Michael Guglielmin
Vaughan—Woodbridge, Ontario · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, we cannot make this up. The Prime Minister says affordability is the best it has been in a decade. Then ministers in the House rise and take credit for programs they implemented to address all the damage they caused. Their promised surveillance pricing legislation to lower grocery costs will not even take effect before 2028.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that affordability is the best it has been in a decade, but full-time workers are living in RVs and trailers because they cannot afford a home. Families are spending over 120% of their income on rent and food alone. People are even skipping surgeries and other major life events just to survive.”
“Mr. Speaker, in 1952, a courageous 21-year-old woman left her small town in Treviso, Italy, with her father by her side. They boarded a train bound for Genoa. From there, alone, she stepped onto a ship and began that now famous journey across the Atlantic, arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax.”
“Around her table, with a simple tablecloth, good food, candlelight and loved ones gathered close, she showed us what truly mattered. This Italian Heritage Month, I honour all Italian-Canadian nonni , especially my Nonna Olga, whose courage, integrity and love continue to guide us.”
“Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal Prime Minister , Canada is the only G20 country to fall into a recession. Now the Liberals want Canadians arguing over labels: technical recession, marginal recession, full recession. Even the Prime Minister himself admitted a technical recession and a recession are the same thing.”
“Canadians have worked hard, played by the rules and done everything asked of them. They should not be falling further behind because the government cannot control its spending. Canadians need a serious plan to restore growth, protect paycheques and bring hope back to the Canadian economy.”
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“Mr. Speaker, we cannot make this up. The Prime Minister says affordability is the best it has been in a decade. Then ministers in the House rise and take credit for programs they implemented to address all the damage they caused. Their promised surveillance pricing legislation to lower grocery costs will not even take effect before 2028. While millions of Canadians cannot afford to eat, the Prime Minister spent nearly $1 million on inflight catering, and all of that on the taxpayers' dime. When will this Prime Minister stop making Canadians pay for a crisis he built, a recession he caused and dinner that he put on their tab?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that affordability is the best it has been in a decade, but full-time workers are living in RVs and trailers because they cannot afford a home. Families are spending over 120% of their income on rent and food alone. People are even skipping surgeries and other major life events just to survive. The Liberals' inflationary spending, red tape and antidevelopment policies created this recession and cost of living crisis. It is not global forces; it is Liberal choices. When will the Prime Minister reverse his costly policies that caused this crisis so Canadians can afford to live again?”
“Around her table, with a simple tablecloth, good food, candlelight and loved ones gathered close, she showed us what truly mattered. This Italian Heritage Month, I honour all Italian-Canadian nonni , especially my Nonna Olga, whose courage, integrity and love continue to guide us.”
“Mr. Speaker, in 1952, a courageous 21-year-old woman left her small town in Treviso, Italy, with her father by her side. They boarded a train bound for Genoa. From there, alone, she stepped onto a ship and began that now famous journey across the Atlantic, arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax. She came to Canada alone, speaking no English and carrying little more than hope. That young woman was my grandmother, Olga Guglielmin, who celebrated her 94th birthday this year. Like so many Italian Canadians, Nonna Olga came in search of a dream. It was the dream of family, opportunity and a better life than the one she had left behind. She taught us that the greatest riches in life are not measured in dollars, but in relationships.”
“Canadians have worked hard, played by the rules and done everything asked of them. They should not be falling further behind because the government cannot control its spending. Canadians need a serious plan to restore growth, protect paycheques and bring hope back to the Canadian economy.”
“Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal Prime Minister , Canada is the only G20 country to fall into a recession. Now the Liberals want Canadians arguing over labels: technical recession, marginal recession, full recession. Even the Prime Minister himself admitted a technical recession and a recession are the same thing. Families are not sitting around the kitchen table debating definitions. They are looking at higher mortgage payments, grocery bills that keep climbing and paycheques that are not keeping up. Our economy has shrunk in three of the last four quarters. The Parliamentary Budget Officer says there is less than a 1% chance that this government meets its own fiscal anchor. Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada is warning that one in 10 Torontonians may not be able to renew their mortgages next year.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals speak of their latest programs, but the investors have already given us their verdict. Capital is leaving this country at a record pace. Our investment per worker is the lowest in the G7. In a country that needs millions of homes, 100,000 skilled tradespeople cannot find a project to work on. A country is not built by speeches, MOUs and press releases. It is built by employers willing to invest here, and they are choosing to invest elsewhere. When will the Prime Minister fix the conditions that have driven investment, jobs and opportunity out of this country?”
