Michael Guglielmin

Mr. Speaker, Greeting · 19 wordsit is an honour to rise today on behalf of the wonderful people in the great riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge.Greeting Claims · 17 wordsCanadians have been told for years that Ottawa needs to spend more to make their lives better, Positioning · 22 wordsyet every time Conservatives in the House raise the affordability crisis, we are met with the same response from the Liberal government: PositioningClaims · 14 wordsanother list of programs, another spending announcement and billions more dollars in borrowed money. Positioning · 25 wordsWhy is the measure of success for the Liberal government always how much money it spends, not tonnes produced, businesses opened or even jobs created?Positioning Claims · 30 wordsWe constantly hear from the Prime Minister and the Liberals that they are not spending but are investing. We have been hearing this for almost 11 years at this point, Procedure · 12 wordsand I think it is time we ask a very fair question.Procedure The question · 33 wordsFor most Canadians, for Canadians watching at home, is their life any better today? Despite all the announcements, all the billions of dollars in allocated funds, has their life marginally improved at all? Claims · 6 wordsCanadians are struggling to afford groceries. Anecdote · 28 wordsI hear from young people all the time in my riding and across this country who say they have almost given up on the dream of home ownership.Anecdote Claims · 68 wordsThey find it increasingly expensive. There is a report out of the Bank of Canada on the brain drain that is happening here. Young people are moving to different jurisdictions such as the United States in order to find employment due to cost of living constraints. Just last week, Food Banks Canada reported 2.35 million food bank visits in a single month, an increase of 117% since 2019.¹ Procedure · 9 wordsThe CEO of Food Banks Canada says this is: ProcedurePositioning · 31 wordsthe story of what happens when millions of people are running out of options. In the past, most people in Canada could absorb a small financial setback... Those days are over.Positioning Claims · 22 wordsCanada’s bleak new reality is that millions of people are making impossible trade-offs every day as they choose between food or rent.Unearned certainty Positioning · 48 wordsA statement such as that should alarm every single member of the chamber. Taking all this into account, it is hard to even fathom that the Prime Minister had the audacity to stand up in this place and say, “Affordability is the best it has been in...a decade.”Positioning Procedure · 13 wordsThese are not me putting words in his mouth; those were his words.Procedure Positioning · 16 wordsHowever, I would not blame him. After all, he is only the Prime Minister of Canada, PositioningClaims · 24 wordsand as a matter of fact, colleagues, he just got here. Well, he has been Prime Minister for almost two years at this point, Reasoning · 15 wordsand at some point he has to take responsibility for the country he is governing. Positioning · 27 wordsWe are beginning to see a very familiar pattern with the Prime Minister: He tells Canadians one thing, but his record demonstrates something that is very different.Positioning Claims · 11 wordsHis promise to get federal spending under control is one example. The question · 21 wordsHow often have we heard the Prime Minister state boldly that the Liberals are going to spend less and invest more? Positioning · 6 wordsI know he just got here, PositioningThe ask · 23 wordsbut surely a year and a half is enough time to explain how he intends to keep that promise he made to Canadians. Claims · 14 wordsLast week, the Parliamentary Budget Officer released her latest assessment of the government’s finances, ¹⁷Positioning · 7 wordsand the numbers raised some serious questions.Positioning Procedure · 19 wordsAllow me to list just a few of the PBO’s findings. This is sourced from a CTV news article: ProcedureClaims · 20 wordsThe PBO released her latest economic forecast on Tuesday, ¹⁸which is projecting slower growth in the country’s real GDP forecast...¹³ Positioning · 10 wordsThe outlook also spells trouble for the federal government’s debt, PositioningClaims · 16 wordsand the cost of servicing that debt, projecting a growing debt-to-GDP ratio in the coming years.¹⁴ Reasoning · 12 wordsDeclining deficit-to-GDP ratio is one of the federal government’s [own] fiscal anchors. Claims · 20 wordsBut, according to [the] PBO..., the charges to service the debt is “the fastest-growing piece of government spending right now.”¹⁵ Reasoning · 26 wordsWhen the Prime Minister tells Canadians his government is going to spend less, I think they are entitled to ask exactly what he means by this. Claims · 31 wordsThere is simply no factual evidence to support that he is spending less, as he claimed time and time again that he would. In fact, he is spending so much more. Positioning · 13 wordsIt is not just the size of the deficit that should concern Canadians.Positioning Reasoning · 15 wordsIt is all those years of borrowing and what exactly that is now costing us. Claims · 46 wordsFive years ago, Ottawa spent $24.5 billion servicing the national debt.² This year, that bill is projected to rise to $59.3 billion.³ In four years from now, that is going to climb to a whopping $83 billion.