Steven Bonk
Souris—Moose Mountain, Saskatchewan · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague gave an excellent speech highlighting some of the affordability challenges that are affecting people in her riding and across all of Canada. I would just like to read a quote from Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, the food professor. He said: ...Canada does not have a food security problem.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my hon. colleague across the way because I know he was the Liberal finance minister in Quebec and helped that province come out of a very dire situation. I also know that we both worked on treasury boards in our respective provinces.”
“Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague mentioned at the beginning of his speech that the Liberals have a bad habit of redefining terms. One of the things they redefined at the beginning of their mandate was the fiscal anchor of “debt to GDP”, which they changed to “deficit-to-GDP ratio”.”
“Mr. Speaker, the government has done everything it can to make food more expensive in Canada. When it comes to the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel standards, do they not realize that these taxes add costs to every step of the value chain when it comes to food production?”
“Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear: Under the Liberals, Canada is the only G20 country in a recession. A United Way survey shows that 60% of Canadians are worried about their finances, 40% of them are losing sleep over bills and food insecurity is on the rise.”
“Mr. Speaker, for 11 long years, that member has been attacking our province. Under every single measurement I can find, his riding has gotten worse. Food insecurity is worse. The cost of living has increased. Food inflation has increased. There is even a re‑emergence of scurvy.”
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“They need a certain amount of phosphorus. If we reduce that, we are not going to have a 30% reduction. It is going to be a lot less. There is a lot of science behind this. Trust me: Farmers do not want to spend a cent more than they have to when it comes to fertilizer and when it comes to herbicide. We have tried to limit our inputs as much as we can. Margins are already very tight in Canada. It is not like we are going out and trying to use more product than we need to. The Liberal government is penalizing us every step of the way when we are trying to reduce its use. If members want to talk about the environment, as the last speaker said, I can go on for days about it. I had the pleasure of teaching sustainable grazing and carbon sequestration all over the world for 20 years in many countries.”
“This motion has a clear path forward: Remove the hidden taxes that drive up food costs and increase competition in the grocery sector. If the Prime Minister wants to be judged by the grocery prices, he should support this motion and act on it. There are so many ways that we can help reduce grocery costs in Canada. These taxes are killing farmers. We have no choice. We have to buy diesel. We have to use fertilizer. I will give an example as an agriculture producer. When the Liberals came out with the plan to reduce fertilizer use by 30%, I want them to know that there is not a direct correlation. If we reduce fertilizer use in Canada by 30%, we are not going to have only a 30% reduction in production. It does not work like that. There is a certain amount of fertilizer we need. Plants need a certain amount of nitrogen.”
“The over-regulation and the tax burden they are feeling are putting them at real risk of losing their businesses. We cannot make food more affordable by making it more expensive to produce. The second part of the motion, boosting competition in our grocery sector, is also critical. More competition would benefit both farmers and families. This motion is pro-common sense. It recognizes that federal policy sets the framework within which food is grown, moved and sold. Right now, that framework is making food more expensive. Canadians need practical policies that balance environmental goals with affordability, competitiveness and food security. We cannot decarbonize and deindustrialize agriculture. We cannot lower food prices by taxing the tools that farmers use to feed this country.”
“This proves that these taxes are real and embedded in the cost of living, and removing them has an immediate effect. If removing one portion of the carbon tax helps families, then removing the industrial carbon tax and clean fuel regulations from food production and transportation would meaningfully help bring down the cost of grocery prices. Farmers are not asking for special treatment, just common sense: Stop taxing the production and movement of food. (1705) In fact, this morning at the agriculture committee, I asked some witnesses directly if there was an effect. Did they see a direct effect from the industrial carbon tax, from the food packaging tax and from the clean fuel standard? My goodness, they had a lot to say. It is a direct cost and it is crushing their operations.”
“The clean fuel regulations have already added about 7¢ per litre to diesel, and that is going to rise to 17¢. In Saskatchewan, where distances are long, that directly increases the cost of producing and delivering food. The proposed food packaging tax will add $1.3 billion in costs that will ultimately show up on grocery shelves. Members opposite say that these taxes are imaginary. Trust me that they are not. They show up on my fuel invoices, my fertilizer bills, my freight costs, my machinery parts and ultimately in food prices. In fact, in Saskatchewan, there is a line item on our natural gas bill that says “carbon tax”. We have already seen what happens when these taxes are removed. When the consumer carbon tax was lifted from home heating oil, prices responded immediately and families felt relief.”
