The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Todd Doherty: never in the history of our country has a prime minister spent so much to achieve so little. He has added more money to our national debt than all previous prime ministers combined, and he is not done. With this spending, our national debt is projected to rise to $1.3 trillion, meaning Canada now spends more money servicing our debt than we spend on our military, child care or social programs. Budget 2023 sets out spending for this year at another $456 billion. With all of this spending, one would think that Canadians would be better off, but the reality is that more and more Canadians are struggling. We are facing higher taxes, smaller paycheques, a rise in the cost of living, higher rates of inflation, higher rates of crime and higher rates of homelessness. Inflationary spending is negatively impacting the mental health of Canadians. As I said earlier, Canadians are struggling. In the last election of 2021, this Liberal government promised to start spending more money on mental health and to actually view mental health in parity with physical health. As I mentioned earlier in a question to our colleague from Davenport , I have spent the last seven and a half years championing the mental health situation of our nation. I think we can do more. The member for Davenport says that we all must do more. Government members like to stand up to say that they have really got Canadians' backs. Well, they are on Canadians' backs. They are piling more and more debt on the backs of Canadians. Coming out of COVID, they promised Canadians that they were finally going to invest in them to look after them. Canadians were feeling the pressures from the COVID pandemic and three years being locked up, not being around their loved ones. However, as soon as they formed government, they forgot about that $4.5-billion mental health act transfer. Our friend from Davenport said that the mental health associations and organizations within her riding are happy. Well, I can tell members that I spend almost every day, hours and hours, speaking with representatives from mental health associations. Whether they are our national organizations or grassroots organizations, they are worried. As a matter of fact, Margaret Eaton, the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, in response to budget 2023, said, "The budget is out of touch with the reality of Canadians' well-being and their ability to afford mental health services. I believe that the government has missed the mark, and that there will be deep human and economic costs to pay." We are already seeing the real human costs of the government's inflationary spending. Recent research indicates that Canadians' mental health is worsening due to the rising cost of living. Canadians affected by inflation are experiencing higher rates of self-rated anxiety and depression, higher rates of a recent diagnosis of a mood disorder since the pandemic, and higher rates of suicidal ideation. Not only that, inflation is forcing people to cut back on health-related expenses. Does one pay for a prescription or for food on the table? This budget does nothing for Canadians living in rural and remote communities. It is making life even more expensive for rural Canadians, especially in my riding of Cariboo--Prince George, where we have to drive long distances to get services. Everything we consume, whether it is fuel for our vehicles, the food we need to put on our tables to feed our families or the oil to heat our homes, has gone up. We do not have the luxury of taking the LRT to get services. We have to drive long distances. We have to fuel our vehicles. Currently, gas prices are $1.66 a litre and maybe even higher in Prince George. It was $1.65 in Williams Lake last week and $1.74 in Vanderhoof, and that has actually come down from the $2.00 per litre it was just weeks before. Sadly, on April 1, Canadians woke up to higher prices, higher taxes and a smaller paycheque. By 2030, two carbon taxes could add 50C/ per litre to the price of gasoline, according to the PBO. This budget says nothing about the promise that the public safety minister made to my community of Vanderhoof about a new police station, which it has been waiting years for, especially after the shooting in November 2021. Someone shot up our police station. An individual targeted the RCMP, and because they work in such an antiquated facility, people were hiding behind plywood and aluminum siding to get away from the bullets. The minister, just last year, promised action on that facility. However, it is not mentioned anywhere in budget 2023. The budget promises relief for families. However, the Liberals' inflationary spending has caused the cost of food and groceries to skyrocket. One in five Canadians are skipping meals. People are going to food banks. People are asking for help to end their lives and access MAID, not because they are sick, but because they cannot afford the rising cost of living in this country. As a matter of fact, in Toronto, food banks have seen numbers quadruple. It has gone from 60,000 people per month to over 270,000 individuals accessing its food banks. Those are real people. They are not just statistics. Those are the people we have all been elected to serve in the House. The money the government spends is not its money. It is Canadians' money. I think Canadians are not getting the bang for their buck they deserve from the government and the Prime Minister . The Liberals want to talk about the grocery rebate of $234. I have no doubt that is going to help individuals, but that is one time. What are Canadians doing for the rest of the year? That is one week. That is only a few bags of groceries. Everything in rural and remote communities has a higher cost. Milk has a higher cost. Loaves of bread have a higher cost. Butter has a higher cost. Every point of contact raises the cost because of the Liberals' tax policies. Let me talk about the opioid crisis. What would budget 2023 do for the growing opioid crisis? It is a national crisis. In my province alone, we are seeing numbers go through the roof. Just last month, we went from 2,000 overdose calls per month to over 3,000 calls per month. As a matter of fact, on March 22, just a few weeks ago, paramedics attended over 205 overdose events in just one day. That is staggering. Our communities are gripped with such a huge mental health and drug crisis, yet there is nothing in budget 2023 addressing these issues. We seem powerless in this country to stop those drugs from flowing in through our borders and into our communities, and our police, RCMP or security services seem powerless to stop those drugs from getting into the hands of friends and family. I know what I am speaking of. I have a brother who is on the streets and is gripped by his addiction to drugs. We are powerless to get him off the streets, and so many families are experiencing this. Whether they are experiencing the growing rates of suicide, or the loss of loved ones who have died by suicide or overdose, the families who are gripped in the mental health crisis our country is saddled with are being offered nothing in this budget. As I said earlier on, the government is out of touch. What do we expect from a Prime Minister who tells Canadians to just pay for their debts with their credit cards? It is not surprising. What he has been doing for seven and a half years is using Canadians' money to fuel his out-of-control spending. He is out of touch and Canadians deserve better.