Vincent Ho
Richmond Hill South, Ontario · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, when I speak to my constituents, a lot of the concerns they talk about have to do with the affordability crisis and the housing hell the Liberal government has created after 11 years in power.”
“The PBO also warned that repeated spending increases beyond previous projections will “erode the credibility of fiscal plans and weaken confidence in the fiscal framework and raise concerns about long-term [debt] sustainability.” That is the exact credibility crisis that this Liberal Prime Minister finds himself in, because a fiscal ancho…”
“The only thing we know is that this brand new bureaucracy is staffed with Liberal insiders and executives who are collecting salaries as high as $700,000 a year. This reflects a classic principal-agent problem. Taxpayers are the principals, while Liberal government institutions and their corporate insiders are the agents.”
“That should alarm every member of the House. It is not only the PBO. The International Monetary Fund, the IMF, a global agency that the Liberals love to cite, has now called on Canada to adopt international accounting standards to improve transparency, ensure comparability over time and maintain a clear connection between borrowing and de…”
“Mr. Speaker, when historians study the fiscal decline of nations, they often note that collapse rarely begins with a dramatic event. It begins with habits: habits of indiscipline, habits of euphemism, habits of pretending that borrowing is prosperity, that inflationary spending is strategy and that accounting definitions can be stretched…”
“The Liberals already have the Infrastructure Bank, the growth fund and the defence bank. They have agency after agency, fund after fund and office after office, and the result is that Canada still has the worst investment performance in the G7. This is textbook government failure.”
The complete record
Every one of 333 lines we hold for Vincent Ho, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 7.
“Fitch Ratings, an independent credit ratings agency, has already issued a warning that the costly credit card budget and the Liberal accounting tricks underscore the erosion of the federal government's finances. When ratings agencies start to warn us, investors pay attention. The cost of borrowing gets more expensive, and the cost does not fall on the Liberal Prime Minister ; it falls on working Canadians, families, homeowners, seniors and the next generation. After spending months boasting that his fiscal anchor will lead to stability, the Liberal Prime Minister could not even pass his own test. He is proving that he is not trustworthy at all. Behind every lofty speech and Liberal promise is one undeniable truth: that the numbers do not lie. Under the Liberal Prime Minister , the federal debt is growing by $10 million every hour.”
“A government that loses control of the numbers eventually loses control of the truth. First the Liberals had a fiscal anchor to keep federal debt-to-GDP on a declining track. They abandoned it. Then they created a new anchor, balancing only the so-called operating budget within five years. They abandoned that too. The Liberal Prime Minister has now moved this goalpost even further, maintaining a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio. The parliamentary budget watchdog has already confirmed that there is only a 7.5% chance that this will actually happen. That means that there is a 92.5% chance that the government will not even meet its own target. This is the same Liberal government that warned last year that keeping a stable debt-to-GDP ratio was key for fiscal responsibility, investor confidence and protecting Canada's AAA credit rating.”
“Instead of following international standards, the Liberal Prime Minister quietly lumped in corporate tax breaks, subsidies, incentive programs and boutique handouts that would not be considered capital anywhere else in the developed world. He counted them anyway. By using a proper, internationally accepted definition, the parliamentary budget watchdog found that real capital investment spending was 30% lower than what the Liberals claimed it was. That is a $94-billion difference, a number hidden in the fine print. At the end of the day, every dollar the Liberal Prime Minister spends comes out of the pockets of hard-working Canadians through higher taxes, higher inflation and higher deficits. Canadians see it clearly. Canadians deserve an honest and affordable budget, not a manipulated and costly credit card Liberal budget.”
“When the Liberal Prime Minister announced that he would be splitting operating spending and capital spending in the federal budget, many economists, fiscal watchdogs and Canadians expressed deep worry, not because the idea was new but because it looked dangerous. It looked like an accounting trick used to hide deficits, confuse Canadians and bury the truth. The parliamentary budget watchdog confirmed that this is exactly what is happening. The Liberal Prime Minister 's new bait-and-switch definition of capital spending, according to his words, is “overly expansive” and “expands beyond the current treatment in the Public Accounts” and practice adopted by other countries.”
