Arpan Khanna

Mr. Speaker, Toronto Police Constable Todd Baylis was murdered in cold blood. His family lost him forever. Under the Liberals, that pain never ends. Every two years, they are forced to relive that nightmare, with another review, another hearing and more pain for that family. The police associations and the families are demanding action, but the Liberals are dragging their feet. Will they join us, stand up for the victims, meet the families and repeal Liberal parole?

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives stand with Jeff Smith's family as well. The Liberals are all talk, and there are no results. They created this mess. When Conservatives tried fixing it with Bill C-243, they voted it down. The brother of Todd Baylis said, “[The] killer's rights are more important than mine, my dead brother's, yours, or anybody else's.” The Toronto Police Association agrees that this is wrong. Conservatives agree that this is wrong, because it is our mission to keep Canadians safe. We stand with victims. We stand with our brave officers. When will they?

Mr. Speaker, Lisa, a victim from Oxford, told me that she feels like she is the one on house arrest while the criminal, the attacker, is walking free on the street. Thanks to Liberal catch-and-release laws, it is jail by day and bail by night. The same repeat offenders keep terrorizing our communities over and over again. It is victims like Lisa who are suffering. It is victims like her who are paying the price for failed Liberal policies. Will the Liberals finally stand up for victims and protect Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, what planet does the minister live on? It is all talk, no results. Last year, we had one violent crime every 50 seconds in our country. This summer, multiple police officers were shot and killed. The U.S. consulate was shot at again. Synagogues are being shot at. Festivals are being shot at. A senior, Lillian, 73 years old, standing in her driveway in London, was stabbed to death randomly and unprovoked. That is what is happening in this country, thanks to failed Liberal policies, and this out-of-touch minister expects and wants Canadians to believe that everything is fine. When will the Liberals get serious, lock up the criminals and bring back—

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start off by recognizing a great event that happened in Oxford County not too long ago, the Woodstock Truck Show. It started out in Woodstock 12 years ago, but it has, sadly, moved out to the border with Burford, which falls in Brant County. This group does fantastic work uniting truckers from North America, who come together and raise money for such great causes. This year alone, they have raised almost $150,000 to support the Special Olympics and also WDDS in Woodstock. These guys deserve respect. Our truckers move our goods. They feed our families. They are always there, so we want to recognize them for that great accomplishment. Today's topic of homebuilding is an important one. The government for the last 11 years has been making these big promises, grand announcements and photo ops, saying it is going to start building homes and going to build 500,000 homes in a single year, but instead, we have had the opposite. Housing costs have doubled. Mortgage payments have doubled. Rent payments have doubled. The down payment needed for a new home has doubled. A whole generation is now out of the market. There are builders who are not building, sellers who are not selling and buyers who are not buying, and that is taking a great toll on Canadians. Young entrepreneurs and young Canadians have always dreamed of owning a home one day. That is gone. Nine in 10 young folks believe they will never be able to buy a home. They want to have their own home. They want to start a family. We had that in Canada before, where if someone worked hard, played by the rules and had a decent job, they could save money for a down payment, buy a decent home in a good, safe neighbourhood and raise their family with their values. That was the Canadian promise, but we are not seeing that anymore. Instead of standing up for Canadians and actually making their lives easier, what do we get from the Liberals? It is the same old same old. The Prime Minister made all these big promises, that this is a new government, that it was going to change things and that it was not like the old government, but if I look across the aisle, I see the exact same ministers and the exact same MPs. They are the same MPs and ministers who caused this housing crisis we have today. The former housing minister caused the immigration crisis, and then he became the housing minister and destroyed the housing industry. Now he is justice minister, and he has destroyed the justice system. The Liberals have caused these crises in our communities. Before someone can even buy a home, they have to survive. Right now, Canadians are working harder and harder but barely getting by. They cannot save for that down payment anymore. Heck, they cannot even buy groceries anymore. We have 2.2 million Canadians visiting food banks in a single month, which is a record high. One in 10 of them are seniors, and one in four of them are young children. As a father, knowing that kids are going to school hungry bothers me. It should bother every single member in the chamber. Children should be going to school with full stomachs, with food in their bellies, ready to learn to be the leaders of the next generation, but thanks to the government, we have seen the opposite. The Liberals could heckle me. I know they love heckling. They get upset when we talk about the facts because it goes against their narrative and what they are selling to the media, but Canadians know. They see through this nonsense. They are seeing through it. They are seeing that Canadians are struggling. I can tell the House a few stories from my riding, Oxford, just from this last week. The government said it was going to hand out these food credits. Some people got $18. Some of them got $5, but the government promised them a lot more than that. On this side of the House, we will always stand for tax cuts and we would make sure that money goes back in the pockets of Canadians, but not how the government does it. Here is a story from Dezmond. He says that “life gets harder for young Canadians with families like myself with additional taxes and the increase in cost of living, as an apprentice I'm losing hours for my full time job [and can't] start a career”. He cannot afford to live in this country. Tiffany is a single mother raising two teenage boys. Her aging parents, who are retired, are sending her $1,000 a month for food and to help with rent money. This is despite her having a job, and at the end of the month, she has $64 left from that $1,000 transfer. That is a story we are hearing right across our country: Parents are now subsidizing their kids' future. This new bureaucracy the Liberals announced would do absolutely nothing to fix the affordability crisis, but it would continue to line the pockets of Liberal insiders. They want to make another bureaucracy, another one, on homebuilding, where they choose the executive, they choose the projects, they choose the dollar amount, they try to hide behind closed doors, and there is a lack of transparency. Again, the rich get richer, and average working-class Canadians continue to struggle. Here is a coincidence. I wonder what one of the biggest real estate asset managers in the country is. Does anyone know what company it is? I wonder. It is Brookfield. Surprise, surprise, Brookfield is one of Canada's largest asset managers. I wonder who has connections to that company. We have to ask these questions. We need transparency in the House. We need to know where the funds would be going. It is not fair that Canadians work their butts off, make the sacrifices, stay away from their families—

