Ted Falk
Provencher, Manitoba · Conservative · Canada
“Mr. Speaker, Canadians are losing sleep because of the Prime Minister . A new United Way report confirms that 40% say they lie awake, worrying how to stretch their paycheque to pay for food, gas and housing.”
“Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal Prime Minister , Canada is the only G20 country to fall into a recession. Just like he manufactured a Liberal majority government, he has now manufactured a full-blown Liberal recession. Instead of building the second-fastest growing economy he promised, he has actually shrunk it.”
“Excuses simply do not cut it for children with empty stomachs, moms with empty grocery carts and parents with hollow bank accounts. The Liberals need to admit their policies have failed, reverse course and position Canada for the win. It is time to get Canada back on track.”
“Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Newmarket—Aurora for her excellent analysis of the situation we find ourselves in here in Canada, where the Liberals, and the Prime Minister in particular, refuse to acknowledge the data provided by Stats Canada that we are in a recession and are the only country in the G7 in a recession.”
“Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member in recognizing that there is an affordability crisis and that Canadians need relief. It would certainly provide a lot of relief to almost every single Canadian family to have the price of gas reduced by the amount of taxes being charged by the Liberal government.”
“Cash is the only form of payment that does not depend on Internet or the electrical grid. Cash does not fail. It works every time in every circumstance for every person. The framework this bill would establish would ensure that cash infrastructure remains resilient.”
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Every one of 196 lines we hold for Ted Falk, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 4.
“Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise this afternoon to speak to Bill C-3 . Canadian citizenship is one of the most important things our country has to offer. It is not just a document or a passport; it is a commitment to Canada, its people and its values. It carries not only rights and privileges, but also responsibilities, and that is why citizenship must be defended and upheld. It cannot be treated casually, and it must never be handed out without limits. Bill C-3 undermines that principle. People who may never set foot in Canada, who have not contributed to our society and who have no intention of living here could be granted Canadian citizenship. That would be to destroy what it means to be Canadian. Canadians understand that our immigration and citizenship systems are already broken.”
“Mr. Speaker, one thing that troubles me about this program is what I hear frequently in my constituency office. People come in and say, “The government said this was a free program and that my dental expenses were now covered, but they were not covered.” One of my questions is, why did the government do such a poor job rolling this out, misleading people to think that all of their dental care was going to be free? The other one is, would it not have been nice to present a budget to the House so we could know what we can afford and what we cannot?”
“Mr. Speaker, I am thankful to the member for her focus on our Canadian military. We truly are proud of it, and we want to support it in the best way as we can. However, I am a bit curious. The member states that she wants to give the military the tools and the resources it needs to do its job, yet the Liberals cancelled the F-35 contract. At the very best, that is going to be a delay. How do you respond to that, with your passion to give it the tools it needs and then cancelling the contract for jets we desperately need?”
“Mr. Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North mentioned the whole progression of lighting from incandescent and then fluorescent to LED. That was maybe a natural progression. I would suggest to him that rather than mandate the change to EVs, maybe there will be a progression as the technology improves and as the demand is there, but we should not force people to do it. Let us get rid of the mandates and let people live here in Canada.”
“Madam Speaker, Liberal members have several times today indicated that they are not banning gasoline vehicles. While that may be partially true, what they are banning is the production of new gasoline vehicles in 2035, and they are introducing a strictly 100% electric vehicle mandate. I am wondering whether my colleague could provide a little more clarification on that.”
“Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to sit with the hon. member on committee, and I know he is very passionate about everything environmental. I have a question because I know he is just as passionate about Quebec and Quebec sovereignty. Why is the member comfortable with the government imposing a mandate on Quebeckers? Let the market go where it will in Quebec, let Quebeckers do what they want, but why is he comfortable with Canadians telling Quebeckers what to do?”
