Eric Duncan
Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry, Ontario · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, that was not even close to an answer. New documents reveal that the Prime Minister has spent $1 million on inflight catering since taking office last year. That is enough money to feed a Canadian family for 55 years. Let us look at the list: luxury butter cups, crème brûlée, Scottish salmon and smoked Gouda.”
“That is showing that despite the speeches, the photo ops and the good intentions that are always mentioned by the Liberals, we are seeing that their plan is failing to resonate when it comes to economic growth and creating jobs. We have seen tens of thousands of jobs lost so far in 2026.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Lethbridge has an insightful question, and I thank her for the opportunity to reflect. Today, I am thinking, as we look at the struggles, that the data confirms that Canada is the only G7 country going into a recession. Canada is officially in a recession under the Liberal government.”
“This infusion of $20 million saw its key investors suddenly cash out with millions of dollars, and we have a gravel pad with a concrete pad on top of it that is costing $20 million per year. The lease of that land, just for the record, was about $15,000 per year. Where is the other $19.99 million a year going?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry to add my contributions and views based on what I am hearing in my community, the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, as well as Cornwall and Akwesasne, and bring that to the floor of the House to make sure their voices are…”
“Here we are, seeing that it can take, in cases of getting a mine built, upwards of 25 years to get a mine permitted and built in this country. At the same time, we are seeing the idea or possibility of a pipeline out to the west coast, but we do not know a proponent, a start date, a route or the details.”
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“We lost Lowell this month at the age of 89. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his colleagues as we mourn and celebrate a life well lived.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is with profound sadness that we learned of the passing of Canadian radio legend Lowell Green. Lowell started at Ottawa's CFRA in 1960, and by the time he retired over 50 years later, he had become North America's longest-running open-line talk show host. Lowell will be remembered for promoting “common sense“ and his “island of sanity”, but it was not just the on-air achievements that made Lowell who he was. It was the many causes that he championed over the years. From launching a campaign to save the Centennial Flame here on Parliament Hill and a unity rally ahead of the 1995 referendum to being a co-founder of Big Brothers in Ottawa and the Help Santa Toy Parade, he truly made a difference in the lives of many people. He was awarded numerous accolades over the years by his peers, legions, Lions Clubs and other groups.”
“Mr. Speaker, Canadians can see for themselves how clear the contrast is between the Liberal plan and the Conservative plan. The Liberals want to provide subsidies and give the opportunity for American-made EVs to be subsidized, built in the United States and shipped into Canada, but all while Donald Trump is tariffing every single Canadian vehicle going from Canada to the United States. Conservatives are proposing to scrap that part of the plan and take the GST off all Canadian-made vehicles so Canadians have a big incentive to buy Canadian and support our Canadian auto sector. We would take the GST off Canadian-made vehicles and support Canadian auto workers, while the Liberals have a $2.3-billion plan that is going to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to American-made vehicles coming into our country.”
“The last time the Liberals had the EV rebate, 99% of the EV rebates given were for foreign-made cars, including 31% from the United States. My question to the Liberal government continues to be this: Why are we giving a penny of Canadian taxpayer money for any vehicle, any vehicle at all, being made in the United States and being brought into Canada when the President of the United States is tariffing every vehicle coming from Canada into the U.S.? It makes no sense. It is the opposite of elbows up, and it needs to be scrapped. Will they do it?”
“If we have an American-made EV that qualifies under that $50,000 threshold, that American EV, which is made in the United States, can get a subsidy to be built there and brought into Canada. That is absolutely ridiculous. We are in the midst of a trade war. I do not accept for a second the industry minister 's Liberal talking point that we are in an integrated North American auto sector. We are not now, when we have a President in the United States who is unjustifiably tariffing every single Canadian vehicle going into the United States. It requires forceful push-back against that, and that should not include giving subsidies to American-made EVs being moved into Canada. Here is the reality. There is only one car made in Canada today that will qualify, the Dodge Charger.”
“Last year, that number dropped to 1.2 million. The number of cars being built in the country has been halved in the last decade. That is an alarming number and very dangerous when it comes to the threats that we face. What frustrates me very much is the latest Liberal plan, which they call their national auto strategy, that includes the EV rebates for vehicles under $50,000. Donald Trump, in the midst of this unjustified, illegal and wrong tariff war that we are under right now, is tariffing every single Canadian vehicle made here and brought into the United States. That is wrong. It is unacceptable, and we are fighting back against that. What is the Liberal strategy on this now?”
“Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise to follow up on the question I raised a couple of weeks ago in question period about the serious strain that our auto sector is under and the serious threat we are under. Donald Trump has made it very clear that he wants to shutter the auto sector in this country. He wants to bring all the jobs that are here in Canada, the tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs, down to the United States. We have seen, sadly, over the course of the last year, 5,000 job losses. It has been devastating for Brampton, for Oshawa and for Ingersoll. The list goes on. Parts manufacturers have laid employees off and have taken their jobs and moved them to the United States. Here is an alarming number as to where the auto sector is today: In 2016, Canada built 2.3 million cars.”
“If we just give them the fourth chance in 10 years to get it right by using the same recycled approach, they say they will get a different result. That is the definition of insanity. We are not going with it.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to apologize for that member. He does not get up and speak too much in the House too often. He needs to be reminded of the rules a little bit. The comment was interesting that the legislation would be giving the federal government and the Liberals a stronger, healthier relationship with provinces and municipalities. I am pretty sure they said the same thing regarding the national housing strategy that they had 10 years ago, which saw housing prices double. We had the housing accelerator fund that was going to be stronger and healthier. What happened? We are not seeing shovels get in the ground. We are seeing fewer shovels in the ground. We are seeing housing prices that have doubled. We are seeing rent that has doubled. That is their record.”
“The Conservatives will stand with the action plan I presented, and that would be the true way we could make homes more affordable in this country. After 10 years, the Liberals are recycling the same old ideas. It is time for a new approach under the Conservative plan.”
“If somebody builds a 10-unit apartment building and sells that building, as opposed to paying capital gains taxes on it, if they reinvest that money in another apartment building, reinvestment could happen, and the federal government could defer that tax. We would have more units, and more building would take place. We would get more results. It would be a rocket ship of an opportunity to get our housing and our homebuilding sector fired up and going in the right direction. We have before us another piece of Liberal legislation for a fourth bureaucracy: more bureaucracy, more plans, more studies, more photo ops and more good-intention announcements. It would lead to the same result we have had for the last year.”
“Conservatives are saying to the Liberals, “Just keep the promise made during the election campaign. Agree with us, and let us cut development charges by 50%.” They have refused multiple times, at every opportunity in the last year, to keep their word and their promise with respect to housing. If this is a signature, cornerstone piece of legislation that they claim is part of their backbone to housing, that promise should have been in there, but it is not. The fourth thing we could do is end the capital gains tax on reinvestment in new housing in Canada, which would unlock billions of dollars in investment in our country's homebuilding sector. Here is an example of what we could do.”
“We could tie it to homebuilding, tie it to results and get municipalities on the right track, leading by example and permitting more homes that we need, to actually go up, in the right direction. The third thing is what the Conservatives have said and what the Liberals promised in the last election, but they have broken their promise. They said they would be cutting development charges by 50%. We said the same thing. The reality is that they have not done that. They have had a budget and a Speech from the Throne, and now they have this legislation, Bill C-20 , before us which would mandate municipalities to do so. The Liberals have refused to take that step. Again, not only is it the GST and the HST on a new home build; there are development charges as well. These add up to the biggest cost: taxes and fees.”
“We would say to municipalities that they need to permit 15% more houses year over year, each and every year, so we can get the tide going in the right direction. We could tie federal funding, the billions of dollars from the federal government to support infrastructure, to actual results. We could say to municipalities that it would not be when they have a plan or an aspiration, or have done a study and intend to do something, but rather when building permits are actually permitted that the municipalities get paid. That is a huge incentive for municipalities. Further, if municipalities exceed that goal, Conservatives have said that we would bonus them.”
“It is hard to build one for half a million dollars today, but people could be looking at savings anywhere from $65,000 to $130,000 if we were able to take all the HST off. There is also the ripple effect. If, on a $1.3-million home, GST alone comes off, that is a $65,000 savings up front, but it also would save on the mortgage. There would be less to be mortgaged, less to be made in payments and less to be paid in interest. That would make home ownership instantly more affordable for Canadians, whether they are a first-time homebuyer or someone who is looking to build their dream home for which they have saved and worked so hard their entire life. The second thing we could do is tie federal infrastructure dollars to homebuilding.”