“Madam Speaker, budgets are not just about numbers; they are about trust. They are a promise, a promise that a government makes to its citizens: that it will be responsible with their money, transparent with their books and honest with their future. When Canadians open their credit card bills, they do not see “operating” and “capital”. They do not get to move expenses around to a different column to make the numbers look better. When their fridge breaks or their mortgage payment rises, Canadians do not get a special carve-out or a subsidized tax shelter in Bermuda; they face reality, and all they ask is for their government to do the same.”
“In other words, after all the spin, there is a 92.5% chance that the deficit-to-GDP ratio is going to worsen. After breaking every promise he made to Canadians, how can the costly Liberal Prime Minister look families in the eye and pretend that he is spending less, when the PBO just exposed the truth, which is that he is manipulating Canadians and that Canadians are left to pay the price?”
“Madam Speaker, when the Liberal Prime Minister split the costly Liberal deficits into so-called operating and capital spending, experts warned that he would use this to cook the books, and last week, the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed exactly that. The PBO says that the Prime Minister's new so-called capital definition is overly expansive, violating international standards, and that it hides $94 billion in spending that would never be counted as investment in other jurisdictions. In the private sector, when finance and accounting definitions are changed by management, it is a red flag. Even after the goalposts were moved, the PBO found that there is only a 7.5% chance that the Prime Minister would meet his own fiscal anchor.”
“Mr. Speaker, the current Liberal government is the most expensive in Canadian history. Every dollar the Prime Minister spends is driving up the cost of everything and is paid for by hard-working Canadians. According to the latest data, year over year, the price of chicken is up 6%. Seafood is up 8%, infant formula is up 6% and beef is up a staggering 17%. Food prices are now rising 40% faster in Canada than in the United States. However, instead of scrapping the industrial carbon tax and making life affordable, the Liberals doubled down, hiking the tax on farmers and producers, driving up the cost of farm equipment and fertilizer. When will the Liberal Prime Minister finally end his punishing industrial carbon tax so Canadians can afford to put food on the table again?”
“Mr. Speaker, the only thing generational with Liberal deficits is the debt the next generation must pay. Liberal inflationary deficits are driving up the cost of everything. Young Canadians cannot find jobs, they cannot afford homes and they cannot even afford food. Twenty-five per cent of Canadians face food insecurity. They are sacrificing by cutting back on nutritious food. It has gotten so bad that recipes for “poverty potlucks” and “struggle meals”, like those using Hamburger Helper and instant ramen, are now trending on social media. When will the Liberals finally stop breaking their promises, get spending under control and deliver what young Canadians actually need: an affordable budget for an affordable life?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister told young Canadians that they must make some sacrifices. They have already had to sacrifice good-paying jobs and the dream of home ownership, and they have already paid the price as food costs keep going up. Liberal inflationary deficits throw fuel on the fire. A 19-year-old girl from Halifax said it best on the national news: Food insecurity is not good; finding a job is even harder. Youth unemployment is now approaching 15%, the highest rate since 2010 coming out of the great recession. Will the Liberals stop asking young Canadians to make more sacrifices and finally keep their promises so young Canadians can have an affordable budget for an affordable home?”
“Mr. Speaker, the root cause of this youth unemployment crisis is one person. It is this Liberal Prime Minister , because he calls himself a new Liberal prime minister, but he has just proven that he is just another bait and switch. He chose to double down on the same failed Trudeau-era policies of the last 10 years instead of turning the page and trying something new. Our Conservative plan would be different. We would unleash the economy. We would repeal anti-resource laws. We would fix the immigration system that the Liberals broke. We would fix the training system. We would tie student aid to programs that are reflective of the job market. We would build homes where the jobs are.”