“Mr. Speaker, that is right; GC Strategies is under RCMP investigation. The Auditor General exposed millions paid without proof of work, without oversight and without security rules being followed. The ministers responsible did not get fired; they got promoted, rewarded by the Prime Minister . Only with the Liberals do they fail upwards, collect promotions for incompetence and leave the taxpayer on the hook. It is the same scandals, same ministers. Why is Liberal corruption always rewarded while Canadians get the bill?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General confirmed that GC Strategies, a two-person company, got $64 million from the Liberals, often without competitive bidding. In nearly half the contracts, there is no proof of any work even being done. In 82% of cases, departments did not check if taxpayers were overpaying, and in 50% of contracts, security clearances were not properly enforced, including by departments like Global Affairs and National Defence. It was a total collapse of basic oversight, but taxpayers are still forced to pay while Liberal insiders get rich. Will every member of the House vote to get Canadians their money back?”
“As Canada Day approaches, let us give thanks to God for the blessings of freedom, peace and abundance, and recommit ourselves to being faithful to the biblical principles that have guided our nation since its birth. God keep our land glorious and free.”
“Mr. Speaker, as Canadians prepare to celebrate Canada Day, we are reminded of the foundations upon which our country was built. When the Fathers of Confederation founded this country in 1867, they recognized that Canada's strength would rest not only on law and government, but on the recognition of God's authority. There are 25 verses from the Bible in the architecture of Parliament, such as Psalm 72:8, which says, “he shall have dominion from sea to sea”. From these stone walls, the words taken from God's word remind us that freedom does not come from bureaucrats, global bodies or unelected elites. It comes from hard work, personal responsibility and the recognition of a higher authority. These words teach us that good government needs vision, justice and accountability to the people and to God.”
“It was totally irresponsible of the Liberals to do that. However, does the member really think that someone who did not contribute to a pool should be entitled to a rebate from that pool?”
“Mr. Speaker, I agree with part of the member's speech, which is how badly the Liberals misled us about the carbon tax. They told us that everybody was going to get back more than it cost them. The Parliamentary Budget Officer made it very clear that, in fact, not everybody who contributed to the federal carbon tax program was going to get back what it actually cost them. We got a lot of misinformation and disinformation from the Liberals on that. Now they have done a complete flip-flop on it, and they say how bad it is and that it really has created inflation and driven up the prices of everything. We also know that provinces like British Columbia and Quebec did not contribute to the federal carbon tax program. The cheques that were issued were rebates. They were issued during the election, which was totally wrong.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his speech on the carbon tax. I would like to ask him, as he is a new member of the House, how he feels about running on the idea and platform of a carbon tax, only to come to the House and find out the carbon tax has been axed, as in the Conservative platform. Is that something he can now defend to his constituents?”
“Mr. Speaker, money does not grow on trees, but it sure seems to grow in the coffers of Liberal government insiders and contractors. Today we learned through the Auditor General's blistering report that 31 service procurement contracts had been awarded to GC Strategies, for $92 million. The ministers did not enforce security. The ministers did not monitor contracts, and they did not follow proper procurement policies. Guess what. These same Trudeau ministers are in today's cabinet. Who is running that circus over there, and when will the Canadian taxpayers get their money back?”
“What he needs to demonstrate is that he, at the very least, respects the will of Parliament and the wishes of opposition parties when they form a majority decision.”
“Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. The House was very clear last week. We were unanimous as opposition parties in saying that the government needed to present a budget. The behaviour and the actions of the current government and the current Prime Minister are absolutely a discredit to the House of Commons. They are operating in a way that is contrary to the will of Parliament. Parliament sent a clear message and gave the Prime Minister and the Liberal government an opportunity to work collaboratively with all the opposition party members in the House. They chose not to. They chose to take their own path of poor communication and a poor display of cohesiveness in the House. The Americans see the way things are going, and I do not think that is going to bode well for the Prime Minister and his negotiations.”
“Mr. Speaker, we used to hear in the House that sunshine was the best medicine. We do not hear that anymore, do we? No, what we are hearing now is, “I have a plan. Trust me.” There is no plan. The plan should be the budget. If we had a budget, we would know what we were doing. When it comes to trade negotiations with the United States, we are kept in the dark instead of collaborating. The team Canada approach is what we heard so much about during the campaign. There is no team Canada. There is only “elbows up”, now get those elbows down and get back to work.”
