Jasraj Hallan

“Liberal policies are hurting our economy. Groceries and housing cost too much, people are using food banks, and businesses are investing their money in other countries instead of Canada. The government is spending too much and breaking its own budget promises. We need to cut taxes, scrap the carbon tax, cancel the tanker ban, and make it easier to build pipelines and mines.”

“Madam Speaker, before I get started, I want to notify you that I will be splitting my time with my good friend, fellow Calgarian and sometime airline seatmate, the member for Calgary Crowfoot. There is nothing technical about the 2.2 million Canadians waiting in a food bank line hungry because of rising grocery prices due to the Liberal government’s failed policies. There is nothing technical about the dad in Windsor who has just lost his job telling his kids around the dinner table that times are going to get tough because of the failed policies of the Liberal government. There is nothing technical about the single mom who is at the grocery store wondering what she can and cannot buy this week and how much she will actually be able to eat because of failed Liberal policies. The Prime Minister is the guy who said he could get Canada back on track. He sold himself as the guy who would have the fastest-growing economy in the G7. He sold himself as that during the election. What he ended up doing was plunging Canada into a full-blown Liberal recession, and in fact the only country in the entire G20 to do so. The Prime Minister is the only leader in the entire G7 to plunge their economy into economic decline in three out of the last four quarters. He has been Prime Minister only for a year, and he is already delivering these failed results. Canadians are the ones who are having to pay for it: through food bank lines that are growing, through the insolvencies that are growing, and just through the pain and suffering we are seeing all across this country because of failed policies. Last week, the independent PBO came out with a very scathing report on the government and its so-called fiscal anchors, which seem like they do not even exist anymore. First, members will remember, back in the day, when Chrystia Freeland was here and claimed that the debt-to-GDP ratio would go down. The Liberals were so confident in that, they completely removed it as a fiscal anchor altogether. Poof, they got rid of it, but now they quietly, sneakily, brought it back. However, the PBO slammed them, just last week, saying that the debt-to-GDP ratio would go up, debunking their claim that it would go down. In their last budget, the Liberals brought in another fiscal anchor. They said they would do deficit-to-GDP ratio. However, the PBO slammed them last week, saying that they will have a less than 1% chance of meeting that fiscal anchor, but that percentage is still better than actually having a Liberal answer a question in this place. Then they said they would balance their operating budget, but we just found out last week that they are actually going to spend $7 billion more than what they sold Canadians. It is always these fake promises, these fake handshakes and fake MOUs. Everything about this government is fake. The Liberals sell themselves as economic kings or someone who can handle the economy, but at the end of the day, it is always failure. It is more costs, more debt, more taxes, and it is always on the national credit card. At the end of the day, Canadians have to pay for all these Liberal failures. The PBO said, “Business investment continues to lag”, which is something the Bank of Canada has been warning about for years now. In fact, the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, Carolyn Rogers, many years ago, said that Canada is in a “break glass” emergency. They said it is about our productivity, which has not gone up. Productivity and the cost of living or the way people live, their standard of living, are the exact same thing, according to them, and that is why we are seeing so much pain and suffering across the country. The PBO said that “firms postpone expansion plans amid heightened uncertainty.” The PBO also said, “Persistent uncertainty is...weighing on business investment and household spending”. Businesses are not investing, expanding or hiring because they do not have confidence in the direction of the economy. That is clear to see in the numbers. In the last year alone, $1 trillion of net Canadian investment has flown out of Canada to the U.S., and since this Prime Minister took