“Mr. Speaker, Canada lost 18,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate is now 6.9%. Youth unemployment jumped to 14.3%. Young Canadians are unemployed longer than at any time since 1976. Instead of results, these Liberals have given us more job losses and more of the same. The Prime Minister told Canadians they must prepare for sacrifices, while young Canadians are already sacrificing jobs, opportunities and their futures. How much longer will the Liberal government force young people to sacrifice for its failures?”
“Many of them have stopped believing they will ever own a home or raise a family in the communities that they grew up in. That is not the Canada we promised them, and that is not the Canada we are willing to accept. I want to hear the voice of every young person in Vaughan—Woodbridge. They deserve to be heard.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize something truly special happening in Vaughan—Woodbridge. I recently launched a youth advisory council, and the response has been remarkable. Young people in our community are stepping up. They are showing up and saying, “We care about the future of this country, and we want a seat at the table.” That is exactly the spirit that builds Canada, and that spirit is alive and well in Woodbridge. After more than a decade of Liberal government, our young people are worried. They are worried about crime in their neighbourhoods and the rise of artificial intelligence. They are wondering what AI means for the future and its impact on jobs. They look at this country, and they wonder if the cultural fabric can still hold together.”
“Mr. Speaker, like many things in this budget, there are no solutions. This budget is full of empty promises. It is full of nothing more than a bunch of announcements that do nothing for people other than to serve the purpose of adding debt and robbing opportunity from a future generation. Unfortunately, jobs are fleeing this country. Young people are going to have less and less opportunity. We have seen that over $1 trillion of capital flight has occurred here in Canada, with the difference between foreign direct investment and capital flight accelerating. More and more people are going to require employment insurance if this keeps up because, really, the government is not providing the conditions for any future opportunity in this country.”
“Mr. Speaker, we would think, given all the turmoil and the disastrous record of the Liberal government over the last 10 years, this “new” government, as Liberals like to label themselves, would have easily been able to divorce itself from the disastrous track record and trajectory of the Liberal government. Instead, as we learned this week, it has decided to double the deficit and increase the interest payment on the debt to $80 billion, money that could be used for health care transfers, to lower taxes or for housing. Instead, it is being used to rob a generation of growth and opportunity. We thought the current Prime Minister would be different. Instead, we realize he is just another Liberal.”
“Madam Speaker, the deficit is now going to be $67 billion. That is up from $31 billion, not down, and the member can recite her talking points all afternoon from the Prime Minister 's Office, but the truth is that for months the Prime Minister tried to convince Canadians that he was something different. He wanted them to believe that he was a break from the past. I guess the masks sure fell off this week. The deficit is doubled, spending is accelerated and growth is abandoned. This is not a new government making hard choices; it is the same irresponsible Liberal government making reckless decisions. When will they—”
“Madam Speaker, the verdict on the costly budget is in, and it is unforgiving. The Globe and Mail reports that for every $100 in revenue, the Liberal government spends $97. The Globe and Mail said, “Even Justin Trudeau would have difficulties in matching that performance.” Federal net debt now exceeds 40% of GDP, and it is rising. Long-term growth is projected to be a measly 1.7%. When will the Prime Minister stop borrowing against a future Canadians can no longer afford?”
“There is a trillion-dollar gap between FDI and capital flight in this country. Where are the young people going to work? The Liberals should start acting fiscally responsibly and stop talking and pretending as if they were.”
“Madam Speaker, $81 billion is the amount of money the Liberal government under the Liberal Prime Minister wants to mortgage away for our young people's future. The Liberal Party and the Liberal government had a chance to demonstrate that they were different. The Liberals had a year to say that they are a different government now and are going to reject the incompetent and fiscally irresponsible ways of the Justin Trudeau Liberal government, but they did not. The mask came off. It is the same Liberal, costly government it always has been. In response to the hon. member, I would ask this: Where are the young people going to work? The Liberals have driven investment out of this country. Companies do not want to open businesses here. People do not want to stay here.”
“That is why I move this amendment, seconded by the member for Parkland : Amendment That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word "That" and substituting the following: "the House decline to give second reading to Bill C-30, An Act to implement certain provisions of the spring economic update tabled in Parliament on April 28, 2026, since the Bill reflects the Prime Minister's approach to credit-card budgeting by: (a) adding $37.5 billion in inflationary, net new spending; (b) running a deficit more than double the $31 billion last projected when Justin Trudeau was prime minister; (c) continuing to drive inflation up through the creation of more bureaucracies, rather than taking meaningful action to confront the affordability challenges facing Canadians by axing the taxes on groceries, eliminating the fuel standard and industrial carbon tax, scrapping the food packaging tax to make life affordable again; and (d) failing to cut inflationary spending, currently being racked up on the country's credit card, such as the Alto rail project, the Liberal gun grab, excessive use of external consultants, foreign aid, corporate welfare, and taxpayer-funded handouts for fake asylum claimants.”