“When input costs rise faster than revenues, farmers cut back, delay investment and are pushed to the brink. When the government layers on the industrial carbon tax, higher fuel costs under the clean fuel regulations and new taxes on food packaging, it is not just raising grocery prices. It is directly hurting the viability of family farms. Food does not magically appear on store shelves. It is grown, harvested, processed, transported, packaged and distributed. Every step along that journey costs money. When government policy raises the costs, consumers pay more. The industrial carbon tax applies to farm fuel, fertilizer production, grain drying and food processing. On my farm, that means higher costs to run tractors, to dry grain and to buy fertilizer.”
“They are proud, stoic people who do not look for handouts, yet their input costs, such as diesel, fertilizer, machinery repairs and freight, have risen far faster than the prices they receive for their grain and livestock. Their margins are being squeezed. Today, that same farm family now relies on the local food bank to help feed their own children. It is deeply uncomfortable for them to admit that. They are being pushed to food banks not because they are unwilling to work, but because public policy has driven up the cost of production while their income has not kept pace. That is not a failure of farming; that is a failure of public policy. It is not just about grocery pricing. This is about increasing the cost of production. These policies squeeze farmers from planting to harvest to transportation and erode their bottom lines.”
“Food inflation remains among the highest in the G7, twice as high as when the Prime Minister took office, and roughly double the rate of the United States. Every month, there are nearly 2.2 million visits to the local food banks, and the usage has more than doubled since the government came to power. As a farmer, I see both sides: families struggling to afford groceries and farmers struggling under the rising costs to produce food. I want to share an example from my riding. Not long ago, I met a young farm family who run a mixed operation. They work long hours, help their neighbours and quietly support their community, sponsoring the local rink, donating to fundraisers and stepping up when others are in need.”
“Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the motion put forward by the Leader of the Opposition , a motion that speaks not just to economic theory but to daily life, on farms, in rural communities and at the kitchen tables of Canadian families. I speak today not as a member of the House, but as someone directly involved in agriculture. I am a farmer. I deal with input costs, fuel bills, freight invoices and the realities of producing food in this country. When we talk about food prices, I am not speaking in abstractions. I am speaking from the field, from the farmyard. In October 2023, the finance minister promised that food prices would stabilize soon. In May 2025, the Prime Minister said he would be judged by the prices at the grocery store. If that is the measure, Canadians have already rendered their judgment.”
“How on earth can she square that circle of telling farmers in Canada that they have to pay tax on fertilizer and the fuel that produces food for Canadians when she is living in the middle of a concrete jungle?”
“Madam Speaker, there was so much wrong in that speech and so much that I found deeply offensive as a farmer and rancher, someone who raises livestock and grows crops in the beautiful coulees that lead into the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan. In the summertime on my ranch, it is almost deafening from the sound of insects, the trees and grass moving and the beautiful nature we have that is looked after by the farmers and ranchers. There are no more environmentalists in Canada than there are agriculture producers we have, yet we have someone lecturing us who lives in downtown Toronto, probably the most man-affected place in Canada. It is cement and asphalt. There is nothing there that has to do with nature, and they are telling us how to run agriculture policy?”
“Madam Speaker, over and over again, when we bring up the industrial carbon tax, the clean fuel standard or the packaging tax, the Liberals say that these are imaginary taxes and they do not exist. Today, in agriculture committee, we asked directly those affected in the food processing industry, and they said that these place immense costs on their bottom line. I am wondering how the member opposite can square that circle.”
“Mr. Speaker, Conservatives worked with the government to pass Bill C-5 , giving the Prime Minister the ability to fast-track major projects. We did that because Canada cannot grow, export or become more affordable if nothing gets built, but after nearly a year, that fast-track authority has delivered zero results. There were no projects approved, and no pipelines. Barriers remain. My question is simple: When will the Prime Minister stop talking and start building?”
“Mr. Speaker, across Saskatchewan, families are being crushed by soaring grocery prices. I recently spoke with a farm family, people who feed this country and the world. After paying their bills, they now rely on a local food bank to get by. This should never happen in a country like Canada. The Liberal government should be ashamed that there are now 27 cases of scurvy in Saskatchewan because people cannot afford healthy food after 10 years of Liberal inflation and higher taxes. How does the government defend its record when farm families need food banks and when Canadians are now being diagnosed with scurvy?”