“If that member has the guts, maybe he should go back to his riding, talk to some students and repeat that story while these statistics, this reality, is happening all across the country.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have some advice for that member. He should maybe stop parroting the talking points of the corporate lobbyists who are courting his office, because that is what it sounds like he is repeating right now. Although that story sounds rich, the numbers from StatsCan do not lie. This is a government agency that provides these unbiased statistics: Youth unemployment is up to 14.7% and it keeps going up. It is the highest level since 2010 coming out of the great recession. There are 460,000 young Canadians, aged 15 to 24, nearly 15%, unemployed nationally; 17% of students cannot find jobs; and 17,000 young people lost their jobs just last month. Ontario's unemployment now tops 700,000, which is up 83,000 in a single year.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will look directly into the camera. I know the Liberal member is a little perplexed, but so are young Canadians. The Liberal Prime Minister went into a room full of students and told them they needed to sacrifice more, to lower their expectation and to be content with less, because the Liberals robbed them of their future. Those students and young Canadians all across the country who are watching are the ones who are perplexed. They want to know why their government is working against them when it should be supporting them and uplifting the next generation.”
“We will unleash the power of young Canadians, not bury them under debt. We will cut taxes so that hard work pays off. We will scrap the industrial carbon tax and cut taxes on homebuilding, so farmers, truckers and builders can make life affordable again. We will repeal the “no new pipelines” law, lift the tanker ban and scrap the production cap so that Canada can once again be an energy superpower that provides well-paying jobs to young people from coast to coast. We will reward hard work again, so we are not sacrificing to survive but working to thrive for a better tomorrow. Canada's best days are not behind us, although that is what the Liberal Prime Minister wants Canadians to believe. They are ahead of us.”
“How can a Prime Minister who has never missed a meal lecture struggling students about sacrifice? The truth is simple: The Liberals broke Canada's promise. Conservatives will restore it. The Liberals are saying that they are making so-called generational investments; instead, we are witnessing a generational betrayal. The Liberal government inherited one of the most prosperous, stable and opportunity-rich nations in the world and squandered it. The Liberals hollowed out our industries, demonized our workers and replaced production and innovation with ideology and bureaucracy. They built a bloated bureaucracy and called it progress. Now the bill has come due, and they look to young Canadians and the next generation to pay the bill. That is not leadership; that is abdication. Our Conservative plan will be different.”
“It is nothing but recycled announcements, photo ops and programs older than the young people today. The Liberals point to jobs funds from the 1990s, duplicate old programs and then claim victory while the crisis worsens every single day. They have spent billions on bureaucracy and have nothing to show for it, no new pipelines, no housing affordability and no youth employment gains. Meanwhile, young Canadians line up at food banks, delay starting a family and lose faith in a system that no longer works for them. How can the Prime Minister claim to care about young people when every one of his policies makes their lives worse? How can a government that cannot permit a single project claim to support jobs? How can a government that taxes groceries claim to fight for affordability?”
“We are proposing that the Canada student financial assistance program provide relatively more support to students pursuing in-demand fields, determined based on objective labour market data. Taxpayer investments in education should prepare youth for jobs that are out there. (1750) Fourth, we will build homes where the jobs are. Employers trying to hire in regions with labour shortages face major obstacles because workers cannot find nearby housing. To fix this, we are proposing a 100% capital cost write-off for companies that build workforce housing. This powerful incentive would help small businesses and large employers alike to attract workers while expanding the housing supply overall. That is the Conservative plan, a plan rooted in common sense and action, not bureaucracy and excuses. What is the Liberal plan?”
“There is an opportunity to work with Conservatives on a youth jobs plan that is built on four key pillars to restore opportunity and rebuild hope. First, we will unleash the economy. We will repeal antiresource laws, cut taxes to drive reinvestment and eliminate the red tape that is choking homebuilding and business growth. Second, we will fix the immigration system. We all know that the Liberals have broken the immigration system, flooding the market with labour and destroying long-held social bargains. We must fix credential recognition and realign immigration with labour and housing market realities. Third, we will fix the training system. Federal student aid should no longer treat all studies the same.”
“Behind every statistic is a story, a young person whose dream has been delayed or destroyed, a recent graduate in Toronto forced to move back in with their parents because rent costs more than their entire paycheque, a student in Windsor who is working two part-time jobs just to cover groceries but is still unable to find meaningful summer employment in their field or a young couple in Richmond Hill who gave up on ever owning a home and starting a family because the down payment they saved up five years ago is now worth much less. This is the reality for millions. Is this the Canada our parents and grandparents built? Is this the country that once promised that hard work would be rewarded, not punished by Liberal policies? Conservatives have a plan, not more words such as the Liberals like to use, but real action.”
