The Liberal Budget Update Gets an F
Plus Auditors to Investigate ArriveCan, the Middle Class Tax Cut myth and more...
The Liberal Budget Update Gets an F
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. This year, it looks grim. There is little good news for Canadians worried about runaway inflation and the rising cost of our groceries, home heating, gasoline and diesel, and everyday goods. Many announcements in the Fall Economic Statement are re-hashed from initiatives forced upon the Liberal government by their coalition partner, the NDP. This includes the GST rebate passed in C-30 earlier this Parliament, which conservatives supported, and the Liberal boutique tax credit masquerading as a dental plan, as well as the rental benefit $500 top-up that has high administration fees, and many hurdles stopping widespread and easy adoption. Those two latter measures were opposed by Conservatives on Parliament Hill in C-31 which, is now in the Senate for consideration. The total cost of the new Liberal spending announced this Fall is $11 billion over the next few years. This is over and above the new spending announced in the spring budget, 2.3% of the total budget. This is all newly borrowed money during quickly rising interest rates.
Over the lifetime of this budgetary update, the federal government expects to bring in an extra $60 billion in revenue by its sixth year. The federal government also expects to spend double on servicing costs connected to the national debt. The federal debt will rise to $1.2 trillion by 2028 and that excludes government-owned crown corporations from that total. The budget will not be balanced for the next 6 years. Next year’s deficit will be $36.4 billion. The following year will be a deficit of $30.6 billion. Inflation will continue unabated. The average family is expected to spend an extra $3,000 for the same groceries, the same heating and the same fuel. We know that heating bills are expected to go up between 50% to 100%. Nothing in the Liberal update addresses these coming problems. There are no downward spending adjustments or inflation-fighting measures in this financial update.
Yesterday, Canadians learned that the costly coalition of the NDP-Liberals will continue ahead with raising taxes, which means higher home heating bills, higher grocery costs, and higher fuel costs for everyone. We conservatives will be voting against these measures, and these coming votes on the Liberal Fall Economic Statement will be matters of confidence, so the government could fall if they lose any of these votes. After over $500 billion in spending over the past two years, the Parliamentary Budget Officer found over $205 billion in spending had nothing to do with responding to the pandemic. Even amongst the pandemic spending, there was a buffet of wasteful spending, wage subsidies for prisoners, paying some public sector workers to stay home, $54 million for the ArriveCan app that scandalously could have cost less than $250,000 and the WE Charity scandal for a failed youth work program. And those are just a few examples. In the previous year, the official audited financial statements of Canada showed that the deficit for the year prior came in at $90.2 billion which is the highest deficit since the Great Recession. Last year every citizen became responsible for another $2,373.68 per person in federal government debt. This is debt in their name. When the Trudeau Liberals said they borrowed and spent so Canadians wouldn’t have to; it was a fictional Liberal talking point.
The federal government is now spending 30% more than pre-pandemic. Are you getting 30% more government services than you were before? Are passports being processed 30% faster? Are the unemployed receiving their EI payments 30% faster? Is the phone call wait time to talk to a CRA representative 30% faster? We know it is not. To the residents of Calgary Shepard, you can count on me to oppose this latest costly and inflationary budget.
So what will conservatives do?
First, to stabilize the budget immediately we would introduce a Pay-As-You-Go spending accountability system. This has been used in the United States to balance the budget successfully between 1998 and 2002. Essentially it would require every new dollar of government spending to find one dollar in government savings. That’s what every Canadian family does today with their home budgets.
Second, we will stop the practice of financing public spending through cheap easy money policies out of the Bank of Canada. We will order an audit by the Auditor General of Canada of the Bank of Canada. The Liberals have had to bail out the Bank of Canada using taxpayer dollars as it’s losing billions in payments to major financial institutions to pay the interest on the bonds they issued. We are the only Western country facing this disastrous scenario.
Thirdly, we will make it easier to produce goods in Canada by taking steps such as removing the red tape and restrictions on using fertilizer on farms in Canada.
Fourth, we will speed up approvals and licensing at the federal level until it is the fastest in the world to make it easier for businesses to operate in Canada, attract new investments to start a mine, and build transportation infrastructure and new utilities.
Fifth, we will repeal Bill C-69 so that Canadians can once again build pipelines in Canada from coast to coast.
Sixth, we will cancel the Liberal carbon tax so that prices drop on everyday goods.
Seventh, we will tackle climate change by making renewables more affordable by making it easier and faster to start mines to extract lithium, graphite and other minerals to construct electric batteries. Next, we will make it easier to build nuclear power plants to power the energy transition to low carbon emitting energy sources like nuclear and make it easier to build hydroelectric dams once again.
And finally, we will reform the Canadian federal income tax system to ensure that no person is made worse off by choosing to work an extra hour instead of staying on government welfare. Government benefits are often means-tested and cut off people trying to work their way out by punishing them for working extra hours to better their lives. That’s wrong, and we will work hard to ensure this ends.
As always, I remain in your service.
Just The Facts: Middle Class Tax Cut, A Myth
For years now, the Liberal government has been misleading Canadians on the so-called middle class tax cut. It’s now a foundational talking point for the liberals, stating that back in 2015, they cut taxes on the middle class to raise it on the wealthy 1%. But they did no such thing. Canada has a progressive income tax system whereby your earnings are taxed more as you earn more. This happens in each bracket, so earnings between a certain amount and the upper level are taxed more. Any Canadian who earned less than $93,000 in 2018 would have received a tax break, however, you had to earn the full amount up to the limit of the bracket in order to get full tax break. That means that every single Member of Parliament received a bigger tax cut than any citizen who earned less than $100,000 in 2022. Today, in 2022, the median household income in Calgary is less than roughly $84,000 which means half of Calgary households make less than that amount and therefore continue to enjoy a smaller “middle income tax break” than all 10 federal MPs. If that sounds unfair and illogical it is, but the federal government went ahead with the action anyway. Liberal MPs knew this was the case and were often reminded by conservative MPs of the workings of our progressive income tax system. That’s why Conservative MPs at the time voted against it.
So the claim is 100% ridiculous and inaccurate. The facts are that even back in 2015, the claim being made by the Liberal government and Liberal MPs was false. I pointed this out during debates at the time to hold them accountable for this misleading claim. Today they continue to mislead. I encourage you to watch the clip of that debate with me explaining how the tax system works.
Conservative Motion Passes - ArriveCan
The conservatives motion calling for the Auditor General to investigate where the $54 million dollars went for the ArriveCan scam app passes in Parliament. Time to get to the bottom of this debacle and find out where the money went.
Resuming Debate - Friday, November 18th
Resuming Debate will be back on Friday, November 18th with more on my work on Parliament Hill. Next Friday is Remembrance Day. If you haven’t already, support our Veterans by wearing a poppy and join one of the Remembrance Day observances happening in Calgary. Let us take the time to thank those who have sacrificed in service to this country.