Pierre Poilievre

[Taxation, March 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in the last election the Prime Minister put his hand on his heart and pleaded with people to believe he would not raise taxes on the middle class. Now, 80% of middle-class Canadians are paying higher income tax. Yesterday, at the government's budget briefing, we learned there would also be a new 11¢ a litre Liberal tax on gas.

Will the Prime Minister announce today that all middle-class Canadians will be exempt from paying his new 11¢ a litre gas tax?

[Public Safety, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, did the national security adviser give classified information to journalists?

[Public Safety, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, did the national security adviser provide classified information to journalists?

[The Environment, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the minister says the GST applies on all goods and services. Is the carbon tax a good or a service? Canadians are paying this tax on their home heating, their gas to get to work, indirectly on their groceries, and now they will be forced to pay a tax on that tax. This is among the most regressive taxes disproportionately targeting poor and working class people.

Why is the government taking from those with the least and putting a tax on a tax?

[The Environment, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in February 2017, the Minister of Environment told the House that all of the carbon tax revenues would go back to provincial governments, and none of it would go to the federal Liberal government. Last week though, the government quietly released a document which said that these revenues did not include those in respect of the GST charged on products and services that may have embedded carbon pricing costs on them.

In other words, the Liberals are going to collect GST on the carbon tax that Canadians are forced to pay. Why is the Environment Minister breaking her word and taxing the tax?

[Points of Order, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with respect to conflicting statements by a member of the government versus a servant of the House.

Earlier today, I pointed to a quote by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, which indicated that there was no plan for the government's expenditure of $186.7 billion on infrastructure. The minister responsible for that very portfolio then rose and claimed there was such a plan. In fact, the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed in his report, which is a document now of the House, that he asked for that plan and “it does not exist”.

Herein lies the problem. If such a plan does exist and the Parliamentary Budget Officer has been denied it, then the Liberal government could well be in contempt of Parliament through the PBO, which is a creation of Parliament. On the other hand, if the plan does not exist but the minister says it does, then the minister will have been providing false information to the House. Either circumstance is very serious.

I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to put your investigative powers and skills to work to resolve this conflict and ascertain which of those two unacceptable circumstances arose today in the House of Commons.

[Finance, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is becoming more and more clear to Canadians that the government has no control over its spending, and it cannot even tell us where its spending is going. First of all, it said the deficit would be $10 billion. It has been more than double that. This year, the deficit will be three times what the Liberals promised. If the Prime Minister had been telling the truth in the last election, the budget would be balanced next year. We now know that this will not happen.

When will the budget be balanced?

[Finance, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, well, that is not what the Parliamentary Budget Officer says. In fact, I will quote from his report:

Budget 2018 provides an incomplete account of the changes to the Government’s $186.7 billion infrastructure spending plan. PBO requested the new plan but it does not exist.

I ask again, how is it even possible to spend $180 billion with no plan?

[Finance, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised a deficit of just $10 billion, and failed. It was more than double that. He said the money would go to infrastructure. He failed there too. We do not know where it has gone. He said the deficit would be gone in three years. He has failed on that. Now he says it will be another 25 years, during which half a trillion dollars will be added to the debt.

Given all these failures, how can we trust anything the Prime Minister says about Canadians' money?

[Canadian National Institute for the Blind, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, a century ago, World War I and the Halifax explosion left thousands of Canadians blind. However, they were determined to work and thrive, so they locked arms and created the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. It created job placements and even opened manufacturing centres where Canadians with vision impairment worked doing industrial sewing, broom making, and other important tasks. They proved that people without sight or with other disabilities could work and contribute.

Today, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind translates thousands of books into Braille, large print, and audio. It places young people in rewarding jobs and continues to give hope and empowerment to people right across the country.

I join with all Parliamentarians in congratulating the CNIB for their important work and for a century of service to Canada.