“I am often asked what Conservatives would do that could change the game when it comes to housing and getting more homes built in this country. (1835) There are four things I want to highlight. The first is that we could cut the GST on all new homes under $1.3 million. That is something that the industry says would spark an extra 35,000 to 40,000 new homes in this country every year. The most expensive part of buying a new home is not the labour and not the materials; it is actually government taxes and fees. Therefore, if we could take the GST off and work with provinces to take the HST off, in the province of Ontario that is 13% on a million-dollar home or on a home that is half a million dollars.”
“The Liberals spend billions and billions on bureaucracy, programs, photo-ops, announcements and claims that it is going to get better, but we are actually going to see a decrease in the number of homes being built. I would say it is surprising, but it is not surprising, because the Liberals just do not learn after 10 years. They are relying on the same failed approaches to get us out of this crisis in housing that we face. There is a way that we can do better on this. I am often asked what we do as a Conservative opposition. We are a loyal opposition. We look at the legislation, we scrutinize it, we support it where we can, we amend it where we can, and we vote either for or against it. That is what a loyal opposition does. We highlight the shortcomings of the government and propose our own solutions.”
“They cannot even save now, because rent is so high and the cost of living is so high, but that dream of home ownership has eroded bit by bit, and here we are now with the government claiming that it is going to come in with billions of new dollars to try to address the problem. Here is the thing with this piece of legislation that we have before us with Build Canada Homes: The Liberals claim that it is going to help bridge the gap and get more shovels in the ground and homes built. However, their own data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show that after this plan is taken into calculation, we are not going to see that. The government said it is going to build 5,200 homes per year. That was from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, but the CMHC numbers say that housing starts are actually going to go down.”
“When I went door-knocking in the last election, and when I go out and about and talk in our community, whether it is in the united counties, Cornwall or Akwesasne, and people talk about housing, not a single person suggests to me that the thing that would make the difference, make housing more affordable and get more shovels in the ground would be one more new housing agency or bureaucracy in this country. I did not hear that anywhere, but we did hear the stories of young people living in their parents' basements, wanting to have the dream of home ownership like their parents and grandparents did. It was the common consensus for young people in this country for decades that if they worked hard and saved up, home ownership would be achievable.”
“When we look at this, according to the government's own data, we need to build about 450,000 to 480,000 homes per year, just to meet demand and keep up with affordability, every year until 2035. Right now we build about half of that. The Liberals have put this piece of legislation before us. Their solution is that one bureaucracy for housing was not enough, a second bureaucracy did not solve the problem, and neither did a third, so, as I guess they say in Liberal land, the fourth time will be the charm. We have the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Canada Lands Company and the department of infrastructure and housing, and now we would have Build Canada Homes, which would apparently be the bureaucratic solution to the problems we face in this country.”
“What is important, as we begin this conversation on the latest Liberal attempts to address affordable housing, is that we look at where we are after 10 years. After 10 years of the Liberals in office, not just in Cornwall and SDG with the data from the Cornwall and District Real Estate Board, but right across this country, housing prices and rent have doubled. At a time when we need to build more homes and get more shovels in the ground, we are actually seeing red tape and taxes as a key part of the burden. We are actually seeing housing starts projected to fall in the coming years, which is going to make affordability and demand that much more challenging.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. When I get the chance to talk about housing, as a former mayor for the township of North Dundas and warden in SDG, it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart, and not only because of my previous municipal experience. As we go out and talk to residents in our ridings, and I know it is the same for each and every member in this House, housing is probably one of the top national concerns in every single part of this country. I am going to be splitting my time with the hon. member for Richmond Hill South , and I know he will have some comments as well about the latest piece of Liberal legislation before us.”
“Preserving the right to free speech means defending it when others are threatened with losing that freedom. The petitioners call on the House to protect religious freedom and the right to access, read and share religious texts, and to limit government overreach in matters of faith. It should not be up to the government of the day to freely decide what beliefs are appropriate. I am glad to table this in the House of Commons today.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise on behalf of the people of Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry to table a petition on behalf of residents of all faiths who have reached out with concerns and signed this petition about Bill C-9 , specifically the attempts by the Liberals and the Bloc to ban religious teachings or texts of faith communities. They, too, believe that hate speech is wrong and should not be tolerated, but believe the Liberal government's efforts are misguided. I have heard from Christians, Muslims and other religious organizations, and I appreciate that they have reached out with their concerns. They state the government has no place in the religious teachings or texts of faith communities, and I hear this in the community at large too.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals providing billions in rebates for American-made EVs coming into Canada is anything but elbows up. This is at a time when Donald Trump is tariffing every single Canadian auto going into the United States. Furthermore, working-class Canadians are now being forced to subsidize $50,000 cars they cannot afford so wealthy people can buy them. In an affordability crisis, this makes no sense. In a trade war, this makes even less sense. When will the Liberals reverse course on this ridiculous policy that gives American-made EVs a subsidy and leaves Canadian workers paying the bill?”
