Debates of June 15th, 2026

Government Business No. 12—Proceedings on Bill C-30

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House on behalf of the people of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country to speak to Bill C-30, the spring economic update implementation act.

At a time of global uncertainty, our government is focused on what we can control here at home: building a stronger, more resilient economy, making life more affordable and creating opportunities for the next generation. This is exactly what Bill C-30 would advance.

Canada is already emerging as one of the world's most attractive destinations for investment. Foreign direct investment reached nearly $97 billion last year, which is the highest level in almost two decades. Surveys of global investors are showing that Canada is the most attractive place for infrastructure investment.

We will need that investment, as our government understands that Canada cannot be overly dependent on one market. For decades, roughly 70% of our exports have gone to the United States. Bill C-30 is part of a broader effort to strengthen Canada's economic sovereignty by diversifying trade, supporting domestic industry and investing in Canadian productivity. Since last year alone, non-U.S. exports have increased by more than 40%, while exports to Europe continue to grow significantly.

Importantly, this legislation recognizes that economic growth matters only if Canadians can actually feel it in their everyday lives. That begins with housing. Across my riding, housing affordability remains one of the defining issues that people raise with me. Young Canadians are wondering whether they will ever be able to buy a house in the communities they grew up in, while families are struggling with rising rents and housing shortages. The spring economic update responds by providing more than $7 billion in low-cost financing through the apartment construction loan program to accelerate the building of thousands of low-cost rental units across the country. Since 2019, this program has already financed over 300 below-market units in the Sea to Sky region alone. I have heard countless stories of how this has changed people's lives, from allowing people to live closer to work to allowing low-income workers to save money for their retirement for the first time.

The homes and the infrastructure Canada needs do not build themselves. If Canada wants to build the housing, infrastructure, transportation and clean energy projects we talk about so often, we need skilled workers, and many more of them. This is why one of the most important components of the spring economic update is the investment in skilled trades and apprenticeships. The government is launching a nationwide effort to recruit, train and hire up to 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers by 2031 through the team Canada strong program. This creates a direct pathway for young Canadians into rewarding, well-paying careers while helping address labour shortages that are delaying projects across the country. This will support Canadians through the entire process, from discovering the trades to apprenticeship opportunities, completing the technical training and ultimately achieving Red Seal certification. It is also about reducing barriers by simplifying and accelerating the certification pathway so more Canadians can enter this workforce faster.

Bill C-30 would also improve labour mobility for tradespeople by increasing the labour mobility deduction from $4,000 to $10,000, lowering the threshold to access it and making it easier for workers to go where their skills are needed most. For workers who spend weeks away from home helping build critical infrastructure and housing, this matters.

This legislation also contains targeted affordability measures that would make a meaningful difference for Canadians. Between mortgage payments, rising living costs and uncertainty about the future, many young Canadians are feeling stretched thin even after reaching the major milestone of buying a new home. Measures in Bill C-30 like extending the repayment grace period under the homebuyers' plan would provide relief to homeowners to ease pressure during those early critical years of home ownership. Bill C-30 would also reduce the CPP contribution rates beginning next year, helping workers and businesses keep more money in their pockets.

While individually these changes may seem modest, in combination with recent measures like cutting Canadian income taxes, cutting the GST on new homes for first-time homebuyers and the groceries and essentials benefit, together they would help lower the pressure on Canadians who are already facing high costs.

This legislation would also expand support for volunteer tax clinics that help vulnerable Canadians access the benefits they are entitled to. I want to give a special shout-out to Louis and the volunteers behind the local tax clinic on the Sunshine Coast, whose work helps over 3,000 residents each year access benefits and support they might otherwise miss. Their work is a powerful example of community service in action and demonstrates how local volunteers can make a difference in people's lives.

At a time when global instability has contributed to rising fuel prices, Bill C-30 temporarily removes the federal excise tax on gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel until Labour Day. This is already saving Canadian drivers about 10¢ a litre and providing direct relief at the pump for the families and businesses already dealing with many pressures. In places like Sea to Sky and the Sunshine Coast, residents continue to face inexplicably high gas prices. At all times, but especially right now, the Competition Bureau should be keeping a very close eye on anti-competitive behaviour and potential price manipulation in regional fuel markets like this one, because Canadians deserve fairness, transparency and confidence that they are not paying artificially high fuel prices.