“Mr. Speaker, I know my hon. colleague comes from oil country in the northwest part of Saskatchewan. I am from the southeast, where we also have a lot of oil. Their area is heavy in the SAGD, while mine is more conventional. However, one thing we do know is that we support this pipeline because we know that it would take pressure off of the rail lines that are now causing a problem where other commodities, like potash and wheat, are not able to be shipped to the coast. Can she maybe comment on that and why she thinks the Liberals are so stubborn when it comes to building pipelines?”
“Mr. Speaker, I agree very much with that question, actually. We could be doing so much more in Canada when it comes to value added on our products. We are known for our world-class commodities, but when it comes to things like rare earth minerals, we see there is a new refining facility in Saskatoon. When we look at canola, for example, canola crush is becoming a huge thing in Canada, which is increasing our value added.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that excellent question because it gets to the heart of the matter in Canada right now, a lot of which has to do with affordability. Affordability comes down to being able to afford things like groceries and rent. However, what we see in Canada right now are record-high prices for housing and record-high prices for groceries and for supplies that people need. Business owners are struggling under a ridiculous amount of taxes in this country. There are many things the government could do right now, like reducing or scrapping the industrial carbon tax or reining in its ridiculous deficit spending, but the government seems unwilling to do any of it.”
“Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my previous answer, the Liberal government has a track record of making things more difficult for industry and private business, and more difficult and more expensive for Canadians. However, instead of fixing the problems that they created with their previous legislation, the Liberals create new legislation that is a workaround. This is nothing more than a way for the Prime Minister and his cabinet to hand-pick projects that they wish to go ahead, yet we have not even seen any of them go ahead. I have to agree with my colleague from the Bloc that this is a very thin legislative project from the government.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear my hon. colleague's question. When we think of stumbling blocks in Canada, we think of bills like Bill C-48 , which stops production in Canada. We have the government passing a new bill to get around their own bills that are not working and are hampering investment in Canada. The Liberals have a lot of work to do to restore Canadians' faith in the system.”
“This is the path to a more confident, prosperous and united Canada. Canadians are experiencing one of the most challenging economic periods in recent memory. They needed a budget that recognized the hardship they are facing, respected the federation, supported the industries that sustain our country and restored conditions for economic growth. Bill C-15 does none of that. Instead, it doubles down on overspending, overreach and policies that undermine affordability and competitiveness. That is why Conservatives will oppose this bill and continue to stand up for families, workers, farmers and businesses who need a government that is on their side. Canada has unlimited potential. What we need now is leadership that trusts Canadians, empowers provinces, respects taxpayers and unleashes the strength of our private sector.”
“Conservatives will bring forward a plan grounded in three core commitments: restore affordability and lower the cost of living by axing the carbon tax and reducing unnecessary regulation and costs, strengthening competition to lower grocery and housing prices, and stopping inflationary deficits that erode household spending power; unleash the private sector by removing the barriers to resource development, accelerating approvals for energy, mining and agricultural innovation, and supporting interprovincial trade and labour mobility through initiatives like blue seal licensing and shovel-ready zones; and respect provincial and municipal authority by empowering local governments rather than micromanaging them from Ottawa, reforming federal departments to deliver timely, efficient service, and investing in national infrastructure only in partnership with provinces, which know their priorities best.”
“Those experiences taught me this simple truth: The more government tries to control every aspect of the economy, the more productivity fails, the more investment dries up and the more ordinary people struggle. I see the echoes of those systems in the growing federal bureaucracy, in the layering of regulation upon regulation, and in Ottawa's insistence that central planners know better than workers, farmers, entrepreneurs or provinces. The lesson from overseas is clear: Prosperity grows from the bottom up, not the top down. That is a principle Conservatives embrace and that this budget ignores. (1005) Canadians deserve a budget that reflects their priorities, not Ottawa's priorities.”
“They create stable conditions for investment, and they foster a regulatory environment that rewards productivity, innovation and growth. Canada is falling behind in both. Meanwhile, our trading partners, notably the United States, are attracting investment at a pace we are not matching. That has direct consequences on jobs, wages and long-term prosperity. This budget should have been an opportunity to signal to the world that Canada is open for business again. Instead, it signals that Canada is doubling down on complexity, cost and uncertainty. For over two decades, I lived and worked in countries transitioning from centralized control to open markets.”