office, $20 billion of net investment has also left Canada. We hear the Liberals brag about how good the economy is and how good Canadians have it. Then why do we not see it? They will cherry-pick or come up with random things that they think Canadians will fall for, but every time a Canadian goes to the grocery store or fills up a tank of gas, whenever they pay for something or get their taxes done, they see clearly and fully experience this full-blown Liberal recession, because when costs go up for them, that is what they experience. When their wages are not going up and their incomes are not sufficient, that is something they actually experience. The Liberal government continues to tell those 2.2 million Canadians in a food bank line that they are just technically hungry, technically out of food, technically out of money, and the people missing their mortgage payments are just technically experiencing that, but this is what they are actually experiencing. Canadians are suffering. The Liberals refuse to even listen to Canadians. In fact, the Prime Minister is so out of touch, he said that affordability is the best it has been in an entire decade, which is completely false. Canadians have increasing grocery prices because of things like high taxes and the burden that the Liberal government has put on businesses. On top of that, it is slamming Canadians, farmers, truckers and other industries with its industrial carbon tax, which does not make just the cost of food go up. It makes the cost of everything in the supply chain go up. With Liberal thinking and Liberal math, Liberals think they are just charging the highest emitters or the corporations. Those corporations and businesses will pass on the cost, and that cost, ultimately, has to be paid by the average Canadian. That is why Canadians cannot keep up. In fact, today, under the Liberals, an average Canadian is spending 120% of their paycheque on necessities like food and shelter. Liberals have doubled the cost of housing and made the cost of food go up. In fact, the Prime Minister gave Canadians the worst food inflation in the entire G7. That is why Canadians are now using up their entire paycheque mostly on housing, and everything else goes on a credit card or they borrow money. We are seeing debt loads. That is why Canadians are now also the most indebted households in the entire G7. They are picking up more and more on credit just for necessities. It is not like the government does not have solutions in front of it. In fact, for the last 10 years, Conservatives have been putting forward solutions, but for every solution, it seems the Liberal government puts up two or three more problems for Canadians. For instance, what Conservatives would do and what we are proposing is to scrap all the antidevelopment laws the Liberal government passed. Let us get rid of Bill C-69, the “no new pipelines” bill. Let us get pipelines built in this country, along with LNG plants, mines, dams, all the infrastructure that Canada needs to get its resources to market and spread them out to the world. Let us get those antidevelopment laws out of the way. Let us get rid of the tanker ban. My colleague from Calgary Signal Hill has put forward a bill in this place to get rid of the tanker ban. Let us get pipelines built. Let us get a pipeline built to the west coast, but it needs to be able to get from the west coast to Asian markets. We have to get rid of the tanker ban. Let us get rid of and scrap the industrial carbon tax, which will make Canada more competitive on the world stage. The world needs what Canada has. We have it all under our feet. We just need the Liberal government to get out of the way so we can produce more and spread it to the world. We need to lower taxes, whether it is personal, business or corporate tax, so we can create a better investing environment so that investment comes back to Canada and does not flow out. Let us get the capital gains tax deferred, as in the plan the Conservatives have put forward. Any company reinvesting its earned capital gains will be able to defer its capital gains tax so we can get more people investing in more jobs and more equipment and have more investment back into Canada, not let it flow out as the Liberals have done over the last 10 years. The government waste seems endless, whether it is the $20 billion in Liberal-connected insiders or the $90-billion train boondoggle. Let us get rid of those. Let us get Canada back on track and make Canada the most profitable country in the world.”