“Is that fair to young Canadians who could be building careers in engineering, trades or innovation, or is that just failure dressed up as virtue? Investment is fleeing the country at a record level. Business investment for workers collapsed by more than 10% per worker under the Liberals' watch. Canada now ranks dead last in the G7 for GDP growth, experiencing negative growth and the fastest-shrinking economy as measured by real GDP per capita. What does the Liberal Prime Minister tell Canadians? He says that we need to sacrifice. What do we need to sacrifice exactly? Is it our prosperity, our jobs, our expectations, our standards or our hope? Let us remember what these numbers mean.”
“It was the Liberal Prime Minister and his decision to double down on the very same Trudeau-era policies that failed. It begins with their disastrous economic policy, a policy that drives away investment, kills small businesses and punishes personal ambition. For 10 years, the Liberals have pushed anti-growth laws that sabotage the very sectors that built the country: energy, manufacturing, resource development and more. They refuse to repeal their “no new pipelines” law, the same law that killed billions in private investment and forced companies to flee south. They maintain the production cap, which throttles Canada's ability to compete globally. They enforce a tanker ban that effectively blocks our provinces from exporting responsibly produced Canadian energy while our allies depend on the exports of dirty dictator oil.”
“Even educated workers, those who did everything right, who went to school, studied hard and followed the rules, are struggling. One in six workers with post-secondary credentials is in a job unrelated to their training. New graduates are unable to build careers in their fields. I ask the Liberal government how it can call it opportunity when no opportunity even exists. How can a young person believe in the Canadian promise when the path to success has been blocked by Liberal red tape, reckless spending and endless taxes? This is not a temporary setback. This is a metastasizing crisis that threatens Canada's long-term economic future. A government that loses faith in its young people is a government that loses faith in Canada. What caused this crisis?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is getting worse every single day. In Ontario alone, over 17,000 young people lost their jobs just last month. Ontario's unemployment has now topped 700,000, up 83,000 in a single year. In Windsor, unemployment has soared past 10%. In Toronto, joblessness is up 46,000 year over year, a record high. This past summer, it was the worst in a generation, with returning full-time students facing an average unemployment rate of 17.9%, the highest since the great recession, outside the pandemic. This is not just a crisis. It is a generational collapse. I will be splitting my time with another member. Young Canadians trying to pay tuition, gain experience and start their lives have been completely abandoned by the Liberal government.”
“For students trying to balance school and work, it is even worse: 17% of students cannot find jobs, and it is getting worse—”
“Let us be clear: Young Canadians do not need another lecture from an out-of-touch Goldman Sachs investment banker, the Prime Minister , about sacrifice. They need jobs, homes and a future filled with hope. Statistics Canada has confirmed what every young Canadian already knows and feels on the ground: The Liberals' economic failure has created a deepening youth unemployment crisis. Let us look at the numbers. In September, youth unemployment climbed from 14.5% to 14.7%, as if it was not bad enough. That is the highest level since 2010, coming out of the great recession, outside the pandemic years. Over 460,000 young Canadians aged 15 to 24 are unemployed today. Nearly 15% are unemployed nationally, and this is climbing.”
“Mr. Speaker, in the midst of a generational youth unemployment crisis, the Prime Minister has a message for young Canadians: to keep sacrificing. After 10 long years of Liberal failure, he is asking young people, the very generation crushed under the weight of his economic mismanagement, to make even more sacrifices. What more is there left to give? Young Canadians have already sacrificed the dream of home ownership; they have sacrificed with a summer of no jobs, and they have sacrificed at the grocery store with skyrocketing food costs. Now the same out-of-touch Liberal Prime Minister is asking them to dig even deeper to pay for his record-breaking deficits, his anti-growth ideology and his out-of-touch experiments in economic policy.”