“Mr. Speaker, I have used this line before so I apologize for the repetition, but it is like asking the arsonist to put the fire out, which is kind of what this whole situation is. The Liberals have created this mess over the course of the last 10 years, and now they are pretending to be the answer to all of these problems. We have seen this rebate program before, back in 2022 or 2023, give or take. The Liberals had this temporary rebate that was given back to Canadians. What did we see? It did not address food prices, which have only gone up by record numbers since then. We are seeing more Canadians use a food bank. At the end of the day, inflation is still out of control, and our deficits are still out of control. They have learned nothing over the course of the last couple of years.”
“When we talk about lowering inflation, there are two concrete measures we can do to lower food prices and stop these massive increases we are seeing.”
“Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, Conservatives are always in favour. The line I use is that money is better spent by someone who earns it than by somebody who collects it. For seniors, small businesses and all families in this country, the more money that stays in their pockets in the first place to afford groceries, to afford rent or a mortgage and those costs of living, the better off they will be. I am all in favour of measures, but when we talk about inflation, it is important that the Bloc support our effort as well to axe the industrial carbon tax and scrap the fuel standard. For those families out there paying 7¢ going up to 17¢ a litre more in gasoline with zero rebates, it is going to drive up their day-to-day expenses, and it is going to make food more expensive to ship in every part of this country.”
“The industrial carbon tax and the new fuel standard are doing the same thing and driving up the cost of food, the cost of trucking and the cost of groceries in this country. Those are examples of what we would do to get out of the way.”
“Mr. Speaker, it sounds like gaslighting to me, because the reality is that, after 10 years, the Liberals have driven up food costs and housing costs. Housing costs have doubled. Food costs have doubled, and it was under their watch. Now they are pretending that they have the solutions to fix the very problems they created. Here is the reality when we talk about getting out of the way: It is getting taxes lower in this country. That is what Conservatives stand for; it is a key principle. We remember the carbon tax that the Liberals had in place for years. They said that people made money on the carbon tax because the government gave so much money back in the rebate. We had a Liberal member speak today and say that the Liberals cut the carbon tax to save people money at the pumps. They are finally admitting that their carbon tax cost money.”
“Canadians are paying the bill when it comes to that. Conservatives have called to scrap the industrial carbon tax, scrap the new fuel standard and the fuel tax that they have in place. We are not stopping there. We have the food packaging tax and the plastics ban that the Liberals are imposing on Canadians. It is now estimated that the packaging tax on food is going to cost about $1.3 billion more because of all the red tape and regulations. At the end of the day, we can get inflation under control by getting our deficits under control. We cannot have endless $80-billion deficits in this country. We cannot continue to fuel the inflationary fire. Conservatives are going to get rid of the industrial carbon tax, the new fuel tax and the food packaging tax, and get inflation under control so we can get food prices under control.”
“That is the new fuel standard tax. People do not have to take my word for it. The Parliamentary Budget Officer said the rules that the Liberals put in place in July 2023 have required that gasoline and diesel used in Canada meet certain reduction requirements. Right now, because of that, it is adding 7¢ a litre to the price of gasoline and 6¢ a litre to diesel. They have said that, by the year 2030, it is going to be 17¢ a litre on the price of gas and 16¢ a litre on diesel. Do members remember the phony rebates, where the Liberals said to not worry about the carbon tax and that people were further ahead because they got more in rebates? They have all admitted that was nothing but a scheme. There are zero rebates when it comes to the new fuel regulations and when it comes to the industrial carbon tax.”
“There are several things and several taxes the Liberals have in place on food that we could scrap immediately. Conservatives have said we are willing to support legislation and fast-track it through the House of Commons if it would tackle the root causes that we face in this country. One is the industrial carbon tax. The Liberals cancelled, finally after years and years of stubbornness, the consumer carbon tax. However, it is important for Canadians to remember that the industrial carbon tax remains in place. It taxes farmers, fertilizer, businesses and trucking organizations that are shipping our food all across this country. It is driving up the price. A key thing that I think is important for Canadians to know is about the latest carbon tax that is hidden and baked into the price of gas and diesel in this country.”