That's exactly right. They play by all the rules, Mr. Speaker, yet they are being pushed right to the back. As for the numbers on housing that the Liberals have promised, they are not even meeting those targets. I think they hit 2.1% of the target they themselves set. In what occupation or job is failure rewarded like that? They should be held accountable for their failures. Canadians see right through these illusions that the Prime Minister is creating. Canadians are waking up. The Prime Minister is great for giving large, grand speeches, and I will be honest. In his Davos speech, the Prime Minister said some of the right stuff. Some stuff made sense, but homes cannot be built with empty words, stomachs cannot be filled with empty words, and jobs cannot be created in this country with empty words, and that is all we are getting with the Liberal government. There is another concern we have when the Liberals talk about homebuilding. I am seeing this rural sprawl happening into our farmland. We are seeing our farms being taken away. In Oxford County, that is a big concern for us. Our farmers are the backbone of Oxford County. They are the backbone of our country. They feed our families. It is a very big concern for me to see some of that farmland being taken away. Once farmland is paved over, it is gone forever. In Oxford County, we have class 1 land, which is some of the best farmland in the country. Members talk about a self-reliant country. Food security is a priority. Domestic production, making more, growing more and harvesting more here in Canada, should be a priority. When the Liberals have reckless projects taking away our farmland, that is a problem. One of those projects that we hear about is happening in eastern Ontario. My colleague is here today. She has been a great advocate fighting against the Alto train project, another boondoggle waiting to happen. The Liberals are taking away land from our farmers. Our farmers need that land, and they will be here in Parliament to raise their voices. I really encourage the members across the aisle to please join the Conservatives, to join colleagues like mine from eastern Ontario, who are raising serious concerns about this. The Liberals can talk all they want. The words are not meeting the action. We are not seeing the results. It has been over a year now. They have their majority government. They have no excuses. Homelessness should not be going up, but it is, under their watch. Tent cities are popping up everywhere, in Winnipeg too. I was there a few months ago, and I met with the mayor. He is seeing a crisis in his community with crime, and he is seeing tent cities. They are raising serious concerns. Again, there is money for the wealthy but nothing for those who are struggling. That has to change. That is why Conservatives have always put forward solutions to make sure we can build more homes at an affordable price that all Canadians would be able to purchase. That is why we raised the issue of cutting GST on new homes priced up to $1.3 million, saving the average family $65,000. That is a big chunk of change that would help stimulate the economy but also give that first-time homebuyer a chance to get into the market. We have talked about removing the capital gains tax, so investors could invest and those folks who want to buy their first rental property could get into the market. We want to create that economic environment where money is coming back to our country, unlike the Liberals. We have seen money going down south in the last 11 years. We have talked about incentivizing municipalities, making sure that we could become one of the fastest places to permit. Canada is one of the slowest permitting jurisdictions in the OECD. I think we place 63rd out of 67. That is pretty bad. We have the highest housing cost per capita in the G7 and the highest household debt in the G7. Those are serious concerns. Conservatives would incentivize municipalities, so if they permitted faster, they would get a bonus when it came to infrastructure funding, as well. We want to get out of the way. These reckless red tape regulations that profit only the insiders have to go. Let the builders build. Let our farmers farm. Let us not block progress happening in our country. That is our Conservative plan, a plan where young Canadians could buy a home, where our seniors could retire in peace, with dignity, and where our workers, when they make that sacrifice, would be able to purchase a home. Let us stop the bureaucracy. Let us get shovels in the ground. With that, I move: That the House do now adjourn.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that the member has a tendency to go off on his own tangents. We are discussing very important legislation today, with a focus on protecting victims, yet he is not talking about the issue at hand. I understand that he will play games—

