After eight long years of this prime minister and his Liberal-NDP coalition government, he has once again failed to deliver a budget to serve Canadians.
On April 16, the Liberal-NDP government submitted yet another tax-and-spend budget including nearly $40 billion in new inflationary spending. While life has gotten worse for Canadians, Trudeau is spending more than ever before.
To paint a picture of this stark reality, this year, Canada will spend $54.1 billion just to service Trudeau’s debt. In fact, this is more money than the Liberal-NDP government is spending on healthcare.
Conservatives demanded this Liberal-NDP government fix the budget by axing the tax on farmers and food by immediately passing Bill C-234 in its original form, build more homes by requiring cities permit 15 per cent more home building each year as a condition for receiving federal infrastructure money and cap the spending with a dollar-for-dollar rule to bring down interest rates and inflation.
To no surprise, Trudeau failed to listen to common sense, instead choosing to increase Canada’s debt with this year’s budget and burdening Canadians with more taxes. The effect on Canadian families will be devastating.
For example, the carbon tax will cost Alberta families an additional $2,943 in 2024-2025. Families cannot afford this increase when they are already struggling to put food on the table, fill their cars with gas and heat their homes.
This Liberal-NDP government should be focusing on the promotion of Canadian businesses, energy and agriculture, allowing them to do what they do best without increasing taxes and implementing unnecessary red tape and restrictions.
As food inflation continues to skyrocket, families are struggling to put food on the table — not just in Canada, but around the world. Now is time to foster growth in Canadian agriculture and unleash its potential so farmers can flourish and provide a solution to food insecurity and affordability.
However, over the last eight years, we have seen this Liberal-NDP government’s complete and utter disdain towards Canada’s agriculture and energy sectors as they have gutted Bill C-234, a piece of legislation which would save farmers close to $1 billion by 2030 and make food more affordable for Canadians.
Similarly, the Trudeau government has relentlessly pressed to pass Bill C-50, the unjust transition legislation, which will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs in both the energy and agriculture sectors.
It is clear, now more than ever, this Liberal-NDP government will continue to waste Canadians’ hard-earned money and fuel skyrocketing inflation. We must focus on improving the cost-of-living, solving the housing crisis, and unleashing our agriculture and energy sectors both domestically and on the world stage.
Evident in Budget 2024, this Liberal-NDP government strapped an immense financial burden on Canadians, proving once again, they are not worth the cost.
Foothills MP John Barlow is the shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security.