Bill C-30 would support Canadian brewers by extending the 50% reduction on excise duty rates for the first 15,000 hectolitres of beer brewed in Canada. That is an amount that covers the full production for over 94% of breweries in our country. For small brewers in my riding, like Coast Mountain Brewing, the Persephone Brewing Company and Backcountry Brewing, this provides meaningful savings that can be reinvested into local jobs, equipment, expansion and community events.

This legislation recognizes the importance of investing in coastal communities and marine infrastructure. Our government is investing nearly $1 billion in small craft harbours and critical infrastructure that supports fisheries, transportation, tourism and local economies. I have heard first-hand from many harbours, including the Gibsons Landing Harbour Authority, about the growing pressures facing them and the need for upgrades to support increased commercial fish harvesting and future transportation demands. At Gibsons Landing, this includes the planned electric passenger ferry service that could help provide much-needed relief for Sunshine Coast residents.

At the same time, economic development must go hand in hand with environmental stewardship. Bill C-30 includes more than $160 million over five years to continue protecting Canada's whales and marine habitats on all three coasts. This would build on Canada's broader $3.8-billion nature strategy and the commitment to protect biodiversity and marine ecosystems for future generations. Last month's announcement of a new marine protected area in British Columbia the size of Prince Edward Island reinforces the importance of stewardship of our oceans while maintaining access to sustainable fish harvesting and tourism opportunities. My constituents understand that protecting marine ecosystems is not separate from economic prosperity, but essential to it, because healthy oceans support fisheries, tourism, recreation and coastal livelihoods.

Food security is another key priority addressed in this legislation. As the Prime Minister said in Davos, food security is national security and, “A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself, or defend itself has few options.” In an increasingly unstable world, shaped by supply chain disruptions, climate pressures and geopolitical instability, Canada must strengthen its domestic food production capacity. Bill C-30 and measures in the spring economic update would support that goal through supporting food production and distribution networks and, importantly, by providing immediate expensing of new greenhouse infrastructure.

I have already seen how this is making a difference in my riding. The Líl̓wat Nation broke ground on a greenhouse at one end of it. On the Sunshine Coast, projects like Swiya Farms in Sechelt are focused on building large-scale, sustainable local food systems and supporting community-driven agriculture and long-term food resilience, including a large-scale greenhouse that is being planned.

These are measures we are building on with last week's announcement of Canada's national food security strategy, which will increase competition to lower grocery prices, boost domestic production year-round and help local products get onto grocery shelves.

I also want to highlight the investment in sports and recreation in the spring economic update. In my riding, we know first-hand the lasting impact sport can have on communities. The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games left a legacy that extends far beyond infrastructure. They inspired participation, strengthened community pride, supported tourism and created opportunities for young athletes right across the region. We have seen world-class athletes emerge from our communities, including Marielle Thompson and Trinity Ellis, but the true legacy of sports goes beyond medals. It inspires young people to get active, build confidence, develop teamwork and resilience and connect with their communities. That is why the spring economic update has a historic $755-million investment in Canadian sport that would strengthen communities and new sports programs to support national sports organizations and athletes, improve safe sport initiatives and help Canada host major sporting events.

I can see my time is running short, so I will say Bill C-30 is ultimately about building a more resilient, affordable and self-reliant Canada. It would invest in housing, workers, infrastructure, affordability, coastal communities, food security and environmental stewardship.

Together, we can build confidently, deliberately and together.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have spent 10 years telling Canadians that the solution to every problem is more government spending. Canadians now face some of the least affordable housing in the G7, record food bank usage and the highest household debt in the G7, and ours is the only country in the G20 in a recession.

At what point does the government admit that its spending is not solving the affordability crisis, but contributing to it?

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, oftentimes, we hear concerns from members on the other side about government spending. They seem to forget that many of the factors contributing to the affordability challenges in Canada have to do with external factors, like the trade war we are in right now.

I can tell the member that our investments, including the investments in this spring economic update, like the apartment construction loan program, are making a meaningful difference. They are making life more affordable and they are tackling the main issue driving affordability challenges, which is housing.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country. The name of his riding brings to mind landscapes, nature and beauty, and I cannot help but believe that my colleague is worried about the environment and climate change. In fact, he mentioned it in his speech, talking specifically about greenhouse gases and the fight against greenhouse gases.

