, speeding up approvals, incentivizing municipalities to build faster and removing the barriers that have made home ownership a distant dream for young families in our communities.
Only the Conservatives would unleash our natural resources responsibly so that Canada could be a leader in affordable, reliable energy, not just for ourselves but also for our allies around the world. By developing our oil and gas and critical minerals responsibly, we could create good jobs in ridings like mine that are rich in nearby manufacturing and development. We could also lower energy prices at home, strengthen our economic sovereignty and ensure that Canada is no longer held hostage by foreign supply chains.
I reject the idea that Canadians must keep paying higher taxes so that Ottawa can keep spending recklessly. I believe hard-working families deserve to keep more of their own money. I believe farmers and small businesses should not be punished for producing the foods and goods that keep this country running. I believe that the best way to help people is not through more government programs and subsidies, but through lower taxes, less red tape and real economic growth that creates opportunities for everyone. Bill C-30 would fail the test on every level. It is another chapter in the long, Liberal story of big promises and small results. It is more illusions of affordability, more illusions of fiscal irresponsibility and more credit card budgeting that would leave future generations to pay the price.
I am fed up. Canadians are fed up. They are tired of seeing their grocery and gas bills and their receipts go up, while their paycheques stay the same and their purchasing power shrinks. They are tired of broken promises from a government that talks about hope but purposely does nothing in its power to keep people from feeling hopeless. Canadians are tired of being told to just wait, while cynical Liberal politicians in Ottawa play games with their hard-earned money and their children's futures.
In Middlesex—London, the stories are the same. There are young couples unable to afford their first home, small business owners going bust because people cannot afford to go out anymore and seniors stretching fixed incomes to cover rising utilities. The people of Canada deserve better. They deserve a government that puts families first, respects taxpayers and focuses on the real priorities. They deserve affordable homes, lower costs at the pump and the grocery store, safer communities, and a strong, self-reliant Canada that stands on its own two feet.
That is exactly what Conservatives would deliver. We would bring common sense back to Ottawa. We would make life more affordable for every Canadian family. We would cut taxes, build homes that Canadians need, fix the budget and unleash the energy and resources that power our prosperity. We would rebuild Canada, where the next generation could actually get ahead and not just get by.
The choice before the House and before Canadians is clear. They can accept temporary gimmicks or demand a permanent solution. They can accept more debt or demand real relief. They can accept illusions or demand results. The Conservatives have chosen common sense. Will the Liberals listen to us?