“Madam Speaker, the Liberals are trying to pass their so-called bail and sentencing reform act today. However, as Canadians may recall, Conservatives tabled our jail not bail act just weeks ago. It is a piece of legislation that we thoughtfully and carefully drafted in consultation with police departments, victims groups and police associations to close all the Liberal loopholes. We worked all summer and did the homework for the Liberals, and they swiftly voted it down. The Liberals chose to keep repeat offenders on our streets and give house arrest to fentanyl traffickers, offenders of gun crime and sexual offenders. The Liberals are now tabling Bill C-14 , which does not even meet us halfway. Why do you think the Liberals are pretending to fix a problem that they caused?”
“Mr. Speaker, every single dollar the Liberal Prime Minister spends comes straight out of the pockets of Canadians, through higher taxes, higher deficits and higher inflation. While food bank use surges to 2.2 million visits per month, the Prime Minister thinks it is a brilliant idea to blow $8.2 million on gender-just, low-carbon rice in Vietnam. While the Liberals feed their bloated DEI bureaucracy, Canadians are making sacrifices, with skyrocketing food prices, record housing costs and rising unemployment. When will the out-of-touch Liberal Prime Minister stop funding his radical DEI programs, stop lecturing working Canadians and finally deliver an affordable budget for an affordable life?”
“Mr. Speaker, Conservatives do not believe in two-tier citizenship. We believe all people applying to become a citizen should be treated equally. That includes things such as a security assessment, language—”
“Canadians, including millions of law-abiding immigrants and newcomers who aspire to become permanent residents and citizens, want a system rooted in rules, responsibility and reciprocity. It is not xenophobia. It is nationhood. Today, the Liberal government has a choice. It can stand by its public commitments to accept constructive amendments and respect the integrity of citizenship, or it can bow to the NDP and undo the common-sense work achieved at committee. If it chooses the latter, it will do more than weaken a bill. It will weaken the value of Canadian citizenship itself. The House must send this message to Canadians and to the world: We cherish our citizenship, and we will safeguard it. We will not hand it out without connection, contribution and commitment. Let us honour those lost Canadians without creating a future of mistrust.”
“It is a shared story, a shared responsibility and a shared destiny. When citizenship is diluted, national identity and our sense of pride erodes. When standards disappear, our trust in one another and in institutions collapses. When Parliament treats citizenship carelessly, Canadians lose faith that their country is something worth sacrificing for. Of course, the Liberals demand that Canadians of all generations continue to sacrifice for their Liberal failures. I know that Halloween is around the corner, but the Liberals seem keen to hand out passports like candy on Halloween night. Canadians will not be tricked. Standing up against handing out automatic citizenships like participation trophies is not about exclusion. It is about fairness, coherence and pride.”
“As many as 17,600 foreign immigration applicants with prior criminal convictions were approved in the past 11 years and the Liberals let them in. These changes ensure equal treatment, equal responsibility and equal respect for the value of citizenship, principles that the Liberals have little regard for. Conservatives also required reporting and transparency so that Parliament, and therefore Canadians, will know how many citizenships are granted, at what times, under what circumstances and with what exemptions. Accountability is not an obstacle to compassion. It is a safeguard for our democracy. These amendments honour lost Canadians while protecting the value of our prized citizenship. The heart of citizenship is belonging, not on paper but in spirit, identity and duty. Our country is more than its borders.”
“Next, Conservatives strengthened the language and knowledge requirements so that persons aged 18 to 54 must have adequate knowledge in at least one official language, including a demonstration of adequate knowledge of Canada and the responsibilities and privileges associated with citizenship. This is important, as we know that the Liberals have been busy erasing Canada's heritage at every opportunity over the last decade. Remember how they removed a prized Canadian icon, Terry Fox, from our passports? Lastly, Conservatives strengthened the security screening so that citizens by descent or adoption must undergo a security assessment. This is important, as we know that the Liberals have let countless convicted criminals into our country under their watch.”
“Our common-sense Conservative changes require that anyone seeking citizenship by descent or adoption meets the same core expectations as those who earn citizenship through naturalization for elements such as residency, language, knowledge and security screening. Conservatives strengthened the residency requirements for citizenship by descent or by adoption by now requiring that a parent has been physically present for at least 1,095 days within any five-year period before the child's birth or adoption. This tightened up the previously much looser requirements.”