The Bloc Québécois called for an end to the oil subsidies, which would have generated approximately $27 billion in revenue for the government over five years. Instead, the government is maintaining the oil subsidies and, on top of that, it is relaxing the pesticide regulations. These are two measures that actually run counter to what my colleague mentioned earlier. They run counter to the fight against climate change.

I would like my colleague to tell me whether he agrees with these measures and how they help the environment.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in my speech, I did indeed say a great deal about nature. I believe my riding is the most beautiful riding in the country.

I spoke about the significant investments being made to protect whales and about the measures set out in the nature strategy. I know there are other points my colleague raised regarding pesticides, and I hope that, in committee, we will have the opportunity to investigate this properly to see if there are measures that can help mitigate the difficulties.

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

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if my colleague can provide his thoughts on the important issue of the Canada groceries and essentials benefit program. As a nation, we are building a stronger and healthier country by taking many different initiatives, but we have not lost sight of the important issue of affordability, and the groceries and essentials benefit plays a critical role.

Can the member provide his thoughts about having Canadians' backs on the issue of affordability?

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, certainly, the groceries and essentials benefit is going to be a major benefit for Canadians. It is up to $1,890 for a family of four. This is going to help with the high price of groceries right now, while we roll out our national food security strategy. This gets to some of the more underlining, foundational things we need to change, like more competition in the sector and giving more resources to the Competition Bureau to allow that, and making sure that we are building up our domestic supply chains to ensure that we can get more local products on the shelves.

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

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague well knows, in Atlantic Canada, they receive about $125 per person in ongoing ferry subsidies for operating costs. In British Columbia, it is about $6 per person. In fact, BC Ferries receives only 3% of overall expenditures in funding from the federal government for operating costs, versus Atlantic Canada's 43%.

My colleague will cite that the Liberals provided funding for COVID relief, which they did for Atlantic Canada, too, or loans that have to be repaid by ferry users that accumulate to about $26 million in savings over 25 years. It is nothing compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to Atlantic Canada.

Does my colleague believe the current agreements are outdated and need to be modernized? He talked about increases in fuel. BC Ferries, just last week, added a 5% surcharge because of fuel.

Is my colleague going to stand up for our coastal communities today?

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will always support more funding going to our ferry system in British Columbia, but I think we need to remember that one is an interprovincial system and one is an intraprovincial system. There is federal jurisdiction to go in between provinces, and there have been significant investments in buying new ferries in the last couple of years. That works out to a benefit of over $700 million, which is actually more than Marine Atlantic is getting for its infrastructure.

I think those things need to be kept in mind, but I will always support more money to make sure that we have a better ferry service in British Columbia.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to inform you that I am splitting my time with my good friend from Saskatoon West, who brought me to his riding. I remember it was -40°C. He promised me he would show me an ice rink. I did not know he was talking about the roads in Saskatoon, not an actual ice rink.

The Liberals should call this motion we currently have in front of us “the guillotine”, because they are taking the guillotine to transparency and accountability. They are trying to end all debate at the finance committee because the numbers are catching up to them. After 10 years of reckless spending, deficits and higher taxes for Canadians, all of those numbers are adding up. In fact, the Prime Minister, who said he would be more responsible, has doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit. It is rising to $72 billion. The Liberals are adding another $68 billion in new spending.

The PBO came out with a scathing report just two weeks ago, saying the Liberal government has a “less than 1 per cent” chance of meeting one of its own fiscal anchors, and debunking the other fiscal anchors the government had put in place. What are all of these numbers going to do?

The PBO might say there is a less than 1% chance of the Liberals meeting their fiscal anchor. I would argue there is also a less than 1% chance of a Liberal answering a question in this place and a less than 1% chance that we will get answers at the finance committee on this very expensive spring economic statement. Of course, whenever the numbers are bad, the Liberal government does what it always does, which is shut down debate and shut down accountability. The opposition's job, which Canadians sent us to this place to do, is to expose the endless, reckless spending by the Prime Minister and the Liberal government.