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the Liberal Prime Minister is the only leader in the G7 to take his country into a recession, but while Canadians live on leftovers, the Prime Minister is enjoying fine dining 30,000 feet in the sky. On the menu are the finest meats and wines, crème brûlée and even imported butter cups, for a whopping bill of $200,000 for just three trips. Will the Prime Minister cut the fat, stop his speeches and ground his gravy plane so Canadians can afford to eat?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' message to Canadians is “Suck it up, buttercup”, because excuses on tariffs will not work anymore. Canada is the only country in the G7 to be in a recession. Food bank usage is at a record high. Families are cutting back on their groceries. They are cancelling their summer plans and skipping meals just to get by. What does the Prime Minister do? He blows $200,000 on fancy meals for himself. Does the Prime Minister not realize that this is Canada, not Brookfield, and that taxpayers are not his personal bankers?

Mr. Speaker, as Canadians plan their summer getaways, I invite them to beautiful Oxford County. Known as the dairy capital of Canada, Oxford is where beautiful farmland, small vibrant towns and unforgettable experiences come together. From the famous cheese trails to our farmers' markets, every road leads to something worth discovering. Visitors can stroll along historic downtown streets, enjoy incredible restaurants, relax at the local spa and camp under the stars. Summers in Oxford come alive with Cowapolooza, the Highland Games, Pizza Fest, TurtleFest, classic car cruises, tractor pulls, fairs and community celebrations. Families can visit farms, pick delicious berries and even watch the vintage Harvard planes take off into the summer skies. Oxford is a place filled with character, community and memories waiting to be made. This summer, come and visit Oxford.

Mr. Speaker, under the Liberals, criminals shoot by day and walk free by night. The Liberal criminal justice system is catch, release, arrest and repeat, while extortionists terrorize communities and families. Our Conservative plan would impose a mandatory 10-year sentence to lock these criminals up. We would kick out non-citizens convicted of these serious crimes. Will the Liberals finally stand with victims, support our plan and bring back safe streets?

