Scot Davidson

Mr. Speaker, Margaret Haddon from Bradford wrote me to say she raised her children believing that if they worked hard, stayed focused and pursued an education, they would be able to build stable and independent lives, but today she is watching that promise slip further out of reach for them. An entire generation is in this position because of the Liberals' failure to get housing built and rein in the cost of living. How can the Prime Minister still think affordability is the best it has been in a decade when Canadians like Margaret are watching their children do everything right and still fall behind?

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Today during question period, I referenced a letter from Margaret Haddon, a resident of Bradford West Gwillimbury. I am seeking unanimous consent to table this document. The Prime Minister and MPs across the way have—

Mr. Speaker, Spectra Aluminum in Bradford is facing layoffs and job losses as it deals with 100% stacking American tariffs. The Liberal government has responded by bringing in a countertariff that has raised costs for Canadians, but instead of using that as leverage to stand up for the 80,000 workers in Canadian downstream aluminum manufacturing, the Liberals are letting American firms dodge the tariff, by granting generous remissions. Why is the Liberal government undercutting the Canadian businesses and workers it is supposed to be protecting?

Mr. Speaker, they suggest more websites. This is out of touch. This is not building Canada strong. It is weakening our industries. The Liberals' 50% countertariff on aluminum has increased the cost of houses, renovation, cars, appliances and more, while Canadians pay the price. Workers at companies like Spectra are still facing layoffs, still losing orders and still watching American firms get a backdoor pass into the Canadian market. When will the Prime Minister rise and tell Canadians what the countertariffs are going to cost them?

Mr. Speaker, we know the Liberals are used to stepping over panhandlers who are shaking their coffee cups on the street, and now they can just scroll past them online. More than 15,000 fundraisers have been launched by Canadians on GoFundMe since January to cover rent, groceries and utilities. These campaigns are not from some unexpected tragedy. They are for covering the everyday cost of living under the Liberal government. Will the Prime Minister rein in his inflationary spending so Canadians can stand on their own two feet again?

Mr. Speaker, if all of these Liberal policies were working, our people would not be reduced to begging on the Internet just to get by. These programs do nothing for the millions of Canadians who are working full-time and still cannot afford groceries or rent because of the Liberals' made-in-Canada recession. That is why they are forced into using food banks, crowdfunding online and living in RVs and parking lots. When will the Prime Minister reverse his costly policies, which have left Canadians with no other choice?

Mr. Speaker, there we go again. While one in five Canadians goes hungry, the Prime Minister is somewhere over the Atlantic tucking into another three‑course meal on the taxpayers' dime. In the last year, he spent nearly $1 million on luxury inflight catering, and now he is on another trip, leaving behind countless Canadians wondering how they will afford their next meal. When will this high-flying, fine-dining Prime Minister stop wasting taxpayer dollars so Canadians can eat again?

Mr. Speaker, is that member picking up what I am laying down? That strategy will not feed a single Canadian who cannot afford groceries today because of Liberal policies that have put us in a recession. Maybe the Prime Minister would know this if he was not so eager to flee the country and the people his policies are hurting the most. Instead of champagne wishes and caviar dreams in Paris, why does the Prime Minister not come home and face the 2.2 million Canadians lined up at the food banks?

Mr. Speaker, under this Liberal Prime Minister, Canada is the only G20 country to fall into recession. This so-called financial wizard created a K-shaped economy where the wealthy, the bankers and the bondholders climb higher, while working Canadians fall further behind. The Liberals can say, “What recession?” because they are not impacted by skyrocketing unemployment, grocery bills and mortgages. Why is this Prime Minister telling Canadians that they are just technically unemployed, technically hungry or technically homeless?

Mr. Speaker, the cost of living is so high that living is being put on hold. This is the real Liberal recession, where people cannot afford to enjoy life, make memories or chase dreams. They are spending their whole time just barely getting by. Those are the consequences of 11 years of Liberals and their failed economic policy. Instead of telling people who are struggling that everything is fine, will the Prime Minister stand up and admit his real Liberal recession is hurting Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are finding themselves on the outside looking in. The Liberal government is wasting insane amounts of money and driving up inflation while our citizens cannot afford to eat or house themselves. It is enough to blow the hat right off one's head. It has spent $300 million on the PrescribeIT scandal, $800 million on their gun buyback program, $12 billion on foreign aid, $19 billion on government insiders, $1 billion on health care for fake refugees and $200 million on a concrete launch pad. It is like something right out of Spaceballs. Canadians are right to be angry. They are being forced into food banks, living on the streets and waiting years for basic medical procedures while the Liberals keep on wasting taxpayer dollars. Why is it that our people are always at the back of the line in their own country? When will the Prime Minister start putting Canadians first?

Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the soup and salad bowl of Canada, home to Honda Civic and the best potatoes this side of P.E.I. In the spring economic update, and throughout this debate, the Liberals have made it apparent that they believe Canadians have never had it so good. The Minister of Finance even introduced this update by telling us, “the dream of Canada is alive and well.” I think we need a reality check. Let me share what is happening in my community, because it tells a very different story. Last week, my son came back from running a booth at a local job fair. He came back upset and shocked. He told me he saw hundreds of people lined up, résumés in hand, hoping for a chance to work for one of the few employers in the area still hiring. That was not the shocking part, given that the unemployment rate is now almost 7% across the country. What was shocking to him was the number of seniors in those lines. I am lucky. My son is an old soul. He does not come to me often, but he was very upset. He told me how sad it was to see elderly men in dated suits that had not been worn in years, helped along by wives for whom just standing in that line was an immense effort. Those couples were not there out of choice or ambition. Those people had already worked their whole lives, earned for their retirement and assumed that this chapter was behind them, but now they are pushed back into the workforce because the cost of everything has risen so far and so fast. Unfortunately, very few will manage to get a job at all. It is not just them: All generations are struggling, right across the country. Young people have given up on owning a home. Families are choosing between groceries and rent. It is infuriating that this is the reality facing our people today. This is the new normal in Canada, after 11 years of the Liberal government. Canadians are being asked to accept what used to be unacceptable: crowded emergency rooms, no doctors, two million people lined up for blocks around food banks, and rampant crime and homelessness in our streets. We see it every day. Now even our proud Snowbirds, a symbol of Canadian excellence for generations, are being grounded for years and replaced with inferior aircraft that do not come close to what we have today. In every corner of Canadian life, the message from the government is the same: “Lower your expectations.” Instead of aspiring to build a better Canada and restoring the fiscal responsibility this country sorely needs, the spring economic update confirms that the Liberals are spending money they do not have and charging the bill to Canadians who can least afford it. The Prime Minister promised to spend less than Justin Trudeau, but under his leadership, direct program spending has increased 12.4%, and the deficit has doubled from $31 billion to $65 billion. Their own projections in this update show the national debt reaching $1.63 trillion by 2031. Every dollar of that debt comes with a price tag. This year alone, the price is $58.7 billion in interest payments. That is more than the federal government collects on GST and more than it transfers to the provinces through the Canada health transfer. That is $3,400 from every Canadian family: not for hospitals, not for highways, not for any of the people in that job fair line, just for the interest alone. This level of overspending is indefensible, given the windfall of tax revenue the government has collected through higher-than-expected oil prices over the past year. What did they do with this windfall? They spent 80¢ of every new dollar. They fell short of their own promised savings in operating expenditures by $30 billion. The debt-to-GDP ratio, the government's own preferred measure of fiscal health, will continue rising until 2030. Instead of returning that good fortune to Canadians through lower taxes or applying it against the deficit, the government used it as a licence to spend even more. We see this with the so-called Canada Strong fund. There is another slogan. The Liberal government cannot even manage its own finances, but now it wants to leverage Canadians' own money towards projects underwritten by even more debt. The key to a sovereign wealth fund is wealth, after all. After 11 years of the Liberal government, Canada has none. Our country is poorer due to Liberal policies that have blocked economic growth, fuelled inflation and increased our national debt to record levels. Now, just as they did with the failed Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Liberals claim that this $25-billion fund will attract investment that it would not otherwise attract. This begs the question that I have asked so many times in this chamber: If this fund is so great and will produce such an amazing return on that investment, why would we stop at $25 billion? Put in $100 billion. Why not put in $250 billion? After all, according to the government, it is just a capital investment. It is basically free. Well, we all know the answer to that, because at some point even the Liberal government has to own up to the fact that incurring massive amounts of debt is not an investment strategy. It is a liability, and $25 billion of it deployed into projects of the government's choosing is not a true wealth fund; it is a gamble, and Canadians are being asked to cover that bet. This is a recurring theme with the Liberal government's approach to the economy. It is always our people who have to suffer the consequences of this Prime Minister's economic and trade failures, and right now they are struggling in record numbers. New insolvency data shows that over 37,000 Canadians filed for insolvency in the first quarter of 2026, the highest level since the great recession. Our people are carrying $2.6 trillion in household debt, while mortgage delinquency has reached its highest level in five years. With this spring economic update, the Liberals are adding more debt, more costs and more taxes on the backs of Canadians, who are already at the breaking point. Even worse, all this is taking place while Canada is still without a trade agreement with the United States. The uncertainty, tariffs and job losses that flow from that into auto manufacturing, into agriculture and right across the economy have more of an impact than anything announced in this update. The Liberals are failing on both fronts: They have not lowered the debt, increased investment or unleashed our economy, and they still have not gotten Canadians the trade deal they need. The Liberals would have us believe that if one does not support their spending, their failures and their misplaced priorities, they somehow do not support this country. It is crazy. Some members in this House may choose to set aside their principles to prop up this government. However, as a member of His Majesty's loyal opposition, my job is not to blindly support the government's agenda. It is to make Canada the best it can be by holding the government to account on behalf of Canadians. The spring economic update is not a plan to make Canada stronger. It is a plan to make Canadians poorer, and that is just not good enough. I believe in a Canada where hard work is rewarded, where the dream of owning a home is within reach and where the generations that follow us inherit something better than a lifetime of debt with nothing to show for it. That Canada is possible, and Conservatives will fight every day to make it happen.

Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North has had too much Kool-Aid today. That is a government that is out of touch. This so-called sovereign wealth fund is financed with debt. The government does not understand the way things work. The Liberals talk about imaginary taxes all the time. They say the industrial carbon tax does not drive up the price of things. That is how upside down the Liberals are.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right. Canadians are flat broke. I spent time in the riding over these last two weeks. I could not believe the stories people and small business owners were telling me. As an aside, and I have spoken about this a number of times, we have been waiting 10 years for natural gas lines in my riding and for phase three hydro so small businesses can start. People are coming to me, frustrated, asking, “Why are we sending all this money overseas? Why am I on the outside looking in when all I am trying to do is just get ahead?”

Mr. Speaker, as in my opening, I am always proud to represent the soup and salad bowl of Canada. Again, going back to the Liberal government with the industrial carbon tax, the Liberals sit there and say that the industrial carbon tax does not affect the price of anything and that it is actually good for prices. I go back to what I said about the wealth fund. If raising the industrial carbon tax does not affect anything, why only raise it to $170? They should put it up to $400. It does not affect anything. It is the same with the wealth fund. Why $25 billion? If the returns are so good, why not put $500 billion in it and get it going?

Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned about the promises the government makes. It is all pie in the sky. We spent $300 million. We were supposed to have a factory that actually created vaccines for Canadians in Quebec. Where is that factory now? Where is the $300 million? That is what Canadians call waste.

Mr. Speaker, I have breaking news. Reports say that Honda has scrapped plans to build a new $15-billion EV plant in Alliston, at the cost of thousands of jobs. This is a direct result of Liberal policies that forced Canadian automakers to make cars that Canadians do not want. They are now spending $2.3 billion to fund rebates on foreign-made EVs. With no consumer demand and no CUSMA deal in sight, it is no wonder manufacturers are walking away. Why are Canadian auto workers paying the price for the Liberals' failed auto policies?

Mr. Speaker, they cannot blame market shifts for their own failures. The Liberal government told us for years that the future is EVs. They just did not tell us that it was Chinese EVs. The government should be making it cheaper for Canadians to buy the cars they want to drive, built by Canadians. Instead, the Liberal policies are killing auto jobs and investment while subsidizing foreign-made electric vehicles, such as the 49,000 imported from China this year. Will the Liberals admit that they are choosing Chinese automakers over Canadian workers?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is selling out Canada's auto sector and doubling down on Chinese EVs. I want to know if he will be riding in one in his motorcade. Experts have called the EVs “rolling spy vans”, designed to feed data back to servers in China. The Prime Minister called China our greatest security threat. The government is still shipping 49,000 of them in while our own automakers are shut out. Why is the Prime Minister compromising our national security and our auto industry to cozy up to Beijing?

Mr. Speaker, I am looking at this bill now, and I would like to know why the Liberal government is prioritizing speed over getting this legislation right for veterans and survivors. The government had 10 years to do something, and now we see it again moving closure. Could the minister comment on that, please?