• Echo ×4

  A repeated line

  “The governor of the Bank of Canada.”

  Said 4 times by 3 members since June 2.

  Every time it was said →

“I want the government to change its economic policies. Canada is the only G20 country in a recession, economic growth is dropping, and the government will not meet its budget targets.”

“moved: That, given that the Liberal government has driven Canada into the G20’s only recession, Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal both downgraded growth to below 1%, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s latest report shows slowing growth and a weakening fiscal outlook that shows a bigger-thanpromised deficit with only a 1% chance that the government will meet its fiscal anchor, the House call on the government to reverse the costly, inflationary policies that have given Canada the G20’s only recession.”

“The budget watchdog found the government left 7 billion dollars out of its deficit forecast. That will cost each Canadian 150 dollars. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister spent 200,000 dollars on food and wine for three flights while more people use food banks. Did he mislead Canadians, or is the country in a recession?”

“Madam Speaker, the only leader in the entire G20 to plunge their economy into a recession was exposed by the PBO for leaving $7 billion out of the deficit projections. That is an extra $150 out of each Canadian’s pocket. However, it does not matter to the guy who has sent a record number of Canadians into food banks, while he stuffs his face with $200,000 of crème brûlée and fine wines on just three taxpayer-funded flights. Was the Prime Minister technically misleading Canadians or are we in a full-blown Liberal recession?”

“The Prime Minister caused our recession while spending thousands of dollars on expensive meals on his flights. I want him to tell us how bad this recession really is.”

“Mr. Speaker, the only leader in the entire G20 to force their country into a recession is the Liberal Prime Minister. He forced the same 2.2 million Canadians to pay for his lavish 200,000 dollars’ worth of meals on just three flights. In fact, he spent more on salmon on those three flights than what an average family will spend on groceries for the entire year. He is forcing Canadians to sacrifice so that he can stuff his face with crème brûlée. Will he stand up on his two feet and tell us, is this a technical recession or a full-blown Liberal one?”

In response to a question from Warren Steinley

“The Prime Minister needs to show Canadians an economic plan. The government should cancel the carbon tax on businesses to lower everyday costs. It should also scrap laws and bans that stop us from building mines, pipelines, and other projects so we can sell our goods around the world.”

“Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely right. At a time when the Prime Minister needs to present a plan to Canadians for plunging them into this Liberal recession, he is hiding. In fact, just yesterday, he did the whole Biden point, which is pointing to where he was going when asked a question and just walking that way. What he needs to do is present a plan. My colleagues started off by saying the Liberals copied our plan when we said to axe the carbon tax. That is where they started. Let us put some other solutions in front of them right now: cancel the industrial carbon tax; bring down the cost of food and everyday life; cancel all the antidevelopment laws that the Liberal government put in place that do not let a new pipeline, a new mine, a new dam or any infrastructure get built; cancel Bill C-69; get rid of the tanker ban, Bill C-48, and my colleague from Calgary has a bill currently in the House so we can get our product not just to the West Coast, but off the west coast into the Asian markets; and get rid of the industrial carbon tax so that we can make Canada more competitive. The world needs what Canada has. We just need the Liberal government to get out of the way.”

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  Reply to a debate question

  Relevance 98 of 100

  Of this reply, 97% addressed the question or point raised.

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In response to a question from Mark Gerretsen

“Liberal policies are hurting Canadians. Millions of people must use food banks, and many are losing their jobs or cannot afford groceries. Conservatives are standing up for these people.”

“Madam Speaker, let me humble that out-of-touch, mega Liberal. After 11 years of this incompetent Liberal government, no one is giddy anymore. No one is excited anymore. No one has anything to smile about. The 2.2 million Canadians waiting in a food bank line are not giddy. The dad who just lost his job because of incompetent Liberal policies is not excited and is not giddy. The mom who has to put food back because she cannot afford it this week is not giddy. Conservatives are standing up for those Canadians because of bad Liberal policies that drove us into a recession, drove record numbers of people into the food bank and made more people food-insecure today than we have ever seen in this country before. That is what Conservatives are standing up for.”

• Answered
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  Reply to a debate question

  Relevance 92 of 100

  Of this reply, 95% addressed the question or point raised.

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“Canada is in a recession, and our economy is the worst in the G7. People cannot afford food or housing, and many are losing their jobs. I want the Prime Minister to present a plan to undo his government's economic policies.”

