The Budget
Date: 2023_04_19
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Len Webber: today I rise to speak to budget 2023. I will be sharing my time with the great hon. member for Simcoe North . Perhaps more than any other budget in recent memory, Canadians were looking to this federal government to send some strong signals on responsible governance, prudent spending, fiscal responsibility and a path through these high inflationary times. Unfortunately, however, the reality is that we did not see any of this in the budget. It should therefore come as no surprise that I, along with my Conservative colleagues, will not be supporting this budget as it stands. Of course, we know that NDP members will support the Liberal government, because they always have and always will, ever since their coalition government began. However, the NDP's blank cheque approach to dealing with the Liberals' incompetence is only making matters worse. This makes them a part of the problem and leaves the Conservatives as the only national party to stand up for Canadians. The single largest selling point in this budget that I see is the token $225 payment to lower-income Canadians to supposedly help with the rising cost of groceries. This shows that the Liberals are clearly out of touch with the realities that Canadians are facing as they do their weekly grocery shopping. I was at the Calgary Co-op grocery centre in Brentwood last week. I shop there. I have been shopping there for probably 40 years, and I am getting to know the people. A shopping excursion for me takes an hour to an hour and a half. It is an hour to an hour and a half of talking to people in the aisles and shopping. The people I see at the shopping centre look drained, not only of their hard-earned money but of their mental resources as well. They are dealing with how they are going to put food on the table. I went to the produce section, and it is shocking. The cost of lettuce is up 35% in just this past year. Fresh vegetables, for the vegans out there, are up 15%. Flour, for people who want to bake bread because they cannot afford to buy their bread, is up 23%. Cooking oil, for people who can afford to buy chicken or hamburger, is up 23%. Butter, to butter the bread we cannot afford, is up 19%. Pasta, for Italian lovers out there who enjoy Italian food, had a 19% increase. Canned veggies, again for the vegans, had a 17% increase. Bread, if one can afford it, was up 18%, and even potatoes were up 16% this past year. This $225 payment literally equates to, if one does the math, about $4.32 per week. It is a pittance of support for struggling Canadians. However, do not worry, because as the Liberals and the NDP say, everything is just fine and inflation is coming down. Sure, it may be coming down for non-essential items like televisions or high-tech gadgets. However, it certainly is not coming down for the bare essentials, the necessities that Canadians need to feed and house their families. In no way can the government claim that food security is not an issue in Canada when 60% more Canadians are expected to need food banks this year. The problem is even more acute in certain communities around this country and certainly up in the north. This lack of food affordability will have long-term effects and will add to the stress of many households in this country. This stress will drive up the rates of domestic violence, it will impact the educational outcomes of many of our children and it will have a lasting impact on our most vulnerable, in particular our fixed-income seniors and veterans. However, it is not only food affordability. There are many other things going wrong here in Canada, and the Liberals and the NDP seem to be blind to it all. For example, in the last eight years, we have seen a country where there are marijuana pot shops at every turn, at every corner, yet parents are desperately driving around town searching for children's formula and children's medication. Overdose deaths are at a shocking level and are rising, yet the Liberals' response is to make it easier to get access to deadly drugs. Canadians need mental health support more than ever, but the Liberal government refuses to activate the 988 emergency line that my colleague, the member for Cariboo--Prince George , has been advocating for for years to no avail. The government is hiring thousands more public servants. In the past two years alone, the public service has grown by 31,000 full-time employees, yet somehow wait times are worse than when we had fewer employees. The government is spending more and we are getting less. That is the story of the Liberal-NDP government. Canada needs immigration more than ever to fill our labour shortages, but the immigration backlog gets longer by the day. In July 2021, the backlog was an astounding 1.5 million applications. The government promised to prioritize the problem and hire more people, but the result is that the backlog has increased even further. It now stands at 2.15 million applications. It is another example of paying more and getting less. Housing prices have doubled. We all know that. However, the government thinks the problem is solved with a $500 housing payment. Violent crime is up, illegal gun crime is up, drug crime is up and the number of police officers killed on duty is going up at an alarming rate. However, all the government has in response is that it gives its thoughts and prayers to families. If I truly felt the government's 2023 budget really hit the mark, I would say so. I have in the past praised parts of Liberal budgets, but this budget is such a letdown for Canadians. There is no plan for housing affordability. There is no plan for reducing crime. There is no plan for controlling inflation. There is no plan for true food security. There is no plan for today and no plan for tomorrow. Canadians need a government that remains focused on the most important things. Instead, we have a Liberal-NDP government that is more concerned with photo ops and penny payment schemes, instead of dealing with root causes. Canadians need a government that supports all businesses and encourages economic growth in every sector in this country, in particular our oil and gas sector, which the government has decimated. Our national debt has also doubled under the Prime Minister . It is a massive debt burden that will haunt current and future generations of Canadians for decades to come. It will impact our ability to support our most precious social programs and will put our critical services at risk. It has been a few weeks since the Liberal-NDP government delivered its budget. I hope it will take the feedback of Canadians seriously. The budget could not have been more widely denounced if it had tried. It needs to know the budget is not what Canadians wanted or needed. What Canadians want is a fiscally responsible government that respects their hard-earned tax dollars. Canadians want a government focused on responsible, prudent spending that is within our spending capacity. Canadians want a government that tackles inflation, instead of recklessly spending to fuel that inflation. Canadians want a government that focuses on delivering the most basic services it currently has, instead of creating new, wasteful and ineffective programs. Canadians want a government that does not saddle future generations with crippling debt. Canadians will get this kind of government in the next election when they elect a new Conservative government.