“We would build a paycheque economy where hard work brings home a powerful paycheque, where families can afford groceries and can afford their homes, and where neighbourhoods are safe and opportunity in this country is real. That is the promise of Canada, and that is the promise we will keep.”
“Witnesses appearing before the industry committee on this very subject have called the government's consultation process rushed and too corporate-heavy. They have noted the absence of unions, civil society, researchers studying AI work, governance experts, privacy experts and human rights experts. A list of pillar names is not a strategy. While Canada drafts press releases, our competitors are building the technology that will define the next century of economic growth. Debt will cost $3,400 per household this year and $80 billion a year in interest by the end of the decade. We have a sovereign wealth fund with no wealth, a strategy with no plan, a finance minister who calls this a dream and a Prime Minister creating an illusion. Conservatives reject this credit card budget.”
“The very private capital it was supposed to attract, it is not attracting. The transport committee of this House recommended abolishing it. The government's response was to raise its spending limit by another $10 billion. Canadian pension funds hold $1.33 trillion in foreign assets, 51% of their total holdings. Let us think about that: 51% of their total holdings not invested in Canada. Capital is not missing in this country; confidence is. The spring economic statement mentions artificial intelligence six times across its entire length. There are six mentions and six pillars of the strategy that does not yet exist. The Minister of Artificial Intelligence set his own deadline to deliver the framework. He missed it. His office now tells Canadians the framework is coming soon, but with no specific timeline.”
“That is not a sovereign wealth fund; it is a sovereign debt fund. Members do not have to take my word for it; they can take the word of independent voices. Build Canada, a non-partisan civic movement that supports founders and innovators in this country, calls the Canada Strong fund a “war bond”, where Canadians are being asked to “buy equity in the projects” that the government cannot get off the ground by its own merits. The Montreal Economic Institute put it plainly: “We don't need a Canada Infrastructure Bank 2.0”. The Infrastructure Bank is a cautionary tale. Of 108 projects, only 11 have been completed. The Parliamentary Budget Officer found that the bank will fall $20.1 billion short of its disbursement target. Sixty-seven per cent of its partner funding came from the public sector.”
“Public debt charges are rising 50%, from $54 billion today to almost $81 billion five years from now, more than the government spends on health care transfers and more than it collects from every Canadian who pays GST. While interest climbs, growth falls. Real GDP growth has averaged 2.1% over the last 25 years. It is projected to be 1.7% this decade, and 1.5% for decades to come. The government is borrowing more, growing less and spending the difference on interest. It is mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. (1050) Then, there is the sovereign wealth fund. The key word in “sovereign wealth fund” is “wealth”. Norway has surpluses. Saudi Arabia has surpluses. Singapore has surpluses. Canada has a $66-billion deficit and $1.3 trillion in debt. The $25 billion seeding the fund is borrowed.”
“Outside of the pandemic, this is the largest deficit in Canadian history, and spending as a share of our economy is the highest it has been since 1996. The government calls this fiscal discipline. This is not discipline. This is a windfall. There was $60.3 billion in new revenue that walked through the finance minister 's door, the product of higher personal and corporate taxes, which hurt our competitiveness, and higher oil prices. What did the Prime Minister do with this extra money? He spent it. The government spent two-thirds of a gift it did not earn and asked Canadians to applaud the restraint. The trajectory is actually worse than the headline.”
“That is six straight years of deficits above $53 billion and 11 straight years of deficits from the Liberals. What is amazing is that the Liberals celebrate their $67-billion deficit as if they are being fiscally responsible and stewards of economic management. Imagine this. The Liberals put forward a budget and have a projected deficit of around $80 billion. They then put out a spring economic statement and say, “Look how amazing we are. The deficit is only $67 billion, still more than double what was projected the year Trudeau was prime minister, but less than what we projected a few short months ago. How great are we?” We do not have to imagine that, because that is exactly what the Liberal Prime Minister has done.”