It is not just us saying things are bad right now. In fact, the Bank of Canada said “the economy is soft”, the PBO said growth will “remain subdued”, TD said the economy is operating “well below capacity” and BMO said there is “no sense sugar-coating this sour result”. Everyone feels it. The fact is that the Prime Minister, who said we would have the fastest‑growing economy in the G7, ended up delivering the fastest‑shrinking economy in the entire G20.

This plays out in the real world for Canadians. This reckless spending and the money that goes to Liberal insiders all adds up. In fact, Canadians are poorer now than they have ever been. We see two million Canadians going to a food bank every single month. We have one in five Canadians who are food insecure. A third of the people who are going to food banks now are children.

Members would think I am talking about some third‑world statistic, but this is what Liberal Canada looks like today because of the reckless spending, taxes and overburdening our industries. All of these have driven out so much of our investment that Canadians now have to suffer the results. We have fewer options and less competition. Costs are going up because of Liberal taxes. At the end of the day, that is why our food inflation is one of the fastest‑growing in the entire G7. We have the highest household debt, the highest housing costs in the G7 and the second‑highest unemployment in the entire G7. This is not to mention that ours is the only country in the entire G20 to be in a recession.

The Conservatives are wholeheartedly against shutting down this motion. I sit on the finance committee. The Liberals cannot stand that we are asking the questions that Canadians are telling us to ask about this incompetent bill they put forward, which would not do anything but make the lives of Canadians more expensive, whether it be through taxes or the inflation the Liberal government is so well known for creating for Canadians.

In fact, we put forward amendment after amendment to make this bill better. That is our role as His Majesty's loyal opposition. For example, the pause on the excise tax the government is bringing forward is a third of the tax for a third of the year. I put an amendment forward to extend it to the rest of the year. The Liberals are ideologically obsessed with the carbon tax. There's the clean fuel standard. We do not want to include the GST on top of that, which would have saved Canadians 25¢ per litre, or $1,200 for a family. I tried putting a common-sense amendment forward at committee that would have extended the pause on the excise tax until the end of the year. That would have made more savings for Canadians.

Once again, the Liberals filibustered that until they decided to vote it down, as they always do. It was a very common-sense solution. This was just one of many amendments and subamendments we were putting forward. There were officials there, but unfortunately the Liberals are so unorganized on this committee that they did not have the right officials there, and sometimes they were not answering the questions properly.

We are putting forward the questions that Canadians deserve answers to, but once again the Liberals, with this motion specifically, are trying to end debate, transparency and any type of accountability for which we are trying to get answers. This is just another tactic for them to delay, which is what we are always against as Conservatives.

Speaking of the inevitable, we are the only G20 country in a recession. The statistics are not looking good for Canada. No matter who is forecasting them, things are not going well right now. In fact, if we look at business investment, we see that in the last five consecutive quarters, business investment has gone down. That is the track record of the government. In fact, it has driven out $1 trillion of good Canadian investment, to the Americans. Those are our jobs and factories or growth that could have happened here, but high Liberal taxes and regulation have driven them away.

The Liberal Prime Minister has driven out, as a net loss, $20 billion of investment outside Canada. He is the guy who said he would fix everything. He is the guy who would deal with President Donald Trump. He still cannot get a deal, and he is driving more investment away and spending more of Canadians' money. He is jet-setting around the world on the taxpayer dime. While he is pushing more Canadians into food bank lines, at the same time, he is making them pay for his extravagant meals on flights. In fact, over the last year, he spent $1 million on inflight catering. On three flights, he spent more on salmon than what a family will spend on groceries for the entire year. In fact, after rising grocery prices, now Canadian families will pay $1,000 more for groceries just this year.

That is the track record of the government. Instead of helping Canadians, it will push them into food bank lines, make them food-insecure and, at the same time, make them pay for lofty meals on the Prime Minister's flights that end up with fake handshakes wherever the Liberals go, fake MOUs and contracts they sign. They cheer themselves on with announcements that never end up materializing to the benefit of Canadians. That is why our economy is as bad and as weak as it is right now.

There was a scathing report by the PBO, but there was also a scathing report by United Way. These are stats that, again, make it seem as though we are in a third world country. Of the Canadians who responded, 38% reported experiencing at least one form of food insecurity in the past six months, and 27% were worried their food would run out before they had money to buy more.