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Calgary East not only for his great intervention but also for the work he does to hold the Liberal government accountable on finances. The member is right. This update was a chance to give Canadians some hope. It was a chance for the government to lay out a plan that would show Canadians that the Liberals have their backs, that they care about the work they do and that they care about the sacrifices they make. They had an opportunity to reduce the deficit, but instead we got the opposite. We have a record number for the deficit, which has real consequences for Canadians. When we have rising deficits, when we spend more than we bring in, when we send money outside the country, when we wastefully spend it on insiders and Liberal lobbyists, what happens? Canadians pay the price with inflation. Our country has one of the highest inflations in the G7. Canadians are now struggling to put food on the table. We have single parents who are skipping meals just so their kids can have some decent food. We have seniors who are choosing between buying medicine, filling their gas tanks and paying their bills. We have farmers who are sacrificing so much every single day in our riding, yet barely getting any return for the yields. We have workers who are picking up extra shifts, working extra hard, staying away from their families, abandoning their vacations, staying away from their children and their friends and literally just working constantly to put food on the table for their families. There are IT professionals and young Canadians who actually have decent jobs and go to work with a decent income, but they still cannot make ends meet. The working poor is now a thing. They work harder and harder, but are barely getting by. The Liberals had a chance to send a clear signal to Canadians, but it did not happen. What did we get as a result? We are now paying almost $60 billion every single year to finance their debt. Interest payments alone are $60 billion, which is more than what we pay for health care transfers in our country. That interest money goes to bondholders and bankers, and Canadians get the bill, again and again. That money could be used to invest in our health care. In Oxford County, we have a shortage of doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses working in our health care sector. We have almost 8,000 residents who do not have a family doctor in our community. It would be amazing if that money was taken away from these bankers and bondholders and actually invested in rural communities. That money could be used to build up our infrastructure or maybe even to keep the Snowbirds going, which is a great heritage and a historic part of our country, but no, the Liberals want to keep wasting money. If we look at the economic update, it is more of the same, while the Prime Minister promised to be different. He said he is different. He said he would get a deal. He said that he is a fiscal manager, but we are getting a lot worse, even worse than Justin Trudeau. Who is getting rich? Who is making the money? It is not Canadians. Brookfield is getting contracts. We are seeing over $20 billion sent to external consultants and lobbyists, and there are billions of dollars for foreign aid that is connected to the government. That money should be brought back to Canada. The Liberals need to put Canadians first, lower the deficit and bring down inflation. We should not have a situation where seniors are now starving to death. We should not have a situation where parents are not putting their kids in summer camps or sports, but we are seeing that. Small businesses make so many sacrifices. They take the risks, try to give back to their communities and want to help out, but the government continues to kick them down at every moment. Our vision is very different. Our Conservative vision is about giving control back to Canadians, back to our workers, farmers and seniors, so that if they work hard in this country, make the sacrifices and follow the rules, they should be able to achieve their God-given potential. Canadians used to be happy. Canada used to rank as one of the happiest places in the world. When we look at the rankings, we see that is changing. We can look around in our communities to see this. In Oxford County, if we walk down Dundas Street, we will see that some businesses are starting to close their doors. We will see the tents of homelessness popping up. We see signs right across this country of a country that is heading in the wrong direction, but Canadians are resilient people. Canadians do not give up. Despite no support from the government, they still believe in our country. Conservatives believe in our country. We believe in our people, who are hard-working and talented. We believe in the farmers who wake up before sunrise to plant in the fields and who look forward to the fall for a great harvest. We believe in them. We believe in the waitress who works a double shift, who washes dishes and makes sure she is serving customers with a smile on her face just so she can feed her children. We believe in her. We believe in the auto workers and the workers who work hard on our floor shops to make great Canadian products. We believe in our seniors who have sacrificed their whole lives. They have made the sacrifices, and all they want to do is retire in peace and with dignity. We believe in them. We believe in Canada's potential. Canada has unlimited potential with its natural resources and our different industries, such as our auto industry and agriculture. There is so much going on in our country. We should be one of the richest countries in the world. We obviously believe in Canada's promise that people, whether they have come to this country, were born here or have been here for generations, who work hard, play by the rules, take a chance, give back to their community, integrate into our society and help their neighbours can achieve their potential. What is missing now is that vision. That is why Conservatives believe in a smaller government. Smaller governments make for bigger citizens. We wanted to see a plan from the Liberals that would cut red tape. We did not see that. Red tape went up. There is more bureaucracy, more departments and more organizations monitoring other organizations. It is always something; it is always red tape. There are always these new bureaucracies being set up, which costs millions and billions of dollars of taxpayer money. We wanted to see the Liberals lower taxes. We did not see that. On the gas tax, right now Canadians are being crushed. They are being crushed at the pump stations. We said we had a great plan to take all federal taxes off gas, which would save the average family almost $1,200 a year by cutting 25¢ cents a litre. Those are big savings. For an average family, it is big savings. Instead of taking the whole idea and giving Canadians relief, the Liberals put in half measures of only 10¢ per litre. Canadians cannot survive like this, but on this side of the House, every single day we will stand for hard-working Canadians. We will push back against Liberal insiders, and we will make sure that Canada is a country for the workers who have sacrificed so much to build our country. We will make sure we hold the Liberal government accountable every step of the way.

Mr. Speaker, not only is the member so out of touch with reality, but even the Prime Minister said, a few weeks ago in the chamber, that affordability is the best it has been in a decade. The Liberals do not actually spend time on the ground meeting with families. A senior called me and said that they were considering MAID, not because they are sick but because they cannot afford to eat. Shame on the government for destroying Canada's economic prosperity. Our seniors made so many sacrifices, but the member stands up to score cheap political points. Shame on the member.