“moved: That the House recognize that the Liberal Prime Minister has given Canada the: (i) only economy in recession in the G7, (ii) worst household debt in the G7, (iii) worst housing costs in the G7, (iv) second highest unemployment in the G7, a third higher than in the United States; accordingly, the House call on the Liberal Prime Minister to immediately present a plan to reverse all the economic policies of the Liberal government which have given Canada the G7’s worst economy. He said: Mr. Speaker, I am going to be splitting my time with my great friend, and a decent hockey player, the member for Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley. Where is this Prime Minister? He has been hiding, ducking and dodging since Friday morning. This is the guy who was supposed to be a master negotiator, the guy who would get a deal done. He said he was the guy who would get Canada back on track, and he said he was the man with the plan. However, it all turned out to be a sham at the end of the day because on Friday morning, Canadians got the devastating news of something that they have already been feeling in the last 10 years under the incompetent Liberal government: Canada is in a full-blown Liberal recession. In fact, this Liberal Prime Minister is the only leader in the entire G7 to drive the economy into a full-blown recession. All of the other G7 countries face the exact same external pressures and the exact same tariffs. Why is it that this Prime Minister, who was supposed to be the guy, plunged our economy into a recession? In fact, in the entire OECD, Canada is one of only two countries that are in a recession now. Liberal pundits and their paid media keep saying this is just a technical recession. What is a technical recession? This full-blown Liberal recession meets the criteria with two consecutive quarters in a shrinking economy, but let us look at the time since this Prime Minister took power. In three out of the four quarters since he became Prime Minister, the economy has shrunk. Business investment has declined for five straight quarters and $20 billion of net investment has fled the country since he became Prime Minister. Just in the first three months of this year, 120,000 jobs are gone and 48,000 of those people are still looking for work. This Prime Minister delivered to Canada the second-worst unemployment rate in the entire G7. He is the worst when it comes to housing costs. In the entire G7, Canada, under this Prime Minister, is the worst when it comes to household debt. Let us dig into that a bit. What does this recession mean? It may be technical to the paid media, but in Canadian terms, it is the single mom who has to put groceries back because she cannot afford them or she has to buy in portions every week because the cost of living has skyrocketed under the Liberals. Including food costs and housing costs, everyday life is more expensive because of Liberal taxes and the failure of Liberal policies. It is the dad in Windsor who has lost his job. He is one of the 120,000 people who, in the first three months of this year under the Liberal government, lost their job. He has to sit around the dinner table explaining to the kids how many things they cannot do over the summer and how many vacations they cannot have because he is more worried about how he is going to pay the bills, pay the mortgage or rent and put food on that table. It is the mom who just got laid off and was barely hanging on. It could be one of the majority of Canadians who are just $200 away from insolvency. It could be one of those 2.2 million Canadians who are waiting in a food bank line every single month, and that number might even go up now because of the job losses under the current government. This Prime Minister sold himself to be something different. He said he would not be like the previous guy. He is actually worse, so he is right in one sense. Not only is he spending more, if one can believe that. He doubled the deficit that Justin Trudeau left. Then, he corrected himself in the update and became the second-worst as well, having the second-worst deficit in Canadian history outside COVID. That means more costs, more debt and more taxes on Canadians. It is more of the same and it is all on the Canadian credit card. He does not care. This guy is better at going around and shaking a lot of hands, signing a bunch of fake papers and jet-setting around the world. However, it does not just stop at jet-setting around the world. He makes sure he has the finest meals on those planes. In fact, he just recently spent $200,000 on fine dining on those plane rides. While Canadians are lining up in record numbers at food banks, and the food banks are even running out of food now, the Prime Minister gets to live lavishly, jet-setting around the world, pretending he is doing something. After all that showboating and all of that show, at the end of the day, he has plunged Canada’s economy into a full-blown Liberal recession. There are families who are affected and who had been affected before. In fact, in the business community, for consecutive quarters, there are more businesses closing in Canada than are opening. Business insolvencies are up. People are starting to miss their mortgage and credit card payments. The cost of everyday life has only gotten worse under the incompetent Liberal Prime Minister. In fact, if we look at debt loads, Canada has the highest debt load in the entire G7. Because of Liberal policies, the costs of food and housing are way up, and just those two pieces alone now make up about 120% of one person’s income. That means someone’s entire paycheque gets eaten up and then they have to either borrow, or put on credit, for food or other essentials. Then, that just piles up, and they start missing payments, which is exactly what is happening now. The number of defaults, delinquencies and insolvencies are all up. We have not seen some of these numbers since 2009, when we literally had a global financial crisis, and the difference back then was that we had a really responsible Conservative government that knew where to spend money and that knew how to create jobs at the time. We never saw an inflation crisis the last time this happened. I do not remember an inflation crisis. I do not remember interest rates spiking at the highest and fastest rate in Canadian history. That medal goes to the incompetent Liberal government, because all it does is spend, spend, spend, because it does not mean anything to the government. The Prime Minister is more concerned about his banker, bondholder and Brookfield buddies than he is about the average everyday Canadian. In fact, he is the same Prime Minister who sold the illusion that he was the guy who was going to deal with Donald Trump. He was all “elbows up”. Now everything is down, including our economy. We are in a recession, and now the Prime Minister is on team Trump. In fact, now he is parroting Donald Trump. Now it is “make America great again”. However, I ask, “What about Canada?” We might as well get the Prime Minister a MAGA hat. What we are asking for today is that the incompetent Liberal Prime Minister present a plan, stop hiding and come out of the witness protection program. He is supposed to be leading this G7 country, the same one that he has driven into a recession. He must tell Canadians what his plan is. Conservatives have a plan. If the Liberals want a plan that will help us get out of this mess that they created, they can take our plan and take credit for it. They can put their stamp on it, and at least Canadians would have a future that is more safe and more affordable. Conservatives would end the antidevelopment laws that the Liberals passed, like Bill C-69 and Bill C-48, which does not let our product leave the west coast and does not let pipelines get built. We would get rid of the industrial carbon tax, which makes the cost of everything more expensive. We would lower taxes for individuals, small businesses and corporations, so we can create the business environment that we need. We would introduce a law so that, any time a Canadian company reinvests its capital gains in Canada, they would not have to pay those capital gains taxes. They could defer them, so we could create better jobs and a better economy right here in Canada. Of course, we would put an end to all the Liberal waste: the billions and billions of dollars that go to Liberal-connected insiders in consultant fees because the Liberal ministers are too incompetent to create plans of their own, and the boondoggle of a project that is Alto. The government, for a project that has not even started yet, has already shovelled out millions in bonuses. We would put an end to this Liberal corruption. The Liberals can take our plan. Let us get working for Canadians together. It is time for the Prime Minister to come out of hiding and present a plan.”