“The government is not building long-term wealth. It is building long-term debt and calling it long-term wealth. It gets much worse than that. The Prime Minister himself straight up misled Canadians when he claimed, just a few weeks ago, “Affordability is the best it has been in over a decade.” Every Canadian I have spoken to, regardless of who they are, knows this is false. Let us consider what Conservatives asked for in this update. We asked for the deficit to be capped at $31 billion, the figure Justin Trudeau projected in his last fiscal update, a figure that brought down a finance minister and a prime minister. It is the very deficit that almost toppled a federal government. Under this Prime Minister , the Liberals have more than doubled that number: $66.9 billion this year.”
“In Ontario, that figure climbs up to 65%. More Canadians are starting businesses in the United States than in Canada. Half a trillion dollars in net investment has fled south of the border. How does the minister call this a dream? For too many young Canadians trying to afford a home, find a job or start a business in this country, it is a nightmare from which they cannot awake. The minister went further and told this House, “Generations will look back at the Prime Minister , the government and the current Parliament and say that we were there for them. We are building long-term wealth and growth.” Indeed, generations will look back at this. They will look back at $80 billion a year in interest payments. They will look back at a government that called debt an investment and mortgaged their future.”
“Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the great people of the riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge. Every Canadian household will pay $3,400 this year for the interest on the federal debt. That is $3,400 per household gone, just to service what the government has borrowed. That number is only going to rise in the foreseeable future. That one number tells Canadians everything they need to know about the Liberal government’s 2026 budget. The finance minister stood in this place just three days ago and told Canadians, “the dream of Canada is alive and well. Young people, increasingly, see themselves in building Canada strong, and we will be there with them.” I would invite the minister to put down the prepared remarks and speak to the young people I represent. About 47% of Canadian home builders are laying off workers.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claimed that in their latest update they would show discipline. Instead, Canadians got more debt, more spending and more of the same. The deficits are now projected to be double Trudeau's and as debt rises, taxpayers pay the price. Public debt charges are predicted to be more than $54 billion this year, rising to $81 billion in five years. That is money that cannot go to tax relief, cannot go to housing and cannot go to health care. It is no wonder that The Globe and Mail said it is a bit rich for the finance minister to be claiming fiscal responsibility. When will the Liberal Prime Minister end his costly budgeting so Canadians can afford to live?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the constituents of Vaughan—Woodbridge. Today, I rise on behalf of the numerous members of the Kurdish community in my riding who are deeply concerned about the ongoing crisis in Syria. They are concerned for the safety, the political rights and the future of the Kurdish people in Syria. They are alarmed about the armed conflict going on there and the intense internal persecution of their people. The petitioners are calling on the government to recognize this fact.”
“Canadians are already paying about 20% more than Americans at the pumps, despite the fact that they are facing the same global pressures. Families here are paying more, and Liberal taxes are to blame. Why will the Liberal government not give Canadians the full relief that they need at the pumps?”
“Mr. Speaker, Canadians are struggling. Filling up the car to get the kids to school and to get to work is becoming a stress for Canadian families. Conservatives have put forward a plan to put money back in the pockets of hard-working Canadians, which is to suspend all federal taxes on fuel, saving roughly 25¢ a litre, which would be over $1,200 a year saved for a family of four. Now, the Prime Minister wants to pretend that full relief would somehow blow a hole in the deficit. That is simply not true. Even the Liberals' own former economic adviser Tyler Meredith estimated that, for every $10 increase in oil prices, there is roughly $2 billion in extra federal revenue. With the extra increase in federal revenue coming from rising oil prices, all we are asking the Liberals to do is give back the money that they did not earn.”
“Mr. Speaker, the member opposite can recite his talking points all afternoon, but 97,000 entrepreneurs have already revealed the truth. High costs, high taxes and red tape are all driving entrepreneurs out of the country. A recent RBC report highlighted $1 trillion in capital flight over the last 10 years. The Liberals never want to talk about that. The Leaders Fund report has said that more than two-thirds of Canadian entrepreneurs are now starting businesses outside the country. Will the Prime Minister commit today to reversing tax and regulatory policies that are shutting down Canadian businesses, yes or no?”
“Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business delivered its verdict on the Prime Minister 's economy. Canada is in an “entrepreneurial drought”. For six consecutive quarters, more businesses have closed than opened, and 55% of Canadian business owners now “would not recommend [opening] a business” in this country. High costs, crushing red tape, punishing taxes, that is the Liberal record. After over a decade of the Liberal government, when will the Prime Minister finally reverse its job-crippling policies so Canadian businesses can thrive?”
“Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge, as in many ridings all across this country, people are finding it more and more expensive to fill up their tanks at the gas station. Very simply, when we look at the things the Liberal government announces, as I said in my speech, its actions never match reality. It is very unfortunate that the government has decided to only take one portion of our plan to make life more affordable for Canadians. The Prime Minister said he wants to collaborate and work together. If he wants his rhetoric to match reality, then he should adopt the rest of our plan, go the full way, remove the GST from gas and diesel, remove the fuel standard, remove the industrial carbon tax and let us work together to make life more affordable for Canadians.”
“If we add inputs, we drive up costs and make things more expensive. If we get rid of those inputs, things get cheaper. I do not understand why the Liberal government cannot understand this very simple fact.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows I have a lot of respect for him as well. However, on this side of the House, we are very well aware that the Liberals just put together a costly majority, not at the ballot box, but with cheap backroom tricks to get politicians of this House to betray their own voters and constituents. Of course, there is nothing cheap or political about putting money back into the pockets of the very hard-working men and women of this country, who would find nothing political and cheap about getting the government to remove the GST on gas and diesel, adding eight cents a litre of savings, permanently removing the fuel energy standard, saving another seven cents a litre, and removing the industrial carbon tax that is poised to go up to $170 per tonne, which is completely unacceptable. It is common sense.”
“We want to cut the industrial carbon tax, remove the fuel standard, remove the excise tax until the end of the year, and most importantly, continue the good fight for the working men and women of this country so we can make life more affordable for them.”
“Mr. Speaker, of course, we should not be surprised with the plan the Liberal Prime Minister announced today. While it does include one point of our four-point plan to make life more affordable for Canadians, everything the Liberal government does, especially under the current Prime Minister , is half measures. The Liberals have all this rhetoric about all the amazing things they are going to do, how they are going to help people and how they are going to make life more affordable, but the reality of what they actually do never really lines up with what they say. That is why our plan wants us to go even further and deeper, so there are more savings for Canadians.”
“It is time for the Prime Minister to listen to Canadians and support our plan to leave more money in the pockets of people and make life more affordable back home. He took the first step in our Conservative plan this morning. The House can do the rest now.”
“Mr. Speaker, the four-point plan before the House today is the following: to remove the fuel excise tax, which is adding 10¢ a litre, for the remainder of 2026; to remove the GST on gas and diesel, which is eight cents a litre, for the remainder of 2026; to permanently remove the clean fuel standard, which is seven cents a litre; and to permanently remove the industrial carbon tax. If we look around the world at many of our allies, Australia has cut fuel and diesel taxes in half for three months. Germany announced $1.9 billion in fuel price relief. Ireland has cut its excise tax duty by 10¢ per litre. Spain, Italy, Austria and Portugal have all moved on this, but Canada, a country that produces its own oil, has done the least of all of them.”
“The Fraser Institute analysis found that the trajectory to $170 per tonne will cost the average Canadian worker $1,160 in lost annual income, eliminate 50,000 jobs and shrink our economy by 1.3%. All this is to say that Liberals can try to reduce the impact of this all they want, but businesses do not absorb taxes. Taxes flow through to the shelf, and consumers pay more. Every time a Liberal member rises in the House and suggests that the industrial carbon tax does not touch ordinary Canadians, they contradict the lived experience of every small business owner and every family who has watched their grocery bill rise and the price at the pumps go up. To reiterate, this four-point plan will be before the House—”
“After years of Conservatives and Canadians from across the country pleading it do so, the government eliminated the consumer carbon tax, yet what the Liberals try to hide from the public is that two more taxes remain in place, and both of those taxes are growing. The clean fuel standard is silent. It is invisible on the price board at the pump, but that seven cents per litre is there every time we fill up our vehicle. Then there is the industrial carbon tax, currently at $110 per tonne and scheduled to rise again to $170 per tonne. The Liberals will tell us that this tax hits only industry, but the Canadian Federation of Independent Business tells us that nearly 70% of small businesses have seen their energy costs rise, and 32% of them already have raised their prices just to cover it.”
“For context, oil is currently trading at $45 to $55 above pre-war baselines. The federal government stands to collect $9 billion or $10 billion in additional annual revenue if these prices are sustained. These figures have been validated by independent economists, such as Scotiabank's director of forecasting and modelling, Olivier Gervais. The Conservative plan asks for $5 billion of that $9 billion windfall to be returned to Canadians, who generated it. Let us be clear: Conservatives are not asking the Liberals to spend money they do not have. We are asking them to return money they did not earn, which is money that flows directly to Ottawa precisely because Canadians are paying more at the pump.”