“Mr. Speaker, that must be one of the first questions the member has asked in the House, so I welcome him to the House. The member talked about criticizing. Our role, as opposition members, is to hold the government to account and to criticize the things that we see as being bad for Canada and bad for Canadians. We have offered concrete solutions. What we are offering today is a concrete solution of presenting a budget so that the House can analyze and scrutinize the government's plans to tell it where we think it needs to change course or improve its plans, or perhaps, as we did with the ways and means motion, give it the nod of approval and say keep going. I doubt it, but that may happen.”
“Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Budget Officer explained that the total cumulative effect of the carbon tax, even after the rebates, meant that most families were paying more. All the while, we kept saying, when we tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who transports it, the store that sells it and the family who buys it, prices will inevitably go up. Then, as soon as the Liberal government finally heeded the Conservative plea to remove the carbon tax, Statistics Canada announced that the decrease in inflation was directly related to the removal of the carbon tax. The very next month, inflation went down from 2.3% to 1.7% in one month. To wrap it up, the Liberals need to take a lesson from our common-sense advice. I invite them to consider the wisdom of our opposition motion.”
“When the President of the United States returned from a recent trip to the Middle East, he announced, upon his return, hundreds of billions of dollars in trade. According to the presidential announcements, the EGA plans to build a $4-billion plant in Oklahoma next year. That smelter will have the capacity to produce as much as 600,000 tonnes a year of primarily aluminum. This will almost double the production of aluminum in the United States. We cannot be led by these promises without seeing the plan forward. I remember very recently we kept hearing our friends on the other side recite that we needed to take their word for it, as they repeatedly claimed that the carbon tax was not causing inflation.”
“In Canada, we produce approximately 3.3 million tonnes of aluminum every year, and all the projections say that production will increase. Demand is expected to increase by as much as 40% in the next five years. Aluminum mining supports 9,500 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs. When we translate those numbers into the impact on working Canadians, in Canada, we are talking about 30,000-plus jobs that are going to be affected by these tariffs. (1745) A 50% tariff was very alarming as the United States was Canada's largest export destination for a aluminum products, which accounted for 92% of total aluminum exports. From what we see, plans continue all around us. For example, I wonder which countries Canada may be talking to regarding the purchase of our raw materials. How are those conversations going?”
“We heard in the House today that the cost of living in Ontario averages 52% of household income. That leaves a whopping 13% of a family's income for everything else, including transportation, clothing, entertainment and miscellaneous. Canadians need more than elbows up. We need to get our elbows down and get to work. The Prime Minister said that he would collect $20 billion from the United States through tariffs, yet tariffs are, in effect, at zero for products coming from the United States. Only weeks ago, we were assured that there would be no more tariffs supplied to Canada, yet here we are. We are now facing a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum. With Canada being the world's fourth largest aluminum producer and top aluminum exporter, this is concerning.”
“I find it very interesting that our supply management food processors have had the least increase. What is concerning is that the most significant increases are in the meat category, the protein that we all so desperately need, with 4% to 34% increases right across the board. Canadians are going to pay almost $17,000 on food this year alone, an increase of $800 from last year, all while two million Canadians visit the food bank each and every month. How can Canadians afford this? Statistics Canada, in its latest report, looked at the annual income in Canada. The latest information shows that the median household income in our country in 2025 will be $68,400. If we take 30% off of that in taxes, that leaves us with $47,000. In other words, over one-third of a family's after-tax income will go to food alone.”
“That means that, just to carry increased debt, we would be paying $70 billion in interest on our debt alone. Members can imagine what we could be doing with $70 billion, but it is going to go to paying the interest on today's spending. We may recall that the Prime Minister said that we would judge him by the price Canadians pay at the grocery store. That being the case, let us look at some of those price increases for just this year to date. Beef is up 34%. Oranges are up 26%. Apples are up 18%. White rice is up 14%. Sweet potatoes are up 12%. Beef rib cuts are up almost 12%. Coffee is up 9%. Infant formula is up 9%. Meatless burgers, although I do not know who would eat those, are up 6%. Chicken breasts are up 6%. Pork rib cuts are up 6%. Pork shoulders are up 5%. Eggs are up 3.6%.”
