John Barlow

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Liberal member's rattling off just about every policy in the Conservative campaign that the Liberals took, and I would encourage her to take all of them. Why stop with just a few? Why take the GST off new homes for first-time buyers only? Why not take the GST off new homes for every buyer so we can have more accessible homes for all Canadians, not just those who are buying a home for the first time?

Do not just go halfway; if you are going to take the Conservative platform, take it all. We will support you the whole way.

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I just said “Deloitte”. I think that is pretty reputable, as are Farm Credit Canada and the CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada. The Liberals do not like to hear the numbers. They do not like to hear those stats because they are a direct result of punishing policies being implemented by the Liberal government.

However, my colleague across the way is going to love it, because the Liberals are not done yet. The Liberal government wants to reduce fertilizer use by 30% and crop protection products by 50%. These losses would lead to losses for farmers exceeding $50 billion and to a reduction of crop yields by 14 million tonnes.

Last, the impact of the Liberals' inflationary spending and regulations is taking a toll on the economic viability of Canadian farmers. I know that my colleague from Winnipeg North is going to hate this, but it comes from Statistics Canada and Farm Credit Canada: Last year was the most expensive crop in Canadian history. The results that just came out show that in 2024, Canadian farmers experienced a 25% decline in realized net income, a total loss of $3.3 billion. Farmers are losing about $3,000 every single month. This is the worst loss in realized net income since 2018.

In 2024, total farm operating expenses in Canada increased to $78.3 billion, a 2.4% increase from the previous year. These increases are coming from fertilizer, feed and machinery. Fertilizer prices soared by more than 50%. Feed costs are up 20%. Machinery expenses and fuel are up by 53%. I cannot stress this enough. These are very real consequences of ideological and punishing policies by the Liberal government that are putting the economic viability of our farmers at risk and driving up food costs for Canadians. Every single month we are seeing this.

I have to ask whether the discussion in Alberta next week at the G7 will be whether Canada actually belongs in the G7, when we are a partner that is punishing our farmers and putting food security, not only here at home but also globally, at risk. We are ignoring our most important allies, who have come to us wanting cheap, affordable and sustainable Canadian LNG, but the Liberal government has said there is no business case. We are eroding our reputation as a trusted partner to our G7 allies.

However, a lot of these things could be resolved if the Liberal government repealed its ideological policies and tabled a budget so Canadians can actually see the financial picture they are facing. If the government is not willing to do it, I suggest it steps aside, because the Conservatives are ready to do just that.

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House today. Since this is my first opportunity to give a speech in the House since the election, I want to thank the constituents of Foothills and the families in southern Alberta who once again elected me to represent them in the House of Commons. I am honoured that we received the second-highest number of votes in the country, almost 55,000. Only my colleague from Ponoka—Didsbury was able to surpass the wonderful people of Foothills. That certainly goes to show that our message as Conservatives standing up for Alberta resonates with my constituents in Foothills.

I want to state that I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Cloverdale—Langley City. I welcome back to the House of Commons such an outstanding colleague here with me.

As the Conservative shadow minister for agriculture and agri-food, it is my duty to stand here and represent and be the voice for the hard-working farmers and ranchers and producers right across this country, as well as for those Canadians who have gone to the grocery store shelves over the last few months and have questioned how this could possibly be getting worse. People are asking this because the Prime Minister stated emphatically that he would be judged by the prices at the grocery store shelves. The Prime Minister said that, not the opposition. By his own metrics, by the Prime Minister's own statement, he has failed Canadians.

I admit that I rise today with some frustration, as certainly all of us in this House are hearing from our constituents who are frustrated with the price of groceries at the grocery store shelf, given the promises by the Liberal Prime Minister. It seems to us that they are the same old Liberals with the same old promises and the same old promises broken.

The average family is now spending close to $1,000 more a year on groceries: close to $16,000. These prices continue to rise: oranges are up more than 20%; apples, 20%; beef, more than 30%; rice, 14%, and the list goes on and on. As a result, Canadians are having to make very difficult choices every single month when they do their household budgets. I would expect that Canadians would want the government to follow their lead and actually have a budget showing Canadians where their tax dollars are going and just how bad the fiscal situation that the Liberals have left us is.

The Liberals are great at blaming someone else for their problems. The parliamentary secretary is still blaming COVID. I am sure the Liberals are going to be blaming Harper later today. However, the Prime Minister was the financial adviser for the previous prime minister, Trudeau, for more than five years. This is not a new group. The finance minister has been there for 10 years. The former finance minister has been there for 10 years. It is not like the Liberals do not have some data to go by. These are not new Liberals. However, despite the Liberals' refusal to table a budget, it is Canadians who are paying the price. They are paying the price at the grocery store shelf every single day.

The current Prime Minister said during the election that he was going to be different. Clearly, in only a couple of months, he is different; I would say arguably worse. He said that he would keep spending increases at 2%, that he would cap that, but his first group of estimates shows that he has increased spending more than 8%, by half a trillion dollars in more deficit spending. At a time when inflation and food security are top of mind, the government is continuing to throw gas on the inflationary fire. Not only are the Liberals breaking these promises; they are shattering them with this type of spending, and they refuse to hold themselves accountable, with their policies driving up food costs. If anything, the policies they continue to want to implement and continue to champion would only make matters worse. Ideological policies like front-of-pack labelling, a P2 plastics ban, a tariff on fertilizer, fertilizer and crop protection reductions and industrial carbon tax will all make life more difficult for farmers, manufacturers, truckers and retailers. All those costs get passed down to the consumer at the grocery store shelf.