“Our public services would face new pressures, compounding those caused by existing Liberal mismanagement. (1820) Citizenship must never become a passport of convenience. It must remain a bond of loyalty, or else faith in our system and once-great institutions will continue to erode. When citizenship loses its meaning, so does the sense of shared nationhood that sustains our democracy. Conservatives did not merely criticize. We worked hard when the Liberals were asleep at the wheel while trying to ram through Bill C-3 . At committee, we fought tooth and nail and secured common-sense amendments to restore some fairness and integrity to the deeply flawed Liberal bill.”
“The Liberal Bill C-3 , without the Conservative amendments adopted in committee, would create a two-tier system, one tier in which foreign-born individuals who have never lived here could receive all the rights of citizenship simply because of ancestry and bloodlines, and another in which those who obeyed the rules, contributed to our society and paid their taxes and their dues have to wait long in line under a back-logged immigration system that was broken by the Liberals. That is unfair to newcomers who play by the rules and are working hard to meet the requirements, as well as to taxpayers who sustain our public services. It would strain the very systems communities rely on, from health care to housing, pensions or consular services, by conferring citizenship on people with no connection and no contribution.”
“Hard-working immigrants who come to Canada today spend years building their lives here. Those who come through the proper channels must meet strict residency requirements, learn our language, study our history, pass a test, obey the law and prove their loyalty and commitment to this country. They do what it takes to earn their place in the Canadian family, including people in my beautiful riding of Richmond Hill South, where most people were born outside Canada but have earned their citizenship and cherish being Canadian every single day.”
“This Liberal loophole would create an open-ended system that would allow individuals who have never lived here, and whose parents may have visited only briefly decades ago, to automatically acquire citizenship. A parent who has spent a mere 1,095 non-consecutive days, without even passing a criminal background check, could confer citizenship on a child who has never set foot in this country. Think about that. That is not nation-building; that is legislating the devaluation of our heritage and what it means to be a Canadian citizen. It would set a dangerous precedent that would undermine the integrity of our national identity and our reputation in the world. Conservatives support restoring citizenship to lost Canadians but will not stand idly by while the Liberals take advantage of the situation to further their ideological agenda.”
“Bill C-3 , in the form in which it was introduced by the Liberals in the spring, goes too far and abandons a core principle that Conservatives put in place: the first-generation limit. That safeguard was implemented for one simple reason: to stop the spread of Canadians of convenience, to stop citizenship from being passed down indefinitely to people who have never lived here, never contributed here or never built any connection to Canada whatsoever. However, the Liberals do not seem care. Their initial Bill C-3 would abolish that intended safeguard and then recklessly replace it with a hollow substantial connection test that would amount to little more than a box-checking exercise.”
“People around the world admired not only our prosperity but also our values, and they aspired to join the Canadian family. Citizenship must mean something. It must be earned and respected, and it must never be cheapened by Liberal ideology. A decade of Liberal neglect and mismanagement has weakened the value of citizenship in the eyes of many Canadians. It is not because of immigrants and newcomers who come here in good faith to work, contribute and build a better life, but because of a Liberal government that has turned our immigration system into a chaotic, unfair and unsustainable mess. Hard-working, law-abiding immigrants who are pursuing the Canadian dream are not to blame. The blame lies with the Liberals who broke our cherished system.”
“Mr. Speaker, I first want to talk about what Canadian citizenship is. It is not merely a piece of paper or a legal status; it is a solemn promise. It is a bond of belonging that unites generations who built this country through hard work, sacrifice and shared purpose, a shared purpose that has been eroding under the divisive rhetoric of the Liberal government over the last decade. Canadian citizenship is one of the most precious in the world. It carries with it not just rights but also profound responsibilities to our history, our institutions and our communities, and to one another. For generations, people around the world looked to Canada as a model of how to build a nation rooted in fairness, freedom, democracy and the rule of law, things that have come under attack since the Liberals took power a decade ago.”
“Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberal Prime Minister told a room full of students that they are going to have to make some sacrifices. Young people have already sacrificed enough over the last 10 years. They have sacrificed by paying skyrocketing food costs. They have sacrificed with an entire summer without jobs because Liberal job-killing policies have driven youth unemployment to recessionary levels. They have sacrificed the dream of home ownership because the Liberals created the worst housing crisis ever, and last month rents were up by another 4.8% nationally. Canadians should not have to sacrifice for Liberal failures. When will the Liberals stop doubling down on the same failed policies and get spending under control so young Canadians can finally afford to buy a home?”
