Fall Economic Statement: More Spending, More Waste, More Taxes, Less for You

Plus upcoming event in the riding, PBO report on EV factories, and more

Fall Economic Statement: More Spending, More Waste, More Taxes, Less for You

In late fall, federal governments in Canada in years past have provided an economic update to Parliament and Canadians on the state of our public finances. A ‘mini-budget’, if you will. This year, it looks grim. The NDP-Liberal Government tabled the update to the budget and it that can be summed up very simply: prices up, debt up, taxes up, unemployment up, and rates up. They are throwing another $20 billion for inflationary spending, with a $40 billion deficit expected this year. The only reason they’re able to spend more is because they are taking more from you, the taxpayer, with nearly $50 billion in new revenue from everyday Canadians, not from new corporate taxes or any other revenue streams they developed. Unemployment is set to rise nearly a full percentage point next year and tens of thousands more people could be out of work.

This was a false hope statement. To the Liberals, it is time to say, “time's up.” They have overseen an economy that has seen a record two million food bank visits in a single month. Unheard of in decades. Housing costs have doubled. Mortgage payments are 150% higher than they were before Trudeau. Rents are up significantly with residents reporting 20%, 30% and sometimes nearly 40% increases from landlords. Landlords are feeling the pinch of much higher mortgage payments and passing it on to their tenants. Violent crime is up 39%. Tent cities exist in almost every major city. Over 50 percent of Canadians are $200 or less away from going broke. Canadians renewing their mortgages at today's rates will see an increase anywhere from 2% to 6% or even higher. The IMF warns that Canada is the most at risk in the G7 for a mortgage default crisis. Business insolvencies have increased by 37 percent this year. Through all of this, further carbon tax increases are coming, as the Liberals continue to impose their 61 cent per litre tax plan across the nation. And the second carbon tax passing off as a revised clean fuel standard is going to push prices even higher.

A common-sense government, seeing the calamity they have brought about, would have taken measures to cut spending to reduce inflation, cut red tape to help businesses grow and houses to be built, and simply gotten out of the way. Instead, here is what they did. $15 billion into the “Apartment Construction Loan Program”, a rebrand of an existing program which has been a colossal failure, barely producing 1500 homes a year. They claim they will build 30,000 new rental units, working out to approximately $500,000 per apartment unit, which is above the purchase price for an apartment in numerous cities across the country. Further, they are spending an additional $1 billion “affordability-focused housing fund” that will hope to build 7,000 new homes by 2028. There is another $309.3 million for the "Co-operative Housing Development Program." …. And that is it. These are spending announcements and we need to see results. The programs they are doubling down on keeping failing. It would have been better to incentivize worth a carrot and stick approach municipalities by withholding federal gas tax monies transfer or offering bonus dollars to the municipalities that exceed construction targets in their areas. Tie it all to federal infrastructure dollars so taxpayer dollars chase the success stories across our country. More top down from Ottawa just isn't going to do it.

But be aware of the trick they played: the majority of these housing policies will only be in effect starting in 2025, potentially the year of the next federal election. It is yet another one of their usual tactics. I was one of the first MPs to warn Canadians back in 2019 about the Liberal government’s signature housing promise boondoggle-in-the-making at the time, the First-Time Home Buyer’s Incentive (FTHBI). They earmarked $1 billion to supposedly help 100,000 Canadians buy their first home. Years after, it has helped less than 20% of that figure. This new funding is yet another election gimmick, one that will cost much more and do nothing to make meaningful progress towards the 5.8 million homes Canada needs by 2030, according to the government's own housing agency.

Let’s further put some of this spending into perspective. The South Health Campus, the hospital in Auburn Bay, cost $1.3 billion. Looking at health care costs, Alberta spent an estimated $38.7 billion on health care in 2022. A new frigate built under the Canadian Surface Combatant program, even after cost overruns and delays, will cost $5.6 billion. The Liberal government, with their $20 billion in new spending, could have built 15 new hospitals, funded over half of Alberta’s health care costs for a whole year, or improved our defence capabilities in a more dangerous world by immediately fully funding 3 frigates for development. These are the choices governments must make with finite financial resources given to it from taxpayers. Money is not unlimited. With interest rates at a 20-year high, the interest on all the money they used to fund their massive spending sprees and high deficits has spiked from $20.3 billion in 2020-21 to $46.5 billion this fiscal year. This will shoot up to over $60 billion by 2028, according to the Liberal government’s own numbers. Given their shaky history with the numbers, expect that to be much higher. If you add this year’s debt charges, that is 51 new hospitals, nearly twice the total cost of Alberta’s health care spending last year, and 12 frigates, 3 away from finishing the CSC program entirely. The debt costs this year are $20 billion higher than the amount they allocated for the Canada Child Benefit, another rebrand of a policy instituted under the Harper government. Next year, Canadians will spend more money on servicing Trudeau’s debt than on healthcare transfers to the provinces. 

Inflation will get higher, interest rates will remain at their pace or increase if the massive spending continues, prices will get higher, and quality of life will get poorer. The future appears even grimmer. In the next three years, $900 billion of mortgages will be renewed. Many of these households will face massive shocks in the rapid increase to their mortgage payments, all thanks to this Liberal government. After 8 years, it’s clearer than ever that this prime minister is not worth the cost, and this false hope statement does nothing to help residents of Calgary Shepard.

I am voting against the mini budget and no confidence in the NDP-Liberal government. The only way to undo the damage the Liberals have done is by reversing course and doing the opposite. The common-sense Conservative plan will axe the tax, balance the budget, and build homes and not bureaucracy to bring home lower prices for Canadians.

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Holodomor Memorial on Parliament Hill

Holodomor Memorial Day is commemorated on the fourth Saturday of November every year to remember the victims and survivors of the Soviet genocide of Ukrainians by famine in the 1930s. I joined many on Parliament Hill this week at the Holodomor Memorial to honour the victims of the Holodomor and condemn this evil Soviet crime against humanity.

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PBO reveals EV subsidies will cost another $5.8 billion

Yet another Liberal falsehood unmasked. The independent Parliamentary Budget Officer published a new report looking into the Liberal government’s EV battery subsidies and found that the provincial and federal subsidies will cost $5.8 billion more than the official government projections, as the government failed to take tax treatment of subsidies into account. This brings the total cost of the EV battery subsidies to Northvolt, Volkswagen and Stellantis-LGES to $43.6 billion, rather than the announced costs of $37.7 billion, of which $26.9 billion (62 per cent) in costs will be incurred by the federal government. Another blow to taxpayers as government spending increases and increases. This is on top of the news that up to 2,500 jobs at 2 of the worksites are to be given to foreign replacement workers from overseas instead of to those legally allowed to work in Canada. Read the full report below.

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Auburn Bay Parade of Lights

As Christmas approaches, I welcome all constituents to take part in the Auburn Bay Parade Lights this weekend on Saturday, November 25. I will be happy to take questions and listen to your concerns at the hot chocolate stand I host there every year. Check out their Facebook page below.