I want to give a few examples of the incredible consequences these ideological policies will have on consumers. Michael Graydon, the CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, stated at the agriculture committee last year that the Liberals' nonsensical front-of-pack warning labels will cost the industry an additional $8 billion and that manufacturers will have no choice to pass on those additional costs to the consumers, driving up food prices at the grocery store.

An in-depth report by Deloitte stated that the impact of the Liberals' P2 plastics ban on Canadian producers and produce growers will be catastrophic; it will increase the cost of produce another 35%. That is over and above the inflationary increases that we are already seeing as a result of the Liberals' out-of-control spending. It will reduce the availability of fresh produce by 50%. It will cost growers and producers more than $6 billion in additional costs. It will increase food waste by 50%.

At a time when Canadians are wanting to support Canadian growers, Liberal policy is bankrupting Canadian producers. More than 44% of growers of fresh fruit and vegetables in Canada are already selling their products at a loss, and this is before the new ideological policies are being implemented.

[Business of Supply, June 9th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said something that tweaked my memory. He said that the government is going to spend less so Canadians can invest more. That sounds really familiar to the previous regime, which was using a word salad to try to convince Canadians of something that was not true, like when it said, “The budget will balance itself,” and “We are taking on this debt so Canadians do not have to.”

Does the member's definition of the estimates, where the government is increasing spending by 8%, meet his definition of the government spending less? It certainly does not meet mine.

[Oil and Gas Industry, June 2nd, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister may be meeting, but he sure is not listening. While he dawdles, the opportunities to unleash Canadian energy pass us by because of the Liberals' anti-energy legislation, which blocks infrastructure and blocks investment. The provinces want to build and Canadian workers want to work. Canadians want energy independence, but Bill C-69 blocks pipelines and Bill C-48 blocks shipping. The job-killing carbon tax and the industrial carbon tax are punishing our energy sector.

Will the Prime Minister end his attacks on Canadian oil and gas and repeal his anti-energy legislation today?

[Oil and Gas Industry, June 2nd, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, when knocking on doors, I met Foothills families whose members were in tears because they are losing their jobs and losing their businesses because of the Liberal attacks on Canadian energy. These are small business owners who employ hundreds of thousands of Canadians right across this country. They need real action and no more political games. Like the provinces, they want to build because pipelines mean paycheques, a growing economy and energy independence. Why are the Liberals the only holdout?

The Prime Minister is meeting with premiers in Saskatchewan today. Will he approve a pipeline at that meeting?

[Privilege, December 11th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the member for Regina—Lewvan has been an outstanding advocate for Canadian agriculture and farm families.

The member is exactly right. This is another example of the Liberals ploughing through a policy without giving it the least bit of due diligence. When my colleague, the member for Regina—Lewvan, asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he knew that the capital gains inclusion rate change was going to be in the budget, he said no. He asked how many farm groups and farmers they had consulted with after the fact, and whether they had brought those comments to the cabinet table. There was no answer.

At the committee, we have had farmers literally crying about the impact that this is going to have on their ability, that young generation, to take on the family farm, burdened by additional debt, and more so for the years of succession planning that has gone into it that is going to devastate the retirement of many farm families, which is going to be detrimental for our farmers.

[Privilege, December 11th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, the green slush fund is just an example of when good things can go bad in the wrong hands.

In 2015, as an example, when the Liberals formed government, we left them with a very sound financial situation and a balanced budget. It took them about 30 seconds to demolish what the previous Conservative government, under Prime Minister Harper, had worked very hard to build. It left Canada with a very strong financial foundation. We will find out on Monday the scale and scope of how poorly a Liberal-led government, in every aspect, has left Canada's financial foundation in ruin.

[Privilege, December 11th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's question, but I have to correct him.

The European Union does not have a carbon border adjustment on agricultural products. The member is misleading Canadians by assuming that we would be blocked from access to European markets if we did not have a carbon tax. That is just simply not true. The European Union does not have carbon border adjustments on agricultural products.

However, I think it is even worse than that. We are uncompetitive on the global market because of that carbon tax. We are putting a burden on Canadian farmers that American farmers do not have to deal with, and 60% of our products go south, not to the European Union. Our focus should be in line and competitive on a tax and regulatory regime with our biggest trading partner and our biggest competitor, which is the United States.

[Privilege, December 11th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it was a Conservative motion, I believe, brought forward by the leader of the Conservative Party, to remove the carbon tax on home heating and the GST on new homes. We have taken those measures. The NDP has kind of followed along, but it comes down to a question I have for the NDP. The NDP leader says every day how awful the Liberal government is, that it is weak and beholden to corporate Canada, like as the member says, to the grocery store CEOs, yet every time New Democrats have a chance to send a message to Canadians and fight for affordability, they support the Liberal government, which is the most corrupt government in Canadian history.