Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment first to congratulate you on your first sitting; that is wonderful.
Before I begin, I would also like to take a moment to say thanks. It is hard to put into words how grateful I am to the people of Cloverdale—Langley City. They worked so hard to help me return to Ottawa. The volunteers gave up evenings and weekends to knock on doors, make phone calls and deliver signs. Someone even made apple pie for the team. Every single one of them played a very important role in making this possible.
I give a special shout-out to my husband. He just never stopped: rain or shine, early mornings and late nights. His head-down-and-work-hard attitude is inspirational. Those fluffy pancakes and perfect chai tea he was making every Saturday at the campaign office are now legendary. I am so blessed to have such an amazing better half.
Some members may know I campaigned in the December by-election and won the riding with over 65% of the vote, only to be sent right back into full campaign mode before I even had a chance to warm up a seat in the House. It has been quite a whirlwind, but let us just say I have worn out more than one pair of shoes this year and probably a few volunteers as well. There are so many amazing people I could name, but we would need another hour, so they should just know that their work mattered, their dedication mattered and I carry their voices with me every time I stand in the House.
I will move now to my main speech. This week, Canadians were treated to all the pomp and ceremony of a throne speech, delivered by His Majesty King Charles himself, but as we know, it was written by the Prime Minister. Tucked into all the lofty words and grand gestures was this promise: The government would be guided by what it called “a new fiscal discipline: spend less so Canadians can invest more.”
However, when the ways and means motion was tabled this week, rather than reducing the annual increase in spending to below 2% as the Liberals promised, there was a whopping 8.4% in increased federal spending. When we put all those numbers together, the Prime Minister will be spending 71% more than the Trudeau government projected in its fall estimates.
Is it really a good idea to pull the wool over Canadians' eyes with fancy accounting tricks to make the books look good? The whole idea of spending less so Canadians can invest more sounds great until we think about it for five seconds. It is kind of like someone telling their kids, “we are saving money this month” while standing in the checkout line with a brand new flat-screen TV. They are not saving; they are spending, and someone is going to have to pay for it.
Meanwhile, families are buckling under the weight of rising prices. I talked to people at the door, in church and at the grocery store, and they are cutting back on groceries, not just gadgets. They are cancelling their family summer plans just to keep up with mortgage payments, yet the government is talking about the largest transformation of Canada's economy since the Second World War. That does not come cheap; it will need to be paid for.
Canadians want a proper budget so we can see what this transformation will actually cost. It is time to stop the overspending, stop creating inflation and give Canadians a real chance to catch their breath, because this is not just about today's prices. When governments overspend, the cost hits every one of us through higher interest rates, cuts to services and broken promises. When the bill comes due, it does not land on the Prime Minister's desk; it lands in the lap of our children and grandchildren. If we do not act now, we will not just lose our standard of living; we will also be handing our children and grandchildren a country we cannot afford to fix.
Speaking of things young Canadians cannot afford, let us talk about housing. While I was out door knocking during the campaign, I met a young man standing outside his townhouse. It was a small place, and he was a nice guy who was probably in his early thirties. He told me he had a good job, saved hard and, even with help from his parents, just barely scraped together enough for a down payment. With interest rates now high for him and costs climbing, he looked me in the eye and said, “I always hoped that one day I could move into a place with enough room to raise a family, but with the way things are going, that dream is slipping away.” This stuck with me.
Imagine my shock when I found out that the new housing minister, the government's so-called solution to the housing crisis, is the former mayor of Vancouver, the same guy who saw housing prices explode under his watch. Vancouver did not just become expensive; it became one of the most unaffordable cities on the planet. If that is the government's idea of help, we should all be very worried.
The Liberals say they are going to double housing starts, but honestly, none of that matters if they do not fix the real problems: red tape, broken permitting systems and crushing taxes on building. The numbers do not lie. Costs are up, and young Canadians are giving up on ever owning a home. A country where the next generation cannot afford to put down roots is a country in trouble. We need a plan that gets homes built, not headlines written.
Let me read the government's solution straight from the Liberals' platform: They are going to “get the federal government back into the business of [home] building”. Another new agency the government is creating, “build Canada homes”, will act as a developer, using our money to build housing on public land. The Liberals are planning to pour billions of dollars into prefab houses and low-cost financing to government-approved developers.
The thing is that the Liberals do not want to help Canadians build their own future; they want to build it for Canadians using taxpayer money, and the government owns the keys. Housing is supposed to be about ownership, roots, stability and a future people can build, but under this plan, that dream is slipping farther and farther out of reach. The government is creating a system where more and more Canadians will rent homes from the government, built with our tax dollars on our public land, with no chance to own.
I am thinking of young couples working two jobs, trying to save while prices keep rising; the new Canadian who came here for a better life, only to find that ownership is out of reach; and seniors watching their children and grandchildren struggle to afford what they took for granted. The truth is that this is not just a housing crisis; it is a hope crisis. A whole generation is being locked out, and we owe it to them to do better. We do not need more government landlords; we need a government that respects people's dream to own a home and fights to make that possible.
Housing should not be a luxury that few can afford, and neither should public safety. It is a basic promise and one the Liberals have broken time and time again, almost as if it were by design. They have been slow to jail repeat violent criminals but quick to treat law-abiding Canadians like criminals through Liberal handgun bans. They go easy on gang members and carjackers but come down hard on licensed, trained sport shooters and collectors who have done nothing wrong except follow the rules. That is the Liberals' approach to justice: Punish the innocent, excuse the guilty and put the rights of criminals first and the rights of victims last.
Let me share a heartbreaking case from my province of B.C. Last June, 40-year-old Adam Mann was charged with second-degree murder in the death of a young woman named Tori Dunn in Surrey. At the time of her death, he was out on bail, despite a violent history that included 22 prior convictions and a 12-year sentence for a home invasion. A pre-sentencing report had even described him as an “unmanageable risk”, yet he was walking free.
Tori's family did not just lose their daughter; they lost her to a system that failed them. It is a system that prioritized the rights of a repeat violent offender over the right of an innocent woman to live her life in peace. That is not justice, it is not safety and it certainly is not compassion.
Canadians deserve a justice system that protects the public, not one that gambles with their life. We need real bail reform, laws that protect victims not offenders, and a government that stands up for safe communities. If we do not get serious now, we are not just risking more crime; we are also risking the public's faith in the entire system.
Canadians have heard enough empty words. What they need now is a plan, an actual budget in black and white. Is there just too much red ink for the new Prime Minister to be honest with Canadians? He ran on his résumé. He promised competence, credibility and discipline, but so far we have seen none of it. There is no real fiscal restraint, no plan to fix housing and no action on crime. There is just more borrowed money, more bureaucratic programs and more empty headlines.
If the Prime Minister truly wants to lead, he needs to deliver a budget that stops the bleeding, one that reigns in the reckless spending, restores affordability and gives Canadians back the hope that they are losing. Is this what competence looks like? Is this the stellar economic prowess the Prime Minister promised millions of voters? I sure hope not, because Canadians deserve better.
