Mark Strahl
Chilliwack—Hope, British Columbia · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, after more than a decade of reckless Liberal spending, borrowing and economic mismanagement, more and more Canadians are suffering. Under the Liberal Prime Minister , Canada is the only G20 country in a recession, and the devastating results can no longer be ignored.”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is off to New York for what even the CBC calls a straight-up networking trip. Perhaps he will meet with his friends at Brookfield Asset Management there. Like so many other investors, they fled Bay Street for Wall Street, with Main Street in Canada paying the price.”
“Mr. Speaker, speaking of $20 billion, that is how much money has left Canada in the last four quarters under this Prime Minister . After more than a decade of Liberal taxes, red tape and uncertainty, investors, including the Prime Minister, continue to take their money elsewhere.”
“Mr. Speaker, British Columbians bought their homes, paid their mortgages and played by the rules, but due to the Cowichan decision, they now face uncertainty as to whether their private property will be protected going forward.”
“Mr. Speaker, the same old Liberals have continued their decade of credit card budgets. Not only has this costly Liberal Prime Minister embraced the same borrow-and-spend policies of Justin Trudeau, he has doubled down, doubling the deficit.”
“Mr. Speaker, I understand why that minister would not want to talk about the past, given his horrendous record on housing in the city of Vancouver. It is the same old story with these same old Liberals.”
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“Can you imagine buying a Maserati and a huge mansion, living large, taking three or four holidays a year, and then saying to the kids when they reach working age, “Well, kids, Dad's had a good ride. You can pay the bill. Thanks for coming out“? Of course no responsible parent would do that, and no responsible government would look future generations in the eye and tell them they will have to pay tomorrow for what the government does today. That would be irresponsible, and it does not even deliver the results that government members say it does. The Liberals talk about the Major Projects Office. They keep announcing the winners and losers of the major projects.”
“Why has no one thought of that before? Why do we not just spend more? Why not make it $600 billion? Why not make the deficit $150 billion? It is because they know it has to be paid back through taxes or program cuts, but they do not care. The Liberals are just trying to get through today. They just want to get through the next four years. They do not care about 40 years down the road, when our children and grandchildren will pick up the tab. That is why we have called the budget a credit card budget. The Liberals are running up the credit card, and they are going to hand the bill to our kids and grandkids, living large for today so someone else can pay the bill tomorrow. It is irresponsible. We would never allow it to happen in our own families. I know you are a father, Mr. Speaker.”
“(1325) The Liberal government said one year ago that there needed to be fiscal responsibility. Fast-forward to today, and the money taps are open; it is an open bar. Here we are spending money again, $55 billion in interest payments alone. That is something that should concern all Canadians, as should the the figures on the national debt. As a continuation of the previous Liberal government, the Prime Minister will add $321.7 billion to the federal debt over the next five years. That is more than twice the $154.4 billion that Justin Trudeau would have added over the same time period. The Liberals like to talk up the central banker's resume and what a genius he is financially, but he is doubling the burden being left to our kids and grandkids to pay back. They think it is such a master stroke to just spend more money.”
“It will continue under the current Liberal government, which makes Justin Trudeau look like a fiscal hawk. It has doubled his deficit. Right around this time last year, the Liberals did not know who was going to present the economic update, because the finance minister at the time had resigned because she could not in good faith present a budget that presented a deficit about 50% lower than the one just introduced in this budget. The whole government was thrown into turmoil and had to rip the page out of the economic update that had her name on it. It just tabled it in the House without even giving a speech, because she was so concerned that it limited the fiscal manoeuverability of the government to be so irresponsible in the face of the economic changes we keep hearing about.”
“My province is mismanaged by the government of British Columbia, the B.C. NDP. I will admit that part of the mismanagement is with the provincial government. There are routine closures of emergency wards across the province, and people cannot access emergency medicine for hundreds of kilometres because they do not have adequate doctors, nurses and facilities. If we tell the people in my province of British Columbia that sending $55 billion to bankers and bondholders is better than spending more on health care, they will laugh in our faces. They will not accept that this is a generational budget. They know that sending away the money that should be going to program spending, just frittering it away on bankers and bondholders, is an inappropriate use of funds.”
“The Liberal government is a government of slogans and a government that likes to say that this budget is a generational budget, which is true if we are talking about the impact of the increased debt on future generations. The key thing here for Canadians is to understand that because of the government's profligate spending and its disregard for taxpayer dollars, the government will now spend more on interest payments to bankers and bondholders than it will pay for health care transfers in this country. The interest is $55 billion, and again that is a number that is hard for Canadians to grasp, because most of them will never have $1 million let alone $1 billion. It is $55 billion given away, spent on interest charges and not on making life more affordable for Canadians or on making health care better.”
“He promised to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio, but he is raising it and causing inflation by failing to keep that promise. The Prime Minister promised to spend less, but we see in the budget that he is spending $90 billion more, which equals $5,400 more in inflationary spending per household in the country. It is hard sometimes for Canadians to picture $90 billion, but they understand $5,400. Having that inflationary spending piled onto each household should worry all Canadians. The Prime Minister promised more investment, but the budget reveals that investment is collapsing. Since the Prime Minister took office, there have been over 48,000 fewer jobs in Canada, and billions of dollars' worth of investment has fled the country. That is a record of failure, and I have outlined just a number of the broken promises.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House to speak on behalf of my constituents in Chilliwack—Hope. I will be sharing my time with the member for Algonquin—Renfrew—Pembroke , who is approaching a very important anniversary. She is coming up very soon on nearly 25 years in the chamber. I congratulate her. She is one of my favourite members to hear speak, and I look forward to hearing her after my remarks are done. The budget implementation act, which is what we are debating today, would implement a budget of broken promises and failures. The government has broken its own word that it gave to Canadians during an election just six months ago. The Prime Minister said he would keep the deficit at $62 billion, Well, the budget has it at $78 billion, so he broke that promise in less than six months.”