“One of the most troubling parts of the budget is how much of the new spending goes not to frontline services but to expanding bureaucracy. Canadians do not need more gatekeepers. They need timely, reliable, efficient service from the government they fund. However, we have seen longer passport delays, slower immigration processing, inconsistent service from EI and CPP call centres, and growing regulatory backlogs at CFIA and PMRA that hurt farmers, processors and exporters. Despite record spending, Canadians are getting worse results. Bill C-15 does nothing to correct this. Having spent years doing business internationally, I can say with certainty that countries that succeed over the long term do two things really well.”
“When the federal government undermines these industries, the entire country loses. As someone who has served at the provincial level, I have a deep respect for the constitutional division of powers. Provinces understand their communities, industries and local needs far better than Ottawa ever can. However, Bill C-15 accelerates a trend of federal expansion into areas that were never intended to be directed from the capital. Whether it is intrusion into natural resource development, agriculture, labour markets or local infrastructure priorities, this budget assumes Ottawa always knows best. Local governments, provincial and municipal, need flexibility, not a one-size-fits-all directive buried in a 600-page document. Conservatives believe in restoring respect for the federation. We believe in partnership, not paternalism.”
“They are paycheques, municipal tax bases and the economic backbone of entire regions. These industries want to innovate, reduce emissions and expand opportunity, but they cannot do that when the federal government treats them as something to be managed rather than partners in national prosperity. The budget implementation act does nothing to reverse the damaging emissions cap on oil and gas; create certainty for pipeline and export projects; provide competitive incentives for Canadian potash, uranium, helium and rare earths; or help provinces build the infrastructure needed for the next generation of small nuclear reactors. This is not a regional argument. A strong resource economy is a national benefit. Every hospital, school and road in this country has been financed in part by the power of the resource-producing provinces.”
“This budget only worsens that reality by maintaining the industrial carbon tax, which hikes the cost of food production and transport; increasing the regulatory burden on resource development, making energy more expensive; and adding new layers of bureaucracy instead of reducing costs for families and businesses. A government that claims affordability is its priority cannot pass a budget that consistently pushes Canadians toward the breaking point. It is a real missed opportunity to strengthen Canada's resource economy. Bill C-15 continues a troubling pattern of policies that undermine the industries that have historically built and funded Canada's prosperity. In Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador, energy and mining are not abstract concepts.”
“Mr. Speaker, whether someone lives in Toronto or a small town in southeast Saskatchewan, every dollar that Ottawa spends beyond its means ultimately comes out of the pockets of Canadians, either through taxes today or inflation tomorrow. Families in my riding tell me the same thing over and over: They are working harder than ever and somehow falling further behind. I have spoken with farm families, the people who feed this country and the world, who have found themselves relying on the food bank for the first time. It is not because they are not working hard; they are. It is because the cost of running a farm, including fuel, fertilizer, insurance and machinery, has outpaced the market and the market's return. In fact, farm receipts have fallen by 26% according to FCC.”
“Farmers know that inputs do not matter if the yields are not there, but Ottawa continues to spend without measuring outcomes. The budget implementation act commits billions more in new spending while offering little accountability and no realistic plan to restore affordability to Canadians. This is why Conservatives oppose the direction of the bill. The government is asking Canadians to pay more while receiving less. The most urgent issues facing Canadians today are affordability, housing, groceries, fuel and basic necessities, yet Bill C-15 would entrench policies that have made life fundamentally more expensive. Whether someone lives in Toronto—”
“I want to speak as someone who has worked internationally for decades, particularly in post-Soviet countries, where government overreach, sluggish bureaucracy and disrespect for local decision-making are constant barriers to growth. When I look at Bill C-15 , I see too many of these same mistakes creeping into our own system. This is a budget that would spend more while delivering less. The government continues to treat spending as synonymous with progress. Bill C-15 would implement a budget that is the most expensive in Canadian history, yet Canadians feel poorer, less secure and less hopeful. Where I come from, on the Prairies, we earn trust, not by how much we spend, but by what we deliver. Families live within their means, and small businesses operate carefully because overspending can cost someone their livelihood.”