There is a solution to all this. Conservatives are just asking for the Liberal government to get out of the way. Let us bring affordability and safety back to Canada, which the Liberals have driven out since they took over. We can get rid of the industrial carbon tax to bring down the cost of food and fuel for Canadians. Let us put more money back into their pockets. Let us extend the pause on the excise tax to the end of the year and also include the GST and the clean fuel standard. Let us save families $1,200 this year. Let us bring back investment by removing barriers such as the “no new pipelines” bill, Bill C-69, and Bill C-48, the tanker ban.

By doing that, we could signal to the world that we are open for business once again. Let us have more pipelines, mines and dams. Let us get everything going. Let us have more infrastructure built so we can have more jobs and get our economy back on track. We can do these things only once the Liberals get out of the way.

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

Mr. Speaker, I find unfortunate the general way in which the Conservatives want to approach the government. They seem to want to be focused on the issue of trying to give a false impression, and they love using words such as “corrupt”, “Liberal friends” and so forth, when nothing could be farther from the truth.

The Prime Minister and the government recognize, at the end of the day, that building a stronger and healthier economy means getting Canadians engaged and involved. There are contracts that go out to all political entities inside the chamber, I am sure. There are business opportunities, growth in investments and record amounts of growth coming to Canada. Canada is doing an excellent job in comparison to the rest of the G7.

Would the member provide his thoughts on that?

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only did the Liberals put the only country in the G20 into a recession, but they have driven out $1 trillion of investment. The reason we use words like “corrupt” is that no one has had more ethics scandals and violations in the history of any government than the Liberal government of the last 10 years has had.

It seems as if the only people who benefit in this place from Liberal policies are the Prime Minister's Brookfield buddies, banker buddies and bondholder buddies, and Canadians always get left footing the bill at the end of the day.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we know that, in general, the Conservatives do not support subsidies for the private sector.

Would they be willing to eliminate the oil subsidies?

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in fact the best thing we can do for the oil sector is get the Liberal government out of the way. If we want to create good jobs and a better economy and to get our books back on track, the way to do it is to remove Liberal Bill C-69, which does not let any new pipelines get built; get Liberal Bill C-48 out of the way so we can get our product to the Asian markets; and remove the Liberal industrial carbon tax so we can signal to the world we are open for business and give our youth a future in this country once again.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians keep hearing announcements about new funds, new agencies, new strategies and new spending programs. Could my colleague explain why, after 10 years of these announcements, Canadians are facing higher housing costs, higher grocery bills and lower affordability, rather than the prosperity they were promised?

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right. Things get left as announcements. I will give an A+ to the Liberal government for grand announcements, but they get an F when it comes to delivery. They are always showboating about what they are going to do. For example, the current finance minister made a grand show when he said he was going to lower grocery prices by Thanksgiving 2023. That was his promise, but grocery prices have gone up by 40% since then.

The Liberals fail to deliver, and Canadians end up paying for this costly failure.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that Canadians voted for a new Prime Minister and a new government just over a year ago. In that same period of time, 20 different trade and defence agreements have been signed. There have been major projects announced across this nation, totalling well over $100 billion. We have external trade beyond the Canada-U.S. border that has increased dramatically. We have record amounts of foreign investment coming into the country.

Canada is not broken. The new government and new Prime Minister are delivering for Canadians. That is the reality. The Conservatives need to get off the misleading information pot.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, ever since the Prime Minister became Prime Minister, not only did he drive out $20 billion of net investment from this country, but everything has gotten worse. In fact, food bank lines have doubled, and now more people are food-insecure. We have to remember that the Prime Minister is not new. He was the guy advising Justin Trudeau the whole time. The pain and suffering Canadians are feeling is just a continuation of the failed policies that he advised the Liberals on, and now he is the head of these failed policies.

The Liberals need to just get out of the way. Every time they go somewhere, shake a hand or sign a fake agreement, Canadians end up paying more and get less out of it. The government just needs to stop.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to speak today to this motion and, of course, Bill C-30, which underlies it. This is the spring economic update. There are billions of dollars of spending, there is new taxation and there are significant legislative changes. This programming motion that the Liberals are trying to ram through the House right now in the last week of sitting just demonstrates to me how poorly the government can manage work around here, in Ottawa. It is no surprise that all the disasters and messes are happening in the country, because the current government cannot even manage the House, let alone try to manage the country.