“They are offering a rebate, but it is going to do absolutely nothing to slow down the rate of inflation. In fact, when we add $12 billion in deficits and spending, we are fuelling the inflationary fire that is causing the inflation of food, housing and other general expenses. I get asked what Conservatives would do. I want to be very specific with my time today and provide Canadians with an alternative. It does not have to be this way. We do not have to accept this sacrifice argument from the Prime Minister and say that this is just the way it is going to be, that Canadians need to accept that we have the highest food inflation in the G7, that there is nothing we can do about it and that it is not something the Liberals are causing. That is far from the truth.”
“They make everybody feel like the cheque is in the mail, that everybody is going to get it and that it is coming soon. The fact is that a majority of Canadians, and those in the middle class who are struggling to get by, are not going to get it. The Liberals did this with the rent rebate. We can remember they said they were going to send $500 to millions of Canadians. A very small percentage of Canadians qualified for and received that rebate. It is all announcement. It is rhetoric. It does not meet the reality of the moment that we are in. Conservatives have done a good job while the Liberals try to paint a rosy picture of what is going on. It is far from the reality. They have a lot of rhetoric that does not match the reality. What the Liberals are doing is not addressing the root cause of the issue.”
“(1700) This is an admission of failure because the Liberals just tabled their budget two months ago, and they are admitting now, just two months later, that they need to smash glass and spend an extra $12 billion over the course of the next couple of years to try to get it under control. This is only if someone qualifies. If someone does not receive the GST credit, they do not qualify for this benefit. There are going to be millions of middle-class families struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads that are going to get zero dollars in rebates from this latest Liberal proposal. I do not give the Liberals too many compliments. I would give them a bit of a backhanded compliment, if I could. They are the best at announcements.”
“We talk about this as a homegrown problem in our country because the Liberals try to blame everybody but themselves for the situation we find ourselves in, with the highest inflation in the G7. They blame tariffs and global factors, but let us make this very clear: Every other G7 country has those same issues of battling tariffs and battling global factors, but our food inflation here in Canada is only going up. The rebate that is being offered is far from a real and long-term solution. Conservatives have said we would let this pass, because at the end of the day it would be about $10 extra a week, when we break it down, for a grocery bill that often costs hundreds of dollars for individuals or families.”
“It now uses over a million pounds of food to help people in the city of Cornwall alone. There were nearly 40,000 visits to its food bank and 31,000 visits to its soup kitchen and meal program, and it has helped thousands of individuals. When I did some rough math, I realized that nearly one in every 10 people in the city of Cornwall is using the food bank today. That is not sustainable, and it is a damning indictment of the record of Liberal governments after 10 years in office. The Prime Minister has been in office for the last year. Let us take a look at the specific record of the Prime Minister. Right now, under his leadership after one year, food inflation has doubled to 6.2% and is the highest of all the countries in the G7.”
“There are 2.2 million Canadians using a food bank every month in this country, and as always, I am grateful for those local food banks that are working very hard in our community of SDG to support thousands and thousands of families and individuals in their time of need. Whether it is the House of Lazarus in Mountain, Agape in Cornwall, the Salvation Army and Saint Vincent de Paul in both Cornwall and Alexandria or the Community Food Share in Dundas county, they are doing an incredible amount of work in very trying circumstances. When I speak to those organizations, they tell me that the usage in the last couple of years has doubled and the increases are only going up and getting worse. As a matter of fact, the Agape Centre in Cornwall had some pretty eye-opening statistics when it had its annual general meeting last fall.”
“It is a fact, and this is the government's own data from Statistics Canada, that it is going to cost the average family of four $17,600, on average, just to feed itself this year. That is an expected increase of $1,000 at the grocery store checkout for families this year. That is the reality of the record of the last 10 years and why we are in a situation where the government needs to offer more rebates to Canadians. It is because of its failed record, when it comes to food prices, and I will get into the reasons and what we can do to stop it in just a few minutes. We are also seeing this situation play out with the stats at food banks right across this country.”
“I think it is important, as I start my comments today, to provide Canadians a reminder, a lay of the land, of where we are when it comes to grocery prices and food prices in this country and the Liberal record of the last 10 years. When the Liberals came into office in 2015, parents with two children could go to the grocery store and, for $160 a week, they could get their groceries. Over the course of the last 10 years, we have seen grocery prices double in this country. After carbon taxes, red tape and endless deficits causing inflation, it now costs more than $340 a week for that same family of four to go to the grocery store. That is a double-digit increase, on average, every single year that the Liberals have been in office. It is more than 10%, on average, per year.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry and be on the record discussing the latest Liberal legislation. This time it is their attempt to address ever-increasing grocery prices under their watch. The piece of legislation we have before us, first and foremost, is frankly an admission of failure. It was only two months ago that the Liberals tabled their budget with an $80-billion deficit, and here we are two months later, and they are adding another $12 billion over the coming years, and their latest rebate program would do little to address the core root issue of food prices and increasing costs at the grocery store.”