“As we heard from the National Post's assessment, right now, it appears that there is no intention of ever balancing the budget. Let us ask that question: Why does rising government debt matter? According to Jay Goldberg in the Winnipeg Sun, “[multiple] studies have shown that an increasing debt-to-GDP ratio puts upward pressure on long-term interest rates, raising borrowing costs for [individuals, families and] governments”, all leading to an increased tax burden for families and the middle class, and creating “barriers to economic growth.” The truth is that Liberal deficit spending also leads to higher prices at the grocery store. A recent Parliamentary Budget Officer report says the cost of servicing public debt, while currently sitting at $49.1 billion for 2025-26, will rise to just under $70 billion in the 2029-30 fiscal year.”
“Mr. Speaker, members will remember that, during the campaign, the Prime Minister promised that he had a plan ready to go, that “a plan beats no plan”. I ask this: Where is the plan? By the way, I also want to split my time. I have read arguments in some media against providing that plan, and none of them are compelling or convincing. What is interesting is that, in my reading, I discovered that the three longest times between budgets were during World War II, during COVID and in 2001. Do members know what I found out? All three of those periods were under Liberal governments. As I explained at the beginning of my speech, a budget is a plan. It is a direction. It is a path forward that reveals and expresses what is important.”
“We need a budget. That is why Parliament voted for the Conservative amendment to the throne speech calling for a budget this spring. That is also why Conservatives are giving the Prime Minister another opportunity to produce a budget. Canadians need to see a plan that outlines how he will pay for all this spending. Members will remember how, throughout the campaign, we heard Mr. Carney promising that he had a plan ready to go, a plan—”
“I remember reading about a senior policy adviser with the Treasury Board who said that when hiring consultants, it was hard to tell if the contract was successful or not. He added that he knew of numerous cases where consultants were hired to check the work of other consultants. In other words, we paid money to consultants to check the work of consultants. What an incompetent government. Here we are, with spending on consultants up to a record $26.1 billion. That is more than a 36% increase in one year. To help us better understand how much that means for the average Canadian citizen, it is roughly $1,400 spent on consultants for every single household in Canada. As the National Post said, the Liberal government is spending more than the previous Justin Trudeau government did, with no plan on ever getting back to a balanced budget.”
“It is about making wise choices. A good budget takes care of the needs and saves a little for the wants. Let us break that down a bit here. The Prime Minister , who went across the country claiming he was “the man with the plan”, is not providing the blueprint for his plan. Here we are, about to spend a half a trillion dollars with no budget. Look at what happened right after the throne speech. We were told that our new government would cap operating spending at 2% annually. Then, not even two hours later, a bill was introduced that boosted overall spending by 8%. That is 8% more than the Trudeau government spent in the last year of office, yet we were told the current government would spend less. The Prime Minister is spending more not on investments but, oddly, on consultants.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by congratulating you on being selected as the Deputy Speaker for this Parliament. We wish you all the best. It is good grooming for the next session. I rise today to speak about the Conservative opposition day motion regarding food inflation and the lack of a Liberal budget. As a businessman, I have always seen budgets as opportunities to provide a clear path forward, one that even shows priorities and what matters most to a company or organization. A budget builds consensus or direction and keeps us all on the same path. In fact, I have heard it said that a budget is a blueprint for freedom, and I would concur. A budget is like a map. It helps us prepare for the future so we can assess how much is coming in and how much is going out. However, a budget is more than just numbers.”
