Kerry Diotte

Mr. Speaker, Claims · 108 wordsCanadians are stretched thin. They are paying more for groceries, more for gas, more for rent, more for everything. Now the Liberals want them to pay more to stream their favourite shows and movies online. With this new policy, the CRTC is ordering online streaming services like Netflix and Disney to pay more of their annual Canadian revenues to fund Canadian content.¹ It is not the first time the Liberals have tried to do this. Under the Liberals, the CRTC introduced a 5% tax on revenues.² That tax is being challenged and is still before the courts.³ Now it wants to increase the tax from 5% to 15%, ⁴Positioning · 4 wordsand that is wrong.Positioning Claims · 12 wordsLet us call it what it is: This is a streaming tax. Positioning · 8 wordsA tax is a tax is a tax.Positioning Claims · 65 wordsCanadians know exactly what happens next.Unearned certainty Big corporations simply do not absorb new costs. They pass them on to consumers. That means higher monthly bills for Canadian families who are already struggling with the cost of living crisis the Liberal government created. The Liberals can try to dress this up in bureaucratic language. They can call it a contribution, and they can call it modernization, Positioning · 31 wordsbut Canadians know better.Unearned certainty If it walks like a tax and costs like a tax, it is a tax. Canadians can smell a rat, and they can smell a tax too.Positioning Claims · 36 wordsThis Liberal tax will drive up the cost of living for all Canadians who have to shell out for online streaming services. This is just another example of a government that believes Canadians are somehow undertaxed. Positioning · 31 wordsConservatives have always believed in letting Canadians keep more of their own money in their own pockets. By contrast, the Liberals are always the ones with their hands in Canadians’ pockets.Positioning Claims · 114 wordsWe have repeatedly called on the government to remove all taxes on gasoline and diesel at the pumps to give some measure of tax relief to beleaguered Canadians. Unfortunately, the Liberals have only responded with half measures, including taking off a few cents a litre in taxes, ⁵but we know more can be done. After 11 years of the Liberal government, life has become more expensive.⁶ Mortgage payments have doubled for many families.⁷ Food inflation has hammered household budgets. Food bank usage has doubled since 2019 to nearly 2.2 million visits per month.⁸ One in four Canadian kids now go to school hungry.⁹ Canadians are struggling. At the same time, interest rates have soared. Positioning · 1 wordsWhy?Positioning Claims · 96 wordsIt is because the government fuelled that inflation with its reckless spending. The Prime Minister has doubled Justin Trudeau’s deficit, which was $31 billion.¹⁰ This allegedly new and improved leader has a projected deficit of $65 billion.¹¹Mockery Now the Liberals want to make our entertainment more expensive too. Canadians use streaming services because they want choice, convenience and affordability, and the Liberals are threatening all three. The Liberals have already pushed through the Online Streaming Act.¹² Conservatives warned that bill would open the door to more government control, more CRTC interference and more costs for consumers. Positioning · 3 wordsWe were right.Positioning Claims · 37 wordsThe Liberals claimed ordinary Canadians would not be affected, but now we see the consequences. We see the higher costs. We know there is more red tape. Ultimately, we know it is due to more government meddling. Positioning · 10 wordsIt is the same old Liberal platform: tax, spend, repeat.Positioning Claims · 9 wordsThis decision also sends the wrong message to investors. Reasoning · 23 wordsCanada should be attracting investment, not driving it away. Businesses need certainty. They need competitiveness. They need a government that understands economic growth. Positioning · 46 wordsInstead, under the Liberal government, all they get is endless regulation, escalating costs and unpredictable markets. Why would companies invest more in Canada when the Liberal government keeps moving the goalposts? Why would innovators choose Canada when they are punished with higher fees and heavier regulation?Positioning Reasoning · 22 wordsConservatives believe in supporting Canadian culture, but we do not strengthen it by punishing investment, driving up costs and undermining economic growth. Claims · 66 wordsThis decision creates uncertainty at the worst possible time. Canada’s economy is already weak. Productivity is declining. Investment is lagging behind our competitors. Businesses are leaving. This 15% tax hike places Canada among the most expensive operating jurisdictions in the world for streaming services.¹³ Put simply, it discourages business investment in Canada and will further devastate Canadian film and television production hubs like Vancouver and Toronto. Positioning · 33 wordsIn the face of declining capital, the Liberals are responding the only way they know how, with another tax hike for already struggling Canadians. That is backward and Conservatives will stand against it.Positioning Claims · 16 wordsThis decision also risks damaging Canada’s relationship with the United States ahead of a CUSMA review.¹⁴ Positioning · 17 wordsAt a time when we should be reducing trade tensions, the Liberals are creating new trade irritants.Positioning Claims · 57 wordsThe U.S. ambassador to Canada said, “CRTC’s decision to triple the tax rate on leading streaming services is making a bad situation worse.¹⁵¹⁶ CRTC is targeting and taxing U.S. companies, putting up new, discriminatory trade barriers, and worsening the investment climate for American businesses.” That is exactly what the government is doing: making a bad situation worse. Positioning · 12 wordsWhile we are on the topic, how are those trade talks going?Positioning Claims · 79 wordsI remember that, for the first Canada-U.S. trade deal under Justin Trudeau, there were discussions many months in advance. The true irony of this is that the new Prime Minister sold himself to Canadians as the man who could get a deal with Mr. Trump by July 2025.¹⁷ Obviously, that failed. I am pessimistic about his ability to get a new trade deal anytime soon, especially when his government is increasing tensions between our countries with more needless taxation. Positioning · 4 wordsThat is just irresponsible.Positioning Claims · 17 wordsThe United States has already raised concerns about discriminatory digital taxes and regulatory measures targeting American companies.¹⁸ The ask · 13 wordsThe Liberals should be working to strengthen North American trade, not weaken it. Reasoning · 9 wordsOur economy depends on stable and predictable trade relationships. The ask · 21 wordsThe government should not be picking fights with our largest trading partner just to satisfy its ideological obsession with big government. Claims · 29 wordsIt is not just American organizations that are against this tax hike. It has also faced criticism from Canadian domestic screenwriters and creators, including the Writers Guild of Canada.¹⁹ Positioning · 47 wordsConservatives believe in lower taxes. We believe Canadians should keep more of their own money. We believe government should spend within its means, instead of driving up its deficit and constantly reaching deeper into Canadians’ pockets. We believe consumers, not bureaucrats, should decide what Canadians watch online.Positioning Claims · 9 wordsThe streaming tax is costly, careless and completely unnecessary. The ask · 14 wordsThat is why we are calling on the Liberals to reject the CRTC’s decision. Claims · 7 wordsThe government has the authority to act. The ask · 14 wordsIt should eliminate this streaming tax before Canadians are forced to pay the price. Claims · 24 wordsCanadians cannot afford more Liberal taxes. They cannot afford more inflation. They certainly cannot afford another Liberal government cash grab disguised as cultural policy. Positioning · 12 wordsConservatives will continue fighting for affordability, for taxpayers and for common sense.PositioningVague promise