“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to Bill C-15 , the budget implementation act. When Canadians hear the phrase “budget implementation”, they expect something simple: a plan that respects taxpayers, strengthens our economy and delivers results without waste. Unfortunately, this bill misses that mark in ways that are not minor, but fundamental. I want to approach this from a perspective that we do not hear that often in Ottawa, the view of rural and resource-producing communities, of agriculture and energy workers, of families who contribute so much to Canada's prosperity yet feel increasingly overlooked by federal policy.”
“Madam Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague a question after that great speech he just gave. We hear quite often about the industrial carbon tax, and we have had the Liberals say to us many times that it is an imaginary tax, yet on my SaskEnergy bill for my farm, there is a line item that says “industrial carbon tax”. Could you maybe explain a bit about how this affects farmers, how it affects the price of food and how it affects the price of transportation in Canada?”
“Madam Speaker, I am a cattle producer myself in Saskatchewan, where we actually raise probably the best beef in the world. We export it to Alberta for feeding and processing. Trade is very, very important to the Canadian beef industry. We have seen the cattle herd in Canada reach its lowest level since the fifties because we have had 10 years of horrible policy from the Liberal government. Now we are facing tariffs from China; we are facing tariffs from India. I want to ask my hon. colleague, who just gave an excellent speech, if he can lay out some of the real-world impacts of trade policy and why policy matters.”
“Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend's speech was great. I know he is a great representative for his constituents and his riding. I also know he was a business owner involved in the health industry, and I know he knows that in a business, one cannot spend more than one makes. We all know what the long-term results of that are. Can the member expand on what it means to his constituents when the government spends more than it has?”
“Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague just gave an excellent speech, and in that speech, he mentioned capital flight, which is a real concern in Canada at the moment. We recently heard that another company, a Canadian company that actually has a mine in my riding, is now building an export terminal in the United States instead of Canada because of overtaxation, over-regulation and overburdening by the Liberal government. Could my colleague expand a bit on why policy matters and why it is important to have pro-business, business-friendly policies in Canada?”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about something that is a real concern in Canada right now, which is capital flight. Over $1 trillion has left Canada and gone to the United States because of the overregulating and overburdening government in Ottawa right now. Recently we heard of a potash company that is building an export terminal in the United States, which puts at risk economic sovereignty and food security in Canada. I am just wondering if my hon. colleague could expand a little further on the risks Canada is now facing because of the Liberal government.”
“Mr. Speaker, farmers in Saskatchewan and across western Canada are suffering under these unfair and unjust Chinese tariffs on our canola. The Prime Minister went on a trade mission to China, and there was no resolution. He went to India, and the only thing he came back with was more tariffs. Can the hon. member name one thing in the budget that would actually help Saskatchewan farmers?”
“The result was higher bills at the checkout and rising anxiety at the kitchen table. The most expensive government in Canadian history has delivered the most expensive groceries in Canadian history. Canadians are demanding a government that makes life more affordable, and only Conservatives will deliver on that.”
“Mr. Speaker, Canada is a nation that feeds the world, yet more and more families cannot afford to feed themselves. That contradiction should trouble every person in this chamber, because food inflation is not an accident of global forces; it is the direct result of decisions made by the Liberal government. Under the Liberals, food prices have risen nearly 40% faster in Canada than they have in the United States. In just one year, the cost of beef has risen 16%, carrots are up 11%, the cost of coffee has gone up a staggering 34% and even the cost of baby formula has risen 6%. At the very moment when Canadians needed relief, the Liberals chose to hike the industrial carbon tax, increasing the cost of food, fertilizer, fuel, transportation and farm equipment.”
“Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member opposite that everything he just said was recorded. He should go back and look at what I actually said so he knows he is putting words in my mouth, because I definitely did not mean that. Trade is extremely important to us and we need to promote it, not discourage it as the Prime Minister has been doing.”
“Mr. Speaker, that question hits exactly the point I made in my speech regarding the farm family I met. The government is spending so recklessly. Every time it prints money, it increases inflation. Every time it increases inflation, it increases the price of all of the goods farmers have to buy, all of their inputs and all of their daily living expenses. There is a real human cost to these overruns and these deficits. I wish the Liberals would take that a bit more seriously, instead of thinking there is an unlimited piggy bank.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will speak to agriculture. Canada is leading in many sectors of innovation when it comes to agriculture, but because of the lack of supports and the systems that are in place, which actually make it harder for innovation to come to market in Canada, we find that a lot of our entrepreneurs and innovators are developing their products in Canada and then leaving for other jurisdictions. This was not addressed in the budget, but it is very important for the future growth of Canada.”