⁴ That is 13.6¢ for every dollar of federal revenue.⁵ Positioning · 23 wordsIt is a number so big that the human brain can barely even conceptualize what that is or just how massive it is.Positioning Claims · 34 wordsAt a time when Canadians are struggling to access health care, the government is now projected to spend more on debt-servicing interest than it transfers to provinces and territories through the Canada health transfer.¹⁶ The question · 15 wordsI ask the House and Canadians watching at home, what does that money actually provide? Positioning · 8 wordsI will say what it does not do.Positioning Claims · 30 wordsIt certainly does not shorten the wait times Canadians are facing to see their doctor. For a family of four, this year’s federal interest bill will cost each family $6,000.⁶ Positioning · 27 wordsCanadians are being asked to live within their means by a government that has yet to explain exactly how it is going to live within its means.Positioning Claims · 20 wordsNext Thursday, the finance minister is going to come to the House, stand here and deliver yet another federal budget.¹⁹ Procedure · 26 wordsI think we should all take note, and Canadians watching at home should certainly be well aware, of the timing of the introduction of that budget, ProcedurePositioning · 37 wordswhich is the Thursday before the break week, to limit accountability and scrutiny of the budget, which will raise some serious questions about what we will find in that budget when we get to dig into it.Positioning Aside · 10 wordsI would love to be proven wrong on all this, AsideReasoning · 34 wordsbut judging by all the metrics, including what the PBO said recently, all roads lead to Canadians’ having a very good reason to be concerned about what is in the fiscal budget this year. Positioning · 15 wordsThe Liberal government’s answer to nearly every problem seems to be to spend more money.Positioning The question · 6 wordsWhere does that money come from? Positioning · 15 wordsIt certainly does not grow on trees. It certainly does not come from Santa Claus.Positioning Claims · 26 wordsIt comes directly from Canadians, either through taxes they pay today or through the borrowing that taxpayers will have to service for years down the road. Positioning · 21 wordsThe government continues to mortgage the future of my kids and the kids of every single Canadian watching at home today.Positioning Procedure · 19 wordsThere is something else in the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report that Canadians should hear before the budget is released.Procedure Claims · 73 wordsExcluding new announcements, total revenues are $9.2 billion higher, on average, over the next five years.⁷ Much of that comes from higher prices, particularly for oil and other commodities, which have boosted the federal tax revenue. In fact, the PBO has actually lowered their forecast for economic growth this year. While Canadians are dealing with higher prices and a slowing economy, Ottawa and the Liberal government are collecting more revenue than previously expected. The question · 7 wordsWhat happened to all that additional revenue? Claims · 18 wordsThe government has announced new spending and tax measures, costing some $52.6 billion over the same five years.⁸ Procedure · 19 wordsI am sure the government will tell us how important each and every single one of those measures is.Procedure The question · 33 wordsIf the Prime Minister’s promise is to spend less and get the deficit under control, should we not at least expect some improvement in the country’s finances when the additional revenues come in? Claims · 58 wordsInstead, the PBO is projecting that the deficit will reach $70.2 billion next year.⁹ That is before we have even seen what the government plans to announce in next Thursday’s budget. We also keep hearing that the government is going to balance the operating budget. It is the government itself that decides what constitutes operating or capital expenses, Positioning · 9 wordsand it does so quite arbitrarily, might I add.Positioning Reasoning · 28 wordsThis leaves open the possibility that the Liberals move an expense from one category into another, simply to say that they have reduced or eliminated the operating budget. Claims · 13 wordsAccording to the PBO, spending on capital expenditures is far outpacing the deficit. Reasoning · 12 wordsThis is why Canadians should be very concerned about this classification issue. Claims · 21 wordsFederal borrowing is expected to rise by $732 billion, ¹⁰while the cumulative deficit will be $333 billion over a five-year period.¹¹ Procedure · 16 wordsFor Canadians, I come back to the question I have been asking throughout my this speech: ProcedureThe question · 9 wordsWhere is the Prime Minister’s plan to spend less? Claims · 32 wordsCanada is still running enormous deficits, debt interest is growing significantly and the Parliamentary Budget Officer now projects that the government will miss its own commitment to maintain a declining debt-to-GDP ratio.¹² The question · 32 wordsWhich spending is being reduced? When will Canadians see the deficit brought under control? How does the Prime Minister intend to stop interest from consuming more money than they send to Ottawa? The ask · 29 wordsThis is why the Prime Minister’s image as a banker seems to be collapsing and he needs to come to the finance committee to answer these very serious questions.Mockery