This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 71 wordsI will be splitting my time with the member for Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt. I want to bring members back to a couple of hours ago when the House voted on a motion. We had a very simple vote on a very simple motion earlier today. I will read the text for everybody watching at home just so they see how simple it was. It reads: That the House officially recognize that: ProcedureClaims · 18 words(a) the Liberals have been in power for 11 years; 1and (b) Canada is in an affordability crisis. Procedure · 6 wordsThe entire motion is one sentence, ProcedurePositioning · 6 wordsand nothing in it is untrue.Positioning Claims · 9 wordsThe Liberals have been in power for 11 years, Procedure · 45 wordsand we do not need a calendar to confirm that. On the second part, members can ask anybody across the country who is trying to save up to buy a place of their own, put food on the table consistently or even pay their bills, ProcedureClaims · 38 wordsand they will tell them that the answer to that question is yes, Canada is in an affordability crisis. However, earlier today, every single Liberal MP on that side of the House stood up to oppose that motion, 2Positioning · 97 wordsand in doing so, they denied reality. They denied the reality of millions of Canadians. They denied their own record in the same way they have been running from it since the Prime Minister got here. They pretend that the same MPs, the same cabinet ministers and the same advisers who served under Justin Trudeau, many of whom are now promoted, are somehow not responsible for everything that happened over the last 11 years. What is worse is that they deny the financial reality that millions of Canadians are living right now, just outside of this place.Positioning The ask · 14 wordsI invite them to visit a food bank in Toronto and defend that vote. Aside · 12 wordsSome have foolishly taken a picture in front of that food bank, AsideReasoning · 11 wordsbut they should actually go in and see the rising numbers. Claims · 21 wordsLast year, Toronto food banks recorded 4.1 million visits, 3which is the highest number recorded, and a 340% increase since 2019.4 Reasoning · 10 wordsThe line did not just double. It more than quadrupled. Claims · 59 wordsMaybe the Liberals could explain their vote to the 46% of Canadians who say that they are less than $200 away from not being able to pay their bills every single month.5 Maybe they could explain it to the nearly three in 10 who say they already do not earn enough to cover their bills and their debt together.6 Reasoning · 37 wordsThat is who they voted against today when they voted to deny reality and deny the financial reality of so many of those people. That same denial runs through the legislation that we are debating again today. Claims · 10 wordsThe government frames Bill C-38 as a major affordability measure. Procedure · 2 wordsIn reality, ProcedureClaims · 41 wordsas we have heard many times, it would extend a temporary pause on one federal tax at the pump, which is a 10¢-a-litre excise tax.7 By the finance minister’s own math, that is about five dollars off of a 50-litre fill-up. Reasoning · 24 wordsIt is something, that is for sure, but it is not enough. It is not enough for the affordability crisis that we are facing, Claims · 92 wordsand it comes with an expiry date, as if that affordability crisis, which was created over the last 11 years, would just automatically disappear. On February 1, half of that tax comes back and the relief drops to 5¢ a litre.8 On April 1, the rest comes off and the relief drops to zero.9 Every other federal charge built into the price of fuel stays in place, which means the GST stays in place, the clean fuel standard stays in place and the cost of the industrial carbon tax stays in place.10 Reasoning · 18 wordsWe could remove all of them and families, seniors and truckers could save up to 25¢ a litre, 11Procedure · 18 wordsbut that is not what we are talking about here. It is what we could be talking about.Procedure Claims · 34 wordsUnder the Conservative proposal, the relief would not vanish next February. It would last until at least Canada Day in 2027.12 It would be up to $1,000 of savings for the average Canadian family, 13Reasoning · 7 wordswhich is real money that would help, Positioning · 47 wordsbut if members vote against even recognizing an affordability crisis in the House just hours ago, then why would anybody trust them to fix it? Throughout this debate, we have heard a lot of bluster from the other side and not so much on the facts point.PositioningPartly on point Procedure · 11 wordsI just want to lay out a timeline for those following, ProcedurePositioning · 25 wordsbecause some Liberal MPs have been trying to take credit for the ideas, and other Liberal MPs do not understand why they are doing it.Positioning Claims · 84 wordsOn April 2, Conservatives called for federal taxes on gas and diesel to be removed for the rest of 2026.14 Twelve days later, the Liberals announced a partial version of that plan, pausing only the excise tax and only until