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The Economy

During Question Period on the economy, Conservative members raised the rising cost of food, saying a Thanksgiving dinner costs 10% more than last year and pointing to record food bank use in Saskatoon, and asked the government to acknowledge an affordability crisis after eleven years in office. Liberal members replied that government supports like the grocery benefit are helping families, noted the MP for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake voted against measures benefiting her constituents, and said the Conservatives offer no constructive ideas and would cut child care, dental care and child benefits, while pointing to strong business investment and foreign investment.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

6 statements

Laila Goodridge

Conservative

Linked statement

“Thanksgiving dinner costs 10% more this year, after going up 10% last year. Many families cannot afford it. I want to know if the government even cares.”

  • A repeated line

    “Canadians are struggling to put food on the table.”

    Said 14 times by 12 members since April 27.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Canadian families are facing their most expensive Thanksgiving yet, up 10% from last year, which was up 10% from the year before. Far too many Canadians know the feeling of watching the grocery store till tick up faster and faster each time they go and wondering how they are going to make ends meet. Families are already struggling to put food on the table. Now, even sitting down to a Thanksgiving family dinner is out of reach for too many. Thanksgiving should be a time for families to come together, yet they are wondering how they are going to make this work. Does the Liberal government even care that families cannot afford a Thanksgiving this year?

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Adam van Koeverden

Liberal
“The member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake voted against grocery money for over 20,000 of her constituents and against a pay raise for local soldiers. I want her to work with us on making life more affordable.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 10 of 100

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

    See full analysis
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the real question is what we are doing collectively in this House, with the abilities we have, to answer those calls for a little bit of help. The member of Parliament for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake might want to explain to her 20,772 constituents, who received $7.9 million through the groceries and essentials benefit, that she did not support it. She could also sit down with some of the military members, seeing as Cold Lake is a large military community. She also voted against a pay increase for those military members. We have a chance in the House to work on affordability. The member could get on board.

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Laila Goodridge

Conservative
“Canadian families cannot afford food, and they do not need the Liberals lecturing them. I want the government to admit that Canadians are struggling and life is too expensive after 11 years of Liberal rule.”

  • Opposition question in Question Period

    Signal 44 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Canadian families are struggling, and what they do not need is another Liberal lecture about how good things are and how they should be grateful for everything they have. Thanksgiving is coming up, and families cannot afford to put food on the table. That should concern every single one of the Liberals, yet here they are defending their record. Will the government admit that after 11 years of Liberal governments, Canadians are struggling and we are in an affordability crisis?

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Peter Fragiskatos

Liberal
“Conservatives offer no helpful ideas. They want to cut child care, dental care, and child benefits. Canadians face challenges, but our economy is strong. Businesses just promised $500 billion in new investment here, and foreign investment is at record highs.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Signal 35 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

    See full analysis
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the member has an opportunity on the floor of the House of Commons to offer constructive ideas. I do not hear that on the opposite side, not from the member and not from any Conservative member. Yes, there are Canadians going through challenges. We should be there for them every step of the way. What do the Conservatives want to do? They want to get rid of the Canada child benefit, day care support and dental support, all these various benefits. However, let us take it out of the political realm and look to the private sector. At the investment summit, $500 billion of investment and financing was committed. We have seen the record foreign direct investment—

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Kevin Waugh

Conservative
“Thanksgiving dinner costs ten percent more this year, and food bank visits in Saskatoon hit a record high in August. Liberal policies are making everything more expensive. I want the government to admit that Canada is in an affordability crisis.”

  • A repeated line

    “Canada is officially in an affordability crisis.”

    Said 8 times by 7 members since October 8.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Thanksgiving weekend is ahead, but unfortunately many Canadians will go without because the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal is 10% more expensive this year than it was last year. Liberal policies are driving up the cost of everything. In August alone, the Saskatoon Food Bank had 26,000 visits, an all-time high. Will the government admit that after 11 years of Liberals, Canada is officially in an affordability crisis?

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Buckley Belanger

Liberal
“Conservative MPs in Saskatchewan have made no progress for 11 years. Our government created the grocery benefit, and we have helped thousands of families in Saskatchewan.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 36 of 100

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

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  • Government answer in Question Period

    Signal 30 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

    See full analysis

  • A repeated line

    “We introduced the Canada groceries and essentials benefit.”

    Said 29 times by 19 members since April 23.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, our visionary yet humble House leader on this side of the assembly asked me to come up with some new material when describing the performance of the Saskatchewan Conservative caucus. He said we needed to find something else beyond “10 long years”. Here it goes. For 11 long years, we have seen no progress made by the Saskatchewan Conservative caucus. On this side of the House, we have done the groceries and essentials benefit. We have helped thousands of families in Saskatchewan, and we will continue to do so.

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