Pierre Poilievre

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

You know what is up, Mr. Speaker? Inflation is up. All four measures of inflation are now above target. Unemployment is up. In Toronto, it is over 10%. What else is up is housing costs. They have actually doubled. They have risen more than in any other country in the G7. What else is up? Food bank use is up. It, too, has doubled, with two million people lined up at the food bank.

What else is up again? The promise-breaking inflationary deficit, so why does the Prime Minister not tell us, if he has figured out how to count, what the deficit will be this year?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, do members know what is up? Inflation is up and unemployment is up. Inflation is not only up; every single measure of inflation is now above its target. Unemployment is up. It is at 10% in Toronto now—

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians do not have confidence in him, nor does his own party or his own cabinet, nor, apparently, does the Bank of Canada, which today was forced into an emergency panicked rate cut to confront the collapsing economy. The Governor of the Bank of Canada said the economy is softer than he expected it would be, and despite the fact that inflation is rising, that all four measures of it are above the target, he is being forced to cut the rates to save the economy from outright collapse.

When will the Prime Minister stop breaking the economy and call a carbon tax election so Conservatives can fix it?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is silencing his own finance minister. She was already wildly irresponsible with the public purse, but not irresponsible enough for him. She wanted to keep the deficit at an already massive $40 billion, and he said it was not enough. Canadians are not paying enough inflation, according to him.

Once again, did she voluntarily smash through her fiscal guardrail or did he push her?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister said in 2022, “This is a line we shall not cross.” Then she listed three lines: one, that the deficit would only go down, and it went up; two, that she would pay off the COVID debt, and not only has she not paid off a penny, but the debt has gone up; and three, that the debt-to-GDP ratio would only drop, and it has risen.

Did the finance minister voluntarily cross her own lines, or did the Prime Minister push her?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, he has been the Prime Minister for nine years. Let us review the chronology: Not even eight months ago, his minister said the deficit would not exceed $40 billion, the guardrail. Then he went and got his banker friend, carbon tax Carney, to become his top economic adviser, stripping the power away from his finance minister. Suddenly, the guardrail was broken.

Is he really going to subject his finance minister to the humiliation of reading Carney's fiscal update, which busts through the guardrail?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's Liberal MPs are not speaking out against him, not because he is allowing so much liberty but because he is so weak, and there is nothing worse than a weak bully. He is now cracking down on his own finance minister. Some feminist he is.

On this side of the House, I lead by inspiration, while the Prime Minister leads by intimidation.

Once again, why will the Prime Minister not follow my inspiration and stand up for the promise that he made to keep the deficit under $40 billion?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

The weak Prime Minister has lost control; he has lost control of the borders, lost control of immigration and lost control of spending, debt and inflation. Now he has lost control of his own cabinet.

Yesterday The Globe and Mail reported that there is a big fiscal feud that has broken out between the Prime Minister and his finance minister. At stake is that the finance minister wanted to run a gigantic $40-billion deficit, but that was her guardrail, and now the Prime Minister is pushing her through that guardrail and pushing all Canadians off the fiscal cliff. Why?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Prime Minister who is trying to muzzle his own Minister of Finance. She promised to keep the deficit to $40 billion to prevent higher inflation, which is very expensive for Canadians who cannot feed their children. Now, he has forced his minister to break that promise and he is attacking her in the papers.

Why is the Prime Minister forcing his minister to break her promise and undermine her credibility?

[Finance, December 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this weak Prime Minister has lost control of immigration, the border, spending, inflation, the debt and even his ministers.

According to The Globe and Mail, relations between the Prime Minister and the finance minister “have chilled as tensions grow over the push for politically strategic spending measures such as the GST holiday... risking the minister missing her pledge to keep the deficit at or below $40.1-billion.”

Why is the Prime Minister pushing his Minister of Finance to break her promise on the inflationary deficit?