Labour Day.15 Fast-forward to August 16, when we demanded cancellation of the Labour Day tax hike and removal of all the federal fuel taxes until at least Canada Day in 2027, and on September 2, the Liberals backed down again and announced that extension, 16Procedure · 9 wordswhich is the bill in front of us today.Procedure Positioning · 63 wordsEach time, they arrived late, and each time, they brought less than Canadians needed. If not for our Conservative pressure, I do not think we would be debating this at all. If nobody on this side of the House had called for it, I do not think we would be standing here. I do not think it would have existed in the budget, PositioningClaims · 9 wordswhich we should have seen a couple weeks ago, Partly on pointPositioning · 61 wordsand I do not think they would have done it, because the current government has a habit of dealing with problems by pretending they do not exist, hence the vote earlier today, just as the Liberals are pretending that we are not in an affordability crisis by voting against Canadians, who are clearly living much of their lives in that crisis.Positioning Claims · 18 wordsIn March, the Prime Minister told Canadians that affordability was the best it had been in a decade, 17Aside · 24 wordsbut I want him to really look in the faces of a family and tell that to the family filling its minivan this week.Aside Claims · 31 wordsMeanwhile, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whom we heard from today, reports that the deficit went from $36 billion under Justin Trudeau in the last fiscal year, to $72 billion this year.18 Reasoning · 10 wordsThat is not a little more spending. That is double. Positioning · 13 wordsIt is putting groceries on the credit card and calling it a budget.PositioningPartly on point Procedure · 11 wordsWe will see what happens in the next couple of weeks.Procedure Claims · 52 wordsThe problem still for all those families is that it is getting worse. Yesterday, Statistics Canada reported that inflation rose to 3.1% in September, up from 3% in August.19 Gasoline prices are up nearly 28% from a year ago.20 Fuel oil is up almost 58%, hitting families in Atlantic Canada the hardest, 21Reasoning · 13 wordsbecause that is what many of them there use to heat their home. Claims · 7 wordsGrocery prices are up 33% since 2020.22 Reasoning · 34 wordsWe know there are lots of reasons for these costs rising, but today we are debating actually giving relief to families and taking some of that money off their bills. Families obviously feel this. Claims · 19 wordsSix in 10 Canadians say that at least half their paycheque is already spoken for before it even arrives.23 Reasoning · 6 wordsYes, we need to do more, Positioning · 38 wordsand Conservatives are never going to stand in the way of relief or a tax cut. That is what we came here to fight for, no matter how small it is and no matter how time-limited it is, PositioningReasoning · 23 wordsbecause even a little money makes a difference for people who are facing strife in their communities right now all over the country. Promise · 20 wordsHowever, we will keep daring the government to do more.Vague promise We will keep advocating from this side of the House, Vague promisePositioning · 23 wordsbecause the only reason we are having this conversation is that the Liberals were put in a corner to have to do this.Positioning Promise · 35 wordsWe will keep making it very uncomfortable not to act, Vague promiseand we will keep speaking for all the families who need the relief, who need longer-term relief and who need bigger relief on their paycheques.Vague promise Claims · 10 wordsThe Liberals have already moved from denial to partial acceptance, Reasoning · 7 wordsand we see that with this bill. The ask · 29 wordsWe just want them to go further. We want them to get rid of all the taxes that they continue to put on fuel, such as the fuel standard, Claims · 33 wordswhich will eventually raise the price of gas by 17¢ a litre by 2030.24 First they refused to touch the gas tax, period, and now they are giving us a hidden carbon tax. The ask · 28 wordsWe want them to not actually stop the tax cut on Labour Day, and we want them to stretch it for a few more months or even longer, Positioning · 21 wordsas long as it takes for families to get out from under the affordability crisis the government has buried them in.Positioning Aside · 35 wordsIf the Liberals want to keep borrowing ideas, that is fine. If the Liberals want to react to a strong opposition that is going to push them to do the right thing, that is fine, AsideThe ask · 9 wordsbut we actually want them to get this done. Positioning · 29 wordsCanadians should not have to wait for the Liberals to always catch up. They certainly should not have to watch the government take credit for doing the bare minimum.Positioning Promise · 28 wordsThat is exactly what we are going to advocate for with this bill and so many others that will come to the floor of the House of Commons. The ask · 14 wordsWe want real relief for families and for every Canadian from coast to coast.
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