“Mr. Speaker, I want to refer to the speech by my colleague, the member for Parkland . He talked about the importance of doing proper forest management and how that could greatly reduce the impact of forest fires. I have been a member of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources for the last several years. We studied forest fires during the pine beetle forest study that was conducted. We listened to many indigenous leaders who said that they had a practice of forest management that was not being practised anymore and that if we would do that, with controlled burns and proper management of the deadfall in forests, we would not be facing these out-of-control fires in many regions. Indigenous people have knowledge they can share with us, and the natural resource people need to listen to it and do proper forest management.”
“Mr. Speaker, the member for Repentigny asked an interesting question. If he had been listening to my speech a little more carefully, he would have realized that all but four of the fires that were started in my province were started by human activity. Out of 25 wildfires, all but four were started by human activity. Let us keep in perspective how these fires are started and address the real concern here.”
“Mr. Speaker, that is a loaded question. One thing I do strongly believe is that when the government makes a commitment to train firefighters and buy water bombers, as the Trudeau government did, it should keep that commitment.”
“We give our unwavering appreciation and support to those who rush into danger to save others. I also want to acknowledge others who are helping fight the fires in my area: 38 personnel from Alberta, 87 personnel from B.C., 19 personnel from Parks Canada, 23 personnel from New Brunswick and two personnel from P.E.I. There are also 500 sprinklers from B.C., as well as two AT802 aircraft and one bird dog airplane from Minnesota, so we had the international help we needed to fight these fires. As of yesterday, the Manitoba Wildfire Service reported that Manitoba is still under extreme danger, with small pockets of high fire danger. Human activity continues to be a significant contributor. The assistant deputy minister, Kristin Hayward, said that all but four of the fires were started or suspected to have been started by human activity.”
“However, as Chief Allan Rau with the rural municipality of Taché's fire department said, when urging all residents to adhere to the strict fire restrictions, “Wildland firefighting is extremely taxing, and it...takes a lot of energy and physical resources to make a concerted effort on a wildland fire.” I will say out loud that I am compelled to urge the federal government to do more. We know that we are not powerless against these wildfires. Having better proactive forest management, including clear-cut logging, removal of deadwood and prescribed burns can help mitigate such threats. We are indebted to our frontline workers, who remain on the ground and battle for the rest of us. Every day they put their own lives at risk to save us and our communities.”
“Fire Chief JC Normandeau of the La Broquerie fire department said the flames were 15 to 20 feet high and running away from them. He explained that it took quite a while to get it under control because it had spread out over such a wide area. Thanks to the skilled work of the volunteer firefighters, the fire was steered away from the structures on the land and no injuries were reported. Chief Normandeau said, “We just didn't want it to cross [Highway] 302 and go west. We had other barns and structures in the path of the fire on that side”. They needed to keep it on the east side, and they succeeded in doing that.”
“They were really trying to hold the line there. I also want to recognize the heavy construction contractors in southeast Manitoba that provided heavy equipment on just a dime's notice and got their equipment operators to work a 15-hour day in a live fire situation, rather than a normal construction day, pushing down bush, making fireguards and fire barriers, and creating the firebreaks that were so necessary to start repelling the fire. Scott mentioned to me afterward that because the heavy equipment in the area was able to push some of the bush, it contained the fire and gave them the reprieve they needed. Then the wind changed, and they were able to successfully defend the community of Woodridge. Just outside La Broquerie, the crews battled a 750-acre blaze for eight hours, which included farmland, bush and swamp.”
“I want to put a plug in for our volunteer firefighters. These are the folks who have jobs apart from firefighting, apart from being called out at all hours of the day to different emergencies. There they were. They had left their jobs and were trying to save their communities. I want to commend the employers who employ these volunteer fire personnel for giving them the flexibility to leave. It is not always convenient for a place of work to allow an employee to leave. The employees are obviously there because they are performing a vital function. Those businesses should be commended for giving their employees that latitude, businesses like the one that offered that flexibility to people like Scott, so he could save and protect his community. Scott said that the fire had gotten to within a kilometre of Woodridge.”
