No New Taxes and No Tax Hikes

Plus stillbirth prevention, just the facts about a CBC article, and more...

No New Taxes and No Tax Hikes

Sharing a card from Riverbend constituents for the new conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre. He appreciates the prayers and the support.

The Liberal government’s overspending is contributing to the cost of living crisis. They have been consistent in offering no real plan to tackle the issue. As groceries, home heating and house prices soar, the Liberal government refuses to offer a medium to long-term plan for Canadians who are, in some instances, just hanging on. Food bank use has been up, some even skipping meals because they can’t afford it. How far we’ve gone from being the envy of the world as a country since 2015.

Despite all this, the Liberals are moving full-steam ahead with their plan on increasing taxes, including the payroll tax, on January 1st. In April, another tax increase on gas, groceries and home heating. This week, I voted on a motion to stop further tax increases. I believe that you deserve a break on taxes. Liberals, NDP and the Bloc disagree.

We are early in the parliamentary sitting of the fall session, but we will not stop being your voice against the Liberals tax and spend agenda. We will continue to fight to keep money in your pocket.

Doing More to Reduce Stillbirths

On Tuesday, I hosted Baby Kicks, Flutter Care and Baby’s Breath, to raise awareness of stillbirth and pregnancy loss. We heard stories of the impact of stillbirth on moms, dads and the family at large. Thank you to all parliamentarians who joined to listen the powerful personal stories of grief. This is an issue that is close to my heart. Let’s ensure that Canada does more to potentially reduce by up to one third the current average of 3,000 stillbirths in Canada per year.

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Just the Facts: Senior Writer at the CBC Ignores All Conservative Private Member’s Bills

The CBC is at it again. A senior writer with the CBC wrote an article about the worthiness of private member’s bills and the debates that it causes even when its doomed to failure. The hook for the article was a recent legislative initiative from a New Democrat MP to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. This policy proposal forms part of the platforms of the NDP and the Green Party so it’s truly a private MP’s initiative as much as a party idea and it was solidly defeated, 246 to 77. Additionally, the CBC writer failed to note how reckless it was to lower the voting age in the middle of the redrawing of federal maps across Canada and the apportionment of new seats in our federal Parliament. Why? Because lowering the voting age could add as much as two million new voters to the rolls which logically changes the distribution of our ridings across Canada – its logical, 16 and 17 year olds are not evenly distributed across Canada. According to research I request from the Library of Parliament, the highest concentration of 16 and 17 year olds are in Alberta and Ontario, exclusively. There are many other process questions and I covered them in my substack here.

The CBC writer totally ignored the recent passage of conservative MP Michael Cooper’s mental health for jurors private member’s bill that came from the Senate and had the shorthand S-206. It follows Parliament’s debate on C-417 from 2019 that had nearly identical language and the same purpose. It was not worth a mention with the CBC. In fact, even my own private member’s bill to expand bereavement leave for grieving parents that I had worked on since late 2018 and known in this Parliament as C-211 that was incorporated into government legislation C-3 and passed right before Christmas. In fact, it was widely covered here, here, and here. It was a celebrated occasion of cross party cooperation to pass a private member’s bill. In the previous Parliament, conservative MPs passed no less than 5 private member’s bills from start to finish. They included in the 43rd Parliament, fixing the tax treatment of family business transfer from one generation to the next, adding to the tax return the organ donation option, single game sports betting, a reduction of recidivism framework, and critical illness leave with a bereavement option. Lastly, an initiative by conservative MP Scot Davidson from Ontario passed the House of Commons and was stuck in the Senate when the federal election was called in August 2021 that would have banned the export of recyclable plastic waste and it was celebrated broadly as a good idea. None of these ideas were conservative policy outside of having been included in the election platform because they were championed by individual MPs. The only thing they had in common was that they were all initiated by conservative MPs and it seems to the CBC that is reason enough to ignore it.

The CBC ignores conservative private member’s bills and legislative initiatives once again demonstrated an inherent bias. And that’s just the facts.

Happy Thanksgiving

I’d like to wish you a happy thanksgiving. Let’s take the time to reflect on the good we have in front of us, even in seasons of difficulty. My newsletter Resuming Debate will return on October 21st.