Jacques Gourde

Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 12 wordsI will be sharing my time with the member for Calgary Centre.¹Procedure Positioning · 23 wordsWhen we look at the budget this Liberal government is presenting, we have to wonder what happened to all of its big promises.Positioning Claims · 19 wordsThe government promised an ambitious budget. It talked about growth, productivity, streamlining and a new way of doing things. Positioning · 27 wordsRhetoric aside, once one has actually read the budget and looked at the numbers, what is left? Not much. This budget is all sizzle and no steak.PositioningUnearned certainty Reasoning · 43 wordsThe truth is that Canadians do not need big announcements.Unearned certainty They need to be able to afford their groceries, mortgage, rent and bills at the end of the month. They want to know that their hard-earned money is being put to good use, Claims · 9 wordsbut this budget is not very reassuring for them. Procedure · 6 wordsLet me start with public finances.Procedure Claims · 12 wordsThe government is patting itself on the back for getting additional revenue, Reasoning · 30 wordsbut we need to look at where a lot of that money is coming from. One of the reasons government revenues are going up is because prices are going up, Claims · 28 wordsbecause inflation is driving up nominal revenues and tax revenues. Although the government is taking in more money, Canadian families are paying more to fill their grocery carts. Positioning · 28 wordsIt is easy for the government to pat itself on the back for this additional revenue when it is Canadians who are the ones paying the inflation bill.Positioning Procedure · 9 wordsThe Liberal government seems to be forgetting one thing: ProcedureClaims · 18 wordsWhen the price of gas, bread, meat or housing goes up, it is not good news for families. Reasoning · 29 wordsIt means less money in their pockets. Inflation is the worst form of taxation, Unearned certaintybecause it takes what little the middle class has left and makes the rich richer. Claims · 10 wordsDespite this additional revenue, the Liberals continue to spend recklessly. Procedure · 6 wordsLet us look at the numbers.Procedure Claims · 51 wordsThe projected deficit for this year is $62.3 billion.² In five years, in 2030-31, it will still be $52.9 billion, according to estimates.³ That is $288.7 billion in accumulated deficits over five years for government operations.⁴ That is a mountain of debt that we are leaving to our children and grandchildren, Procedure · 5 wordsand that is not all.Procedure Claims · 44 wordsThis year, the government will spend $60.2 billion on interest payments on the debt.⁵ In five years, that amount will have grown to $85.5 billion, meaning $25.3 billion more per year.⁶ That is more than all the revenue collected from the GST in Canada.⁷ Positioning · 24 wordsThat is money none of us will never see again, unless we happen to be among the Prime Minister’s banker buddies or other friends.Positioning Reasoning · 13 wordsImagine what that money could do for our hospitals, schools, infrastructure and families. Claims · 7 wordsUnfortunately, it is going toward interest payments. Reasoning · 14 wordsWe cannot build a country by working only to pay interest on the debt. Claims · 36 wordsIt is all well and good for the government to talk about a balanced operating budget, but the overall budget is not balanced. The deficit is still there, year after year. It is a structural deficit. Positioning · 19 wordsWe will not become masters of our destiny by mortgaging our grandchildren’s future. Canadians are trapped by Liberal debt.Positioning Procedure · 9 wordsNow let us talk about the cost of living.Procedure Claims · 30 wordsThe Liberals are announcing a supplement to the Canada groceries and essentials benefit that will provide up to $339 for a single person and $679 for a family of four.⁸ Reasoning · 10 wordsIt is all well and good to send a cheque, Positioning · 19 wordsbut does that lower the cost of the grocery basket? Does it lower food prices? The answer is no.Positioning Claims · 36 wordsA one-time cheque does not solve the problem. It helps some families for a while, but it does not make the cost of living go away. It does not address the root cause of the problem. Positioning · 38 wordsInstead of dealing with problems in the here and now, the Liberals tend to cut a cheque and kick the problems down the road. The Liberals hand out cheques to help Canadians pay prices they cannot bring down.Positioning Claims · 44 wordsFamilies want to be able to live on their wages, just as businesses want to make a living by selling their products, not by relying on subsidies. No one wants to have to wait around for a government cheque just to make ends meet. Procedure · 14 wordsI want to turn now to the Alto project, the much-touted high-speed rail link.Procedure Claims · 14 wordsIn the budget, the Liberals present Alto as a major driver of economic growth. Procedure · 6 wordsI have a very simple question: ProcedurePositioning · 43 wordsWhere are the studies proving that? Where is the evidence that this project will be profitable? Which independent study proves it? Where is the proof that taxpayers will recoup their investment? Where are the guarantees that costs will not spiral out of control?Positioning Claims · 16 wordsThe Parliamentary Budget Officer has already estimated construction costs at between $75 billion and $113 billion.