“That is 25¢ in additional costs per litre for all Canadians. On top of that, we have an industrial carbon tax already at $110 per tonne and rising to $170 per tonne. Therefore, when we talk about global markets' being the cause of rising prices, it is indeed an immediate factor, but there are deep-rooted factors caused by our federal government that we could take decisive action on and address today. There is another added dimension in the crisis the government hopes Canadians do not notice: The higher the price is on fuel, the more the government collects. According to a former Liberal top economic adviser, Tyler Meredith, every $10 increase in the price per barrel of oil brings roughly $2 billion in additional revenue for the federal government through the higher taxes paid by the oil industry from higher profits.”
“The question that the House needs to be asking is why. The answer is that it is the federal Liberal tax policy. Americans do not pay the fuel excise tax on every litre. They do not pay the clean fuel standard. The hidden carbon tax, which the Parliamentary Budget Officer himself confirmed, costs Canadians seven cents per litre, with no rebate attached. Americans do not carry an industrial carbon tax that will rise to $170 a tonne. (1355) Here is a precise outline of what Canadians pay in addition to what Americans pay, in federal tax alone on every litre of gasoline: 10¢ a litre in fuel excise tax, which Conservatives are calling to be removed until the end of the year, not just until Labour Day; eight cents a litre in GST on gas and diesel; and seven cents a litre in the hidden carbon tax, with no rebate attached.”
“Conservatives have brought a specific plan to deliver immediate relief at the pump. We are calling on the government to adopt it. We need to provide immediate relief for families. Government members are going to rise today and tell us that this is about global oil markets. They will reference the Middle East. They will explain the Strait of Hormuz. We have heard the Prime Minister use at a press conference the exact same description I just referenced, saying it is beyond Canada's control and asking what we could possibly do. The global market explanation has one flaw that can be exposed with a single fact: Americans face the same global oil market, but Canadians pay almost 20% more at the pumps than the Americans do. It is the same disruption, yet when an American family pulls into a gas station, it pays dramatically less.”
“The Prime Minister says he wants to govern in a collaborative way, but the results are nonexistent. It is time for his rhetoric to match reality. It is an illusion that the Prime Minister will deliver on affordability, when he is out to remove only one tax, the fuel excise tax, and only from April 20 until Labour Day. The CAA's own price tracker tells the story plainly. Gas across Canada now averages more than $1.82 a litre, up from $1.32 a year ago and just $1.52 six short weeks ago. That is a 38% spike in the cost of getting to work, getting kids to school and getting food to market. For millions of Canadians who are already living paycheque to paycheque, this compounding crisis, layered on top of crises the government has created, is too much to bear. That is why we are here today to debate the motion.”
“Conservatives have brought forward a plan to eliminate the fuel excise tax, the GST on tax and diesel, the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel standard for the rest of 2026. This would cut costs by 25¢ a litre and save families, on average, $1,218 this year. This morning's announcement addresses 10¢ of that tax on gas, and only until September 7. A parent in my riding got up this morning, strapped their kids in their car and drove them to school. They then went to work. Before they did any of that, they stopped at the pump. One year ago, that fill-up cost them roughly $92 for a minivan. Last week, it cost them more than $127. Next week, it might be more. Over the years, deliberate policy choices the Liberal government has made built a tax structure on fuel that now squeezes Canadians every time they grip the nozzle.”
“Earlier today, the Prime Minister confirmed once again that Conservatives have the solutions for Canada, but Liberals seem to want to introduce only half measures that will not deliver the full benefits to Canadians. This morning, the Prime Minister announced the suspension of the federal fuel excise tax on gas and diesel. The suspension takes effect on April 20 and runs until September 7. Any measure that reduces the cost of fuel for Canadians is a step in the right direction, but this is only one part of the four-part plan of our Conservative motion before the House today. Unfortunately the Liberal government and the Prime Minister missed three of the other points of our plan and are not removing tax until the end of the year as we have proposed.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always a honour to rise on behalf of the amazing residents of Vaughan—Woodbridge to fight for a more affordable life. Speaking of affordable, I would like to take the opportunity to say that it is unfortunate that the Prime Minister put together a costly majority government, not through the ballot box but through politicians who betrayed their constituents and betrayed their principles, principles they ran on and sought public office on, principles they will be held to account for during the next election. We have been calling for relief at the pumps. Our motion today calls for the Prime Minister to adopt the Conservative plan to suspend all taxes on fuel until the end of the year.”