“Conservatives say things are too bad, and Liberals pretend everything is fine. Major banks and the budget officer say our economic growth is slowing down and the deficit is getting worse. What does my colleague think about this?”

“Mr. Speaker, on the one side, we have the Conservative doomsayers, who exaggerate the problems. On the other, we have the Liberal optimists, who say that everything is fine. I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the fact that Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal both downgraded their growth projections, which are at less than 1%. The most recent report of the Parliamentary Budget Officer also noted a slowdown in growth and a deterioration in the fiscal outlook, with a larger-than-expected deficit and a mere 1% chance that the government will meet its budget forecast.”

“I want to ask the member for Simcoe North a question about the economic risks he mentioned in his speech.”

“Mr. Speaker, I feel like it is Halloween and I dressed up as the member for Simcoe North, but it is purely coincidental. No need to worry, we did not call each other to confer before starting the day. I would like to ask him a question. In his speech, he talked a lot about risk. One of the major risks that I see at the moment was raised by one of his colleagues on his Facebook page. I have to credit him. He posted that GDP growth under Mark Carney dropped by zero—”

“The Canadian economy shrunk by 0.6% this past year, but Brookfield's stock grew by almost 20%. I want to know if my colleague thinks that is normal.”

“Mr. Speaker, I was quoting a post. As I was saying, according to Statistics Canada, the GDP contracted by 0.6% in 365 days. According to Yahoo! Finance Canada, Brookfield’s stock value climbed by 19.56% in 365 days. The GDP contracted by 0.6%, while Brookfield stock gained close to 20% in value. Is that normal? I would like to hear what my colleague has to say.”

“I agree that rural towns are emptying out because young people cannot find good, long-term jobs. It is wrong that young families have to leave Newfoundland and Labrador to make a living. But I want the member to offer real, specific solutions for our communities, instead of just repeating Conservative slogans and pushing for more oil and gas.”

“Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague from Newfoundland and Labrador on her speech. It was a great speech until she said that she was the alternative solution to the situation, with the usual Conservative Party slogans, using the same proposals that promote oil and gas over natural resources and renewables. Anyway, I would like to focus on the part of her speech that I liked, the part about the regions that are becoming ghost towns because there is a shortage of long-term employment and development opportunities to encourage young people to move there. It is unacceptable that young families are looking to leave Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundlanders should have the chance and the opportunity to make a life for themselves in their home province. My region is facing some challenges at the moment. The government does not seem to understand the situation, which is jeopardizing our manufacturing sector and for which there is an incredibly easy solution. I would like to hear my colleague talk more about concrete solutions to real problems rather than waving around a magic wand that she thinks would solve everything if a Conservative government were in power.”