“Madam Speaker, I find it very rich. The member is asking for information, so let me give him some. This is from the Health Canada website. Is Health Canada also misleading? The Liberal member keeps accusing members of the House of misleading Canadians. According to the Health Canada website, again, fentanyl and its analogues were involved in 33% of opioid-related poisoning visits to the emergency department from January to June 2024. The number of all opioid-related poisoning emergency department visits that involve fentanyl and its analogues has increased 106% since 2018, when national surveillance began. This is a real problem. It is not just killing Canadians. It is not just ripping up families. It is not just destroying communities and causing trauma for loved ones. It is also overwhelming our health care system.”
“Madam Speaker, this is an another example of the Liberals' trying to divide, deny and distract. Canadians are fed up. Over 50,000 Canadians have died from the opioid crisis, which is a higher death toll than from the Second World War. Liberals continue to do nothing about it. Conservatives will lock up the fentanyl kingpins as the mass murderers that they are and keep them in prison for life, but the Liberals want to deny, deflect, divide and distract. I have a question for the Liberal member: Will he stop the expansion of drug consumption sites next to schools, day cares and playgrounds?”
“The bill would not fix the problem; it would not stop the flow of drugs, guns, gangs or illegal crossings that are flowing over the border at record levels. We will not let the Liberals use the bill as a back door to violate the privacy, rights and freedoms of Canadians again. Conservatives will fight for Canadians. We will fight to restore public safety on our streets, secure our border, restore our sovereignty and put Canadians first once again.”
“Conservatives will always stand up for secure borders; privacy and freedom; jail, not bail for fentanyl traffickers and violent criminals; no more drug sites next to schools; and an immigration system that is fair, sustainable and puts Canadians first. Because compassion must have limits, immigration must be lawful and sovereignty must be preserved. This country is worth fighting for. Our borders matter, our safety matters, our freedom matters, our privacy matters and Canadians matter. Conservatives will always stand up and fight for hard-working Canadians. The Liberals continue to distract from a border crisis, a crime crisis and an immigration crisis entirely of the Liberal government's making.”
“Our seniors and families all across Canada deserve to reap the rewards of their hard work by getting health care when they need it. Instead, our health care system is already overwhelmed and overcapacity, and Canadian seniors cannot get the treatment they need. It is not sustainable. Canadians are a proud and caring people, but unvalidated asylum seekers should not be getting better benefits than Canadians do. We need immediate reform. The Liberals call that compassion, but I call it betrayal of Canadian taxpayers. This is not sustainable, it is not fair and Canadians expect more from this Liberal government. Let us expose this bill's failures every step of the way and make sure that it works for Canadians.”
“The Liberals spent $1.1 billion on hotels for asylum claimants and gave $1.5 billion more to provinces for refugee costs, while Canadian citizens wait in ER hallways, seniors cannot get long-term care and families cannot find a family doctor. Canadians are compassionate, but is it really fair that non-citizens get better benefits than Canadians and law-abiding newcomers alike who have paid their taxes and paid their dues their entire lives? Only the Liberals could think that was an acceptable situation. The Liberal Prime Minister and his Liberal MPs have created a system where Canadians wait, Canadians sacrifice, Canadians pay and everyone else gets priority. Canadians have been paying into our health care system for their entire lives.”
“Conservatives uncovered just how badly the Liberals have mismanaged the interim federal health program. Under their Liberal government, federal health care costs for asylum claimants have exploded to $456 million per year, representing a 1,186% increase since 2016. Coverage includes benefits that many Canadians pay for out of pocket or do not receive at all, including vision care, counselling, physiotherapy, assistive devices, home care, nursing homes and pharmaceuticals. Canadians are a compassionate people, but is it really fair for non-citizens to get health care coverage that Canadians themselves do not receive? There has been a 376% increase in claims and a 1,100% increase in reimbursements since the Liberals took office.”