Here we are now in this last-minute panic, and we would essentially eliminate debate. The finance committee would get 30 minutes to debate the bill. That is embarrassing. The committee is where questions get asked. The committee is where witnesses come to explain things. Very good things happen there. Sometimes errors are found. Furthermore, there would not be a report stage debate in the House, and there would be a very restricted third reading. Essentially, the normal operations of the House would be severely restricted in a last-minute attempt to do something the government could have been doing for the last couple of months. It is rather embarrassing. We need to make sure that ministers and officials are held accountable.

We proposed some good amendments to let the committee do its work and to let MPs do their work, but of course they were rejected. A confident government would defend its work, but a weak government does not want to do that. The Liberals do not want to have questions asked; they want to avoid all that. As they are spending hundreds of billions of dollars, it appears that they are evading accountability. That is not a good look, and Canadians can see that. The decisions that would be made in this bill would impact Canadians for decades. In fact, they would impact the grandchildren of members of the House. It is very significant.

In the good old days, going back 10 or 15 years, a single-digit deficit was considered a big deal. Fast-forward to where we are now, and the previous prime minister, Justin Trudeau, kind of blew that up. Not only were there single-digit deficits and double-digit deficits, but there were triple-digit deficits. Now, deficits are much bigger, and it is very bad for our country. The last Trudeau deficit was $35 billion. The first deficit of the new Prime Minister, who supposedly has all kinds of economic knowledge, was double the Trudeau deficit. It was up at $78 billion, and now this economic update would reduce that slightly to $68 billion, or $65 billion or something like that.

That is kind of like when a piece of furniture that should cost $2,000 is marked up to $5,000, and there is a big sale where it is knocked down to $4,000, and it is as if it were a big deal. However, the buyer is still paying double what they should have before. That is exactly what is happening here. The government cannot stop itself from spending money. Even when there is good news happening, such as when there is extra revenue from high oil prices, which benefits the government bank account, the Liberals still spend it. It is pretty ridiculous. Even by 2030-31, there is still going to be a deficit of over $50 billion, by their own estimate.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer, who is an officer appointed by the government, a person whom the government trusts, tells us it is going to be even worse than the government is saying; the government is actually not telling us the truth, there are going to be deficits of over $70 billion, and it is going to continue like that for the foreseeable future. It is structural, permanent deficit spending. The PBO also said that there is a less than 1% chance that the Liberals will meet any of their fiscal anchors.

This is not good for the country, because when governments borrow money, that creates a lot of demand in the system and means that there is less room for tax relief in the future and for additional spending on essential services. The debt charges this year will be just about $60 billion. To put that into perspective, the amount of money the federal government gives to the provinces for health care is $55 billion, so we are actually spending more on interest than what the government gives for health care.

It is not hard to imagine that interest rates will go up a bit. It is also, then, not hard to imagine that the $58 billion in debt charges could increase significantly and very rapidly, which would put major stress on the government's budget and would lead to a circular problem, with more and more deficits and more and more interest. It is kind of like paying one's credit card bill but making only the minimum payment. That is essentially what the government is doing right now, and this adds inflationary pressures and causes high interest rates. Everybody understands how, when the government borrows money, inflation increases and interest rates stay higher. Of course, that impacts people directly with higher mortgage payments, higher rents and extra costs.

Canadians are under severe pressure due to the cost of living. Inflation was up 2.8% in April, and it stays stubbornly high. Food inflation is even higher. It was up 4.4% in March. What that means is that people are eating less meat and fewer fruits and vegetables. Parents are sometimes skipping meals so their children can eat. Seniors may not be getting their prescriptions, and they may be turning off the heat or the air conditioning in the house. Higher interest rates mean that mortgage payments rise, and costs are passed through to customers as well through higher prices because businesses face all of these higher costs as well. Bill C‑30 would make this deficit permanent. There is no future where we can imagine the government eliminating a deficit.

I want to talk for a minute about housing because it is a perfect illustration. Governments need to be thinking about cost. We do not need more announcements. The government is so good at making announcements and talking a big game, but actually delivering is not something that it knows how to do. What people need are homes that they can afford. Every delay, duplicated review and unnecessary requirement is ultimately paid by the buyer.