⁹ Positioning · 4 wordsThose are staggering figures.Positioning Claims · 38 wordsI doubt that those amounts are fully reflected in the current budget. This is taxpayers’ money: money from workers, farmers, small business owners and families who pay their taxes. The government already seems eager to fast-track the project. Procedure · 6 wordsAnnex 3 of the budget states: ProcedureClaims · 39 wordsIn Budget 2026, the government proposes to introduce new legislation that will support accelerating the construction of Alto High-Speed Rail.¹⁰ Legislation will streamline expropriation activities and enable early preconstruction work.¹¹ The government is going to accelerate the expropriation process. Positioning · 4 wordsSomething is really off.PositioningUnearned certainty Claims · 18 wordsThe government really wants to accelerate expropriations and start pre-construction work. It wants to move the project forward. Positioning · 6 wordsIt is not even hiding it.Positioning Claims · 5 wordsHowever, serious questions remain unanswered. Positioning · 16 wordsIs it cost-effective? Do Canadians really need it? Have the economic benefits been confirmed as announced?Positioning Claims · 63 wordsThe government wants to accelerate the process, but it has yet to answer all of these questions. In the meantime, farmers and property owners are in limbo, unsure whether the project could affect their land and property. I am thinking especially of farmers in the Mirabel area, who already survived one expropriation for the former airport.¹² Today, they are in limbo once again. Reasoning · 9 wordsThese people deserve answers. They deserve to be heard. Procedure · 6 wordsNow let us talk about bureaucracy.Procedure Claims · 109 wordsThat is probably where the expectations were the highest and the disappointment is the greatest. The Minister of Finance set the bar very high. He talked about streamlining administrative procedures. Small and medium-sized businesses were expecting concrete action. Business owners on the ground do not need to be told what bureaucracy is. They experience it every day. Owners of garages, farms, restaurants and construction firms want to keep their businesses running. They spend too much of their days filling out forms, meeting the requirements of various government departments and trying to understand rules that keep changing. They want to run a business, not become experts in federal red tape. Positioning · 7 wordsWhat does the budget actually offer them?Positioning Claims · 12 wordsIt offers them a tax deduction for investments that was previously announced.¹³ Positioning · 3 wordsThat is all.Positioning Procedure · 9 wordsAfter the Minister of Finance set expectations so high, ProcedurePositioning · 28 wordswhere is the big plan to streamline administrative procedures? Where are the concrete measures to cut red tape? Where is the plan to eliminate redundancies and unnecessary requirements?Positioning Procedure · 5 wordsI will say it again: ProcedurePositioning · 8 wordsThis budget is all sizzle and no steak.Positioning Claims · 25 wordsThe government announced major changes. Canadians were promised a real transformation. In the end, business owners are finding that there are very few new measures. Reasoning · 54 wordsWe cannot ask businesses to be more productive while also forcing them to waste hours and days dealing with the federal bureaucracy. We need to trust them. We need to give them space to work and create wealth. When we put all these things together, we can see why this budget is so underwhelming. Claims · 107 wordsWe have a government that continues to rack up deficits. We have an interest bill that will be $25.3 billion a year higher by 2030-31.¹⁴ We have families who are seeing their purchasing power decline and who are being offered temporary cheques instead of lasting solutions. We have a high-speed project with a price tag in the tens of billions of dollars but whose benefits have yet to be proven and for which the government already wants to speed up expropriations. We have provinces calling for more resources to care for their citizens. Canadians work hard. They get up early in the morning. They pay their taxes. Positioning · 7 wordsThey deserve better than promises and announcements.Positioning Reasoning · 15 wordsThey deserve a government that spends prudently, respects taxpayer dollars and tackles the real issues. Claims · 18 wordsWith this budget, unfortunately, Canadians may once again be paying a lot to get very little in return.