• Personal attack
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  Speech on a motion

  Respect 98 of 100

  This statement targeted a person rather than their actions or views: “more concerned about his banker, bondholder and Brookfield buddies”.

  See full analysis →
• Echo ×5

  A repeated line

  “We would get rid of the industrial carbon tax.”

  Said 5 times by 5 members since May 7.

  Every time it was said →

“Canada is the only country in the G7 in a recession, and we lost 112,000 jobs early this year. I want the Prime Minister to explain why our economy is doing worse than the rest of the G7.”

“Mr. Speaker, the grand illusionist, the Liberal Prime Minister, is the only leader in the entire G7 who has driven their economy into a recession. Liberals and their paid media want Canadians to believe this full-blown Liberal recession is just a technical one, but there is nothing technical about the single mom who is putting back groceries who just lost her job. In fact, the Prime Minister lost 112,000 jobs in the first three months of this year and gave Canada the second-worst unemployment in the entire G7. If this truly is about global problems, why is Canada the only country in the entire G7 in a recession?”

• Personal attack
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  Opposition question in Question Period

  Respect 72 of 100

  This statement targeted a person rather than their actions or views: “the grand illusionist, the Liberal Prime Minister”.

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• Echo ×16

  A repeated line

  “Why is Canada the only G7 country in a recession?”

  Said 16 times by 13 members since May 29.

  Every time it was said →

In response to a question from Claude DeBellefeuille

“I want the government to drop the tax on alcohol. High taxes and rules are forcing restaurants to close, and we need to help them stay open.”