Mr. Speaker, I do agree with my colleague that under the Liberal government, seniors have been pushed right to the back. The Liberals talk a big game, but they do not have the human decency to stand in the House and accept that their policies are hurting seniors. One in 10 seniors is now going to the food banks. That is not me saying that; it is the facts in our communities. Instead of the Liberals' just issuing press releases, if they actually cared about seniors, stood up for them and supported them, we would not have the crisis we have today. The economic statement could have helped them, but again it is helping Liberal insiders, while seniors are being forced to homeless encampments.

Mr. Speaker, the food banks in my riding and right across our country are bursting at the seams. The demand at Operation Sharing at Helping Hand Food Bank, and at seniors in crisis in Oxford County is actually rising by exponential numbers. Usually we want these numbers to come down. That would be a good sign that we are taking care of our people. However, our numbers are going up. Donations are going down, and usage is going up. As I mentioned earlier, there is also a new category, the working poor, people who are working harder and harder but barely getting by. They are lining up at the food banks. There are over two million visits to a food bank in a single month. One in four of them is for children. The most vulnerable people in our community are actually struggling. The Liberal government, instead of making food more affordable and supporting our farmers by taking the fertilizer tariff off and helping them, is missing in action. The cost of food is the highest in the G7, and food inflation is the highest in the G7, thanks to the government's failed policies. On this side of the House, we are going to keep fighting for Canadians every step of the way.

Mr. Speaker, we are losing jobs in our country. We have lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs under the Liberal government. In the London region, which is close to Oxford county, we have had the highest number of manufacturing job losses. We have lost over 5,000 auto sector jobs, all under the Liberals' watch and their reckless policies. The member listed off a lot of the programs and investments they have made, but these have actually led to the opposite effect. We have lost jobs, and we have the second-highest unemployment rate in the G7. Can the member tell us, other than handouts, what have people really gotten back from the so-called programs the Liberals keep announcing?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is proving to be just another tax-and-spend Liberal. He promised to spend less. Instead, he doubled the deficit, spending more than Justin Trudeau did. His credit card budgeting is fuelling inflation and driving up the cost of living, and that is hurting Canadians. More than half of Canadians are just $200 away from bankruptcy. Groceries cost more, gas costs more, housing costs more and families are maxing out their credit cards just to get by. Under the Liberal Prime Minister, we have the worst food inflation, the worst household debt, the worst housing costs and the second-highest unemployment rate in the G7. Canadians cannot afford the Liberal government. Liberals must stop their wasteful spending and bring down the deficit to lower taxes and inflation so Canadians can once again afford to live.

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the great member for Montmorency—Charlevoix today. Before I begin on the issue at hand, I want to quickly recognize our great farmers in Oxford County who are preparing for the planting season. As the weather warms up, they will be back in their fields. I just want to wish them the very best. They feed our families and they deserve love and respect for all the great work they do. To all our members who will be travelling in our rural streets and rural roads, I ask them to please be careful and look out for farm equipment and tractors, to be safe and to be vigilant. Let us keep supporting our farmers, because farmers feed our families. We are all elected by tens of thousands of Canadians who put their trust in us to come take a seat in this chamber, to be a part of our parliamentary system and to be their voice on issues that matter to them. These are issues like affordability, crime, housing or any challenge they face. It is our job to speak for them in the House and in committees. The seats we sit on in this place or in committees, we are holding in trust for our constituents. These are not our seats. This seat is not my seat. It is the seat of our residents, Oxford County. This is what we represent in this chamber every single day. Last election, the people chose a minority government. They gave this government a minority mandate, but through dirty backroom deals, through floor crossers, the government brokered a majority. The Liberals can say all they want, but the member who crossed the floor herself had said that it was good for her personally. Nothing should be good for us personally the day we take the oath of office. It should be good for our community. It should be good for the country. We are not sure what backroom deals they made, but they made those deals. They brokered a manufactured majority. However, it is still our job to be His Majesty's loyal opposition. In this chamber, it is an act of loyalty to be in opposition. It is our job to hold them accountable for their actions. Any bill they put forward, it is our job to take a look at, to make sure they are not trying to pass things that will hurt Canadians, that will make life tougher for Canadians. A committee serves many purposes. Whether it is looking at the bill itself for substance or calling on witnesses to testify, to make better legislation or to expose corruption or the mishandling of taxpayer funds, a committee serves as a tool for us to hold them accountable. We all know the Prime Minister barely shows up for question period. His attendance record is horrible. I think the last time I read the stats, he had about a 27% attendance rate to answer any questions we have.