Fall 2023 Recap of Parliament

An out-of-touch government continues its out-of-touch policies.

Hello all, welcome back to Resuming Debate’s final newsletter of the year. I know, this is a few days late from the regular Friday email, but I took extra time to review the work of Parliament this past Fall and see where the NDP-Liberal government spent the majority of its time.

Based on the e-mails, survey mailer responses, phone calls and direct messages on social media, a strong majority of residents in Calgary Shepard want me to spend my time debating, voting on and addressing the cost-of-living crisis. Whether it’s the high cost of groceries, the rising cost of our home heating bills, or the pain the pumps we are all feeling, residents want relief from their governments when it comes to purchasing the basic necessities. However, that’s not where the NDP and Liberals MPs spent their time over the past 51 days of the Fall session where Parliament met to debate bills and spending plans. Out of the 51 days available to the federal government to address the cost-of-living crisis, I found only 11 days spent directly talking about the issues constituents found most important. Every session, opposition parties receive a few assigned days called ‘supply days’ or ‘opposition days’, where they set the subject and agenda for one day of debate in Parliament. Out of the 5 days given to Conservatives, we spent every moment on pressing the government on abolishing the carbon tax or cancelling parts of it, such as through C-234, a bill that would have given Canadian farmers a carbon tax break worth $1 billion which wouldn’t be passed on to consumers. It is baffling that the Liberal government would not direct more parliamentary time to addressing the cost-of-living crisis and the numbers bear it out. The independent parliamentary budget officer found in his March 30, 2023 report that every Alberta family will be paying another $2,773 in carbon taxes, and 60% of Albertans will be paying more in carbon taxes than they receive in rebates. That becomes 100% of Albertans paying more in carbon taxes than offset by rebates once the carbon tax reaches $170 per carbon tonne by 2030.

There are several Conservative private member’s bills waiting for further debate and that offer a mix of solutions for the cost-of-living crisis, as well as addressing problems that Canadians have concerns about. Bill C-288 was passed by MPs and would compel internet service providers to provide accurate and transparent information about internet speeds. The key anti-carbon tax law Bill C-234 being debated from Conservative MP Ben Lobb is now returning from the Senate with poison pill amendments. These will be updated in the spring session of Parliament and C-234, in short. would exempt Canadian farmers from the carbon tax, bringing a great deal of price relief at our grocery stores. MP Chris Lewis has his private member’s bill C-241 waiting in the Senate for final debates that would extend income tax deductions for travel expenses to tradespersons treating them equally to professionals who currently enjoy this tax relief. It’s a good, common-sense idea to allow tradespeople an easier time to work across Canada. Another pair of laws affecting farm and agri-business, C-275 and C-280, would better protect family farms from trespass protestors and the latter would expand better financial protection for fresh fruit and vegetable farmers to ensure they get paid during bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings from those doing business with them. This common-sense legislative work is a testament to the team of Conservative MPs on Parliament Hill dedicated to ensuring that the concerns of our constituents are addressed.

I heard clearly from residents that they want tax relief, lower household bills and to spend my time focused on the cost-of-living crisis. At the cost-of-living townhall I held in October shortly after Thanksgiving, I heard these concerns clearly and have been advocating for solutions since then. In the latest NDP-Liberal budget 2023 and the fall economic update, we saw higher spending (over $20 billion of new spending), a $40 billion deficit, and a worsening economic situation for Canada that will have deep, long-term impacts on residents. The spending plans of the Liberal government is neither responsible nor sustainable. Over the past few months, Conservatives have advocated for axing the carbon tax, proposing real cost savings in government while showing off government waste that needs cutting (the $1 billion Green Slush Fund and the near $50 million ArriveCan app as two examples) as starting points. We may have two more years to wait for a federal election to come. In between now and then, we are going to be fleshing out our proposals in Parliament for how a Conservative government would balance the budget, where we would save in government spending and how our signature Pay-as-you-Go public budgeting system would work (the latter forcing government ministers wanting to spend to have to find $1 of cuts for every $1 of new spending).

But it bears reminding that as Canadians enter 2024, the Liberal government strays further and further away from being focused on providing relief from the higher cost of living caused by carbon taxes. Take housing, for example. After eight years, this Liberal government is still falling short in meeting the residential construction needs of Canadians with construction completions falling to historic lows. Affordable housing or housing that’s affordable simply doesn’t exist in most of our cities, and the cost of rent continues to go up every month. Now, recent data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the federal government’s housing agency, revealed that the pace of housing starts in Canada fell by 22% in November, going from 272,264 in October to 212,624 a month later. The two largest metro areas that are also the most unaffordable areas, Toronto and Vancouver, saw starts drop by 39%. This drop is part of a larger trend, as housing starts have declined by 8% since 2022, despite the Liberal government claims that they are taking steps to address the housing crisis. The CHMC has told the Prime Minister that they need to build 3.5 million extra homes by 2030 to restore a reasonable and affordable housing market. Yet, earlier this month, the CEO of the CHMC admitted that “there is no plan” from the federal government to fix this. The Bank of Canada’s housing affordability index just hit its highest level in 41 years. The trend is in the wrong direction and no positive results from any of the federal government’s actions on housing in the past 8 years.

Our economy faces more blows from Liberal policy. Another plan was recently re-announced, an electric vehicle mandate. According to new rules to be instituted by the environment minister, all new vehicles sold by 2035 in Canada are required to be electric. This would apply to light-duty vehicles like SUVs and cars, but also trucks. Yet another example of how out of touch they are. There's a very serious risk that this will mean massive new costs for consumers and prevent lower-income Canadians from being able to afford a car. Electric vehicles do not make sense everywhere in the country, especially for many living in rural and northern Canada with a lack of EV charging infrastructure. Back in 2021, I did a video explaining how the government wasted $1.4 million on ill-planned and poorly executed EV charging stations in Alberta. Some of these stations they claimed to have funded did not even exist or were simply part of a future plan to be built. Now, we’re expected to believe that a country-wide EV charging infrastructure can be built by 2035 to adjust for this new policy. The single biggest thing that Canada could do to support the adoption of electric vehicles is to mine the critical minerals necessary to build them. After eight years of Trudeau, none of this is being done and there are yet again no positive results from the Liberal government.

I know that is a lot of bad news and many Liberal shortcomings I have highlighted. But hope is around the corner and Conservatives on Parliament Hill will continue to keep our focus on the cost-of-living crisis. You’ve given me my marching orders in the past few months with your emails, letters, phone calls and direct messages on social media. For now, I want to take this moment to wish all residents a merry Christmas and happy holidays. As the New Year approaches, let’s also reflect on the difficult year we have had as a country and the promises a new year can bring.

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Resuming Debate returns on February 2nd. Wishing all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!