“Mr. Speaker, it speaks to the point that the Prime Minister is just full of contradiction; he says one thing before the election and does the absolute opposite afterward, and the litany in the list is very, very long. Justin Trudeau, who we all thought was an exorbitant spender, was going to have a fiscal anchor and a deficit last year of no higher than $42 billion. An hon. member: Oh, oh! Eric Duncan: “Hold my beer” is right. Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised during the election campaign that his deficit would only be $62 billion. Well, here the Liberals are a few months later. They finally get around to tabling a budget, and it is at $80 billion. They promised to spend less. They are not very good at math, because their deficit is now double what it was projected to be last year. It is absolutely ridiculous and unsustainable.”
“I have never seen a government anywhere, federally, provincially or municipally, that has spent so much money to fail so badly.”
“Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues said it best the other day. I think the Toronto Maple Leafs stand a better chance of winning the Stanley Cup than the Liberals do of meeting their own spending targets. I have zero faith when we look at what the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said: There is a 7.5% chance they are even going to meet their own fiscal targets. Just from their budget last year, regarding these fiscal anchors that they talked about, they have broken all of them. They are just getting worse in this, year after year after year. I will say this about the CRA's performance and how bad and incompetent the current Liberal government has been: It increased spending at CRA by 70%, and I am going to say that service at CRA got about 70% worse.”
“Mr. Speaker, when our leader was the housing minister, housing prices were half the price that they are now. The Liberals have doubled housing prices, they have doubled rent, they have doubled mortgage payments, and they have never spent so much money to fail so badly. What do we see in the budget? What are the Liberals doing? They are doing the exact same thing. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the minister 's office of the Department of Housing were not enough, so now the Liberals are adding a new Build Canada Homes bureaucracy as if the third or fourth one is going to make a difference. Our proposal and our contrast are clear. Taking the GST off all new homes being built in this country up to $1.3 million would save $65,000 up front and $3,000 on mortgage costs.”
“The summer period alone this year has seen a 45% increase in food bank use. They now serve over 850 people. It is Canadians like those who volunteer and work at the House of Lazarus who are going to help us get through this challenge. I am proud of their work. I am proud of the great things they are doing to try help people in need in S, D and G.”
“Nevertheless, the Liberals want to spend $742 million, which the minister even admitted on leaked audio would not work, as the pilot does not target the people we need to go after: the criminals and gun smugglers in this country. Right there is $1 billion in savings just by using a little common sense when it comes to the budget. I want to wrap up my comments by acknowledging the many incredible people across S, D and G who are doing their part to help people in challenging times. I have spoken before about the Agape Centre in Cornwall, and now I want to highlight the amazing work the House of Lazarus is doing in Mountain. I had the privilege, as always, of talking with Cathy Ashby, the executive director, and her team there. They have seen a 100% increase in food bank use since 2019. It is not slowing down; it is only getting worse.”
“At a time when 2.2 million people are using food banks and people are struggling to get by, we are sending half a billion dollars over to Europe to send to space. We are creating European jobs at a time when we need Canadian jobs, with a 6.9% unemployment rate. The second point I want to highlight when it comes to wasting taxpayers' money is the continued boondoggle of the $742-billion gun grab from law-abiding, legal, trained and tested firearms owners in this country. We have to look no further than Cape Breton, where the pilot of the failed public safety minister shows his failures continue. He had a pilot in Cape Breton, and reports say that as few as 22 firearms were collected from it.”
“I am proud to stand on the floor to localize the frustrating challenges we have when it comes to homebuilding in the city of Cornwall, but also to highlight the constructive solutions we will be tabling, which are absent from the costly credit card budget of the Liberals. We have opposed this budget because the deficits are extremely high and there are the same old broken approaches when it comes to housing. I often get asked what I would do to lower expenses. As spending by the Liberal government is out of control, what would I save money on? There are two points I want to highlight very quickly. One is about trying to find the intelligence and reasoning behind why the Liberals decided, when they have an $80-billion deficit with no plans to balance the budget, to send $500 million to the European Space Agency.”