One of the aspects where we see that is in the building code. Changes are looked at, but they are not actually costed. Particularly when we look at a multitude of changes happening at once and add them all up, it can be very significant. Would it not be nice if the government had to show its work, had to make looking at things from a cost perspective a core objective and had summaries that would tell Canadians what each cost would be? We could actually then decide if it made sense, if the benefit outweighed the cost. This is something very effective and relatively simple that the government could do. Most of this information is available. It is just not being used.

At the same time, we could maintain strong standards of health and safety, and we could advance technology. If we were careful about costs through the building codes, which does not cost the government anything, it would actually help people. It would make housing more affordable, reducing the cost of houses. This would help first-time buyers, renters, small and mid-sized builders, families and new Canadians. It would help everybody. This would not cost the government any money. In fact, there could be less bureaucracy, and it could save money. That is something we could definitely use in our country and would be a simple way for the government to make life more affordable for all Canadians.

I also want to talk about something that my leader talked about on the weekend. What if we were to cut the GST on used cars? Dealers charge GST on used cars. A car could be sold multiple times during its life, two, three, four times, and every single time, GST is charged, and the government makes money on that. We think that is unfair. The government should get the GST at the beginning, and that should be the end of it.

I want to thank my colleague the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South for putting forward the private member's bill to eliminate the GST on used vehicles. It makes a lot of sense, and it could save about $1,800 on a typical vehicle purchase and would eliminate that double taxation.

We have many practical ideas. I just gave two of them. One is the used car GST removal, and the other is on building codes. Of course, the government does not want to hear that, and that is why it is putting forward this motion to end debate. It does not want to hear any of our ideas. It just wants to ram this through and move on.

That is the pattern we have seen for the last 11 years from the Liberal government. It likes to call itself a new government, but it has been around for 11 years. It is mostly the same people, doing the same things that got us into the mess that we are in. The Liberals seem to be ashamed and afraid, and that is why they are putting forward this motion today. I would urge the House not to pass this motion.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member could speak to the over 30 hours that the Conservative members of the finance committee spent filibustering Bill C‑30, which offers a number of affordability measures, economic measures that would help Canadians. For example, there is the labour mobility tax deduction, which is being enhanced from $4,000 to $10,000 for a skilled trades worker who would have to travel for work.

Could the member speak to the fact that he is standing here in the House, claiming that we are ramming something through, when his members wasted 30 hours of parliamentary proceedings and resources at the finance committee?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is just like a typical Liberal government to say that standard procedures and things that we do every day in the House are a waste of time. That is right on brand for that party.

I would like the parliamentary secretary to answer the question of why it has taken so long to get this through. Why all of a sudden, on the third- or fourth-last day of Parliament, is there a panic, and it has to be done? There were weeks and months that this could have been done, and it has not been done. I think it is just a testament, as I said, to the inability of the government even to manage its own House, let alone to manage the country.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my Conservative colleague knows full well that Quebeckers and Canadians are struggling financially. Groceries are expensive. Everything is expensive. Even families that were well off not too long ago now have to make sacrifices and choices.

There are solutions at our fingertips that could have been discussed in committee and that could have been discussed more broadly here in the House. For example, eliminating the subsidies to oil companies would generate about $27.5 billion in revenue for the government over five years. That is an estimate from the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Would my colleague agree with this type of measure, which would ease the financial burden on Quebeckers and Canadians?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague highlights the value and importance of committee work, wherein questions can be asked, ideas can be brought to the government and the government has to defend these things.

On the specific issue he raises, I think there are a lot of things with the government, like a lot of spending that happens, that is completely wasteful. We talk about consultants, we talk about all kinds of things, and we need to be going through and talking about these things. The government actually needs to be prioritizing spending. A lot of us joke that if we had a chance to get into the books, we could probably save billions and billions of dollars, and we could be using that money much more effectively.

[Kurt Holman, Conservative, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague from Saskatoon West's concerns about this economy, and I also agree with our mutual colleague the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, who put forward a private member's bill to help Canadians with regard to purchasing used vehicles.

With regard to Bill C‑30 and the economic outlook, recently London and the London region have had a high unemployment rate. At one time, it was 9.1%, a high unemployment rate and the highest in Canada. Recently, it was 9.2%, the highest unemployment rate. This is affecting the London region. This is affecting Londoners.

I was just wondering if my colleague from Saskatoon West is experiencing the same issues with the economy in his riding.