“The RM of Piney declared a state of emergency on a Monday in about mid-May, so that is already two weeks back, because of a fire that started between the two communities of Badger and Carrick and also threatened the communities of St. Labre and Woodridge. The fire consumed over 1,000 hectares of land by Tuesday and was moving rapidly to the community of Woodridge. (2120) We have friends in Woodridge, so we called those friends to see how they were doing. My friend Scott is a firefighter there, a volunteer firefighter, and he was busy out fighting the fire. His wife and another family member had already evacuated. They came to my community of Steinbach, which is about half an hour away, where they were safe. They had checked into a hotel, but the volunteer firefighters were fighting fires there 15 hours a day.”
“In my immediate riding, the bravery and effectual efforts of our first responders deserve special mention. Folks listening to this debate may not know where Provencher is. We think all the forest fires are in the northern parts of Manitoba and the northern parts of Saskatchewan, and there are some there, but I represent the southeast corner of Manitoba, 19,000 square kilometres of beautiful farmland but also beautiful forest and cottage country. It is a really beautiful landscape and a variety of different terrains. There were forest fires in our area as well. We had a bit of good news today that parts of the Whiteshell provincial forest were allowed to be accessed again by individuals who have cottages or residences in that area.”
“I feel like everything is replaceable, other than a few things that maybe aren't.” As I read her story in our local paper, I thought of those times when we leave the house and think to ourselves that we can go back and get that later, yet there she was in a convoy watching flames within a mile of her home, in a billow of smoke, facing the finality of what she would choose to bring with her. Remaining behind her were firefighters, the Office of the Fire Commissioner, the RCMP and, until the last possible moment, health care workers, the mayor, city council and organizations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. I want to say a big thanks to the Canadian Armed Forces members, who had been helping communities evacuate people and help people leave safely.”
“A woman formerly from my riding, in Steinbach, now lives in Flin Flon and had to face that exact scenario and ask, “What do you bring with you when you do not know how long you will be gone or even if you will still have a home when you return? She notes that in itself is a strange feeling.... [S]he made sure to pack clothes, her medication, and CPAP machine.” She was reassured by the fact that her legal documents were already safely packed away in a safety deposit box. Realizing that she could not pack everything, she said that she needed to focus on what was not replaceable. The woman went on to say, “I know some of my friends said they had jewelry and stuff from grandparents, etc. So, they did pack that.”
“We listen to experts monitor the wind's direction, realizing that a sudden change in course could force immediate evacuation from one's home. That is when everything one owns and has collected, gathered as keepsakes, milestones or reminders and when pictures, certificates and memories of loved ones are all mentally assessed and abruptly weighted for what is the most important before packing a vehicle to leave. What races through someone's mind after being told they need to evacuate? The possibility of a generational home, perhaps the only home they have known as a family, evacuating and not knowing when they will return, not knowing what will be left when they return or whether this is really the last time those familiar surroundings will ever be the same again.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to stand in the House to address the important issues that affect people in my riding, but today especially as this is the first time I speak in this new Parliament, having received my fifth mandate from the good residents and constituents of Provencher. I especially want to thank the people who helped me get here this time, including my wife, Irene, my family members, my staff, my many, many volunteers and of course the people who came out daily to help me put on a very successful campaign. Today I rise in this House to speak to the issue of wildfire emergencies and how they have impacted my riding of Provencher. We have been hearing about wildfires, which are forest fires that have become so consuming that the surrounding residential areas are therefore no longer safe for residents.”
“Madam Speaker, the member talked about the increasing frequency of emergency debates and of emergencies and disasters in our country. I am wondering if the member possibly has a solution to that. Maybe he has thought it through a little bit. Is there a way that we can address both the frequency of the instances of emergencies and how we approach them here in the House?”
“Mr. Speaker, in her speech, the member was very clear that the Liberals have a plan and they know what they are doing. I do not know anybody who buys a car without knowing how much the payments are going to cost. I do not know anybody who buys a house without knowing if they can afford the additional payments. I do not know anybody who prepares a meal without knowing what is in the cupboards. The previous Liberal government spent the cupboards bare. There is no budget. We have no idea where things are at. Could the member articulate when the budget will be coming and what it will entail?”