“Mr. Speaker, the translation was a bit behind, so I hope I heard the question right. If the question is about the excise tax, Conservatives, from day one, every single year, put forward motions at the finance committee and I have written letters to the finance minister saying there should be zero tax on these beverages and that should be frozen. At a time when restaurants are closing more than ever before because of high Liberal taxes and the high bureaucracy and regulatory burden the Liberal government has created, we need to do as much as we can, not just for the people producing the beverages but also for the restaurants and the knock-off effects after that. The Liberal government is obsessed with taxing businesses to death. It needs to reverse course so that restaurants are opening more than they are closing in this country.”

In response to a question from John-Paul Danko

“The Prime Minister needs to remove the carbon tax on steel. This government is responsible for the pain Canadians are facing, including high food bank use and a bad permit system. The member should apologize.”

“First of all, Mr. Speaker, the member can tell his Prime Minister that steel is still used around the world. His Prime Minister does not believe anyone even uses steel. Second of all, he can tell his Prime Minister to remove the industrial carbon tax that gets put on that steel. The member, in particular, is completely out of touch. His government is completely out of touch. It is his government that has caused the pain to Canadians. Donald Trump did not impose a carbon tax on Canadians. Donald Trump is not the one who made Canada’s permitting process the second-worst in the entire OECD. Donald Trump is not the one who is sending more and more Canadians to food banks. It is the out-of-touch Liberal government, and he should apologize for that.”

“I do not want this budget bill to pass. The government is spending too much money and running huge deficits. This makes life too expensive for Canadians. Groceries, gas, and homes cost too much, and more people are using food banks. The government has made it too hard to build things like mines and pipelines, and their taxes drive business away. Conservatives would cut taxes, stop high spending, and get big energy and building projects started again.”

“Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the fine member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman. The costliest budget in Canadian history outside of COVID is back to haunt us once again. This is the biggest deficit outside of COVID that the government dropped on top of Canadians, and it is back. It is back to traumatize them once again. Canadians are visiting food banks at record numbers. Insolvencies are up and Canadians just cannot afford the cost of living. With the crisis that the current Liberal government created, Canadians are being reminded once again of how irresponsible the Liberal government is with Canada’s finances, and the tough position that the Liberal government put Canadians in. In fact, in the current Liberal government, this out-of-touch Prime Minister says that affordability is the best it has been in a decade. By every measure in every Canadian’s life today, that is simply untrue. One just has to go to the grocery store. This Prime Minister admits he does not do his own groceries, so it does not really matter to him. When people go to the grocery store or fill up their gas tank, or just in everyday life, everything has gotten expensive. When we dig deep into why that has happened, we see that ever since the Liberals formed government, everything got worse. The economy got worse. Crime got worse in this country. This did not happen by accident or by some global forces, which the Liberal government always likes to blame. This happened because of changes that the Liberal government itself made. Before the Liberal government, when we had a sound, responsible, strong Conservative government, the middle class was one of the strongest in the entire world. In fact, there used to be articles written back then saying that the American dream had moved to Canada. However, it did not take long for the Liberal government to come in and destroy all that great work, and then the Canadian dream went away. When I was growing up, it was not uncommon to have one household income to run a house. People could afford a house back then, too. These failed Liberal policies, these out-of-control deficits, changing laws to make it easier for repeat offenders to get out, and all the bad economic policies that the Liberals imposed on Canada, which drove out $1 trillion of Canadian investment to the U.S., ended up making Canada more unsafe and more unaffordable than ever before. It was this Liberal Prime Minister who was advising the then prime minister, Justin Trudeau, that the interest rates would be low for a long time, so people should go out and buy and spend as much as they want. After giving that advice, he gave other pieces of advice that completely made Canadians’ lives miserable. That was to make sure that the Liberals spent and racked up deficits on Canadians. In fact, there was the most growth in the deficit and the most spending that ever happened in Canadian history at that time. Canadians’ bank accounts were wiped out and their cabinets were wiped out of food. That is why we now see 2.2 million Canadians going to food banks. The cost of housing has gone up. The cost of food has gone up. The cost of gas has gone up. All of that is because of Liberal taxes and Liberal policies. Canadians are working harder than ever now. In fact, who is using those food banks is becoming more and more concerning. It is now people in households of two income earners who are going into food bank lines, because their incomes are still the same, but everything else has gone up. The cost of housing has gone up because of inflation that the current government created. Rents skyrocketed under the Liberals. There are food taxes, including the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel standard. There are all these other things. Driving out investment also drove out competition, which would have helped bring down the cost of food and fuel. Whereas the out-of-touch Liberal government only took off 10¢ per litre, a third of the tax for a third of the year, Conservatives were calling for all fuel taxes to be removed for all of the year. That would have helped save families 25¢ per litre, or $1,200 for the whole year. That would have been real savings. Conservatives would also completely remove this carbon tax in the form of a clean fuel standard that the Liberals implemented. When we look at the economy, $1 trillion has left. Why did it leave? Let us look at some of the projects that could have been built, but were not, under the government because of its radical eco ideology. Nothing is getting built. In fact, the Liberals have put up even more barriers so that nothing could be built in the last 11 years. Bill C-69, the “no new pipelines” bill, ensures nothing can be built in this country, whether it is a pipeline, mine or dam. In fact, when I talked to a mining company in B.C., they said that it takes about 18 years just to get a permit approved, and that is a maybe. What Canadian would want to invest in a project like a mine that may get built in 18 years? Then the Liberals put up Bill C-48, the tanker ban, which does not let our product leave the west coast and go to the Asian markets. They introduced the industrial carbon tax, which makes Canada less competitive, but also makes the cost of the goods that Canadians buy more expensive: food, fuel and any other goods. The Prime Minister says that no one uses steel. He is obviously out of touch. Canadians are using steel; it is in almost everything. When someone is building a home, there is steel in that home. It is also in cars and a lot of other goods. Steel is very much being used, yet the Liberals put an industrial carbon tax on it. That is the hidden tax that, at the end of the day, whoever is buying the goods has to pay. Canadians are paying it. It is bad, reckless Liberal policy. Canadians are stuck with the bill, which is why we see record food bank usage. When we look at Canadian households, one in four now are food-insecure. These are not stats that we heard about before; not until the Liberal government took over. Right now, Canadian households are the most indebted in the G7 because the cost of everything has gone up and, as I said, incomes have not moved at all. In fact, Canadian household debt has reached $2.6 trillion in Q4. For every dollar of disposable income that Canadians earn, they owe approximately $1.77. We are seeing delinquencies go up as well. In the first three months of the year, 1.4 million Canadians have missed a payment on a credit card or mortgage. Canadians are putting essentials, more and more, on their credit cards, and they are either putting everything else back on the shelves because they cannot afford it that week, or making really tough decisions they should not have to make. We need to turn that around. Under a Conservative government, we would get rid of these antidevelopment laws, including Bill C-69, Bill C-48 and the industrial carbon tax, so we could get many different projects up and going, including LNG, oil and gas, pipelines, mines and dams. Whatever they are, not only would Canada be more self-reliant, but we would create good jobs and a good economy. That would not only serve Alberta; that would help the unity crisis that the out-of-touch Liberal government has created. In fact, it would help Canada, and it could help the world because we could have our low-carbon energy in places that need it the most around the world. We would also cap government spending and the wasteful spending of the Liberal government. We would bring back the Canada that we all knew, where hard work would earn Canadians a good paycheque with low taxes. With that same paycheque, they should be able to afford groceries and a house in a safe neighbourhood. That is what a Conservative government will do when we come back.”

• Echo ×10

  A repeated line

  “Including the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel standard.”

  Said 10 times by 9 members since April 28.

  Every time it was said →

“I am asking everyone here to let me share my speaking time.”

“Mr. Speaker, before I get started, I just wanted to ask for unanimous consent to split my time.”

“I want to know who will choose the board members for the new debt fund. Will the finance minister be involved?”

“Mr. Chair, a board is to be appointed to the new debt fund that the finance minister has created. Who will appoint those board members, and will the finance minister be involved in that process?”