Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-15, the budget 2025 implementation act, no. 1.
Bill C-15 is a massive omnibus bill. It is over 600 pages long and packed with legislative changes that touch nearly every corner of government, from departments and agencies to Crown corporations. Ironically, when they were in opposition, the Liberals strenuously condemned Stephen Harper for using omnibus bills to “prevent Parliament from properly reviewing and debating his proposals.” They called it an “undemocratic practice” and pledged to end it. However, here we are, ironically faced with a bill that does exactly what the Liberals once condemned. Now Parliament is expected to rush a bill through that would make fundamental changes to law and policy without the scrutiny Canadians expect and deserve.
Budget implementation legislation should be about accountability. It should give Parliament the opportunity to examine the government's economic commitments in detail. Instead, this bill forces us to vote on a grab bag of measures, some positive and some deeply concerning, all bundled into a single package. This is not transparency. It does not display respect for Parliament or for the Canadians who sent us here.
Canadians are struggling. Unemployment has climbed to its highest level in a decade, leaving young people desperate for work. Half of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. The cost of essentials, from groceries to rent, continues to rise. Our economy is teetering on the edge of recession, while U.S. President Donald Trump threatens further damage. The Liberals promised Canadians, both during the last election campaign and over the last several months, that they would respond to these serious and entrenched problems. In fact, they promised transformational, generational change, yet in the face of these challenges, this budget has been roundly determined from all quarters to be anything but that. Instead, the Liberals have missed the opportunity to positively adjust the Canadian economy, deeply invest in long-ignored Canadian infrastructure and strengthen the institutions that Canadians rely on and that define us as a nation.
At its core, the government is not offering creative solutions. Instead, it is demanding sacrifices from workers while handing out billions to the wealthiest individuals and the most profitable corporations. It is neglecting to build our public health care system, a cornerstone of Canadian identity and a key economic advantage for Canadian employers. It is failing to tackle the housing crisis or ease the crushing cost of living with the immediacy and depth these crises call for. It is massively ramping up military spending to 5% of GDP over time, a greater portion than even the United States spends to maintain its global military empire. In the midst of a jobs crisis, it is slashing services and eliminating tens of thousands of family-sustaining jobs. Many of these represent a profound betrayal of the promises Liberals made to the Canadian people just months ago, an about-face to the progressive folks who placed their faith in the government at election time and a surprising embracing of Conservative policies.
Let us examine a few examples. During the last election, the Liberals promised to cap, not cut, public service employment, yet budget 2025 takes a hatchet to the public services by eliminating 40,000 jobs. The Prime Minister led Canadians to believe, and in fact did so in writing, that he understood both the urgency and opportunities of dealing with the climate crisis, yet he cancelled EV metrics, abandoned emissions targets and is poised to approve fossil fuel pipelines and reverse half a century of tanker bans, jeopardizing sensitive B.C. coastal waters. He led Canadians to believe he would protect health care, yet his budget has no money to honour Liberal pharmacare commitments or ensure that health transfers keep up with health care inflation.
Let us be clear about what this means for people's lives. When we slash tens of thousands of positions, frontline services suffer. Do Canadians want to wait months to renew their passports? Do they want to speak to someone about their taxes or be put on hold with a computerized menu? Do they want delays in receiving their old-age security cheques?
According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the Liberals are withholding information on $60 billion in cuts announced in budget 2025. Instead of specifics, Canadians are being given empty buzzwords like “streamlining”, “modernizing” and “recalibrating”, along with vague assurances that artificial intelligence will somehow fill this gap. After the Conservatives' Phoenix pay system disaster, Canadians have every reason to be skeptical of grandiose promises based on unproven technology. These broken promises and hidden details matter because they reveal the true priorities behind this legislation. While Canadians face true, real hardship, the government is making choices that deepen inequality and weaken the services people rely on.
There are provisions in this act that New Democrats support because, in the main, they reflect priorities we have long fought for and have been instrumental in advancing. These include a tax credit for personal support workers, high-speed rail between Quebec and Ontario, a permanent national school food program, a waste biomass tax credit to help our ailing forestry sector and improved information sharing to address worker misclassification and fraud.
Unfortunately, these are overshadowed by Liberal choices that take our country backwards. For example, this legislation removes the luxury tax on yachts and private jets, a blatant gift to the wealthy at a time when working families are struggling just to make ends meet. It repeals the digital services tax before it even got into play, a measure that would have ensured the biggest U.S. tech giants and billionaires on the planet, like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, pay their fair share. Instead, the Liberals are scrapping it at the behest of Donald Trump, which is just the latest in a long line of one-sided concessions to the U.S. that have delivered precisely nothing for Canada.
Let us remember that, during the last election, the Liberals promised to keep their elbows up, stand firm and fight for Canadians. Now, when it matters most, they have dropped their elbows and caved to pressure from Washington. New Democrats do not want a budget that delivers for Donald Trump. We want a budget that delivers for Canadians. This bill eliminates the underused housing tax, which helped fight speculation from foreign investors and freed up homes for Canadian families. It is a blatant gift to the property development industry, and it weakens environmental protections in the Competition Act.
There is so much more that could have been and should be done, in our view. Now is the time to invest heavily in our country, our companies, our people and our infrastructure. Now is the time to help the millions of working and marginalized Canadians, from improving their health care and creating good, family-sustaining jobs to building creative supports like disability benefits that folks can actually live on. Budgets are about choices, and choices reveal values. Budget 2025 reveals that the Liberals value yachts over youth employment, private jets over public pharmacare, tax breaks for tech giants over relief for families, and military expansion over health care for Canadians.
New Democrats believe in a better path. We seek a future where every family has an affordable place to call home; where our men and women in uniform have the tools they need, but so do our doctors, nurses and teachers; where climate action meets the urgency of the moment; and where fair taxation ensures that those at the top contribute their fair share and that we have the revenue to properly fund the government and the services it provides. It is a future where families can access quality child care; where seniors can retire with dignity; where everyone who wants a job can find one, with fair pay and decent conditions; where communities have reliable public transit, clean water and healthy food; where indigenous peoples have justice, respect and real reconciliation; and where universal pharmacare, dental care and mental health services are there for Canadians when they need them. This is how we build a country where everyone can thrive, not just the privileged few.
Canadians sent us here to tackle the pressing challenges they face and improve their lives. Instead, this budget locks in choices that burden families and further enrich the wealthy. New Democrats will oppose the measures in this legislation, because this budget is about the country we want to build. Liberals have shown their priorities. New Democrats will show ours by putting working people first.