“Mr. Speaker, while fancy art dealers and high-flying people like the Prime Minister are living their best life, here on the ground, a record number of Canadians are using food banks and struggling to heat their homes. They do not get to leave their troubles behind by jumping on a private jet. These swanky trips have done nothing for the tens of thousands of steel, auto and softwood lumber workers who have lost their jobs, and the millions more who are living with uncertainty due to the Prime Minister's broken promises on tariffs. Why does the Prime Minister not spend less time on fancy travel and more time focusing on making life more affordable for Canadians?”
“Mr. Speaker, in just eight months, the Prime Minister has flown the friendly skies nearly 70 times on 28 different trips and burned through enough jet fuel to fly the equivalent of four times around the earth. What does he have to show for all of his gallivanting around in a private jet? He just has expensive photo ops, empty announcements and no real results for Canadian workers. Not only have these trips failed to get the deals he promised, but tariffs and costs for Canadians seem to go higher each time he takes off. Why does the Prime Minister not stop his flights of fancy and start making life more affordable for Canadians here at home?”
“Mr. Speaker, criminals who possess child sexual abuse and exploitation material deserve lengthy prison sentences. They cause unimaginable suffering and harm to innocent children. These precious kids will carry the scars of what was done to them for the rest of their lives. Conservatives and Canadians are calling on the government to invoke the notwithstanding clause and overturn this appalling Supreme Court ruling immediately. The Liberals refuse to do so. Why are the Liberals more concerned with protecting the rights of guilty pedophiles than standing up for the rights of innocent children?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court has ruled that a mere one-year mandatory prison sentence for the heinous crime of possessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material is cruel and unusual punishment. The criminals in such cases possess materials depicting evil acts against children as young as three years old. Conservatives believe it is outrageous that these types of child predators could walk free with less than a year in prison. The court decision must be overturned using the notwithstanding clause, but the Liberals have refused to act. Why are the Liberals more concerned with protecting the rights of these vile predators than the rights of these innocent victims?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister bragged that he could handle President Trump. He promised to negotiate a win. He said he would have a deal done by July 21. Well, it is October, and not only is there no win, but the Prime Minister keeps losing. Despite giving concession after concession to the Americans, softwood lumber tariffs have doubled since he took office. His failure to do what he said he would has already cost hundreds of forestry jobs and put thousands more at risk in B.C. alone. Why has the Prime Minister abandoned our softwood lumber workers and broken his promise to get a deal done?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised he would have a deal with Trump by July 21. It is October, he has no deal and Canada is bleeding jobs. Imperial Oil is shutting down in Calgary. That is 900 jobs gone. Thousands of forestry jobs in B.C. are at risk because he has not gotten a softwood lumber deal done. He promised he would create middle-class jobs, but instead he has lost 86,000 jobs since he became Prime Minister. When will the Prime Minister abandon his job-killing policies here at home, finally keep his promise to get a deal and save Canadian jobs?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised Canadians he could handle Donald Trump. He promised he would quickly negotiate a win. For Canadian workers, it has been nothing but losses. We have the second-highest unemployment rate in the G7. Invista is closing its plant in Maitland and moving to Texas. That is 100 jobs gone. Kap Paper in Kapuskasing is shutting down. That is 350 jobs gone. In Oshawa, GM is shifting truck production south. Hundreds of jobs are gone already and thousands more are at risk. When will the Prime Minister finally keep his promises, stop losing jobs and start standing up for Canadian workers?”
“Mr. Speaker, the latest food inflation numbers are out, and it is more sticker shock for Canadians. Groceries are up a whopping 70% above the Liberal inflation target. Since the Liberals took office, food costs have risen by 40%, driving millions more Canadians to the food bank every single month. The Prime Minister said that he would be judged by prices at the grocery store. Well, the verdict is in: It is another Liberal broken promise, another Liberal bait and switch. When will the Prime Minister admit that doubling the Liberal deficit is just going to send these record-high food prices even higher?”
“Mr. Speaker, our expectations for the Prime Minister were low, but holy smokes. He has been Prime Minister for six months, and we still have not seen a budget. The Prime Minister said that he would spend less than Trudeau, but his deficit is projected to be almost double the number that forced the former finance minister to resign the first time around. This is another broken Liberal promise. It is a Liberal bait and switch. This massive deficit spending is driving up inflation and sending the price of groceries sky-high. When will the Prime Minister admit that his broken promises are breaking the bank for Canadians?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are not holding GC Strategies accountable. They are letting it keep the cash. The Auditor General confirmed that current Liberal ministers failed Canadians in this matter. They failed to protect tax dollars. They failed to check the qualifications of those doing the work. In half the contracts, they failed to even verify that work was done. Unbelievably, the Trudeau ministers responsible for arrive scam got promoted and have now been put in charge of critical Canada-U.S. foreign affairs and jobs files. Why did the Prime Minister reward the failed Trudeau Liberals instead of holding them accountable for their incompetence?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General confirmed what we have been saying about the fraudsters behind the arrive scam app and about the failure of the Liberal government to protect taxpayers: GC Strategies was an IT firm that did not do IT, did not follow procurement rules, did not provide value for money and did not have valid security clearances. What it does have is 64 million ill-gotten tax dollars in the bank, and the Liberal government let it all happen. When so many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet, why is the government making no effort to get those wasted tax dollars back?”