“Mr. Speaker, trade with China is extremely important to the canola sector, but it seems that every time the Liberal government engages with China, it comes home with a new tariff. The next time they are in negotiations, I want the Liberals to take a better look at the people who are feeding the country and supporting agriculture, and the many jobs they support across the entire industry. It is something we need to take this seriously. We need to come home with results, instead of empty words, promises and photo ops.”
“The real strength of Canada does not come from another deficit or another announcement, but from the Canadians who build, grow and produce the wealth that keeps this nation alive. They deserve a government that trusts them, respects them and finally stands up for them.”
“We believe a government should respect the people who feed us, build our homes and power our economy. Our vision is simple. We would make life affordable again, end inflationary spending and build homes and infrastructure more quickly. We would celebrate agriculture and resource development, not punish it, and restore hope in hard work so that once again it will be enough. That is the country we believe in. This budget tells Canadians that the government knows best. Conservatives believe Canadians know best. This budget would grow the government while shrinking opportunity. It would punish work, erode trust and leave entire generations behind. For that hard-working family in my riding and countless others like them across this country, Conservatives cannot and will not support this budget.”
“Conservatives cannot support this budget for one simple reason: It would make life harder for the very people it claims to help. It would drive up inflation through uncontrolled spending, discourage investment through higher taxes and regulation, undermine the provinces through federal overreach, and ignore the sectors of agriculture, energy and manufacturing that create wealth. Canadians are not asking for more programs. They are asking for the ability to get ahead by their own hard work. This budget would make that harder, not easier. Conservatives believe in a Canada that works for the people who do the work. We believe in rewarding effort, not punishing it. We believe that every region and every province should have the same chance to succeed.”
“Instead, the government is layering on new rules, new taxes and new delays that would make it harder for projects to move forward and easier for investors to look elsewhere. A strong country needs strong resource industries, but this budget would weaken them instead of strengthening them. For all the money that is being spent, there is almost nothing in this budget to make our country more productive. There is no plan to make it easier to start a business, no plan to reduce red tape or regulatory duplication and no plan to attract investment and keep it here. The Minister of Finance talks about “inclusive growth”, but Canadians are excluded. They need opportunity. They need confidence that their hard work will pay off. This budget does not deliver that confidence.”
“Instead, we get another Ottawa-run sovereign fund and another layer of bureaucracy deciding which regions get attention and which get ignored. This is not partnership; this is paternalism. Prairie people do not need Ottawa to run more programs. They just need Ottawa to get out of the way. The same neglect extends to our resource industries, which build our economy, fund our social programs and support thousands of hard-working families. From the potash mines around Rocanville to the oil fields near Estevan and Weyburn, workers are ready to innovate, grow and help make Canada energy-independent. However, this budget offers nothing to accelerate responsible development, nothing to improve regulatory timelines and nothing to secure long-term export capacity.”
“Foreign tariffs remain in place, trade barriers continue and market access is shrinking. Instead of fighting for our producers, the government issues press releases and photo ops, while the actual work of trade sits undone. Instead of lowering taxes on fuel and fertilizer, the government raises them. Instead of helping producers move product to market, it creates layers of new red tape. Farmers do not need handouts; they need trade deals and respect. The budget delivers neither. (1330) This budget claims to invest in the future, but when we read the details, the Prairies are treated as an afterthought again. There is no plan for the roads or rail lines that move our exports, there is no meaningful investment in trade corridors and there is no support for the rural infrastructure, water, broadband and bridges that communities depend on.”
“We feed Canada and the world, and now we rely on the food bank to feed our own family.” She was not asking for sympathy. She was not angry. She was embarrassed, but she should not have to be. This is a family that works at community fundraisers, helps neighbours and contributes to feeding the entire country and the world. After nearly 10 years of Liberal policies driving up costs at every turn, even the people who feed Canada cannot reliably feed their own children. This is not what a strong country looks like. It is not the Canada they were promised. If there is one symbol of prairie success, it is canola, a made-in-Canada innovation that farmers turned into a world-leading crop. However, the government has failed to defend the success that canola represents.”